Publisher’s Disclaimer: We are not a religious organization, but we thought this was an interesting combination of words. It should also be known that the author makes no claims of divinity and would even go so far as to confess being a sinner and a hypocrite, although he says that he would trust his confessions only to God and not to any earthly organization.

So You Say You Believe!?!

Belief, in any form, is a cop out, another incarnation of “I think,” “I hope” or “I wish.” People who say that they believe in God are expressing more doubt than they like to admit. God IS real, no matter who believes or doesn’t.
God IS real with or without Sunday morning pep rallies, with or without the Jim Bakers, with or without a temple in Jerusalem. The people that get to understand this are another thing altogether. From this vantage point, it looks like it has something to do with a willingness to keep the eyes open to what is.
God is independent of politics, doctrine, a single book, any organization, any building, or any “mediator.” Some of these are a good introduction to God for people who have not given much thought to the situation, but it is just as possible for them to become obstacles due to the human weaknesses for acceptance, power, influence, wealth and status. It is up to the individual to trust the discernment that God makes available to all of us in order to recognize if or when the introduction becomes a detour.
In all fairness, it should be said that God made it simple, but not easy. The concept and rules are easy to understand, but not so easy to put into practice after being indoctrinated into whatever society a person is born into. The instructions are obviously there to make our lives better, it’s just that we have to hike a bit to get to the destination.
God chose to allow us to find out for ourselves. It is not put into our laps. We have to look for it. We have to find out what is true and what isn’t. We have to try the rules to see if they work, to see which ones are real and which have been “interpreted” to the point of distortion. This kind of distortion is a consequence that God built into the world for people who depend on others for what they should be doing for them selves, thinking for example.
“Believing” is just a step, an inspiration to find out the difference between wishing things could be different and making the effort to change. It is, unfortunately, a step that many people choose to lean on. It is a mistake that many people make the mistake of thinking of as the destination. Remember, resting on your oars gets you nowhere other than caught in the current.
Open your eyes! You can’t learn how to swim until you get in the water and maybe even choke a little. If it’s the promise of everlasting life that caught your eye, then what are you afraid of , anyway? Are promises like this what really matters?
God is as real as this world that we live in, more real as a matter of fact, made by Him. We are here with no promises about how easy life will be. The Bible promises that God listens, there is nothing in it about life being easy. It has many examples of life being difficult. Is it all a test? Is it a smelter, a forge, a distillery, an alloy factory? Should we speculate about it or just get busy?
As for all the “believers” who may be feeling unfairly criticized at this point, forgiveness is for us. Your belief may be less than certainty, but at least you like, respect and wish for the ideas that inspire your “belief.” Is this enough? Only God knows and that is really between you and Him. A good first step to finding out is to be completely honest with yourself and with God. Admit it, good, bad or, even worse, indifferent. Look past what you wish and what you are afraid of. No sunglasses, not rose colored and not dark, use natural light, look at what IS there. At the very least, you will have a better idea of where you are headed. Better now than the day you die, eh...
As for me being less than perfect, being this guilty and having the audacity to put words like this in public ... it is true, and maybe my sins are worse than yours, but it only shows that God will accept anyone. Am I forgiven? At least once a day for new blunders, ignorant and not so ignorant! What authority do I have? Only the authority of the soapbox to state what is obvious to me. Do you have to believe me? Even God doesn’t force any one to listen to Him. That much is up to you...

R. M. R. Jr.

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