Is God a Monster? Is Faith Important?

I think about God every morning before I begin my day. I mean I REALLY THINK about God, mostly the baby daddy Jesus God. Matter of fact I think about God more in the past two years than I probably have my entire life. My Bible is nearer to me than, well, than it ever was.

No, not because I have MS and it is progressing these last 20+ years, but because a blog has me hooked. Almost every post is about God or religion. He was raised in a strict Baptist family from the south. (enough said) He is a grown man who has named his blog, "Groping the Elephant." Read about the tale of the search for truth here.

Anyway, initially I found myself agreeing with his every post. (Oh, wait, initially he had a blog about the right wing extremist nut-jobs...whatever.) Lately, I find myself defending the faithful. And while I consider myself a woman of science, the Bible being a one religion of many books of stories meant to teach rather than show people history, I also seem to believe religion can be a good if not wonderful thing.

Religion is a tool. Tools can build houses for the homeless and be used to murder someone with a hammer-blow to the head. Just as the computer is a man-made tool, it can be used for good or evil. Such is the tool of religion. Many have died under its blow, many have been re-born and found peace. Humans are always making tools.

The current topic at my 'Blog of the Day' is the true story of a 2-year-old who was seriously injured by a falling rock while hiking with his family. The family is praying and thanking God for the fact that a group of medical types were also hiking nearby that day and they all helped save her boy's life. The mother also feels God "orchestrated" the event, making sure all those EMTs and nurses were nearby.

The blog visited that idea and wondered how a loving God would be so cruel. His conclusion was " My religious friends that I asked about this have no problem whatsoever with the idea that God might have created or "allowed" this situation in order to teach the parents some valuable lesson about faith and trust or some such. Can God really be this way?" and "Okay, I may have myopia. But I can't bring myself to worship a God that employees cruelty and pain to further his agenda. Nor have I the intellectual capacity to imagine a compassionate God who revels in eternal torture, especially for the "sin" of ignorance. That is sadism to the nth degree. Or as one theologian once said, "Your God is my devil!" Ten times better, no, ten thousand times better, is Rabbi Kushner's impotent God - who at least cares but is limited in power - than the monster my reader defends."

He concludes God is a monster if he hit that toddler with a rock and sent an earthquake to Haiti.

I don't see the elephant's trunk that way. I see faith being the corner stone of religions. Life sucks a lot. It is a cruel shadow that eventually kills us all. If there is one thing we all share it is birth and death. The elephant in the room is the hows and whys.

Faith in their Christian God has given the family of the injured toddler some peace and strength to go on. Will the experience strengthen faith in those who helped the boy that day? Probably, since we all take a step back when we are in the right place at the right time OR the wrong place at the wrong time. For most of us, we are just in a place neither more right nor more wrong, most of the time, so such events have a profound effect on us.

Our part in other's lives is so crucial to our spiritual growth. And grow we must! You have seen those who do not grow, like a shriveled plant that never made it, wilted and always at death's door. Even if they run marathon's and have many friends, or keep ending up in rehab, alone and defeated repeatedly, their skirt of spiritual emptiness is showing.

You are gay? No way I am defending religion to you? Not all Gods are tools for gay-haters. Hell, Native Americans worshipped YOU! Christians are much more understanding about homosexuality since science stepped in. And to the rest of you Christians, surprise! Homosexuals can be Christians too, why, they even have their own churches! Just as Hawkings claims we came from nothing, so too are Atheists a tool of religion. Now we "see" no belief is a belief, with a faith in no God giving to many, peace of mind. That elephant again!

My Blog Du Jour got a "fan" email and the writer took exception to the idea that God did not have his reasons for making the toddler a lesson for others to learn from. For the emailer, that trunk on the elephant 'looks' much different. The emailer calls my blogger, "myopic."
Funny that, as myopic can mean near-sighted or short-sighted and narrow-minded. Same word, but can be used to mean you can only see what is in front of your face OR it can mean you can't see the big picture and won't open your mind to new possibilities.

What? Both an elephant's ear? Not to me. That microscope can show you DNA, LIFE, all that you are--is that not the big picture? I am near-sighted, but I can feel my DNA in my mouth, without GLASSES! I can not see my cells, but I have faith they are there. Why? Because I read about them in a book. I have faith in science. I have faith that something good may happen today and the sun will shine.

Interestingly, the tale of the blind men and the elephant is meant to show how people come to conclusions based on only what they know, discarding what is in the dark. It is often used by various religions to show that point. But, the religions can't quite decide exactly what the tale is truly meant to teach, and people today still debate the simple tale.

Perhaps since we can never have all the facts, at some point we must have faith in ourselves. I also have faith that I will never have all the facts. And as I take off my glasses, key my final words, I have faith something good might happen today. I fear no monsters. I fear no books or tools. Doesn't mean they won't be used against me or you; but, I have faith that when my eyes close for the last time there will be no elephant in the room.