Greater Than I Thought

My understanding of God's greatness has changed the past several years and I believe that God's work in the world is now more extensive than I ever knew. One day several years ago while I was in a weight room working out, I turned on the television. C-SPAN was on and Francis Collins was speaking. He led the U.S. project that several years ago mapped the human genome (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0702/voices.html).

He was talking about reading C.S. Lewis while he was an agnostic medical doctor and of later becoming a Christian. He wrote a book about his research and his faith called The Language of God. I was surprised at the end of his talk when he said he believed in macro-evolution (evolution from species to species and of every living thing coming from a single organism) to be true, based on the strong genetic evidence for it.

Up to then, I thought that everyone who believed in evolution had a bias against God. Now all of a sudden, here was a Christian, who obviously didn't have a bias against God, saying that evolution was true. Plus he led the entire human genome project, so it was hard to argue with his knowledge of genetics. In my thinking, if there really was genetic evidence against evolution, what a great opportunity for him as a Christian to confirm the Bible creation story. But instead he stated that the evidence indicates that evolution is true. He then explained that he believes God is outside of time and can use any method He desires to bring us into being. Sometime after this, it occurred to me that if this was true, the first two chapters of Genesis (the immediate creation of Adam and Eve by God) could not be literal. And then what about the Fall and original sin?

I also began to see that the things that I thought were unique to Christians (peace and joy in one's life, a changed life, goodness and kindness) also exist in people's lives who weren't Christians. One day when I was in school in Oklahoma, I felt led to buy a book in Borders called The G.O.D. Experiments.

In here, it talked about God doing amazing things, but not necessarily in a Christian context. I later read about people with a belief in God, who claimed that they were healed physically of an ailment, although they did not have exclusive Christian beliefs.

A person may ask, "If you don't believe that the creation story is literal, what do you believe and how do you arrive at that decision?" In this case I refer to what Paul says, 'The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." I believe God is real because He has made it known in my heart that He loves me and that I am His child. I believe other things with this same knowing in my heart. It is subjective, but it is real. God has used the Bible in this case to speak into my life. The same voice that tells me God loves me also speaks to me that people in other religions in the world who truly seek God may also know Him. God may uses other writings to speak into their lives as He used the Bible in mine. There is the evidence of God's Spirit in their lives. As Jesus said, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." A result of this understanding is that a door of fellowship is opened with people of other religions that did not exist to me before. This creates the opportunity for more shared experiences and a greater understanding and enjoyment of God our Creator.

Prayer has been a vital part of my life. God has used it to change me and I have since learned that there are parts of other religions that have a strong focus on prayer. When I am in prayer and fellowship with God, I find I have more in common with these people who are in prayer also and who reflect His joy and kindness.

As an example, Zen Buddhists don’t explicitly name God, but implicitly they believe there is a way of living that brings peace, calm, and kindness to life; where they seek to be aware of and enjoy each moment. They often meditate in order to strengthen this awareness. Since I have had questions about the Bible, I have tried it and have interestingly experienced God in it. Could it be that this is what they are doing as well? Whether someone names God may not be as important as to whether that person spends time with God and connects.

For computer programmers, I thought about this one day in object-oriented programming terms. I see God as begin the Base class having the attributes and/or methods of love, caring, and justice. The religions of the world are derived from this base class and some of them add erroneous attributes and/or methods (errors in their scripture and actions) which are not of the Base class (God), while at the same time having attributes of the Base class. Although they have errors, this does not mean that God isn't in part of that religion. Even though I don't take all of the Bible to be literal, God still uses it in my life, just as He uses other things.

At the same time, I do believe there is power in what we put in our minds. God has made us in such a way that what we think about affects our feelings. When I read the Bible, I am encouraged by certain things in it (The Sermon on the Mount, Romans 8:28, and others). I believe there is power in filling our minds with things like that. Those are the things that I believe are in the Base class. For me, it's important to listen to God's voice in my heart. As I mentioned above, this happens along the lines of what Paul wrote, "God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Paul was saying that we commune with God in Spirit. I believe that is one of the true things in the Bible. Things such as God's love for me and life with Him after this life is over is something I believe is real. Life doesn't work without them. That's what also tells me that they are real and true and we are supposed to believe them.

I don't want to make someone question beliefs that bring them hope, because I know the joy and power it can bring. I write for those whose beliefs prohibit a greater good and joy from happening in their life (i.e. greater enjoyment and fellowship with others from different faith expressions who have the same Base class) or whose beliefs cause them pain when they are trying to believe something is true, but when God, through their mind and heart, may be telling them otherwise.

I also write this for others having questions. This time, for me, has turned into a greater understanding of God and His work in the world. I believe that knowing more truth, wherever it takes me, is knowing more of God. I believe that God is real, and that it is really important to know truth and in turn God, for our greatest joy and the sake of the world.

In this journey, these books were helpful to me as these authors have had similar or the same questions that I was having (for those who are interested):

A New Kind of Christian
The Story We Find Ourselves In
The Last Word and The Word After That all by Brian McLaren

Reading The Bible Again For The First Time by Marcus Borg
(especially part of his chapter on Revelation starting at page 276)

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed The Bible and Why by Bart Ehrman
(Erhman's introduction of his life which can be read in the Amazon reader is quite interesting)

When Things Don't Happen As Expected...

Just over two years ago, while in graduate school I began having low energy problems. I went to the student health center and had blood work done to try to determine the reason. Nothing showed up as abnormal or unusual. It wasn’t until about a year and a half later, about six months ago, that I found out I had a parasite that was zapping my energy.

At this time in my life when I am being treated for it, my energy varies from day to day, and I don’t have as much to give as I used to. As I was driving tonight, I was thinking of the definition of success. School and work has a way of making me think of performance and feeling good, but performing well hasn’t currently been in my life. Success for me now is not worrying, looking to God in each moment, and being content in Him. I can’t say I’ve done that much today, but I’m now revising my definition of success.