Believers and Non-Believers

Greenbean’s comments have led me to reflect a bit upon my on religious and spiritual journey. First, I don’t believe in my own title of this article; there are no non-believers. Everyone believes in something whether it is religion or not is besides the point.

But I am a believer in a deity, specifically the deity of the Judeo-Christian tradition. That does not infer I don’t accept tenants of other religious traditions; I do. My journey is like most believers as expressed in the old Sunday School song variation: “Jesus loves me this I know for my mother told me so; in other words I was brought up in a church going and believing family. But that is just tradition, though important.

In my early college years I challenged my belief systems more and engaged in religious debate; and I got flat beat in an argument with a pastor. The gist of the debate was on the subject of predestination, of which I will not bore you with it here and is a most misunderstood theological stance. Suffice it to say, with a more enlightened mind I saw God as a passionate loving being intimately connected with all creation with a plan to have everyone live and work in harmony and love. It is akin to Joseph Pintauro’s statement, “To believe in God is to believe that somewhere, someone is not stupid,” because our history, besides marking human development, also well shows our negative sides.

Now that I have said that I am a believer that does not infer I have no doubts about my theology, the existence of God and practically everything else. I have wrestled with my faith for as long as I have lived it seems and many times I feel I have lost my faith in God completely, only to wake up the next morning to find it intact. Strange. I also describe myself as an agnostic. I think it is the height of egotism to say one can prove or disprove the existence of God in whatever incarnation that God may have. To me, that lies solely in God’s domain, thus his great description to Moses when questioned how to describe God to Pharaoh. God says, “I am.” It’s quite a statement. Descartes tried to do something similar in proving his own existence when he said, “Cogito ergo sum” or “I think therefore I am.” But my questioning mind counters, “What if you are merely a thought that thinks, therefore dependent on another thinker and in essence have no real existence.” I rather like that. What I am is a believing agnostic.

I think I am a typical person, filled with questions, doubts and beliefs. I have met exactly one person in my life that said she never ever had any doubts about the existence of God. I believed her, but it boggled my mind. For me, doubts and questions is what drive my theology and spirituality; it is what gives it substance and strength. I love to debate with believers and so-called no believers because everybody has a glimpse of truth.

It is like a haiku poem I once wrote based on a talk with my father who saw all of us in slated boxes but without tops on them. We can’t exactly look and communicate well with each other but if we look up and we can find a commonality; my poem: Look up please, see what others see; perceive?

So, Greenbean and others I welcome folk to attack my beliefs, for in the questing and debate, we find greater truths. Winning an argument is not the point; the point is that in genuine sharing of ideas which may conflict with each other and often do, we can come closer to discovering more and more complete truths.

The old Westminster Catechism question reads, “What is the chief end of man?” And the answer it gives is, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” The language is sexist and dated but there is great truth in it. I believe we are placed here on this earth to develop relationships; relationships with God and with each other. Those relationships can only be developed through dialogue, through agreeing and disagreeing and rethinking and rethinking again.

I think that is why Jesus spoke primarily in stories. Jesus didn’t just hand out answers to accept or reject, he told stories from which you can discern truths. His stories seem always to run counter the common point of view, the combative point of view, to a higher level of existence; toward the abundant life he promised. His stories I believe are about the kingdom of God and good citizenship in it.

At this point in my life I still have many questions and second guess my beliefs on a regular basis. It just doesn’t bother me much anymore, in fact, I like them. They tell me I am still growing. The core of my beliefs have remained with me a very long time and I am comfortable with them but how they have stretched and grown and changed and been reformulated over and over innumerable times. Fun!

I wish our politicians and our preachers would have more fun and more integrity.