I have decided to do a new post.... about why I think it's good for me to believe in God.

Believing in God....

1. Teaches me that no matter how much forgiveness I show to other people, they deserve more.
2. Teaches me that I am never a good enough person.
3. Teaches me that I can become a better person and continually learn how to make that happen.
4. Helps me realize that there's more to this world than just me (keeps me from being solipsistic)...
5. Enables me to love people despite the differences that we may have in politics, religion, or even our personalities.
6. Gives me confidence in who I am and the things that I am able to do in this world.
7. Helps me go to other countries and serve them to my greatest ability.
8. Teaches me how to show compassion and be loving.
9. Gives me hope for my future on this world and beyond.
10. Makes my life better everyday and has not caused me or given me a single thing that is harmful or negative in any way.

In case people didn't think my last post was long enough... think again. I was driving home doing some more deep thinking about the article and realized something else...something that I find even more mind-boggling, astonishing, and utterly devastating. I realized that the author of that article truly thinks that he, life, and the world are all better off in not believing in God. See, before reading this article, I realized that atheists don't necessarily see the point of believing in God. Yet, now I realized that some, if not all, of them actually think that it is harmful for the race of people to believe in God. Up to this point in my life, I never thought that that anyone, even atheists, would ever truly think that it could be harmful to me to believe in God.

Yet according to the article, my believing in God insinuates that:

1. I am able to mistreat people because I have God that will forgive me. I have the ability to live sloppily and make mistakes without over thinking things through the first time.
2. I may not be able to appreciate different peoples from different cultures.
3. I can not agree with other peoples about reality since our realities differ since they are centered around different religions, belief systems, theological books, and gods.

It's mind boggling to me because all of the conclusions that he has come to are not entirely false. Yet, that is just the way that the devil works. 99.999999% of what he says may be true, yet it's that .000001% that does the most damage. I know that the conclusions he came to are false because:

1. I am not able to mistreat people. Even though I may seek forgiveness from the people around me for the mistakes I make, I can not make excuses for them. I do need to try to not do them the first time around and I need to try to constantly repent and keep myself from making the same mistakes time and time again. I need God, His grace, and His forgiveness to help me make these changes.
2. I personally have gone into other cultures and do appreciate them for their differences and similarities that they have to mine.
3. I realize that people can not agree on a reality when they believe that different realities exist. Yet I believe that when God says that if we seek Him with out whole heart, mind, soul, and strength that we will find Him. So, I know that no matter what religion or belief system that people currently have, they can and they will come to believe the same reality if they truly seek Him.

I wish that people would not see the imperfections of Christians and that they would not see how we have made Christianity faulty.... and that it wouldn't cause them to believe inaccurate truths because of our imperfections but that they would somehow still see God for who He truly is and for what He wants our lives to look like.

I came across this article today:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557

There Is No God
by Penn Jillette

I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant" includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire?

So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching stage. The atheism part is easy.

But, this "This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there is no God." Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark
cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.

Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.

Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-O and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the
best life I will ever have.

I obviously have several problems with this article since I do believe in God very strongly. Some of the views that he shares don't even seem to be valid to me and it makes me wonder if it's just because I'm a Christian or if it's because he uses deductive reasoning instead of inductive reasoning....

In the end, I always enjoy reading articles like this - if it's possible to enjoy something that also kind of irks you and causes you to be in complete disagreement - because I like to be able to understand the different views. To me, it seems like this man has seen hurt within his family in some way because of his references in the 2nd to last paragraph. It gives me insight to his life and makes me feel like he has no hope in this world.

In the end, I believe there are truths that are relative outside of religion and beliefs like:

• Reality. He said, "Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate." I think that we can always agree on these things. I am a person that strives to communicate with everyone and tries to learn the ways that people comprehend the best so that the highest level of understanding can be met. I think that people of all religions try to communicate with their family, friends, and with each other, and that the things that are outside of religious beliefs and are considered facts are known and not questioned by everybody.
• The world is inherently evil. His point of "not believing in God brings the possiblity of less suffering in the future" is ridiculous. I know just the opposite is true and that him not believing in God is what is going to cause him to have more suffering than he can ever imagine in his future... and I would think that an atheist or someone "beyond atheism" would think that God or even the "idea of a God" (as he would put it) would be outside of the realm of pleasure and suffering.

There are many other things that I disagree with as well, but I just thought that I would share this because I found it very interesting and intriguing.

I have been discussing this with a friend of mine from work that considers himself "beyond atheism" as well and to my points above he said the following:

And I think what he meant by "we can agree on reality", is that because there are so many religions and ideas on what God is, that we can't agree on "one" reality, because what is reality to some, is not the reality to others...the most extreme and current example is the difference between the Muslim and Christian faiths...if you think that any two people, one from each of any one of those branches of religion can keep adjusting so they can communicate, you may be right. But you can't pick just any two....because the vast majority of difference between humans is in their religious beliefs and they tend to have very strong feelings regarding the validity of those beliefs. And, some of these people will resort to violence to prove their point. So I don't think it's objective, it's based on fact. These, in addition to other religions have been unable to co-exist peacefully since the beginning of time. So, without the idea of God, I believe the playing field is leveled, and we can start to understand things from a point of view that doesn't include that of those that believe that there is one supreme being, because that supreme being isn't the same to everyone.

