I Believe In God! - A Sunday Post

Welcome – I am going to talk about God and Religion in this post. I ask for your interest only - I do not expect you to believe as I do. I value the freedom to believe and worship according to my own conscious and your freedom to do the same.

Recently a study was conducted in the United States that found that 95% of the people in this country believe in God. I am one of those who believe. Despite this large finding, the belief in God seems to be under attack. It hurts for me to hear this because I believe that it is the absent of the sacred that degrades human life and brings us as a people to new lows.

There is hope, a new benchmark survey finds that 55 percent of young people ages 12 to 25 say they are more spiritual now than two years ago.  It seems that our younger people want to believe in God, but nearly one-third of these young people said they don't trust organized religion.

I think we all want to be as happy as we possible can. It is a common pursuit. For me, a belief in God, the pursuit of spiritual intelligence and the involvement in an organized religion of my choice yields the most happiness. I don’t feel that you need to belong to my religion for you to be happy, but I do feel you will be most happy if you do belong to a religion of your choice.

It is true that some organized religions cause more damage than good. That is sad, because I am sure that the purpose of those organizations is to bring good to the world. Most of the ones that cause damage end up failing. The extreme examples always receive the most attention. There are so many good things that organized religion does that it would be a shame to condemn them all. If a certain religion doesn’t meet your needs, then join or follow a new one.

I say this because I believe religion is a necessary part of happiness. I am sure my secular friends will argue that there are just as many happy agnostics and atheists as there are religious people. I doubt it, and some of the most anti-religious people in history doubted it too. Marx called religion the “opiate of the masses.” Even the anti-religious activists of our day acknowledge the power of religion to provide comfort and happiness. They can argue religion and a belief in God is silly and even fraudulent. They can say that a belief in God is childish, but they cannot argue that it does not bring people to happiness.

I am constantly reading about the religions of the world. Currently I am reading, the Autobiography of a Yogi and find it to be incredibly enlightening. I have read the Koran, the Torah the Teachings of Buddha, The Secrets of Kabbalah, The Sacred Pipe, The Holy Bible, The Book of Mormon and many other sacred texts. I find more similarities than differences. As I read these books I feel enlightened and inspired. I learn about my own divine and eternal nature. I come to know who I am and I understand that there is great meaning beyond this life.

I would never argue for religion to govern our society. I believe in its inherent power to enhance our lives. I am arguing against the total secularization of our lives. In Proverbs, we read, “Wisdom begins with the awe of God.” Secularized government, a separation of church and state, has led to a number of important benefits, most notably our ability to become a more inclusive society and our ability to embrace individual freedoms and choice. But it is hard for me to imagine that the secular world can, or will for that matter, ever lead to wisdom on its own. How could it? The denial of any spiritual or religious meaning to human life leads ultimately to the belief that all is random and pointless. It is very difficult to find wisdom from random, meaningless and chaotic events. We correctly associate most religious governments with a lack of tolerance. We should just as correctly associate most secular thought with a lack of wisdom. It cannot ever fill us; it only lead to emptiness.

Physical exercise is a primary component of a person’s physical health. The framework, or type of exercise I choose is up to me. I can choose to run, ride a bike, lift weights, swim, yoga, or even walk. I am not obligated to choose any one of these methods in order to become physically healthy, but I must do some form of physical exercise.

In much the same way spiritual exercise is a primary component of a person’s spiritual health. The framework for those exercises is religion. Organized religion provides a support group of like-minded believers, opportunities to serve others and the singular opportunity of learning more about our spiritual selves. I believe in God. I attend church every Sunday. I support my church with my time and financial resources because I want it to continue. My membership enriches my life.

The organized religion that seeks to dethrone God as the Supreme Being is called the Humanist religion. Make no mistake, it is a religion and it is very well organized. Its primary tenant is that there is no God, and that we made Him up because of our great fear of death. That this life is nothing more than random experience and ends when we die. They believe that each individual is their own God. They say there is not proof that God exists. I say the burden of proof is on them and that everything living testifies of the existence of God. To combat those that believe in God, they quote sacred texts and play upon the imperfectness of human beings stating that if these things were true then we would live them. They say we should be ashamed for wanting to live the laws of God. They believe there is no meaning to life. When we disagree, the seek to take away the only right that can never be taken away from anybody; the right to believe whatever I want to believe.

We need to love, honor and worship God. We cannot become confused and misdirected by the twisted teachings of the humanist movement. We need to study the simple fundamentals of the truths taught by the spiritual masters. Our faith in God must be real and not speculative.

I stand firmly in my belief that there is a God. Some the Humanist movement will say that we as a people have evolved past our need to believe in God and that only the uneducated and simple minded people believe in God. They say the teachings of the Bible are old fashioned. If it is old fashioned to believe in the Bible and its teachings, then I thank God for the privilege of being old-fashioned.

The subtle reasoning of men, no matter how clever, no matter how plausible it may sound, cannot abridge the declared wisdom of God.

See you on the road!

Andrew Thorn

athorn@telioscorp.com

760-559-3548

Comments

[Rob]

Why does God need us to believe in him? Why do we need a qualifier, God, in order to determine the value of human life? If there is such confusion,within all religion, to decide on what is and what isn't, then why can't we decide on our own what is important? Is God the reason we are good or bad? Or is the mechanism built into how our psyche works, regardless of whether or not we are able to comprehend a God? Is someone who cannot comprehend God still capable of being good? Is someone who has never come in contact with religion or spirituality capable of being good?

[Andrew Thorn]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the comments. My answers of course are from my own experience.

Why does God need us to believe in him?

God does not need us to believe in Him. He is our creator. We need to believe in Him so that we can understand our own divine and eternal nature.

Why do we need a qualifier, God, in order to determine the value of human life?

I do not think of God as a qualifier. If we believe that He created us, and all things relevant to us, then we begin to see how important we are to him. You are a father. You and your wife created two beautiful girls. You understand how valuable each one is. My relationship with my children helps me understand my relationship with God more than anything else. My experiences in this world with people help me understand how valuable human life is.

If there is such confusion, within all religion, to decide on what is and what isn't, then why can't we decide on our own what is important?

We should decide on our own what is right. I believe strongly in the principle of free will and choice. I would never agree with forcing anybody to do anything.

Is God the reason we are good or bad?

No, we are the reason we are good or bad. We get to choose.

Or is the mechanism built into how our psyche works, regardless of whether or not we are able to comprehend a God?

I think that we have within each of us what we call a conscious that is built into us. Since I believe God created us, I believe He is the one endowed us with this conscious. Nevertheless, we are free to do as we wish.

Is someone who cannot comprehend God still capable of being good?

Of Course. You are a good man and one of my favorite people. I don’t think anyone really comprehends God. We see things from this Human perspective. I think we will need an Eternal perspective to truly comprehend God.

Is someone who has never come in contact with religion or spirituality capable of being good?

Of Course, and many people who come in contact with religion and/or spirituality are more than capable of being bad. I do not believe that religion makes us good – I believe that it helps us make meaning.

Thanks again for your comments.
Andrew