If You Want To See The Hand Of God

NGC 2174 Stars Versus MountainsIf God is not the creator of this universe there is no point in believing in Him, much less worshipping Him. If God is not a transcendent being, outside of the limitations of time and space, there is no point in believing in Him, much less worshipping him.

If God can be fooled / bamboozled / cheated, if He can change His mind, He is not a God worthy of worship.

If God does not know all, He cannot see all, He cannot forgive all.  He would be in no position to do so as He would be operating out of ignorance.

We are moral creatures only because we can choose between good and evil.  If we were compelled to do evil it would not be our fault because we could not choose to be good; if we were compelled to do good, it would not be to our credit because we could not choose to do evil.  Only by being able to choose are we moral actors.

If God does not compel us to do either good or evil, He must want us to be moral creatures.  He has assigned us free will.

If free will does not exist, then our entire existence is futile.  Without an ability to choose, we are incapable of being either good or evil.

If free will exists, then only by choosing to serve God can we be good.

Since God created everything and is greater than this universe, there is nothing we can do for God that He cannot do for Himself except to chose to love one another.

If the only way to love God is to obey Him, then God wants us to choose to love our fellow human beings.

God can provide Himself with anything else He wants. Our offerings are pointless.

Since God cannot force human behavior without robbing us of our free will and moral choice, He can only act when He is asked to act, and only in a way that affects the person asking for help.

Since God will not force human behavior, He desires all to choose to behave in a way that helps His creation.

God helps humanity through the voluntary actions of those humans who choose to do good.

If the objective was merely to put food in bellies, to heal physical infirmities, then God could do that with a snap of His fingers (metaphorically speaking).

But that’s not the objective -- or at least not the sole objective.

The main objective seems to be to get human beings to voluntarily change their hearts and minds, to put aside selfish behaviors and thoughts and to be more loving and accepting and caring of one another.

This life is short and filled with suffering. It is gone in the blink of an eye.

Nothing we do here matters in the long run.

Eventually this universe and everything in it will unravel and turn into something else and it will be as if we never existed.

We don’t want to be here when that happens.  We want to be part of something else, something much bigger, much better.

And the only way to be part of that is to love one another as God loves us.

If you want to see the hand of God, look at the end of your wrist; if you want to stare down the devil, look in a mirror.

Religion is a metaphor for the ineffable.

 

I Luvz Me Some ZOOTOPIA

a lover's limerick

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