Do you believe in God?
by Tom on Nov.01, 2009, under Random Musing
Or more specifically, do you believe in the Christian God? If yes then why?
Most people would probably answer that with ‘I have faith’ or ‘The bible is God’s Word’. Except for a very small number of people who converted from another religion (Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc) the real answer is that is how you were raised. If your parents were Christian, you were raised as a Christian and that is what you grow up believing. There isn’t a universal Truth that draws everyone to a particular god or religion. When you are a child you believe in anything, Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, The Easter Bunny and God. As you get older you discover all those things you believed in as a child weren’t real but stories, except for God. You keep being told God is real. Anyway this was something that popped into my head while cleaning house.
P.S. – It fascinates me that the oldest organized religions are still going strong after several thousand years, like Hinduism. Back in the early days of Judaism there was a concerted effort to destroy the god Ba’al by the Yahweh which eventually succeeded since you’d be hard pressed to find anyone today who worships Ba’al. God doesn’t seem to be as interested today in removing the competition though. There are some fringe elements in most religious organizations that talk about cleansing the Earth of the false gods, ie any but their own, but most mainstream clergy tend to take a live and let live view of other religions.
November 3rd, 2009 on 10:15 am
I believe in the possibility of something else. I don’t believe in a god that would have anything to do with human religions. Anything people touch gets twisted.
November 3rd, 2009 on 10:19 pm
A lot of people are saying they are not associated with any particular religion. Some atheists have taken that as a sign that more people are leaving behind their belief in god, but I think it’s more likely they are following your view. They believe in something, but aren’t getting what they want from organized religions.
I would suggest reading “Eternal Life: A New Vision: Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell” by John Shelby Spong. A retired bishop who argues that the usefulness of human religions is past and they should be discarded.