I’m Not Sure What I Believe About God
When I was a young boy we went to church on a regular basis: every Wednesday night, every Sunday and every Sunday night. I had a great youth group to be a part of and we were all pretty good friends. God and Jesus weren’t really pushed down our throats, but the church was a Bible teaching church and believed that life, Earth were all created by God in 7 days, Adam and Eve were the first humans and if you didn’t confess Jesus then you would go to hell. I think these beliefs are fairly typical of most Christian churches.
When I left for college many of these ideologies were challenged and I abandoned most of these beliefs. At this point it has been proven that our planet and universe have been around for more than five thousand years, humans evolved from a primitive form of proto hominins who had limited faculties and it is highly unlikely that the world was created in 7 days.
I look at some of my early beliefs much in the same way humans once believed the Earth was flat. Or that people who suffered from seizures were possessed by demons. Or that witches in Salem existed resulting in thousands of innocent women being brutally murdered.
As I have interacted with people from around the globe and met people from all religions my eyes have been opened to the fact that the world is an enormous place with people who hold differing world-views. My views have been influenced by many people and have become an amalgamation of my experiences.
As the title reflects, I’m not sure what I believe about “God”. I do believe there is a higher power in this world, I just don’t know what it, he, she is exactly. I’m fairly certain God isn’t a person. It is easy for mankind to view a deity in our form as it is the only form we know. Maybe God takes on a human form? I don’t know.
I am always put off when someone pretends to know or believe as definitive fact something that humans cannot possibly know. I have no idea if aliens helped build the pyramids, but I doubt it happened. I don’t have any insight as to Nessie being a real creature living in a lake, but I have my doubts. And I will never state as fact what happens when we die because I have no clue, nor does anyone else. As it stands, we are all guessing.
And we guess about a lot of stuff, but I’m satisfied not knowing. It actually feeds my curiosity and that makes life that much more interesting. Not knowing sometimes is most of the fun. It forces me to dig for information. It challenges me to expand my mind. Not knowing allows me to use my imagination. Not knowing makes anything possible which is exciting and scary all at the same time.
So, what is “God”? I have no idea and I’m okay with not knowing.
Danny