In order to perceive revelation, “eyes are needed that are able to perceive the spiritual form.” Non-believers are unable to have knowledge of God. The non-believer is struck by the reflection of the Glory of the Lord in the life of the holy person, and as the non-believer is attracted by the holiness of the Christian, s/he is drawn into living a similar life. As this person engages in “Christian experience,” the reality of God begins to take shape. In other words, a person must first participate in Christian experience before one can have knowledge of God.

Then what does this say about the possibility for meaningful dialog about faith and Jesus with unbelievers (at least committed, militant unbelievers)?

Could this be part of the reason Jesus often communicated in mysterious parables?

Jesus said to [his disciples], “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; that they should turn again, and be forgiven.”

…With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to [the people], as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (Mk 4.11-12, 33-34)

I have been made with the capacity, understanding, and choice to love.

I believe this is true base on my experience. There seems to be times when there is a positive spiritual bond between myself and other things/persons. This spiritual bond seems to create an awareness of the needs of others or myself. I experience others caring for me in ways I cannot explain through a simple contractual equity. I care for others when there is no expectation of return benefit, or where the return benefit is not commensurate with the care expressed. This is something I can choose to do or not. I call this phenomenon in myself and others, love.

There is a higher power.

I believe this is true because of empirical observation. I know that I, as a human, am not the strongest power. There seems to be a life force that makes us alive over which we have no control. People survive the seemingly impossible, and people die with seemingly no explanation. We cannot instantly will ourselves to die. If we are sick, we cannot instantly will ourselves to get better. And yet, there are those who get well through spiritual means when medically there was no hope. These instances of miraculous healing have occurred throughout history and have witnesses. I do not claim that all ‘miraculous’ healing claims are true, but that some are, and that those that are provide evidence of a higher power.
I believe there is a higher power for other observable reasons as well, such as the serendipity confluence of events which works things out –sometimes before I was even aware of the potential problem, the awesomeness of creation, and my own limited ability to think, perceive beauty, power to create, and ability to love. I don’t know how it is that I am self aware or that I think, yet I know that I am and that I do. I don’t believe beauty is definable yet I know what is beautiful. I don’t believe that love is definable and yet I understand what is love.
I know I can think of and make reality things that don’t exist yet; that is an awesome power. I see things coming into being that didn’t exist before without my (or other human) interference. I infer that those things were thought of and somehow made by another force, a higher power. I infer that my existence was at some point a result of a higher power bringing into existence that which gives me life and sustains me.

The primary characteristic of God is love.

I believe this is true through inference and logic. I love what is beautiful. I love what I create. Because of my love for what is beautiful or what I create, I work to preserve it. If a higher power preserves life through a miraculous healing then it would be logical to assume that the higher power loved that life. If beauty is created by some higher power, then I would infer that the higher power also loved that which was beautiful, not only because it was beautiful, but because it was the product of the higher power’s creation. It would seem that the primary motivating force behind the actions of creation and preservation would be love. If love is the primary motivating force of the higher power then it may be logical to assume that love is the primary characteristic of the higher power.
I would like to call that higher power God.

I am accountable to my creator.

I believe this is true through inference from my personal experience of being a creator.
The relationship between the creator and the created object is interesting. What is created is an expression or extension of the creator, but does not define who the creator is. A creation is the possession of the creator unless he gives it away. The creator is free to destroy what he created as long as it is still his possession. Even if the creator gives his creation away, he is responsible for the consistent functioning of that creation. This is true even if what he creates is autonomous. What a creator makes affects others, so others hold him accountable for the impact of what he creates. He receives commendation for positive impact and criticism for negative impact. In our society, a creator can be fined or imprisoned if what he created hurts or destroys others and/or their property. Because a creator is accountable for his creation, his creation is accountable to him.
So by inference, if I am created, then I am accountable to my creator, even if I have the free will to choose to do things I was not created for. If I am created, then my creator is free to destroy me. And if I behave in a way that is harmful to others, my creator is obligated to either repair me so I don’t malfunction or to destroy me.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

