Man! You're goin' to hell!

[Guest guest]

Recently I was challenged about my hard wrought search for God,

something that has consumed me for many years. At this point in my

life I feel comfortable with the results of my searching and the

search itself, feeling sufficiently confident in my efforts, methods

and reasoning. But this friend had brought up an interesting point,

quite by accident I suspect, interesting nonetheless. He said: to

question the existence of God is a sin. I was surprised to say the

least; my friend isn't typically given to fits or spasms, so I had to

conclude he said this voluntarily, now I have to ask why he believed

seeking the truth was a sin and awaited his well reasoned reply; but

that wasn't about to happen, instead, his reply, as remarkable as the

challenge, was, " because, " nothing more… Although I expected more

because my friend is not an idiot, I wasn't exactly waiting for proof

because I don't think there is any; but certainly not just " because. "

I'm willing to accept that people believe solely on a feeling or

event in their lives, but my friend isn't a pious man, in fact,

according to his particular faith; " in spiritual jeopardy " is a

better description of his standing. So stop and think about that

answer for a moment, when he's speaking on behalf of his

understanding of God and all he can conjure up is a phrase most

frequently expressed in elementary school, " because? "

When pressed, it was clear that my friend had no real basis for his

remark; it's just what he thinks without even a basic understanding

of his belief system, but the tricky part for me was that he was

fervent in his remarks veracity. So, with little understanding of the

underlying reason for his faith, he deemed me sinful, and seemed self-

assured of his righteousness to boot; he's truly one of the flock.

Well herein lies my biggest concern with dogma and the followers, and

incidentally also the reason for my initial doubt as a child which

eventually lead me to search for God's existence. It's the

modification of scripture to fit the time's science and social trends

or in this case, a lazy and almost whimsical adherence for the sake

of not going to hell. It occurs to me that if God did exist, having

accomplished even a fraction of what he is credited with, he would

certainly have made a definitive scripture, a true word of God; that

being so, obedience would be prudent and each soul should make every

effort in this lifetime to get it right, not just guess. I think it

goes without saying that " just winging it " would be frowned upon.

In my mind the fact that most people don't bother to question their

beliefs makes me wonder about the level of their understanding,

commitment, and ultimately, their faith in that belief system. Most

believers accept their particular religion and its teachings are from

God or God inspired, but they challenge that same by continuing to

live life contrary to the tenets imposed. This arrogance does not

speak well of the power of that particular deity or lend much

credence to the adherents true faith. Certainly if I truly believed

my eternal damnation was on the line, I would make every attempt to

know what building God lived in at the very least. As for the rules,

I would certainly try my hardest to understand and follow them. If I

knew God existed, I wouldn't gamble with my soul. Now I know some of

you are freaking out. Don't worry; I think I have a plan.

In the year 2007 it seems there should be little doubt about God and

his laws, we all have reasonable educations, religious books are

everywhere, God is on everything from car bombs to currency, he

shouldn't be hard to find. But this isn't the case, and that fact

caused questions of faith for more than a few people, a large number

even having difficulty believing that God was ever there at all.

With the advances in our knowledge, new discoveries about our

universe and inner workings we're at a great position in human

existence for reason and faith. But ultimately one must lose for the

truth to be found. Or does it? Science says yes, but faith accepts,

no.

Now one can't say definitively that God doesn't exist precisely

because it can't be proven. But we must also apply that same rigorous

reasoning to whether God does exist, which also can't be proven. But

if God is real, he gave us the very tools we now employ to find him,

so no turning out the lights on this one folks. You may be thinking

that belief is a matter of faith, and I say faith is exactly the

issue at hand because there can be no real faith without belief, or

real belief without knowledge, and a lack of interest in gaining the

knowledge is very telling and, in my mind, against the very nature of

the abilities God has empowered us with, therefore, against God.

Stunned by the arrogance of my friend's remark and uncertain of how

to proceed logically, I decided to explain why I was confident of my

path of questioning. I told him that I believed when I died, if I did

find myself standing next to him before God, I'd have just as much

chance of getting into heaven as he did, maybe even more. Because I

would say to God with earnestness, " I searched for you all my life,

but, as you know, our paths never crossed. Despite that, I lead a

moral and just life. I now have to accept that this was your plan all

along. "

Then I imagined that my friend would say, " Lord, I took a 50/50

gamble that you were there, I didn't really know and played loose

with the rules, living life as I saw fit, while I should have been

looking. But as it turns out, I was right. So, where's my reward? "

I asked my friend, " Who do you think God would be more impressed

with, someone who searched for truth and never settled on false

beliefs systems because it was easy or comfortable, or someone who

accepted what was handed down to him, never questioning its metal and

then used it to judge someone else, proselytizing a unknown doctrine

because he knew not of what he spoke? " There was silence for a moment

until he had a glow come over him, it seemed he had an epiphany and I

was excited. At least until he blurted out with some measure of

relief, " Man, you're goin' to hell! "

My point isn't that I'm right or he's wrong, rather it's that neither

of us truly knows and to state otherwise is ignorance, and likely

spiritual suicide. I believe its incumbent upon each person to take a

journey of spiritual self-discovery at some point in their lifetime.

To determine beliefs, tests their sturdiness, shake them a bit to see

what falls loose and only then accept what remains, the only part to

withstand your natural ability to reason, the truth.

If after all this you find God then it was a test God himself led you

to, otherwise why would you have the ability to think for yourself?

Then you can truly be confident in the knowledge of your path; a

critical prerequisite of faith.

If, on the other hand, you find that you don't believe, then you can

carry on the rest of your life free and open, purged of the fears and

demons set upon you by misguided people in childhood. Either way you

reconcile the lurking doubt, the unsettled what if's and move one

step closer to enlightenment, which all can agree is a worthy goal no

matter the condition of your faith.