He has spent his whole life in the world of television and radio. He has worked as a scriptwriter for programs, including Buenafuente, the Goya Awards and Pólonia, on TV3, but he has been searching for God without nuances for even longer. And he found him. First "rationally" and then, completely through the gift of Faith.
Today, Oriol Jara lives a "radically different" life. Because that radix, that root, is based on the certainty that his life is a life "created by God for eternity, to be his family".
The conversation with Omnes is impetuous, frank, naked of formal embellishments, the word that does not forget the Word and sows it with fire throughout the world. Discovering the existence of God led him to share his experience in the world. Ten reasons to believe in God, published by Albada and that collects, as he himself defines "the fruit of a change of vital perspective. Of a progressive and renovating conversion".
How do you come to assert that God exists through reason?
- Since high school, or perhaps a little earlier, I have had a genuine and authentic interest in whether God exists. It is an interest that I think anyone should have because, if God exists, it radically changes everything we think the world is. Our life goes from being a temporary happenstance to what it really is, a life created by God for eternity, to be his family.
That interest made me start researching and reading. I began to read philosophical texts, texts that speak of God and Christ, that speak of the Bible, the Bible itself.
In the end, this interest leads me from trying to find out who God is and if He exists, to discovering in an evident way that God exists and that He has revealed Himself in the Bible and has become man in history.
God is not a myth, God is an operation in the history of something supernatural.
You can arrive at the truth in a reasoned way because there is evident proof that God exists. There is evidence that there is a human problem which is evil, sin, there is a need to solve that evil and, since the human being is incapable, God does it for us.
When you see that it is God operating in history and that He is a God who has left evidence in history of His existence, the last step is to assume that there are things that you have not seen but believe to have been so because God has done them for you, such as the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
To this people may respond that, if it is so obvious, why doesn't everyone believe?
- The Bible says "no one comes to Me unless the Father draws him". It is something beyond our control. It is the same reason why the Pharisees were not able to see that the Old Testament was being fulfilled in Jesus. It is not something that depends on us; in the end it is something biblically beyond our control. Human beings, from the very first moment, have wanted their autonomy and freedom not to obey God. There is little we can do beyond explaining to the people around us that God is true and what it means to live a Christian life.
What led you to write "10 reasons to believe in God"?
- There were two things that led me to do so. First, that there are many humble, helpful and faithful believers who are ashamed to communicate openly that they believe in God because society has pushed them to think that believing in God is an idiotic attitude. In reality, what is lacking in reason is not believing in God. The 90 % atheists we encounter in life have not read the Bible. Most atheists are unaware of the accuracy, coherence and finesse of the biblical writings.
That brings me to the second reason. I communicate this because there is a battle going on. It is a war between God and the enemies of God, which we have to fight and we have to win. This war is won by convincing people that God wants us to be his family.
There is an evil force against this that is dragging us into a society that no one wants. Evil has managed to sully even one of God's most beautiful gifts, which is sex. It has managed to turn it into something so ugly that it seems that everything about sex is a sin, when it is not true.
Evil operates in this way. It intoxicates people with ideas, with products, idolatries, selfishness, greed and ambitions. Evil drags us to be against God and to be sadder.
You speak of evil..., today, is it difficult for us to speak clearly of the devil?
- When people talk about the devil, the image we have been left with is that of the Greek god Pan, a man with goat's feet and horns, but no. Satan is that which we want, in the most beautiful way possible. Satan is what we want, in the most beautiful way possible. Satan is a seducer, not a monster. His great pleasure is disobedience to God.
The other day I was talking to a non-believing sexologist who was telling me exactly what the Bible says about pornography. She was talking about the studies that say pornography affects relationships and I was reminded of Psalm 101 which says "Conduct yourself in your house with uprightness of heart and do not set perverse things before your eyes."
We need the Spirit to guide us and teach us to live in a righteous way, in accordance with what God asks of us and to be fruitful so that our environment is happy. God demands happiness and Satan asks us for other things.
There are two loves, "eros" and "caritas". The "eros" wants something, the "caritas" gives. That's the summary. So whether it's one or the other, you know who is putting that in your heart.
