GOD: Who, What, Why?
As humanity continues to seek knowledge, there have been many questions that arise regarding our Great Creator- our God. Who is He/she? What is God? Do/does God/s really exist/s? Is there a need to have a God? If there’s God, why there is evil? These questions arise as humanity starts to be curious on many things, as they learn to question things and as they become conscious on the things around them. In the old times, especially in our country, people believed in the concept of God according to what the church or other authorities have told them to believe in. There also came to a point where they worship the leaders of their land as their God. People on that time doesn’t have the courage or simply don’t bother to ask why this and those beliefs are true. People just follow what the church/ authorities says, but as the time passed by human’s consciousness and curiosity have led them to answer the different question they have about God which the church/ authorities cannot answer. They start to seek for answers about God all by themselves and so different concepts about God continues to emerge.
Some find the answer through deep meditation, some in reasoning, while others find it through faith or revelation. There are different interpretations and conceptions made about God. Others claimed that there is one personal God, while some view God as many and impersonal. Some ideas are contrasting while others seem to be complimenting on some point.
As I study the different ideas about God I started to learn that though we may have different religions and beliefs but on some instances, we become similar with others. Religions taught us to be good, at peace with others and be one with God. Though we may have different ways of being good, being at peace with others, and being one with God, still we have the same purposes.
As I started to get out of my own box and renounced my biases as a Christian, I have learned to respect others’ beliefs and be amazed by them. As I journeyed to the wonderful world of Religious beliefs I have learned that in spite of our differences in religion, we may learn a lot of lessons from them which we can apply in real life. On some point I also envy some of their practices that shows their respect and giving of importance to their God/s. Like the practice of praying of the Muslim, they prayed five times a day while we Christians pray less. If we could only pray just like the Muslims then we may also gain a closer relationship with God, then so our faith can be stronger and we could be more confident to face every trial in our life. But I also acknowledge that praying isn’t just enough but it must be accompanied by continuously reading the word of God and putting into action what you have learned.
Another thing is that I realized that having known the different beliefs of different people, I have no right to say that what they believe is wrong and what I believe is right. I can’t say that their God is non-sense and my God is the only God. This is because I have learned to be open and respect each belief. And that’s why I also conclude that it is hard to be a Philosopher and a Christian at the same time. Being a philosopher you need to be always open to the ideas of others, you need to always go out of your own box and understand each belief, and sometimes this belief might also affect the beliefs that you have in life particularly your faith. And because you respect each people’s religious belief you will find it hard to share to others the word of God. As we Christians are ordained to share the word of God and to tell them about the truth about Jesus, but how can you share it if you respect others religion, how could you say to a Muslim that their God, Allah was a false God and that Jesus Christ is the true God, that what they worship are idols and that Jesus is the truth as what the bible says? How can you convince others? How can you ‘save’ others? On this point I really get confused, though there might be a way to solve this dilemma but I still find it difficult to balance your faith and the different philosophies and beliefs in life.
But even so, I think that having different religions and belief bout God is better than having no God at all. Many atheists have given their best shot to prove that there’s no God. They say that God is just a result of our imagination, of our desire to be perfect and to be protected and guided by some powerful being. Yes, their argument seems to be convincing. It may be true, it may be not. As I read their arguments I also can’t help but to think if what they say is true or not. Because if it is true, then from the start, our belief that there is a God whom we can put our trust, who guided us and who we believe is always with us, ALL of this will be a big LIE. Everything was just a great deception of our own mind. But wait, if everything about God was a lie, then why are we living in this world? Then why do we bother to do good things? If everyone will just live and die, then what’s the purpose of living? What will be our hope? If there’s no God, what is life? If there’s no God our life is nothing, we will all live and die and that’s the end. The cycle of living and dying will just continue in this world. All of this is senseless. So I think that there should be a God who is the source of all our hopes, who is the main purpose for living and for doing good. A God who is our provider and who grants a life full of happiness after death. If there’s God, then I think everything has a meaning, has its own purpose and has hope. I might say that on this point I agree with Immanuel Kant’s reason for the existence of God. He says that God is necessary for the morally good people to gain reward after life on this world. And for this reasons, I personally believe that God exist.
But if God truly exist, then why there is evil? If all good things comes ultimately from God then why there’s such a thing as Evil? I don’t really know if my answer here is right but this is what I reflect. First, I think that everything on this world is dualistic. As what like Zoroastrianism believes in, there are always two contrasting thing that comes together, just like the Good and Evil, Order and Chaos, Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. I think that they always come together for the purpose of maintaining balance as what Taoism believes. So that in every good thing there lies evil and in every evil there comes good. But on a second thought, I would also like to emphasize the idea of Gottfried Leibniz which I think can also best explain the existence of evil. Because Leibniz also believe that all good things came from God and that He always give us the best, Leibniz believed that in order for this world to be the best there must also be the existence of evil. He concluded that evil was necessary for this world to be beautiful and to bring out the best aspects of humanity. Evil taught us to be strong, to learn more and to be the best that we can be. Because if we will only have the good then we may never be strong enough to face challenges in life, we may never learn from our mistakes and we can never be able to achieve the best that we can be. So therefore, evil became a necessity for this world to be perfect and beautiful, and so God let evil in this world for our own good too.
As far as I have learned I think that we cannot fully comprehend God and describe Him. He’s too awesome and powerful to be put in description by us who were just one of His little creations. There’s a lot more mysteries and questions that seems to be hidden up to this time. But I do believe that in God’s perfect time, He will reveal more of Himself to humanity. And until that time comes, I think that the best that we can do is to wait patiently and trust Him. No matter how many evil things are happening around us, may we continue to hold on to His promises and believe that His plan for us is always the best. Also, let us not get weary of doing good things for in time He will reward us.
And as a conclusion I would like to share what Elie Wiesel once said: For a Jew to believe in God is good. For a Jew to protest against God is still good. But simply to ignore God--that is not good.” I believe that being angry with God and questioning Him is okay, because in that we may know God more and we may understand more of His ways, but if you remain silent and indifferent to God, then you may never know the truth, you may never know why this things happen and so you gain nothing. I also believe that it is better to continue to ask and question God, to desire to be involved and know more about God than to remain apathetic and show no concern at all.
