Changing Beliefs

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. (Psalm 139:23)

I remember being a young man on a protest march in London because I wanted to fight for a cause that was important to me. “Keep Sunday Special” was a campaign to help the small shops compete with the big supermarkets that wanted to open on Sundays. As a Christian in 1985 I wanted to keep the shops from taking people away from Church, and to allow shopworkers to be able to attend their Church. As you probably know the campaign came to nothing. The government changed the belief of the UK, and we now have Sunday shopping.

I wonder if you have been challenged enough by what someone has said to change your beliefs about an issue. We often think that views don’t change, but they do, more than we probably think.

Very few of us still have the same car that we had twenty years ago. Belongings change. And what about attitudes? Do you want to be driving an electric car in the future? Some people are very firm in their beliefs, but others are still watching how the technology develops.

I have never academically studied Economics, and I didn’t know what a “trade war” was until President Trump started charging tariffs across the world. I had no prior view as to whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. I dare say we shall find out how it affects us as the world adjusts to the new normal.

When we are faced with a change – often a fear will develop, we will imagine worst case scenarios. However, once it has been imposed, most of us try to rationalise how its not so bad after all and try to live with it.

I studied physics at University, and was taught that scientists doggedly follow the evidence wherever it leads, open to all theories until we reach the one that best describes the measurable facts. This strengthened my (then) new belief in God as the one behind the universe. My beliefs had changed. Previously I had really trusted that all that we see had just been the result of a lot of wonderfully serendipitous chance happenings. At University I was encouraged to do the maths, and I found out that the universe is so extremely unlikely to have developed just by chance, that another theory took its place in my mind. That God was the ultimate creator. He had put the laws of space and time and matter in place just so. With this different view of the world I can marvel at the neatness of the universe, the wonder of each living thing, and the complexity and loveliness that God has placed in the heart of every person.

I have come across many people who seem fixed in their views of the world. But I believe God continually prompts each one of us to listen to his quiet loving voice, telling us that despite the theories of the world and even our own beliefs, we matter to God, and are important to Him.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

Brian Leathers (April 2025)