Scottish theologian and storyteller George MacDonald wrote, “I believe that there is nothing good for me or for anyone but God, and more and more of God, and that only through knowing Christ can we come near to him.”

How much of God is enough?  Can you have too much God?  Many people go through their day with a token God (or god), not really throwing themselves into their creed, but allowing God to intervene for some inane event or favor. Others eat, breathe, sleep or even die for their deity, denying some of the most precious pleasures that God’s creation holds.

How do you get more of God?  Praying?  Reading your Bible?  Going to every gathering that your church offers?  What about just living your life, conscious of the fact that God is in his Heaven, and all is right with the world?  Is that just a cop out?

Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)  How do we do that?  Accept his teachings?  Pray to him to put a good word in to God?  Receive him as our Lord and Savior because he died on the cross to atone for our sins?

What about the bazillions who don’t even believe in Jesus?  Are they doomed? Is all of their searching for God futile?

I guess it all comes down to what you believe the character of God to be.  If he’s like most of us, forget about it.  If he’s a furious Father, always prepared to smite, then who can be saved?  Maybe he seriously wants to know what each of us thinks.  Maybe he can’t get enough of us.

He created everyone.  So why did he pick the Jews?  He decided to send his son (or himself, depending on what you believe) to earth to die for us.  So why wasn’t Jesus African or Japanese?  He promised that all believers (at least those who trust in Jesus’s atonement, depending on what you believe) would spend eternity with him in heaven.  So why would he roast billions and billions and billions of people in hell just because they didn’t say the right words on salvation or agree with the accepted plan?

Red and yellow, black and white, how many are precious in his sight?  Where does God’s love end?

I asked a fellow the other day if he had ever considered the fact that everything we believe is totally dependent on our trust of the people who taught us.  Obviously, we can’t prove any of the ancient positions on religion to be true, so sincere belief is necessary.  An assurance in your heart, so to speak. But aren’t we obligated to challenge those same teachers on the reasonableness of their statements?

My friend replied that, if we start challenging what we believe, we open ourselves to the temptation of Satan and will soon fall into serious sin.  Say what?  Is this guy one of God’s favorites?

I think we need to back the doctrinal bus up a bit and reconsider it.

I heard a radio preacher the other day, using an acronym to help us to remember how to pray.  He listed the basic elements of prayer as:

A – Adoration, recognizing who God is

C – Confession, setting things right with God about your life

T – Thanksgiving, acknowledging what God has given to you and done for you

S – Supplication, asking for what you need or want

But do we really need mnemonics to help us remember how to pray?  Do we even need prayer lists?  If it isn’t already on our minds, then is it important enough to pray about?

Sometimes I feel like I need to confess before I can truly adore God.  So, maybe it should be C.A.T.S..

HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT IT?

Someone had to give you information either verbally or by written word.  Then you have to determine if what they said or wrote is true.

WHAT DOES YOUR RELIGION SAY ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE?

This is really what’s on everyone’s mind.  If there is no afterlife, then your only goal in this life is to get through it as comfortably as possible.

WHAT DOES YOUR RELIGION REQUIRE OF YOU?

Most religions want your time and money, in increasing measure.  They also want you to commit to a creed or membership.

DOES WHAT YOU BELIEVE MAKE SENSE?

Many followers accept teachings simply because their leaders require your trust.  There is also the underlying threat that God will be angry if you don’t trust his prophets or his holy book, and that the consequences will be devastating.

CAN YOUR RELIGION BE PROVED?

Most will say “yes.”  But, think about it; all information that you receive comes from someone who was an alleged eyewitness, or knew someone who had an experience, or knew someone who knew someone, etc..  The bottom line is that you believe what you want to believe.

In answering these questions, you will find that more questions are required, and you may be surprised to find how getting to the truth is more difficult than you think.

Don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions.  If there is a God (and I believe there is), he would want you to investigate the meaning of life and the path to him.

Why am I different?  Tell me anything about any major religion or doctrine, and I will have serious questions.

I know that we have become politically correct these days, so I can’t say that I’m handicapped.  Handicapped people are to be considered challenged.  Cripples are physically challenged.  Retarded people are mentally challenged.  Blind people are visually challenged.  So maybe I’m spiritually challenged.

I was locked into a certain belief system for over 40 years and am now emerging like a butterfly.  Or maybe I’m a moth who just thinks he’s a butterfly.  While butterflies only live a week or two, my new faith (or challenged faith) has lasted longer — actually a few years.  I’ve launched some ideas in this blog, but I haven’t received a good challenge yet.

Shouldn’t our faith be challenged?  Won’t it make us stronger?  Or will it just frustrate us?

