About this blog
WHO THE HELL IS GOD?
We’ve all asked that at some point surely? It sounds simple enough, but the answer to that question appears to differ depending on when and where you ask it. I’m an average white male living in the UK and this blog is about my journey in trying to answer that seemingly simple question; Who the hell is God?
SO DO I BELIEVE IN GOD?
Yes. I think so. Let me put it like this; When I look at a tree I’m simply unable to see how that has any real relation to me, and if evolution is the answer to life then somewhere along the line surely I would have to accept that me and the tree are related. If that were the case, then why aren’t trees driving around in sports cars and working out at the gym? In other words, how come trees haven’t evolved like humans? Evolution seems reasonable to me in some respects, but I’m troubled by the ‘missing link.’ As far as I’m concerned evolution is a plausible theory, but I’m not comfortable accepting it as fact.
Maybe there is no God. But if that’s the case then what is it that drives so many of us to seek God? Where have all these religions come from? There is surely something that drives mankind to look to the heavens and I’m curious as to what that is.
HOW WILL I FIND GOD?
I don’t know. I have no method or plan, I’m just going to talk to people who think they know God and see where the road takes me.
WHY AM I DOING THIS?
Because whenever I’ve met a religious person and asked them why they are what they are, it’s always been because God found them somehow. I’ve never met anyone who has really investigated their religious affiliation, and while I understand that there has to be an element of faith involved in the quest for God, it always seems to me that people tend to follow the faith of their culture.
I know very little about other religions, and in many ways that acts as something of a barrier to learning about them because I don’t feel culturally connected to Islam or Hiduism for example. Like most English people I’ve been to my fair share of weddings and funerals at Christian churches, and in some sense I’m aware of the fact that even that level of familiarity leaves me more open to ‘falling into’ the Christian faith, rather than finding it.
I can’t help but think that God is a religious choice based upon cultural factors. A person living in Pakistan or Indonesia is far more likely to become a Muslim than a person living in the UK or United States where the Christian faith is more predominant. These geographical religious concentrations make no sense to me if God is a singular constant truth.
It seems to me that religious affiliation is therefore based firstly upon cultural considerations and people taking up the religious followings of their parents. I cannot imagine that a Hindus experience of God is any less real to them than Christian’s experience of God, and it is with this in mind that I am asking who the hell is God. This isn’t a search for a religion, it’s a search for God.
NOTES ON RELIGION
I am absolutely NOT looking for a religion. I accept that this search may indeed lead to the acceptance of a certain religions’ practices, but I cannot express strongly enough how off-putting I find religion as a whole because it seems to me that religion is more of a barrier to God than a bridge.
Religion is a minefield of often violently opposing opinions and values with little latitude given for deviation in the beliefs of the faithful. Millions have lost their lives in wars fought over religion with those on all sides claiming that God is with them. Religions have grown like cancer across humanity, paralyzing peace and petrifying progress. But somewhere away from the politics and power struggles there is a faith and connection in the hearts of many that is so moving and powerful it has led the creation of some truly awe inspiring buildings, shrines, and art works. If God is a creative power, then maybe when we’re not blinded by our differences, mankind’s truest reflection of God is in our ability to create.