As far as the "No god" comment goes, you're right. That is a statement that is just his opinion, so naturally the obvious could, and may, be true. But, like I stated prevoius, there seems to be a great deal of violence surrounding religion. There have been more people killed in the name of God then there has for any other reason...and that is a fact. I think that Jillette was taking this into consideration when making this statement.

I have to say that I agree with my friend. I know that he is right and that religion causes more diversity and wars than anything else. Yet, I also know the reasons for wars, and I know that it's the muslim faith states that if you kill someone that is outside of the muslim faith then you will be able to pass on to eternity. I can give all the other reasonings of why this truth exists and how it is inaccurately portrayed, but I know that all of you know these, so it doesn't seem necessary....

Anyway, fun thoughts for the day.....

Well I know that some people have been concerned about my future living situation and wondering if my old plans were really the "best possible situation" for me... They have changed. I am going to be roommates with Megan, a friend from work. It's really close to my work, so that will be awesome. Since she's already in a lease and she can't get out of it, we had to stay in her apartment complex. All of their 2 bedroom 2 baths are on waiting lists, so we will be moving into a 1 bedroom + a den with only 1 bathroom, but it will do. So, praise the Lord, all of your guys' prayers have been answered and He once again took care of me and has provided me with a place to live. :)

I had a rather interesting weekend to say the least.....

Friday night started off great and was filled with plenty of entertainment and fun while I watched 5 of my little girl cousins, ages 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8. During the night, we were watching Candyland, yes they have made a movie... and Sadie (3) was laying on me...She was more on the top half of me. Then, Macy (2) put her head on Sadie's stomach and had the rest of her body on my legs. Kylie (8) was having a ton of fun taking pictures with the camera on my phone and she decided to take a picture of it... It was quite a scene, especially when Sadie put her knees on the sides of Macy's ears. Later on in the night after I had put all of the other kids to bed, Kylie and I were looking at all of the pictures that her and her sister took during the night. When we came to this picture, she totally started to giggle. Right when I started to wonder why she was giggling so much she said, "Would people..... People wouldn't even do stuff like this when they are having S-E-X, would they"... The obvious mental images came into my mind as I sat there completely flabbergasted and discombobulated trying to think of how to answer.... I finally did with "No Kylie, no, they actually wouldn't."... She's 8, I am not going to go into the details of oral sex with her.... Oh, how kids grow up these days.

If you missed the part about the "yard boys"...ask me and I'll tell you. I really don't want it to go all around the church, so I have taken it off.

Then, after I went home and changed, I was off to go get my hair done. I was running late because I had made the Cloud kids lunch and spent some time with them.... time I didn't have because I only had 40 minutes to shower from the gym, get ready and get to the salon, but I wasn't going to pass that time up. So, I'm going down Lindsay, my favorite street to speed on since it has less traffic, when I got pulled over. Yep, I got a ticket, since I was going 57 in a 45....Wahoo!

The rest of my weekend was filled with the normality of hanging out with friends, spending time with my family, and going to church and church events. Good times, good times....

Sometimes I think we expect too much from people that we miss the subtle steps that they are taking to get to where they need to be and we miss out on the beauty that is right before us.

There are people that might not appear to be a heart felt worshipper like Jared Shipman, but yet, their heart for their God beams from within them and causes them to be the first of their group of friends to go up and receive communion.

There are people that might cuss like a sailor in front of their friends and on websites that they don't realize their leaders see, but yet they refuse to wear their hats when they feel they are in God's presence and take their hats off when they come into the youth room.

Some people have said that respect is a form of love or that respect can turn into love. I think that in some ways we are able to "pay respect" to God everyday, but other ways just go unnoticed. I think it goes back to what Paul teaches when it says "All things may be lawful for me, but not all things edify." There are so many things that are okay for me to do and there would be nothing wrong with me doing, yet, if I really think about how I can or should or am able to pay respect to God, then I would probably change things. I know that there are things that I am not comfortable in doing in front of my grandparents, yet I am able to do them in front of God on a monthly or weekly basis. Again, they might not be really bad in and of themselves, but out of respect for my heavenly Father, I should maybe change. I should change.

As I stood in the back of the youth room today, I witnessed these two boys, unexpected leaders, I was brought to my knees because of their beauty and because of the fact that they show God more respect than I do. May we all learn from them.

Sometimes, the last thing you want comes in first,
Sometimes, the first thing you want never comes,
And I know, the waiting is all you can do,

Sometimes...

Aqualung "Strange and Beautiful"

Why not believe in something

Something's got to be better than nothing

Just because it's the end of the beginning

Doesn't mean it's the beginning of the end

Aqualung "Extra Ordinary Thing"

It takes a thought to make a word

And it takes some words to make an action

And it takes some work to make it work

It takes some good to make it hurt

It takes some bad for satisfaction

Jason Mraz "Life is Wonderful"

... really the whole song speaks truth....

Life can be so frustrating at times, but then there's those times where you put a cd in and it just works you like crazy. My favorite artists can all work me. There are other people that have amazing talent, but it just doesn't effect me the same. There's a ton of awesome songs that speak to my emotions and get inside of me, and they're awesome, and they show the artist's feelings and struggles. Yet, when truth speaks to emotions, it's even more powerful. It is no longer just empathy that occurs between the listener and the artist, it is now something that can bring confirmation, healing, enlightenment, or even guidance from the artist to the listener. That, I think, is amazing.