Human beings are inveterate seekers, people on a quest. Centuries ago, a North African by the name of Augustine wrote that "Our hearts are restless til they find their rest in Thee," speaking of mankind's desire for God. More recently, the American novelist Frederick Buechner, has referred to that inner search as a "longing for home."
             Those who study such things tell us that there are basically three reasons why we come to believe in God: reason, revelation, and religious experience. At best, all three weave seamlessly together to bring us to a place of faith.
             By reason we mean that faculty of the human spirit that seeks to understand the world in which we find ourselves. We hear ourselves asking the big questions: Who are we? Where are we? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing at all? Christianity is a reasonable faith; it asserts that there are good answers to the questions we ask, answers that make sense and hang together.
             People become Christians for a variety of reasons. Some because that's the way they were raised, in Christian homes in a Christian society. Others because being a Christian has utility, it makes them better people. Studies have demonstrated that having faith allows us to live more balanced, satisfied and productive lives. However, as philosopher Diogenes Allen has noted, becoming a Christian on these grounds alone is mostly a matter of personal preference, something like preferring frozen custard from the dairy state of Wisconsin over the finest New York cheesecake.
             The reason to become a Christian, says Allen, is because Christianity is true, it describes the world the way it really is. Christianity provides the most reasonable explanation of the world, of the place and purpose of human beings in the world. Christianity asserts that God created the world, including human beings who were to be God's stewards of creation. Something went terribly wrong. Humans weren't satisified
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