I believe in God. Well, let’s put it this way. I believe there is this force in the world. Something breathing in every living thing. Plants, animals (humans included), everything. In essence this force is good. It is peaceful. It is beautiful. You can call it God, Gaia, or whatever, but I believe it exists.
It’s no question, especially if you are a regular reader or this blog (of which I promise I’ll be writing more especially since I am my own boss now and I can set aside time), that I struggle when it comes to faith. I have been “Christian” my entire life. It’s all I’ve ever known. But I have also been drawn to other belief systems throughout my life as well, from Hinduism to just being irreligious. Buddhism has always been a major draw to me. I have never been more at peace since I started studying it and applying mindfulness techniques to my life.
But over the past year I have been reading the Bible from beginning to end. To be honest, I find I don’t believe the majority of it. But what I do get out of it is the overall teaching of love and humility. It is the essence of Biblical teaching. Something many “Christians” have lost if you go by what you watch or read in the media. But when you read the Bible, questions arise. Or at least they should. Once question I cannot get past is this: if all these miracles and signs of God were happening in that part of the world (because let’s get real, the world to them was what we call the Middle East) and people were inspired to write them down and believe, then what about the rest of the world?
The earliest evidence of man in North America puts them here around 50,000 years ago. That would give them enough time to evolve to the point of writing and reading. They did communicate as cave paintings can attest. So it is evident that during the time of the events of the Bible that there were men and women in North America. So were they not blessed with the events of “God” or was it only people in that part of the world?
I can’t wrap my head around that. The idea that God. The creator of all life. Of man and woman and everything within it, would only be evident and show his power in one part of the world (or, in their eyes, it was their world).
Too many questions but you are supposed to do that, right? The whole “just have faith” argument doesn’t hold water because, well, science discredits a lot and I tend to agree with science.
But I hold firm in my “faith” of this good force in the world. I find when I concentrate on it, even refer to it as God on occasion, that things go well. Maybe it’s because I focus on positive things and try to radiate that to others and because of that good things come in return (karma)? Who knows. All I know is it’s a good thing and a little faith in something bigger than ourselves (especially when it pulses with love, kindness, and good) is an awesome thing.
Namaste.
