“Do you believe in God” he asks. “Who else could throw together such an insane shit show?” – One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper

I was born and raised to be a good Catholic. It never took but it did scar me. Religion will do that.

I don’t dwell on that history often but when I was younger and really confused, the mystery of God, creation, theory of evolution, and the universe all went to war in my head.

Seemed like everybody had the answer except me. How is it that so many ordinary people with limited experiences know so definitely that there is a God, there is no God, evolution explains everything, it all started with a big bang, there is hell, there is no hell, there is a heaven and so on and so forth.

Yada, Yada, Yada.

And, on top of that brilliant reasoning, it only follows that their God, their belief, their church is the only true God, the only true way. Believe me and follow my God or eternal damnation will be your fate.

Really? How did you get to be so wise? And so chosen?

The arrogance is painful, self-serving, closed to all reasoning or discussion, and justifies all forms of damaging transgressions.

Well, I could never really wrap my brain around all of this. The universe, God, evolution, the big bang.

Thus, it was, for me, easy to reject all religious ideologues and their self-serving beliefs. Ditto all atheistic thinkers.

These people don’t know. They only believe. And that is fine but they should qualify all of their sanctimonious proclamations with “this is what I believe”.

I’ve come to a feeling that I’m comfortable with. I don’t know if I’m correct. I’m sure my reasoning is flawed. And trust me – you won’t go to hell by not agreeing with me.

I think of God (I call this driving force God because nothing better comes to mind) as a friend. My buddy. My buddy God.

We’re pals. I can screw up big time and he doesn’t judge me. We laugh and move on. After all, he created me with all of these flaws so it’s his fault. And he knows it. I like that in my buddy.

“Some things once broken, can’t be fixed. Some things have to be re-created completely.” – “Hacker” by Ted Dekker