I've recently been engaged in a very interesting, thoughtful, and respectful conversation that is as old as recorded history. The topic; The Existence of God: Myth or Reality. It is so interesting to be the one to argue for the very things that I used to argue against. I feel like because I claim to be a Christian, though, certain stereotypes are thrust upon me. I hope I do not come off as a Bible thumping, close minded, idiot to others when I talk about my faith, but I felt that I needed to clarify a few things.
I believe in Science as the basis for understanding the Universe that we live in.
I believe that there are laws and rules that exist that can be tested, retested and confirmed to explain just about everything that exists in the universe.
I believe that what we don't understand we will figure out if given enough time and curiosity.
I believe in Albert Einstein (Science praise his name) and his theory of relativity.
I believe that E does in fact equal mc squared and that to my best understanding this means that matter can not be made from nothing and cannot simply cease to exist. It can only change form.
I believe that the beginning of the Universe is something that can be completely understood and validated using the scientific method.
I believe that the theory of evolution is a completely valid theory that has lots of data to support it. It seems to me a reasonable concept and therefore it is a part of my worldview until proven otherwise by scientific data of equal measure.
I do believe in dinosaurs.
Its funny; I was the number one champion of the Bible being a useless, antiquated book of legends that had no relevance to reality of the world or God. Even the concept of 'God' I had a hard time reasoning into my worldview. I wanted to believe, but there are so many contradictions and a lot of manipulation within religion that it seemed impossible to know any kind of Truth about God.
I traveled down many paths in search of God and if there was a God that could fit into reality in a very real sense. I considered becoming a Buddhist, but the lack of a God within the philosophy was a big turn off. I'm not interested in attaining something over many lifetimes. I'm not interested in tuning into my self to find the best way to be detached from this earthly world. What I'm interested in is living in the world and being a part of the positive changes that are needed to propel mankind towards its destiny. What I'm interested in is being a force of Good in a world of so much anger, violence, hate, and pain. I'm not interested in getting into heaven after I die, I just want my life to mean something when I'm done with it. What I'm interested in is living my life in a way that reflects the beauty that I feel in my heart when I think of the way the universe works. Reality is a wonderful dance of mathematics, chemistry, and light. We have been given the ability to appreciate this harmony and marvel at just the beauty we can see and understand.
In my heart of hearts I know that there is something that designed all this. The ultimate Choreographer of this dance. The more I learn about the laws of science, the wisdom of history, the value of anthropology and archaeology the more I am in awe of the Creation. I long to know the Creator of such an amazing design and so my search began at a young age and still continues to this day.
All this to say that when I used to argue the practicality of paganism, the wisdom of Taoism, or the obviousness of deism at the very least, when put up against the nonsense of the Bible, I didn't have near the kind of blow back that I have found when I try to prove the validity of the Bible or even the existence of God. Its so funny to me because I've actually read the entire Bible from cover to cover. I read it as just another book on the path, and at the age of 21 it was probably one of the only so called Holy Books that I hadn't taken the time to read. Even though I had countless arguments against it and even mocked it on more than one occasion. I even read the Satanic Bible long before I decided to read the actual Bible. The story struck a cord with me and led me to believe that Jesus really is God incarnate and that his teachings are the Truth and the Way to fully know God and live as one of His. Its so ironic that I have now become the Christian arguing in favor of the faith and I'm coming up against all the questions that I used to throw out. I'm even looked down on in some respects as a person that believes in fairy tales and should be pitied. In a way its kind of fun because I know why I believe what I believe. I have an answer that satisfies me and I marvel as to why it doesn't always satisfy everyone. I don't worry about it though. I wish everyone the best and always enjoy a good conversation.
Gabriel 8>)
No comments:
Post a Comment