How do You Find God?

While this post may come across as irreverent, I really don’t mean for it to be. I have been thinking recently about my leaving Christianity and pursuing Deism as a philosophy. It occurred to me that I am a free-thinker, meaning, that I want to think about things myself and come to my own conclusions. Often, my conclusions will align with the thoughts or systems of others, and many times they don’t. I don’t think it’s any “rebellion” on my part, this is just the way I am.

In Christianity, freedom is an important concept. According to scriptures, Christ set us free, and we are free indeed. We are free from guilt, from sin (though not the consequences of sin), and free to act as Christ would have us act. Now I’ve realized something that was really bothering me about Christianity, but was unable to articulate until lately:

Perhaps Christ did set us free, but Christianity has bound us in a variety of ways.

1. We are free; except that we must accept Christ as Lord in order for us not to burn in hell;
2. We are free; except we cannot be homosexual;
3. We are free; except that we must (or should…depending on your denomination) be
baptized;
4. We are free; except we really should unite politically and socially with other Christians;
5. We are free; except that we ought to be evangelizing;
6. We are free; except we must do what a collection of books as old as 6000 years tells us;
7. We are free; except that we must be pre-millenial (or post-millenial);
8. We are free; except that we must worship the god of the bible and no other;
9. We are free; except for that darn original sin issue;
10. We are free; except that we can do no good unless it’s Christ doing the good through us.

We can go on and on here, and many of these arguments can be made for other religions too. So, back to the title of this post.

Do we find God through systems? Really, that’s what Christianity, Islam, Hinduism et al are. They are man-made systems put in place in order to advance our attempt at knowing God. Even Deism, when approached as a religion, becomes a system. Do I get to know god by performing the right actions, believing the right things, and spending the appropriate amount of time on my knees in prayer as laid out by other people or systems? I suppose its possible. However, I don’t believe it’s the correct way.

What is the correct way? I don’t know. However, I do know that I feel closest to the creator when I’m noticing and appreciating the creation. I don’t “pray” per se, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I see prayer as an ultimately self-serving action. Instead, I might make a brief mention to this unknown creator that the weather is beautiful, or that tree is really pretty, or that I love walking in the woods…and I might even say “thanks.”

More and more I am viewing religion as binding. I see it suppressing curiosity, creativity, and expression. I think that religion can close minds and hearts, and cause people to pay far too much attention to the lives of others. I don’t like to be driving down the road and told by a bumper sticker that I need to accept Christ so I don’t go to hell. If someone wants to have a Jesus sticker that’s fine, but please don’t tell me what I need.

All of us, whether Christian, Deist, Muslim, Jew, Sikh, Buddhist, or Hindu are all on this earth looking for the same thing. We are all looking for meaning in our lives. Perhaps you’ve found your meaning in life…fantastic. Perhaps your meaning is Christ…great. That’s not my meaning though. This has nothing to do with truth. I’m not asking for the absolute truth. I think people spend far too much time and energy debating the truth issue. Truth does not necessarily equal meaning or purpose in life.

To be honest, while I do believe there is absolute truth, I don’t believe we can ever find it. Why? Very simply, we are too wrapped up in our own needs and desires to recognize absolute truth. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, it just means that my idea of absolute truth and yours may be very different–so which one of us is right? Is it the one with the best logical arguments? How many times have you known you had the superior argument in debate, but still failed to change the mind of the other person? It happens all the time. So where does this leave us when we are trying to find God?

I think we have to follow our own reason and passions. I don’t believe any system will provide it for us. This is why I get so irritated with the religions of the world, as once you subscribe to one, then you need to fit the mold. If you don’t fit the mold, then you need to go to the other denomination. Instead of messing with all of this, I would rather try to find my own way by following my God-given conscious and reason. Right now, I’m pulled in the direction of Deism as a philosophy, but who knows where I’ll be next year.