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Does God exist? If so, what is He like?
This week's Spiritual Newsletter is all about the search for answers.
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The last few days, I have spent some time thinking about the big question of theistic religions – does God exist? If yes, the question that immediately follows is: what is God like?
It is far from the first time that I have pondered this. I grew up in a Christian household. If people ask me about my faith, I’ll sometimes say that I am a Christian, as I don’t always want to get into a lengthy discussion about my beliefs, but I guess that when you get right down to it I am a non-religious theist.
I believe in God. I can’t really explain why. It’s a feeling I hold deep inside of me. And I have had some personal experiences that point in the direction of a God. There may well be other explanations for them, but I’m going with the existence of a Higher Power.
I can’t prove that God exists, of course. Nor can I prove that the God I believe in is the true God. There are those who believe in another God, or Gods, or Goddesses than I do. In the past, people believed in the existence of Odin, for example. Freya. Ra. Osiris. Apollo. Zeus. Minerva. Juno. Many no doubt had a far stronger belief in those Gods and Goddesses than I do in mine.
A while ago, my grandmother expressed a concern that my studying Philosophy might turn me away from my beliefs. I can understand why. I have always had a questioning mind, but now I am getting even more analytical with it. I don’t think that I will ever stop believing in there being a God, and I feel that Jesus made some very good points about being kind to one another, and doing our best not to judge one another, but there are so many things that I cannot wrap my head around.
I don’t know each and every religion that exists or has existed. It would be wrong for me to even try to comment on them, or share what little I think I do know in this newsletter, as I might well get it wrong, and I wouldn’t want to misrepresent anyone’s beliefs. I would be interested in learning more, though. If you have any items in your portfolio that explain your religion/faith, I would be happy to read them and highlight them in this newsletter. It doesn’t have to be a theistic religion, either. I feel that a greater knowledge and understanding between us all can only be beneficial.
I wonder how people who are religious deal with the aspects of their religion that they may not (wholly) agree with. I am sure that there are many people who fully believe in everything that their religion involves, but there are bound to be those who, like me, question, or who may believe in/agree with most of their religion, but not in every single aspect of it.
For me, one of the biggest sticking points has long been the concept of hell. I cannot agree with there being a hell. That doesn’t mean that it cannot exist, but if it does, I have a serious issue with it.
I think that we can all agree that there are people in the world who do terrible things. I’ve opened news stories before that I couldn’t finish reading, because I felt sick. I’ve been a victim of crimes, some of which I still carry the physical and mental scars from. I nearly died as the result of one particular crime. It’s easy to understand why people feel strong emotions about horrific deeds like that. Why they want justice.
Personally, however, I believe that even those who committed the worst of crimes do not deserve to be subjected to hell.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. If it’s not acceptable for us to harm one another – which I fully believe that it isn’t – then it can never be justice to inflict further harm. Placing someone guilty of horrible crimes in prison is sensible. That way, they can cause no further harm to society, and hopefully they will reflect on what they’ve done. Torturing them? No. That wouldn’t make us the better person.
So it is with hell. If I, as a mere human being, can see that torture is wrong, surely a merciful God would not inflict this on anyone? Let alone for eternity?
It’s hard to imagine what that would be like. We only have a limited lifespan, and I don’t even want to think of that lifespan being one of constant pain and agony. Eternity would consist of many, many lifespans, endlessly. I don’t think that there’s anything that anyone could possibly do to deserve that. Not even the worst of us.
And according to some, all that is needed to end up there is lack belief in a particular religion...
I guess I don’t have the answers. Maybe I never will. It’s quite possible that I will always be questioning, and searching. If so, I hope that I will find some interesting viewpoints along the way.
Kit of House Lannister
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Spiritual: April 18, 2018 Issue [#8859]
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