Sunrise

Beautiful #sunrise on this #Halloween morning. Have a fabulous day! #northernnevada

Thoughts Sparked by Observances of (some) Atheists



I have always known God.

I feel him, I hear him, I see him; indeed, I know him.

Never, in my forty-something years, have I ever felt judged by him.

Sadly, however, I have been judged by people who have claimed that their judgments were from God.

But since I know him, it doesn’t matter to me what others say.

Unfortunately, though, this is not true for everyone and what others say does greatly influence some.

In my (recent, limited) observances of some atheists; that is, listening to and reading some of their thoughts and ideas, I have seen that their rejection of God (or the existence of God) actually has little (if anything) to do with God and has (mostly) to do with other peoples’ portrayals of him.

A great number of those who claim to know God the best have created bizarre cultures of loud, intolerant, unloving, judgmental fanaticisms. Some bear the name of the one they claim as their founder; some bear the names of those who actually are their founders, some claim to be the True Saints, some claim to be True Witnesses, some claim to be God’s (only) Chosen People and some claim that all others are infidels.  And all of them say that if you don’t “believe” as they do, you will definitely perish (somewhere).

And there are plenty of people who belong to these groups who will love to throw verses at me from the holy book of their choosing in order to defend their view. And they may do so all they’d like because my thoughts are not based upon belief in any book. Rather, my thoughts are based upon my relationship with and knowledge of God.

Oh, there once was a time when I was lured into one of these bizarre cultures by a desire to “belong”; or probably more honestly accurate, by a desire to be “right”. And sadly, I have likely been guilty of turning people away from a belief in or turned people off to the notion of God because my portrayal of him was grossly wrong. For that, I am truly sorry.

But one of the amazing things about God is that he is perfectly capable of repairing that which people have “ruined”. In fact, he is perfectly willing and glad to do so.

Though I imagine he absolutely does not like what humans do to humans and that he abhors evil, he does not worry and fret over things (us) the way that we imagine he has “commanded” us to do to each other.

I do know that he absolutely, completely loves each one of us; atheist and bizarre fanatic alike, and I would wager that his intention has always been for us to know him and that in doing so, we would love, encourage, uplift and strengthen one another.

God is always kind, loving and good. And if what you’re teaching, preaching, evangelizing or ranting about  is contrary to this, then what you’re teaching, preaching, evangelizing and ranting isn’t about God at all.