HenryP

I wrote this quite some time ago, when I was still
doing prison ministry, whilst still a practising scientist. In hindsight,
reading it again the other day, perhaps I also wrote this for you….

///// (Picture yourself in a prison)

No! Don’t throw this pamphlet away. Just take a moment
to read this message. You probably never expected earlier in your life that you
would end up in prison. And now you wonder why you did. “Is there a God?”
you ask deep inside yourself. Most people at some stage in their life will ask
themselves this question. Let us assume you are either an atheist or agnostic.
You say there is no God or you don’t know if there is a God. The question
whether or not there is a God is a very important question indeed. For if there
is no God, then there is no plan and there really is no purpose. Everything
related to life then becomes a coincidence. The fact that your parents met and
loved: – it was probably a one in a thousand chance or less of them meeting and
loving which brought you into this world as a baby. How their parents met and
loved, that was perhaps also a one in a thousand chance. That makes it less
than a one in a million chance for you to be born, after only the 2^nd
generation! Further, the off chance on their parents meeting each other, and so
on and so forth, etc., until you reach the beginning of man. In total, that is
already a minute probability! Next, think of the process by which all the
organs that form an intelligent person came together. Looking at it as a
scientist, evolution really is a long chain of many, many chance meetings and
interactions with nature, sometimes even collisions with celestial bodies like
comets and asteroids, where it is believed that eventually intelligent life
evolved from animal life and animal life from amphibian life and amphibian live
from marine life and marine life from the first living cell. The thing is, if
you do not believe that there was a plan to begin with, then everything connected
to this chain of events really was just a lucky lotto draw and a one in a 100
billion chance or less in each of these stages.

For example, consider this: How exactly do you think was the
first living cell formed? What came first, the chicken or the egg? This
actually is a relevant scientific question. Scientists have been able to do
modifications on existing cells and seeds by genetic engineering but no
scientist has ever been able to produce a living cell or seed out of the (dead)
atoms and molecules that they consist of. Why is that, you ask? Well,
scientists say, if you mix all the atoms and molecules that make up the first
living biological cell or seed together, and you have the right conditions of
temperature, light, concentration, electrical charge, radiation etc, then
apparently you would still have to wait for millions and millions of years for
a “chance reaction” to take place that would produce the first living cell. So,
in fact no one has ever been able to make a “living” cell or seed synthetically.
Some scientists simply claim that this is due to a lack of time.

Taken altogether,
though, statistically we can say that there really is only a very, very small
probability indeed that you came into existence; in fact that chance is so small
that we can call it near impossible. I think that is why I would say that life
itself, and yes, your life in particular, is a miracle! Forget about finding
anything like “intelligent life” in the rest of the universe. It is just
(statistically) impossible, because the chances of life developing elsewhere
are so small that it outweighs the argument of there being enormous amounts of
stars with planets available in the universe.

Nevertheless, you say
that you still believe there is no God or you don’t know if there is a God. You
think it is reasonable to believe that everything you see around you came by
accident. Life did not come forth by creation (a plan) but by evolution. You
believe in Murphy’s law (Murphy’s law = given that there is a chance that
something will happen, then, if there is enough time available, eventually it
will happen). You still refuse to accept that the creation of the whole
universe was part of God’s plan for us to be born. Now I will ask you: never
mind the question about how life came into being and how incredibly small the
chance is that you are alive today. What about the next question: where does
matter itself come from? Where did all the atoms that form the person that you
are and the earth that you are living on and the air that you are breathing,
came from? If you believe there is no God, then obviously in the beginning
there must have been absolutely nothing. Good for you if you believe in the Big
Bang theory. But the question still remains: where did all the matter that
forms the universe, originate from? You see what the problem is? It does not
make sense to believe that there is no God because it is not logical. In fact,
if you believe there is no God, you are actually saying that you believe that
out of absolutely nothing and guided by absolutely nobody, an incredible intelligent and intellectual person (like
yourself) with a material body came into being. Now, for you to believe that
such a miracle could have happened, you must actually have a much bigger faith
than that of a person simply believing and admitting that there is a Higher
Power, a God who created him for a specific plan and purpose!

So, now we come to
the point, where you may acknowledge that there is in fact a God who created
us. The bible teaches that every man should be able to see this if he just
takes the time to observe nature, and watch the incredible miracles happening
in nature on a daily basis. Somehow you also already knew instinctively that
your sense of right and wrong, i.e. your conscience, is directly connected to

the very fact whether you do – or do not believe there is a God… That is why
when you are feeling remorseful for the sins that you committed, you are in
fact on your way into believing in God!

/////Picture (you
kneeling down….)

Immediately when you come to realize that there is a
God, you will also note that now there is a plan and a purpose. Remember, God
sees the beginning and the end all at the same time, because He is beyond time
and space. The interesting part of life really is to find out what God’s plan
and purpose for your life is! At times you may feel insecure and inadequate,
but remember that God never makes mistakes. He does not make misfits. He has a
plan and a purpose with each and every one of us, His children. Just think of a
few biblical figures like Joseph and Paul. If it were not for them having been
in prison, where would we be today? Through the imprisonment of one man,
Joseph, a whole nation was saved from starvation (see Gen. 45:5-8). The apostle
Paul wrote all his letters to the believers from prison. Imagine the New
Testament without Paul’s letters! (see Phil. 1:12-14). Your time in prison is
not the end of your life. In fact, God wants to use the prison circumstances in
your life. He wants to be with you, right there in prison! Our God is a God of
miracles.

At this stage you may
ask me: I accept that there is a God, who created me, and who cares about me,
but how do I know which religion is the right religion? This is an interesting
question. If you want to, you can study a number of religions and decide for
yourself. The five major world religions are Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam
and Christianity. I did not really study Buddhism or Hinduism. I do know that
in Buddhism there is no God, so that is really a dead end to start with. In
Hinduism, there is a great number of Gods – that could be a bit of a labyrinth.
Many religions and even some sects in Christianity believe in imposing on their
members and believers a multitude of rules and regulations, as if it were possible
to please God by stepping up on an imaginary ladder and trying to reach Him or
get closer to Him by keeping to more and more religious rules. The real
Christian faith is different. Christianity really is: God revealing Himself to
us (you), in the person of Jesus Christ. You can say it is like: God coming
down that (imaginary) ladder to earth, picking us up where we were injured or
broken, putting us together again and showing and revealing Himself and His
character to us. The bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the image of the living
God. God has left us His picture, in the form of the example of the life that
He lived on earth. After that, He also proclaimed that His Spirit, the Spirit
of God, is in all of us who accepts Him! Millions of people all over the world
who became Christian can testify to this fact. One day soon, you too will
acknowledge this. At the same time He challenges us to become more and more
like Him, to live like He lived His life on earth, doing miracles in the lives
of other people.….

If you want to learn
more about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, please ask the inmate who
distributed this tract for more information. He may have some books and guides
for you that you can use to study. May God bless you and help you.

This tract was
distributed by:……………………………………………………………………………………

Jesus said: I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in
and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill
and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it
more abundantly! (John 10: 9 & 10).

To learn more about God (Jesus) you can also look
here:

http://www.hourofpower.org/global/south_africa/news/JesusisGodbook.doc