I love my creations, by inference, I assume that whoever created me would love me. Reciprocating the love given would be an equitable, if not the most important, action a created being could do for their creator. Only a love that involves our whole being is good enough for one who created our whole being. A partial love is not much love at all.
Loving God is where belief becomes faith through action. Loving God is all about loving who God is: love, beauty, patience, kindness, mercy, justice, creativity, etc. Loving love is about expressing that characteristic, about making it a characteristic of ourselves. The more we live out the characteristics of God, the more we become an expression of God himself as his creation. The best love for God comes from making the most of who he created us to be.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

I believe in this directive because it is in just about every religion in one form or another. It is one of the few things humanity throughout time has consensus on. I believe in this directive because it is the basis for society. It is drawn from our own hardwired sense of equity, providing both justice and community. I believe in this directive because it is an extension of loving one’s creator since each created being is an expression of the creator himself. A person’s neighbor is the subject through which their love for their creator becomes action.

Love is stronger than hate.

I believe that love is stronger than hate because of my observations of how love and hate operate.
Hate is destructive. Hate perpetuates itself through injuring others. If a person received injury as a result of hate, but did not lash out at others, then the hate would not propagate past the original offender. When the offender dies, his hate dies with him.
Love on the other hand gives life. The love of the sun gives light so the plants can live. The love of the plants gives life to the insects and other herbivores, which in turn give life to carnivores. As each one gives to another, its own life is diminished, but there is more life over all.
What we see in the natural world we also see in the economic world. When we give of our time, our resources, and creativity, when there is trust, honesty, and equity, then the economic pie gets bigger. When there is greed, deceit, graft, and thievery, then the economic pie gets smaller.

Jesus is the embodiment of forgiveness.

This is the core proposition of basic Christian theism, without this there is no Christian belief. However, it is difficult to understand this proposition with having an understanding of the previously stated beliefs.
I believe that Jesus is the embodiment of forgiveness because I understand what love is. Love is caring for another’s well-being. Love is giving without the expectation of return. Love forgives. Love can be felt, but it is also a choice. My understanding of love is not a provable axiom, but commonly accepted assumptions.
Since I find myself with the ability to love and yet fail to do in every circumstance, I perceive a need to be forgiven. My lack of love, like hate, causes injury. Earthly justice provides for only an equitable counter injury, similar to an eye for an eye, and, in its own way, propagates the injury in a similar to how hate operates.
True forgiveness operates as if the injury had never occurred. It is the cancellation of all the debt. Instead of an eye injured in return for an injured eye, the original injured eye is healed back to normal functioning. Justice is served through restoration. It is through the life giving power of love that we have both forgiveness and justice.
The power of love to restore is not a human or earthly power. It is a higher power. It is the power of God; a God who has the power to create all that has been created; a God of love; a God of life.
The story of Jesus is about a man who experienced hate but returned love, who experience injury, even death, but who had the power of love to be raised to life. The story of Jesus is about true forgiveness that restores justice through life. The story of Jesus is about a creator who gives his creation the capacity to love, the choice to do so, and the power to be restored to loving relationship through the creator’s forgiveness. Jesus embodied the forgiveness of God.
The amazing thing is that this forgiveness of God is not just for those who killed Jesus, but has been extended to all who need forgiveness. For if he has the power to forgive one, he has the power to forgive all. And since God has the power of life, all who seek forgiveness from him are restored to life everlasting with him.

God empowers us to faith, hope, and love.

I believe that God gives us his power of life for love, acts of faith, and visions of hope. I believe this is a logical conclusion based on the previous arguments and observations. I believe it is through the power of God that the Christian life is different from all other religions. Christians receive grace freely and therefore are able to freely give grace. Christians visualize not just a life after death, but a life in the present that has victory over hate and its scepter of death. And Christians act on that vision through faith to bring the power of life and love into all the world.

Also, I find it to be vague when jesus says “I came not to bring peace, but a sword…” or something like that. What is your interpretation of that verse and others like it?