The Religion in Me, Part 2–Does God exist?

Ah, the age old question.

And the age old answer–I don’t know.

Nobody knows. That’s what’s so funny about the latest argument between renowned atheists such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins and religious leaders. Both tribes are so forceful and condescending in their arguments that it makes me think that both must be wrong. Truly, in one of the most famous of books, the main character–Jesus of Nazareth–says that God is a spirit and must be worshiped in spirit. How exactly can we prove that a spirit exists?

Hitchens and his ilk poke fun at people who believe in the God of particular interpretations of the Bible and Qur’an, a God who is active in the world in direct ways–the parting of the Red Sea, the miracles of Jesus, God as a burning bush, etc, etc. I don’t know about all that. I consider Bible stories to be myths that had/have some truth in them, maybe. But where truth ends and fiction begins, who knows. And frankly, who cares. (If you need Jesus to be a water-walker in order to believe that his teachings have merit, then I think you just might be missing the point. But that’s a different blog . . .)

If God exists, and if God is a spirit, then this God has got to be beyond the comprehension of us mere mortals.

I think of it like this: a man trying to comprehend the essence or totality of God is like a baby trying to comprehend the entire consciousness of the parent. It’s impossible. So, the way I see it, if there’s a God, then this God has got to be unknowable.

So then why bother worshiping this God or trying to live by some rules that God supposedly set up?

Because just as a baby grows and eventually begins to comprehend the larger reality, so too is it our quest to grow and comprehend as much of the universe–physical and spiritual–as we can.

An atheist leaves God out of the equation. An atheist pursues some form of truth–scientific, historical, architectural, life as a travel writer for Better Homes and Gardens, whatever–and such an atheist says that God has nothing to do with anything. And really, this person has a right to live his life accordingly. If there’s a God, then he must be self-subsisting. He must not need us to believe.

Yet, I think that such pursuit of truth in any field of endeavor is actually the pursuit of some part of God. I think that searching for metaphorical and allegorical truth in the Holy scriptures is searching for some part of God’s perfect truth. I think that a baseball player giving a quarter of his time and money to cancer research is God acting in the world. I think sacrificing something dear to you for the greater good is God acting in the world. And I think that pursing such a truth as a believer gives a person insights he may not have otherwise had. Think Einstein; he was pursuing God, really. He just called it The Unified Field Theory.

And who am I to say this? I have no idea. And I don’t want to know. That’s the beauty of it. Who was Rosa Parks? Just some lady inspired to take a stand on a particular day. Who was my dad to reject one kind of life for another, leading to his four kids getting the first four college educations ever in the history of this modest family? I have no idea. But I think inspiration played a role. And I think inspiration lives in the heart, where God lives, too.

I can only speak for myself: when I felt in tune with certain attributes, such as humility, compassion, love, and a desire to be inspired so to help the world in some way, incredible things happened. I had ideas and made decisions that affected my life, directly, in incredible ways . . . see wife, kid, career, relationships of all kinds.

So where does religion and God come into play?

Consider this: Jesus said that if you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move a mountain. Now, I guess you could say that this is all about having faith in God, but since God is a spirit, I think we might want to think deeper on this verse.

I think it means, simply, that if you have a small amount of faith, you can do the impossible.

Example: what are the odds of a young, poor, Hispanic orphan girl from inner city Los Angeles becoming, say, a world-renowned architect? Reason says that such a thing ought to be impossible. But if this girl really wants it, if she has faith in herself and a world of possibilities, it could happen. In fact, it won’t happen without such faith, whether it’s faith in some vague idea of God or Jesus or Mohammed or the Buddha or in herself or in a divine system that can work for her as long as she is determined.

And, it should be said, she will likely not attain her goal without a reasonable plan of action.

Faith and reason work together; this, to me, is God being active in the world.

This, to me, is one kind of proof that God exists.

But what about when a person has faith and things go terribly wrong? Where is God when a faithful believer suffers a terrible injustice?

. . . stay tuned.

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