WHY I KNOW THERE IS A GOD
My Faith comes from working backwards from recent
apparitions.
First let us note some of the signs which God has sent
in the past.
The Old Testament.
As early as Chapter 12 in Genesis God speaks to
Abraham and in Chapter 17 of Genesis God made a covenant with Abraham.
In Chapter 32 of Genesis God changes Jacob’s name to Israel. (Jacob
said “…I have seen God face to
face…”) The story of Joseph tells of God’s reward to those who love
and obey Him. Then came Moses, Joshua, The Judges and The Prophets.
The New Testament.
The last of the Prophets was John the Baptist.
But those who argue against there being a God will
suggest that all the above are due to misinterpretation.
They happened too long ago for them to be believable.
Since Then.
Since then God has sent Mary to us to assure us of His
love. Some of her apparitions are comparatively recent: La Salette
1846: Lourdes 1858: Knock 1879; Fatima 1917; Beauraing 1932/33 and
Banneux 1933. To read about these apparitions go to
www.religiouswriting.com and to ‘The Life of Mary’.
The apparition a Knock was especially interesting. It
did not take place on a sunny mountain top as at La Salette or in a
grotto by a river as in Lourdes or on a shepherds field as at Fatima
but on a rainy evening at the gable end of a church in County Mayo.
The apparition was of Our Lady, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist
who was holding a book. There were eventually fifteen people watching
the apparition aged from six to seventy-five. The apparition was not
at ground level but raised up. It looked solid but a lady who went to
kiss the feet of Our Lady found herself kissing thin air! Nevertheless
the apparition was very clear – a thirteen year old boy was able to
see lines on the book which St. John was holding. While the watchers
were rained on ‘it was teeming with rain’ the rain did not fall on the
apparition. The gable end of the church remained dry. After several
hours the watchers started to disperse – for the youngest it would be
bed time. Others left to get dry and some never thought
that what they were seeing transitory; they thought it was permanent.
Eventually the last few watchers were called away to help an ill old
lady who was tying to get to see the apparition. When they returned
the apparition had gone – there was just the rain striking the gable
end of the church. What a shock that must have been.
Within two months a Commission had been set up to
examine the Knock happenings. One of the ‘possibilities’
was that the vision was no more than a Magic Lantern Slide and/or use
of luminous paint. This was investigated at the time by a scientist
and later by a newspaper reporter from The Daily Telegraph. Both
stated that such an answer was impossible. Examination of the Knock
witnesses was not able to find the apparition to be false.
My Conclusion.
Considering the Knock apparition alone and accepting
it as completely authentic I do not need to look elsewhere to find
God. How else can such apparitions take place except by the power of
the God who made us and loves us.