Out-smarting Religion

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
-Romans 1:18-20

One thing that amuses me about being a Philosophy and Religion major is the reason for why many people take religion courses. In my observation, over half of the students that take a religion course do so for the following reason: they think if they knew more about religion, or why people are religious, then they themselves would no longer have a reason to believe in God. In other words, they think that if they knew more, they would learn that God is not real.

I myself, like many others, do not like religion either. Religion, in our post-modern world, is synonymous for "a bunch of rules and a made up belief system to make people feel better about their existence." And as I have argued many times before, Christianity is unique in its beliefs and teachings, and not like the rest of the world's "religions." That being said, if Christianity is true, then it would only make sense that learning about God would actually make someone want to believe in Him, as opposed to not believe in Him. So in the case of my fellow students, learning about God and about Truth would lead them to believing in God, not rejecting God. This sometimes happens, as with the famous case of C.S. Lewis; he was out to prove that God did not exist, but instead became a Christian when he began to seek the truth.

I am extremely pro-science and pro-learning. For if God does exist, He created everything, and nothing in science or academia can prove otherwise, it would only enhance the case of Christ (for example, as we discover more and more about how vast and majestic our universe is, it makes us more in awe of God). So for the students who come believing that if they only knew more about religion, they would find that God is a make believe story, they typically end up leaving with even more questions than they had coming in. And as I have mentioned before, if you are searching for truth, you will find it. Unfortunately, many people in our world today also think that if you believe in God, it's because you just don't "know" enough. But if God is real, then learning the truth will only lead you to Him. You may be able to out-smart religion, but you can't out-smart God.