BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE & BELIEF: GOD & ME…

I have been asked on more than one occasion what belief in God is. I know that my weekly entries that bash religion left a few out there confused about whether I belief in God or not; and while some see my views about religion as blasphemous, (which is MORE than fine with me btw), I cant help but smile @ the notion that people believe that you can’t believe in a God without religion. Whether God existed or not wasn’t paramount to me, I just found it interesting how folks either embrace OR shun his/her existence. And while I understand both points of view, I am MORE than happy to plant myself FIRMLY BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE & BELIEF where God is concerned.

Since I was a little boy, I ALWAYS thought about how GREAT it would be to grow up and stare religion down. If God existed, the way in which mortals serve him with their wobbly altar that is RIDDLED with words that most put humans down, the collect plate that is @ a rakish angle on the table AND DON’T GET STARTED ON THE TALKING IN TONGUES & CATCHING THE HOLY SPIRIT, would any God seriously mix with this type of worshipers? They are what I call THE DEVOUT, LEVEL 1 of the belief system. They equate their religion to God and NO doubt that they are correct. Their mantra is, I BELIEVE EVERYTHING I’VE EVER BEEN TOLD & I AM NOT GOING TO QUESTION IT! I feel that they just need to re-evaluate who OR what they believe AND what he/she expects of them.

Then you have me that’s smack comfortably in the middle. I would consider me to be a LEVEL 2, THE SPIRITUAL BUT PARTIALLY AGNOSTIC PERSON. I am that persons having some doubts and believes that EVERYTHING ISN’T QUITE RIGHT WITH EVERYTHING I’VE BEEN TOLD & THOUGH I CAN’T PUT MY FINGER ON IT, I AM GOING STAY IN THE MIDDLE FOR NOW. I know this may seem like the coward’s way out, but MY belief is a mind over matter type of situation…I am NOT won over based solely on the cold hard facts nor am I the type who has yet to allow any doubts to even enter his consciousness.

And finally you have the persons that the persons that believe it is BRUTAL to be trained to sit quietly and listen to sermons about a God that does NOT exist. So being a logical man, I can see their point. However I am NOT TOTALLY sold. I get where they are coming from, but I can’t base my beliefs on things that I can feel, touch and/or taste alone. I need more than a BIG BANG THEORY. Though I would argue more for this side, I wouldn’t necessarily throw the persons from level 1 under the church bus. This group is what I refer to as LEVEL 3, THE ATHEIST. They NO doubt that God is pure speculation, myth and superstition. Their mantra is, I FOUND THE COURAGE TO QUESTION THE VERY ROOTS OF THE BELIEF SYSTEM, & FOUND IT TO BE INCORRECT…SO I REPLACED IT WITH A BETTER ONE! They leave NO room for shades of gray in between the levels.

So given all of this, the subject of God will continue to leave us feeling muddled and unfocused, unsure of which way to turn; and being humans we feel like if we can’t see where we’re going or where we’ve come from, we might run into something that will destroy us. I believe that THE best choice for me is to NOT wait for things to become clear, but to keep myself grounded in between knowledge AND belief.