Is there a God? Is there some kind of benevolent, or at least unifying, force that watches and binds us all? Or are we all alone on this little blue ball we call home?
War, famine, genocide, and the popularity of The Simple Life seem like evidence of the latter to me. Even though I only have my own experiences to draw from, I haven't seen much evidence for an invisible man in the sky who decides who is good and who is evil. An all-knowing, all-caring being who lets us wander around with no clue as to who is he is or what he really wants. Doesn't sound too caring to me. More malicious than anything else. I have never witnessed anything that made me believe in any sort of God. Never had the feeling there was something "more" to the world. Never.
Then again, there was a porta-potty at the end of Calvert Street yesterday.
After returning some DVDs to the Columbia Road Blockbuster I was making my way back to the Adams Morgan Metro Stop, when all of a sudden I really, really had to pee. Maybe it was the light drizzle, but all of a sudden I badly needed to urinate. So bad that the sensation turned my groin into the black-hole of my body's universe, sucking everything into it while threatening to implode.
It was just getting past the pleasant darkness of evening when I realized wasn't going to make it back to my apartment. Most of the businesses, even the McDonalds, in the area would demand I buy something before letting me use the bathroom. I didn't think I would make it far enough to pay for the privilege of peeing anyway. And then I saw it.
Nestled in a barely lit corner of the sidewalk, just after the bridge. A blue booth where I could relieve myself. Unlocked! Unoccupied!
Wait, what the fuck am I thinking? I thought. I get in there, it locks up, and I wake up in a harem in North Korea doing God knows what...oh gawd my bladder, fuck it, I'm going to pee and if I end up a sex slave, so be it.
A minute or two later, I emerged back onto Calvert street and thought, Thank God for this porta-potty.
And why can't I literally believe God put that porta-potty there for me? If other people can find God in pieces of toast, cheese, potato chips, why can't I find God in a toilet? A portable toilet. I don't see why it wouldn't be just as good. It would make a great story at Bible study. God sent me a miracle, and I pissed in it.
I don't really believe God sent the porta-potty, even though there was a message from Jesus scrawled in marker on the inside of the door. If I did, though, my belief would every bit as valid as anyone else's for believing in God.
Maybe that personal aspect is what makes faith beautiful. Whatever you choose to have faith in, and for whatever reason, it's your choice. Whether it's because of family, friends, a life-changing moment, or even just a toilet - your faith is yours.
Just don't force it on me.
It's not always easy
4 years ago
7 comments:
You don't have to see God as man-like being who influences our fate. In fact, if you abandon the idea that God has control over our lives, then you no longer have to explain the war, famine, disease, etc. Maybe God is a unifying force in the universe that resides within each of is, but is somehow greater when combined. Maybe God is the interconnectivity between people. We feel it when we prey for something and we all do, even you. And maybe that's the point -- not that God is the all powerful spirit *who* will grant or deny our wishes, but rather that we feel comfort in God when we look within ourselves and to others. Maybe, just maybe, it's having faith that matters, and not what you have faith in.
I think it matter what you have faith in. I have faith in people, not invisible men.
When I look inside myself and others, I feel comfort in them, not God.
Obviously I'm refering to the Jeudo-Christian-Isalmic being known as God. If we want to change the definition to a "force" between people...well we've just made God more abstract and impossible to refute, like faith.
I don't feel any interconnectivity with other people when I pray, I feel more alone. I've never felt anything that I would qualify as any type of God, force or otherwise.
The point was more that faith is personal thing, and you can find it anywhere. Which can be good and bad.
Well, I disagree with your counterpoints ;)
"When I look inside myself and others, I feel comfort in them, not God."
It depends on what you mean by God. When I go to synagogue, and I'm sitting with the congregation, listening to my Rabbi's sermon, reading prose, singing a hymn, I feel something greater than myself and the people in the chairs next to me -- some kind of communal connection.
"Obviously I'm refering to the Jeudo-Christian-Isalmic being known as God. If we want to change the definition to a "force" between people...well we've just made God more abstract and impossible to refute, like faith."
