Do you believe in God?
Do you believe in God was a question asked by Razma A.
Thanks for your question.
My answer is No and Yes. What is often missed in discussions about God is a definition of God. It tends to be assumed that everyone knows the meaning of the word, and what God is therefore supposed to be and look like. All such debate should really start with a definition of the term, “God” and proceed from there.
So depending on definition, my “No” answer is as follows:
I don’t believe in the God that is male, with a long while beard that lives somewhere up there in the sky, who is looking down on us and making decisions and judgements upon us – as possibly to which of us is good and which of us is bad.
This is a hangover from old superstition – the old Greek and Roman gods for instance. It is not difficult to see how it arose. Mostly out of our misunderstanding or ignorance of the laws operating in the world and especially nature.
If such a powerful being does exist, it won’t be God.
My “Yes” is based upon this definition:
I believe in an inner source that is universal, that is connected to the All, and connects each one of us together. Some people call it the Source. I often call it Love. It is both male and female and neither. Or Great Spirit, which again is neither sex.
If you like, God is within us and without us. We are each sons and daughters of God. That goes for all levels of life too. All is awakening or endeavouring to awake. I’m speaking up for the souls of animals and plants here too – and for that matter those who have never lived on this planet.
But, on second thoughts:
I believe we should drop the term “God” altogether. It doesn’t really help in our understanding of what is behind our existence. And because it suggests a male gender (having dropped goddesses from our beliefs), it also encourages the notion that being male is somehow more important than being female – and we know it has been like that for a very long time. I see how the treatment of women has played out in a number of our world religions, particularly our Abrahamic religions. Is it any wonder, with all these different versions of male boundaries, there is imbalance in our humanity and acceptance of each other..?
Take a read of my book, Life and Death: Making Sense of It, to get further insight into my thoughts on this question… [ Do you believe in God ]
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are entirely the opinion of the author, Francis O’Neill. No guarantee is given that the information provided is correct, complete, and, or up-to-date.