Musings & Personal Insight

Faith 

From Birth, my parents raised me in the Christian faith.  As an adult I have embraced it, finding a calming comfort in the knowledge that I, a person devoid of significance or import, may speak directly to God.  What a powerful gift that is.  Without an intermediary or sacrificial offering, I have the ear of God.  Me, unworthy and undeserving, yet still he listens. 

I believe, but do I have proof? Can I prove there’s a God in Heaven, or justify my deification of Christ?  I could point out instances where prayers were answered.  But hard evidence?  No.  There are no scientific formulas or litmus tests to verify God’s existence.  This is why religions are known as, “faiths.”  You have to take that first step and believe.  Conviction and belief illuminate the pathway to redemption. Or as Shakespeare so eloquently penned:

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:  Words without thoughts never to heaven go."  Hamlet Scene III    

And in reality, faith isn’t very difficult for us.  Belief in a creator or a higher power is universal.  From the four corners of the earth, religion has been an integral facet of nearly every major civilization.  I find this so fascinating.  Individually, human cultures across the globe were moved to worship a higher power.  Think about it.  Common knowledge of the North American continent was unknown to Europeans until the end of the fifteenth century.   Yet God, in one form or another, was being worshiped on both sides of the Atlantic and on every populated island in between.  It seems that the need to believe has been implanted in our psyche.  Posted somewhere deep inside our DNA is a little sign that reads, “There is a God.”  

Humans need to believe in something greater than ourselves.  Is Christianity the answer?  Yes.  I recommend it, highly.  But is it the only answer?   Hmmm.  This is where I get labeled a heretic by my fundamentalist friends.

Without apology, I am not willing to totally discount all of the other world religions, many of which were founded centuries before Christ was born.  Will there be Jews and Muslims in Heaven?  Did Gandhi reach his state of Nirvana?  I once asked a devout Christian minister what his beliefs would be if he were born and raised in Turkey or Saudi Arabia.  He thought for a moment and then said, “If I were born and raised in the Middle East, right now I’d probably be a devout Muslim cleric.”   

It’s all about faith and taking that first step.  Where one lands is heavily dependent upon where they live and what they were raised to believe.  I landed on the back pew of the Baptist church.  Maybe you landed in a synagogue or a Buddhist temple.  One of these days we’ll all find out which of our religions contained God’s true message.  If I made the wrong choice, I suppose I’ll suffer the consequence.  But I know one thing for certain.  Right before God slams the gate on me, I’ll be able to look him in the eye and say, “at least I tried.”