Most people, when asked about the specifics of their faith, want to refer you to their pastor, teacher, Bible passage or favorite commentary.  Why can’t they answer the questions on their own?  Don’t they KNOW what they believe?

Is there a minimum number of reputable scholars that, when that number is reached, makes whatever they say true, no matter what they say?  With so many religions in the world, along with their multitudinous denominations, how can we know which one is right?  Is a little bit of each of them right?

Is God holding back?  Are there questions that we aren’t supposed to know the answer to?  If we think that we have all of the basic answers to life, is there a danger of pride, that we know as much as God?

Start asking questions, people!  Challenge can’t hurt.  Or can it?

Mountains are beautiful.  Sunsets are beautiful.  So are flowers, children, puppies and rainbows.  But how do we know God is beautiful?  The God of the Old Testament seems anything but beautiful.  The people were deathly afraid for him to come near.  And he instructed them to slaughter men, women and children.

The New Testament appears to paint a picture of a more loving God.  Jesus said he himself was just like God. Some say he was God.  So, was Jesus beautiful?  Not if you read the prophetic description of him in Isaiah 53:2.

Is God just beautiful on the inside?  He can create beauty, but he can’t be beautiful himself?  What, after all, is beauty anyway?  It certainly can be physical, in that our mind’s eye recognizes color, shape, softness and other qualities tending toward flawlessness.  But are we being prejudiced by recognizing physical beauty, let’s say, in a person, when the rest of us are bordering on ugly?

Does God want us to shun physical beauty for inner beauty, those characteristics that transform a homely person into a beautiful one?  I believe my wife is beautiful, but she tells me, given my age, that my eyes are not seeing clearly.  Are her inner qualities that I have come to love over the years actually masking the fact that she is getting older?

Maybe beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but who can know?

Sometimes I wish that I could order my spiritual life as I order my daily physical life.  I’m quite orderly — almost to a fault.  I make notes, lots of notes.  Reminders, thoughts for future blogs, my own calendar and to-do list on a computer spreadsheet.  I keep my desk orderly.  I put my shoes and clothes away (that’s my wife’s fault — she trained me).  I schedule everything.  I was an attentive enlisted man in the Air Force, and the pattern continued when I got out.  Give me a drill sergeant, and I’m quite content.

Then at other times I wish that I was more carefree.  Stopping to smell the flowers or find interesting shapes in the clouds at the risk of missing the next appointment.  Of course I could schedule those things, but where’s the fun in that?  But on to my spiritual life.

On my list of things not to do I don’t want to be mean, pretending, false, unfair, self-pitying, cowardly, fearful or anxious.  I also want to avoid self-love or possessiveness.  That’s a tall order.  I wonder if I wrote those things down and reviewed them each day, perhaps I could measure my progress, maybe even make a chart.  Even as I write this for fun, I’m seriously playing the idea in my mind as a possibility.  Somebody, please stop me!

How much does God really intervene in our lives?  Is it my conscience telling what to do, or not do, or is the Holy Spirit tapping into my brain waves?  How can I be sure that it’s not just me rationalizing in order to satisfy my selfish desires?

Even lists can be constructed toward my wants rather than needs or duties.  Sometimes I just want to throw out those stupid lists and let my thoughts run free, meeting each challenge as I round the next curve.

But then I would forget to check my blood sugar, take my pills and … what was the other thing?  I’ll have to check my list.

I remember a quip from an old comedy team routine, The Smothers Brothers, where Tom Smothers asks his brother Dick, “Why does Mom always like you best?”  Dick replies, “Because I’m an only child.”

If Jesus is God’s “only begotten,” does that make him an only child?  I was an only child (still am), and I have to admit that I see pros and cons about having brothers/sisters or getting all of the attention yourself.

Coming from a typical family unit (James, Clara and little Stevie), it’s hard to picture Jesus in the same role. Sure, he had an earthly mom, Mary, and even an earthly dad, Joseph (old enough to be his grandpa, I’m told), but the dad he always talked about was God.  And a lot of people say he himself was God.  Not only was Jesus God, but the Holy Ghost/Spirit is supposed to be God too.  Three God’s in one?

It has been said that there are not three God’s, but God manifested (displayed) in three forms.  They call it the Trinity.  But that word trinity isn’t in the Bible.  A fellow named Tertullian came up with it around 200 AD. He was the son of a Roman centurion (military officer).  Tertullian was also a lawyer and ordained priest. People like that are always coming up with new words.

But answer me this.  Why did Jesus pray to God, talk to God, talk about God and worship God?  Why did he call him Father?  If he was really God himself, doesn’t that make him a little schizophrenic?  Or was he just trying to fool us?  Sure, he said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.”  But couldn’t that just mean that they were like-minded, that Jesus is simply in the perfect will of God?

Still trying to sort this one out.