Does the Church today still have the strength of the twelve apostles who went out into the world? Or has it become more comfortable?
- I am nobody, but in Romans 12 St. Paul says: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, what pleases him, what is perfect". I believe that the Church must be radical and extremist, because that is the message of Jesus.
Jesus' message is not "live as you have been and gather on Sundays". His message is a new life, to be born again and to renew the mind. The Bible tells us not to adapt. I see a lot of "adaptation" and what people want is radicalism.
We have watered down the message, so that people don't care whether they believe or not because it doesn't change anything in their lives, but the Church is the opposite. The Church is people who knew they were going to have a bad time but it is urgent that people change.
The Bible is radical, because it goes to the foundation of the human heart and calls for extreme changes. God in the Old and New Testaments threatens great catastrophes if rebellion continues. We are living things today that, to a certain extent, are contained in the letter to the Romans or in Isaiah.
We have a precious, all-important, radical and urgent truth that we should treat as such. It is life-changing and we cannot be afraid to scare anyone. On the contrary, people want answers. In homilies there must be fire to move people.
That radicality is lost if we adapt to the world. Christianity is not a half way. That happened with me, I believed intellectually in the truth but it did not bear fruit in my life. When the Spirit changed my life, it bore fruit.
From the beginning you have said that everything changes when one says that God exists, how does your life change since you realize that God exists and you receive the gift of faith?
- Years ago I understood that God exists, that He has revealed Himself in the Bible and that He became man to save us, but the Spirit blows where He wills and, until the Spirit did not allow me to understand this truth, I could not believe.
The great change is written in Psalm 1, which says that God promises one thing to believers: that if you meditate on the Word day and night, if you follow God's will, you will be a tree that grows by a river, that bears fruit abundantly. The grace of this image is that the tree never bears fruit in order to eat the fruit, because that would be absurd, but the tree bears fruit so that others may eat the fruit. That is what I have experienced in my conversational life. You bear fruit so that others may live better. Biblically that should be a personal test of your conversion, if you are bearing fruit for others, if you are in your heart living for others. And I'm not talking about being blameless, but that from the heart we love, and that transforms into a better life for the people around us. That people can say, even if they are not believers, "Glory to God", because you are a Christian and that is better for them.
Was the reaction of your environment that "Glory to God" of which you speak?
- I think so, but it is difficult for me to speak for the others. It is true that Aitana, my wife, says so. She sincerely believes that it has changed her life. I think my children can say so too, and my co-workers are better and luckier for the fact that I am a Christian. That's the way it should be.
There is an objective thing. The talks, the books, etc., make me perceive that my conversion touches many people. There are even people who have read the book and have been baptized. These are very nice things and in the end it is God who is operating through his tools, so it is no merit of mine. The merit is letting the Spirit flow and being a conduit of grace and blessings.
In your family, with your wife and children, do you live the faith? Was your wife already a believer?
- Yes, she has taught me beautiful things about kindness and has been the perfect companion for this process. She has accompanied me with understanding, enthusiasm and patience.
10 reasons to believe in God
Apart from the Bible, what readings have helped you?
- We lack a lot of knowledge of the Bible. If we do not know the Bible well, they will harm us Christians. The Bible is not a channeled book, it is not that the author was in a trance and when he woke up he had the text written. God has used authors, with their culture, their readings and knowledge to communicate his message. The Bible is not only a historical account, it is a theological reading of the facts.
Then, as a reading I recommend one of six volumes, with which I made an extreme qualitative leap in my path of conversion, which is "A Marginal Jew" by John P. Meier. Meier, who is now deceased, is an American theologian and priest. The book talks about the historical Jesus and is very well documented.
Another book, which is perhaps intellectually more complex, is "God Exists" by Antony Flew. He was a very famous atheist philosopher who converted because science and philosophy were proving to him that God exists. Then, for people who are very interested in science there is a book called "Shooting God."
Besides, having a study Bible is fantastic. Or at a higher level, the "Confessions" of St. Augustine or "The City of God".
