A question I hear often is where is there logic in stories of the Bible such as a man on an ark with a bunch of animals, a man and a woman in a garden with a talking God, a story where there is the parting of the sea, or water turned into wine? Aren’t these just fables with good themes? Where is there proof? Shouldn’t we just live the golden rule?
Yes, sometimes blind faith has to beat out logic, but my mind always goes to what started it all? Even if you believe in science, what was the initial spark in which life began? Logically, there isn’t another explanation then a higher power. Also, what about everyday miracles? Babies with stage four cancer who in no way should make it, but God’s hands were wrapped around them? The naysayers will say couldn’t this just be a coincidence or why does one baby die and another baby doesn’t? What about the Holocaust – don’t we think those people prayed everyday as their bodies were turned into skin and bone? Why couldn’t God just get rid of Hitler before millions of people died?
Really hard questions to answer even for believers, but then you live with eyes wide open and there are too many things that happen; which have no other explanation then there is a God. For instance, how would the anesthesiologist know exactly what to say to me when we lost our pregnancy? How did he know what I told God, but no one else. How did God place me on a consulting project with a woman who lost her son with Cancer at Children’s Hospital and I said exactly what she needed to hear one day? These incidences and several other stories I could tell such as the hospice nurse at my grandfather’s funeral who knew to come talk to me out of a crowd have all given me stories of a real God without coincidences. Hopefully you’ve lived with eyes wide open and you’ve experienced the same stories in your life.
There is also the question of free will. Although free will gives us great options of love, free will also can turn us on the wrong path. Just like I try to teach my daughter, there are choices and consequences. You can have good choices with good consequences or choose badly with bad consequences. It is our bad choices and our sin; which causes not only us pain, but others pain. My belief is there is still angels and devils on this earth. There are people like Mother Teresa who came to bring positive change and to do God’s work, but there are also people like Hitler who were born to bring evil. In a real Hercules story, I believe the devil doesn’t want rainbows and sunshine. He wants pain, hurt, and devastation. If God is so omnipotent, why has he not beaten the devil? Well, in simple terms, God gives you a choice because like the one you marry he wants you to choose him freely. A pastor once said a profound statement in Church which really resonated with me; which is unless you understand pain, hurt, and anger – you’ll never understand true love. If all was good all of the time, we would have no reference to say this is good.
Of course, when you’re going through the gook, you sometimes can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I also believe the gook is what can bring some people to God. They begin to understand they can’t do it without him. It still may not excuse events such as the Holocaust in your mind, but with these events and other events we can’t answer, I leave the answers to God. You can hardly ever answer the question why, so, why try. Even in work scenarios, we can’t always answer the questions why, so, why do we expect to answer the question in God scenarios. These are questions someday for God when him and I are talking behind the pearly gates, but for now I allow my faith and senses to take over. Right now like eggs and bacon- my faith goes together. I can see, feel, and hear God through various scenarios in my life. He is real when I cry out in pain and he is real when my stomach is giddy with butterflies. It truly is this simple. Love can be the logic.
