Knowing the Mind of God

This week, I have had several people question the open nature of my faith. I am sure that it was in love that they did so. I often say that God is much to big for one religion, one book, one faith. I simply do not believe that we can be so confident as to say that we know the mind of God. I do think that it is important to study the history, nature, and origin of all perspectives in order to develop ones understanding of God. 

This appears to be a problem for many people who feel that I am corrupting or twisting the nature of God for my own comfort. They do not believe that I am following the God of my forefathers and that I pick and chose holy scripture for my own purposes. Somehow, I am intellectually lazy in my attempts to unify my faith. 

Although frustrating, these conversations have only made my point for me. The devil is in the details, as they say. When the concept of God is allowed to be simplified, it is a holy thing. When people are allowed to deal with God as individuals with different perceptions and needs, they are able to connect the Creator. When doctrine and dogma and man's rules and regulations enter the picture, it creates dissension. It is why we have had religious wars for thousands of years. It is why there are over one hundred different types of Baptists alone. We argue over unimportant details, break apart, and reform somewhere else until someone else disagrees and the cycle continues. 

When we decide that we know the mind of God, then we limit possibilities. For instance, if I said I know everything I can know about my parents, I would be mistaken. I have known them for nearly forty years. I have seen all the pictures in the photo albums, I have spent countless hours with them. Yet I seem to learn something new about them every day. Our relationship has grown and matured, because we don't assume that we know everything about each other so we communicate daily and bond even more. 

And such is our relationship with the Holy One. If I assume I know him (or her), I will never really know God. I will know someone's concept of God. I will assume that there is nothing new to discover. 

We were not given brains to let them wither away and die. My mind and faith began to expand the day I opened it to possibilities. If I blindly accept the religious traditions of the past, then I might as well believe that the earth is flat and disease is caused by the devil and not germs and viruses. 

I realize there is fear in knowledge. It makes us take responsibility. I cannot say "the devil made me do it". I must admit that it is I who have done wrong. I cannot lean on the crutch of doing the right thing because I will be punished otherwise, but I must do the right thing as a conscious thinking being. I do it because it is right. 

A person inferred that by twisting the idea of God into my own truth, that I was making myself more comfortable because I could do what I wanted and make up my own rules. In fact, what it is doing is making me a better person because my focus is now intently on God and not the religion. 

I am a strong believer that the test of one's faith is how they treat other people and God's creation. This is what I focus on. I fail often. Controlling my temper is probably the biggest hurdle I have in being a person of faith. I get angry when I see injustice and I tend to hide behind my anger when I am hurt. But I own that and I pray daily for God to help me overcome. 

So to those who think I am on the wrong path, all I can tell you, is when it comes down to my heart, it is well with my soul. No one is perfect, most certainly myself, but if I were to stand before the Holy One tonight, I would not do so with trepidation but with thankfulness in putting a face to the voice who has whispered to me all my life.