Do I Believe in God?

Do I believe in a Person sitting up in the sky? No, I don't. I don't think Christians are supposed to believe in that anyway. According to traditional Christian belief, God is a Trinity: God above, God among us, and God within us, all One.

Do I believe in Someone who made everything that is and still makes everything happen? I'm not sure. Sometimes I think, and pray, as if this were the case: as if there were a God I could talk to and ask for things, a God who knows what's going on in my life and could arrange things at my request, though He knows better than I what really needs to happen. But this kind of thinking stumbles against the uncomfortable fact that this God is supposed to love everybody and yet makes life so hard for some people that it's difficult to believe he loves them at all. If God answers the prayers of people in danger and miraculously saves their lives, what about all those who are not saved?

Do I believe in God? For want of a better word, yes. I respond to the infinite mystery and wonder of the universe. I can't agree with scientists like Richard Dawkins who think that one day we will understand the universe completely and know that there is no God. The cutting edge of contemporary science is already showing this up for the simplistic fundamentalism that it is. It is simply poor science. The fact that I am conscious, a person, in a world where there are other conscious beings, and where even 'inanimate' matter seems to respond to consciousness - in fact, the very fact that anything exists at all - is a miracle.

But I don't just believe in God with my head. My whole being responds to the divinity that is everywhere and in everything. The beauty of the earth brings tears to my eyes. The vast variety of living things delights and fascinates me. I can't stop myself believing that love is the most important thing in the world. And whatever happens, I feel somehow safe in the universe - illogical perhaps, but I find that the more I believe this the more it proves to be true. I don't know that there is a God, but I think I can say I know God.

I have just read the third chapter of Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love. She says almost exactly what I believe about God, and says it beautifully. Well worth reading!