"If 'God' remains a concept and not a foundational experience, isn't investing a whole life's hope & choices into it a rational gamble? High cost for low personal certainty seems counterproductive."
I'm glad you mentioned this because that is very important regarding investing once whole life in a person. That would most certainly seem rational and true, however, it is my experience in following him for 52 years that he is no liar. It is possible to have a relationship with him on a spiritual level, since we cannot see him today. Nevertheless, he is alive, he rose from the grave and before he died, he directed his disciples to tell the good news about salvation through himself.
That was a very dangerous thing for the disciples to do back then because if they declared that they were Christians, followers of Christ, they knew for a fact they could be killed instantly. But because of their strong love and knowledge of Jesus, that he came as Savior of the world as prophesied 500 years in advance by Isaiah, they purposely risked their very lives to spread the gospel of Christ.
They never would have done that had they thought he was a lie. They walked with him, they talked with him and fellowshipped with him and even saw him ascend into heaven after his death. Over 500 people witnessed it. The Bible gives the history of it. And this is why God wrote his word so that we wouldn't have to guess, but no in our hearts who he was and why he came. They knew Jesus was trustworthy and that he keeps his promises, even to us today. If we seek him, we shall find him. I never would have followed him for 52 years if I thought he was a liar, but he has proven himself to me over and over, when answering my prayers. I don't even think anyone could sustain an "alleged" relationship with Christ for even a year or two, if they were not sure of who he is and that he is real and keeps his promises. That would be hard to do. It may not be easy to understand but we don't have to figure everything out before we can except Jesus as our personal Savior. There's no real reason to lie about it. I don't see what that would serve. Nobody's getting paid for it. Haha I asked Jesus to come into my heart and life as Savior and he more than proved himself to me. I didn't even know there was such a thing as receiving the Holy Spirit after we asked Jesus to come into our heart. I found out real quick Jesus is real and that I could have a relationship with him. Anyone can. Jesus didn't come to save the religions of this world. He came to save anyone who wishes to be saved. Anyone in the world, as stated in John 3:16. I must tell you that I was shocked, went after I invited him into my heart and life as Savior, that he sent his Holy Spirit to touch my heart and transform my whole life... to dwell in me as my guide in life. You just can't make something like that up! It was real. Nothing I even knew would happen so I didn't make it up. I still can't get over it! These things are mentioned in the Bible. That's why we have the Bible. To tell us of these things. That didn't want us to guess because that's much too important to know, when it comes to protecting our soul and preparing it for eternity. It is actually God's love letter to mankind. To show him the way to have eternal life in heaven. When it comes to God's promises, they are solid, there's no guessing. He does keep his word. God's promises are sure, there's no gambling. It's when we take no action or thought into preparing our soul for eternity, that we gamble with our own soul. There's no second chances. Once we cross over into eternity, there's no turning back, so we must never take risks with our own soul.
