Concerning Being and the Exquisite Necessity of Suffering

Concerning Being and the Exquisite Necessity of Suffering

I

I Believe in God and yet I know that that does not establish the existence of a God or gods of any type. I have no proof that God exists and I feel my arguments to prove His existence would sound trite and worn. And yet, I choose to believe.

II

I do not believe I will be rewarded fro believing in the existence of God anymore than I would be punished if I chose not to believe. To believe or not to believe in some respects can be the same thing.

III

If I choose to believe in God there is no reason to try and convince another person of God´s existence. It does increase or decrease the nature of God if I argue my personal views with another person. If I choose not to believe in a God there is no reason to challenge someone who does and try to undermine their faith. Either course is vain and self-serving.

IV

If someone tries to challenge my faith or my lack of it changes nothing at all. The nature of God and of everything in the Universe stays the same. Nothing changes even if I do or someone else does. If I know the Truth or I am utterly confused, the nature of Truth and the Universe stays the same.

V

I do not believe God can be petitioned with prayer and yet I pray sometimes, and feel I should pray more. In fact, even if God does not exist I feel it is not unreasonable to pray. It is not even inconceivable to pray that God exists. In this sense one does not pray for a reward or to avoid a punishment. One prays for the hope that life is vested with some meaning after all. And even if life has no meaning and there is no God, it is really no different than if there were. Suppose we God say exists, and suppose we say He does not. When we look out the window the world has not changed one bit.

5:22 PM - 12/15/2005 - post comment

Thanks for your gracious reply

Hello Bill, I was pleased that you chose to reply to my original comment, which on reflection was perhaps a little too much in your face. However I thank you for the way in which you did not write me off as a crank or crackpot. A little about me.. As you have probably gathered from my profile I live in Northern Ireland. I am a retired civil servant and have been a believer in a personal God and His Son Jesus Christ for around forty years. I am now approaching my 60 birthday and am still convinced, now more than I ever was, in the existence of one God whose main attribute, as it affects us poor humans, is LOVE. God loves you whatever your brackground is or whatever your experiences of life have been and He wants you to trust Him and live with Him forever. I am just like a beggar who has found bread, telling others where they may also find bread. Jesus said "I am the bread of life, whoever believes in me shall never hunger." Again sorry if I came across as pompous or self opinionated.

Your servant for Jesus's sake Jim.

jimmymac - 7:13 AM - 12/16/2005