Hmm, I'm not redefining anything. Each religion has a broad range of sects, which often define God in very different ways. In Judaism, for example, there is Reconstructionism, which views God very much as a universal force, there is Jewish Mysticism, which adds all sorts of weird mystical elements not in the Bible, and there is the more traditional reformed / conservative / orthadox lines that to varying degrees view God in the traditional supreme being form. Anyway, these groups have all been around for a while...
"I don't feel any interconnectivity with other people when I pray, I feel more alone. I've never felt anything that I would qualify as any type of God, force or otherwise."
Well, like I said, when I'm in a group, I do feel something. But, I think people mostly feel comfort when they are praying, especially when faced with a situation they cannot control. I think praying is for the person praying and not for the person being prayed for. But who is to say that sense of comfort is not a connection with God.
"The point was more that faith is personal thing, and you can find it anywhere. Which can be good and bad."
I understood your point, but was offering my own.
Okay, then I disagree with your counterpoints.
When I was in church, praying in groups, I didn't feel any sort of connection I would define as mystical or godlike. If anything, it was a feeling of being on the same team or in the same club. A sense of I'm not alone. A community feeling.
The point of saying this is not all people feel that this "connectivity" is mystical. You can define it as God, but I don't.
And, if I did believe God sent that toilet for me, it would be no different than your belief that this feeling of something greater is proof of God. We are human beings interperting stimuli. You interpert a feeling as God, I would be interperting a seemingly miraculous event as God.
And we can all find different sects that differ in their defenition of God, but I was obviously referring to the "traditional" form and changing that to a more mystical force isn't really arguing with me, because I'm not arguing about that type of God. Other cultures long gone have many varying defenitions of God, and we don't have time to argue about them all.
I have never felt comfort from praying. It's hard to feel comfort from something I don't believe works. I have felt comfort from the love of other people.
Anyway, this is really just a disagreement about the existence of God, which we don't agree on. And since there is no "truth" about it other than our own personal choices, it's like arguing about whose favorite flavor of ice cream is better.
So, truce?
Oh, I guess there is a "truth" to it, but unless we enter some kind of suicide pact, we will have to wait to find out :)
Sure, truce. We can agree to disagree. But, before we do ...
I was not "changing [the definition of God] to a more mystical force" in order to "argue" with you. I was only stating an alternate way of looking at things.
And, I disagree that all statements of faith are equal. For example, I could say "giant wicker people from another dimension created the world," but I don't think that would be as valid as a belief system that developed over thousands of years from serious contemplation by religious leaders, philosopers, even scientists.
But, my main point was just that having faith is more important than what you have faith in. I think believing in something outside the physical realm helps us cope with things. In fact, it's human nature. But, if your are evolved beyond that, then more power to you :)
As to the suicide pact, ever see "Flatliners"? ;)
that's the magic of faith. it can never be wrong. it can never be right. it is only there. had by some. not had by others. repeated for generations....
i think it's important what u believe in. not just having faith, but really what u believe in has to make sense to you. whatever it is. i base my beliefs on EXPERIENCE first. what people tell me just form a foundation of possibilty. but i have to see it for myself to learn. to really believe.
this no doubt creates a chasm of insecurity when it comes to God. because...you can't see Him. Or talk to Him.
so i base it on other things.
like times i pray and strange things happen. maybe it's chance. but deep down i feel something else...
that emotional connection...i don't have.
thought. feeling.
self arguments
The Mystery is there because the Mystery is more powerful than the solution ever could be. If there were proof God existed, people would get used to it and go, meh...
When does a country leader have the most power? when people follow him by will. not by force.
The most power one can have is when one believes/follows you without even KNOWING you exist.
free will? this sounds like a devourer that feeds off of free will.
but nonetheless...from another angle it might be love...returning love in the most powerful form. He created us so in return we believe in him without proof. That's our payment.
(these r just random thoughts.)
Maybe nothing is there.
Maybe something is.
I wish I could find out.
But maybe...
The journey is the key.
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