Is God Real?

YouTube: Is God Real?

The following is a recent comment from a member of our Face Book audience.

“When you add god to the conversation, you’ve abandoned reality for superstition.”

To make such a broad statement indicates the commentator assumes we all mean the same thing when we add “God” to the conversation. What is notable is that such an attitude illustrates the same close-minded mentality that it claims to reject. The following statement from Emerson can apply to both the religiously indoctrinated and the atheist alike:

“You may sometimes talk with the gravest and best citizen, and the moment the topic of religion is broached, he runs into a childish superstition.”

If the word “God” automatically triggers superstition, then it is obvious that the notion of reality beyond the senses has not yet been explored. For such a person—a materialist—God might still be associated with that ruler-touting nun enforcing her classroom version of the inquisition. You value your knuckles? Then think as you’re told.   

The scientific and academic communities are nearly as reluctant to challenge accepted theories as their religious counterparts. Does the brain produce consciousness, or does consciousness transmit through the brain? This heated debate is but one example of the ongoing tug of war that has less to do with scientific or religious convictions than with human nature. When careers are built, textbooks are written, and funding is secured based on accepted lines of thought, the scientist is just as reluctant to abandon their sacred theory as the religious apologist. This is why a renowned scientist, Max Planck, has been paraphrased saying that science advances one funeral at a time.     

I agree with the commentator that much of our inherited religious belief system is based on superstition. This fact, however, does not change the nature of reality itself. For those of us engaged in the heart-felt spiritual quest, we find that much of our work lies in separating the truth from fiction—both religious and scientific.

Is God real? The scriptural commandment, or invitation, is to love the Lord your God. Our spiritual goal is to look past the God that has been handed to us and come to know God firsthand.