BRUCE LICHT
FOUNDER OF MY ELEVATOR PITCH FOR GOD, ENTREPRENEUR, AND AUTHOR
Bruce grew up in Lafayette, California and received a BA in Political Science from UCLA as well as a Graduate Gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America. After graduating, Bruce operated his family’s 100 year-old retail fine jewelry business for twenty-two years. Bruce had a passion for computers and graphic arts, so he changed careers and joined his best friend at a national technical publishing company for seventeen-years as the company’s Publisher, where they invented the modern labor law poster industry, including the first “All- On-One Labor Law Poster” and “Labor Law Poster Compliance Plan.”
Aside from being the Founder of this website, My Elevator Pitch for God, Bruce was the co-editor of the book titled, Elevator Pitches For God: Volume 1, and author of the cookbook titled, Immediate Chef: No Previous Experience Required.
Bruce’s goals for this website are: To introduce more people all around the world to God and strengthen the faith of those who already believe in a non-political and non-religious way, to bring people together, find common ground between different faiths, create meaning in people's lives, and start to move the world in a better direction.
You can help by sending this website to friends and family and posting it on social media!
You can also connect with the website project’s LinkedIn page below:
It’s Me, Not You
BRUCE LICHT
All people study in one way or another, observe the world around themselves, and over time build a personal understanding about how the world works. When it comes to having a relationship with God, what separates someone who is merely “casually dating God” from a sincere “seeker” or one who enters a relationship with God, is how they grapple with the never-ending hard questions that challenge their core beliefs.
Some individuals, when confronted with difficult questions, quickly “close the door” or basically “break up” with God. Others try to remain open-minded and seek resolution. Just as a serious dating relationship requires navigating moments of doubt, a sincere bond with God is strengthened not by avoiding one’s assumptions about faith and science, but by seeing them as a path to deeper intimacy.
Science tells us a lot about the “what” and the “how” but for many, the “why'” still points to a greater mystery. We can reflect on our own presuppositions by considering some of the profound questions that shape a person's faith.
1. When you hear that the Big Bang brought about our Universe, ask yourself: How did that explosion come about? Where did time and space come from to allow for that explosion? What was there before the Big Bang? What (or who) triggered the initial explosion? Where did subatomic particles, atoms and matter come from? How did all the laws of physics come to be, that align everything with exquisite stability and order?
2. When you hear that all life stems from a single-celled organism, ask yourself: Where did the first cell come from? (1) How could the millions of precise parts needed for even the simplest known life form have assembled themselves through unguided, random processes? How did the first self-replicating molecules, such as RNA, arise when they themselves are made of complex components that also needed to be intricately assembled? What is the specific, naturalistic mechanism that caused inanimate molecules to suddenly "pursue" survival and functionality? Why does human-guided research struggle to replicate the "accidental" assembly of a functional, self-replicating molecule, let alone a cell?
3. Ask yourself: Aren’t we lucky that our air doesn’t have a little less oxygen, where we would suffocate, or a little more oxygen, which would cause the air we breathe to be toxic, unstable, and highly reactive, making fires uncontrollable?
The questions are endless.
Most people look at the Universe from the “bottom up,” in terms of what makes sense to them. I suggest looking at it from the “top down,” in terms of what might make sense from God’s perspective. A seeker is open to looking beyond the science, and the possibility of divine intention versus random chance. And since God may be infinite, we should humbly embrace the many aspects of existence that are seemingly inexplicable, and reflect on our own limitations – not God’s. So don’t prematurely “break up” with God. Instead consider saying, “God, it’s ME, not YOU” (2) and keep perusing clarity and truth wherever they may lie.
Footnotes:
1. Google AI: A person who does not believe the first cell could have been created by itself is likely questioning the scientific hypothesis of “abiogenesis,” or the natural process by which life arises from non-living matter. These questions often focus on the extreme unlikelihood of random chemical processes assembling the complex components needed for a living cell. Here are some additional questions one could ask:
Given that many chemical reactions required for life are reversible, what mechanism on early Earth could have driven the specific, necessary reactions forward while preventing the unwanted "reverse" reactions?
The raw materials needed for a cell, like amino acids and lipids, are often formed under different environmental conditions. How could they have been brought together in the necessary concentrations and kept from degrading?
What is the origin of the specific "handedness" of biological molecules? Life uses only “left-handed” amino acids and “right-handed” sugars, but natural chemical reactions produce a 50/50 mix.
How did a semipermeable cell membrane, which requires lipids, form at the same time as the proteins and genetic material it would need to enclose? And how did it prevent dilution by the surrounding water?
In a modern cell, DNA makes proteins, but proteins (enzymes) are needed to replicate DNA. What came first, or how did this interdependent system arise all at once?
Given that complex multicellular life forms do not arise spontaneously in sterilized environments, why would the first single-celled organism be able to?
Since life as we know it today quickly consumes any new organic material, how could the first life have emerged when existing life would have viewed it as food?
We often hear, “everything is random,” but even at the sub-atomic level, why is everything is so incredibly intricate and precise?
So for those who reject abiogenesis, the (additional) difficulties above highlight what they see as the need for an external cause or "designer" for life.
2. The phrase "It's me, not you" is a common expression used during breakups to lessen the emotional impact. The person ending the relationship takes responsibility, aiming to reassure the other person that they are not at fault.