ASK THE PASTOR

There were several questions that did not get addressed in our May 8th "Ask the Question" time. Look for them here in the Tidings over the next couple of months. Here's the second installment.

How are you so sure there is a God?

This may sound like a word game, or semantics, but....

I am NOT certain there is a God. But I have faith that there is, and choose to live my life according to that belief. Let me explain the difference between certainty and faith.

Certainty and being "sure" are about knowledge; one can only be sure about what is proven and that which is definitively known beyond the shadow of a doubt. Certainty is about provable facts that show unquestionable results. It is the observable proof of knowledge gained by reproducible data. You can know that 1 + 1 = 2. You know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning and it will happen on the eastern horizon. These things are generally provable by scientific, empirical methods. Any doubts about known things can be tested and the truth affirmed through empirical evidence.

Faith is not about knowledge; faith is a choice to believe that something is true for you because of your experience and your own conclusions. You have faith that you will wake up in the morning. You have faith that you will pass the driver's license exam. You have faith that the seed will sprout and grow to produce a harvest. You have faith that your parents, spouse, children, family will always love and support you. These are all things over which you not only have no control, you cannot prove them scientifically or empirically. You believe them based upon your past experiences; your future behavior is influenced by your belief that they are true. When you doubt the truth of these, you test them, ask questions, seek answers, listen for how others have dealt with their doubts about them. As a result of doubt, you gain a deeper understanding of what it is you believe.

The same is true of God. We cannot empirically prove that God exists. Neither science nor reason can make an infallible case for the existence of God. Many have tried! I believe that God exists based upon my experience of God in my life. I have had many doubts over the years; I have questioned, tested, rebelled, disobeyed, misbehaved (well, let's stop there!) and landed upon the same conclusion: God is for real! God's love knows no limits. (We'll come back to that in the next question.). I cannot prove the truth of this in scientific terms. I can only speak about my experience with God: impossible situations that are solved despite my poor handling of them, discovering that an idea or plan that I have coincides or compliments that of another who I felt the unexplainable urge to include, music and lyrics that pop into my head that force me to examine their meaning and apply it to my current situation, and giving up on a dream only to have it come true despite my surrender. These experiences might be explained as coincides. I choose to believe that are the work of One far greater than me. And that choice influences how I live my life, the consequent choices I make, and the direction I work to lead others.

This choice did not come easily to me. I fought it tooth and nail. My rational and concrete thinking wanted to write the whole religion thing off as a bunch of hooey. And I tried very hard to ignore it. But it kept coming back into my life, into my path away from it, and finally just sat on top of me until I could do nothing less than walk that path.

In order to find the experiences of God, we have to take the time to sit back and reflect upon where we have been, what we have done, what has worked out despite our errors and faux pas. Where have there been events or experiences that don't make rational or scientific sense? How has your life been changed by things beyond your (and in spite of your attempts to) control? The experience of God is most often found in reflection; it is found in silence, in solitude, in crowds, amidst noise, in music, in art - reflections of living. But when it happens in real time, it's like being rolled over by a huge wind and you have no doubt you've been broadsided.

I am not certain there is a god. I live a life of faith because I have experienced the unexplainable and found it to be trustworthy, constant, and real; upon this belief, I base my living, my choices, and my path in life.

 

Does God love Donald Trump?

Yes. God loves Donald Trump because God sees him, as God sees each of us, not as he is, but as the very best he could possibly be. If God were to judge us as we are, none of us would pass mustard. God sees us as the fulfillment of our greatest potential to be God's children, Christ's hands and feet, and the Spirit's mouthpiece. None of us are fully there: you, me, or Donald Trump.

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