So Let’s Talk About God.

Hey.

I’ve been trying to start this blog for a few months now. I was putting together this whole timeline of Christianity (starting with Judaism, because they’re connected) and I was going to do this huge bit-by-bit explanation of how Christianity (and Catholicism) came to be.

And that’s definitely something I’m working on still, definitely something that’s due in time, but it occurred to me today that I’m really coming at this from the wrong angle.

So… let’s talk about God, shall we?

What or Who Is God?

Try asking this question of anyone you meet. No matter who you ask, you’re going to get a different answer from every person. God is nothing. God is everything. God is out there in the distance. God is in every molecule of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide that we breathe. God loves humans, God doesn’t give a shit, God is one, God is two, God is three, God is infinite, God doesn’t exist. God is male, God is female, there are actually a God and a Goddess, there’s actually a whole pantheon…

So with so many answers, how do we answer this question?

The answer is: We don’t know. Nobody knows. If anyone knew, do you think there’d be so many religions and traditions out there? Seriously. But if no one knows what or who God is…

Why Do I Have to Believe in God?

And here’s where I get in trouble. (This is why I call myself the Bad Catholic.)

My answer is: You don’t have to. You don’t have to believe in anything. Anyone who tells you you have to believe in something is lying to you and probably trying to sell you something.

Anyone who tells you you have to believe in God, or have to believe in Jesus the Christ, or have to believe a certain flavor of any spirituality, is lying to you.

Belief is a tricky thing. It’s partly instilled in a person by whomever raised them. It’s partly derived from the people around them and the prevailing culture of their region (or their media sources). But it’s also what a person chooses. The difference between faith and blind faith is that active, discerning, ongoing choice to believe, stemming from a personal, intrinsic desire. That’s true whether it’s faith in a religion, in a country, in a cause, or in a person.

God Loves Questions

The best thing I was ever taught in my religion classes in elementary school was that God loves questions. Or, as Sherry Weddell writes, there are no accidental disciples. The Catholic view of God is of a being that is loving, merciful, omnipotent but utterly fair, and a being that is right here with us, a part of the universe and a part of us because God created the universe, and God created us.

(Not in a literal sense… more on that in another post.)

Because God created the universe, and because God created us, Catholics believe that God loves every human being, and freely offers that love. My choice to believe in that view of God is an ongoing and considered choice, after studying Wicca, Hinduism and the Lakota faith, and being best friends with a secular Jewish atheist for years, and taking elements from those faiths (and the lack thereof). To tell anyone else that they have to believe in the God I believe in is taking the love that I believe God is offering every person as a gift, and selling it to someone.

God loves you and is offering a way to make you a better person, and you can have that love for free the first month, and then continue your subscription for the low, low price of a tenth of your monthly income, payable to your local parish. Other fees may apply.

No. Just… no.

What Do You Believe In?

Ask yourself that. Give it some thought. What shapes the way you view the world and the people in it? What framework did it come from?

And then ask yourself, why? Never stop asking why.

God might be a mystery, but damn if God doesn’t love questions.

TL;DR?
God is a mystery. That’s okay.
You don’t have to believe in God. That’s also okay.
God is not a prostitute. Or a cable subscription. (Or a fax machine.)
You do believe in something. Why do you believe it? Keep asking yourself that.

Have a good night.