Writing Prompt: Religion and Spirituality
What makes you believe in God?)
Ah! Something I can sink my teeth into, and speak from personal belief and conviction. Not everyone will agree, and that’s okay. It is not my intention to offend, or proselytize, or be judgmental. I’m simply answering the question from my own life experience and love of the Bible.
In Psalm 19:1, David sang, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork.”
I love October. It is a month of great beauty. The skies can be an intense blue, filled with huge billowy clouds through which the sun shines down on trees lush from summer, grass that is still green, and late-blooming flowers whose color is not dimmed by humidity. The mosquitos are gone. There are still a few slow, meandering bees now and then, but soon they, too will rest in their hives for the next few months.
Some may see all this beauty as an accident of nature, an explosion of some unknown origin. But I see symmetry, order, planning and matchless design all around me. I take great comfort and satisfaction in knowing that God arranged it all for our pleasure, as well as for the more practical purpose of planting, reaping, and resting from our labors. Summer, winter, springtime, harvest. It’s all His design, and all I have to do is look around me to know He exists.
I remember, in my high school physics class, my teacher telling us that just when we think we’ve discovered the smallest particle–at that time, the atom–someone comes along and sees even smaller particles. And sure enough, neutrons and protons and I don’t remember what all else have been discovered since then. Now, we’re speaking in terms of nano-this and thats. I suspect there is far more still to be discovered as we refine our tools of investigation.
I’ve lived long enough to be very aware of the depredations of age upon the human body. If I hold my arm under direct light, I can see crepe where the skin used to be smooth and firm. I haven’t invested in all sorts of products to de-crepe my skin :). I’m 74, and life happens. If I were 34, I may be more concerned.
What’s truly amazing is that most of my body’s systems are still working quite well. My heart is healthy. Blood pressure? No problem. Breathing? Well, I don’t have the same amount of wind that I did years ago, and I don’t do solos or even trios or other groups. I miss that, but I had a lot of wonderful experiences making music. Good memories.
Brain function? As far as I can tell, my brain is still healthy. Sure, I have moments in which I can’t remember why I went into a certain room, or what I was looking for. All of us who have reached our senior years make jokes about such things. However, I still love to learn. I’m still curious, inquisitive; and I want to understand the “why” of things.
My body is not an accident of evolution. It is designed by a master Creator. With all our knowledge, we have just scraped the surface of all that the body can teach us. I’m especially fascinated by the brain, and if I were young and starting all over again (thank God I’m not!) I would be very drawn to the study of the brain, and especially as it relates to behavior and learning processes. Only an omnipotent, omniscient Creator could have designed the miraculous body, and also the environment in which it would thrive. Perfect distance from the sun. Perfect amount of oxygen for breath. Perfect balance of water on the earth to keep us healthy. None of that is just an accidental result of a Big Bang. It was done purposefully to give us health and life.
If you don’t agree, and you doubt the existence of God, would you do something? Would you find your pulse in your neck, and just sit quietly and feel it, feel the regularity of it, and realize that it has been that way since before you were born? It is proof that your heart is beating; that your blood is circulating as it should. That’s not an accident of evolution. The body did not, in some foggy distant past, decide to regulate its heartbeat. God did that, from the very beginning, because He knew what would be necessary to keep us alive.
Or maybe just study the human eye. It’s an amazing thing, something I’ve come to appreciate so much more now that I’ve lost a field of vision due, apparently, to a tiny little stroke that caused a momentary occlusion in the optic nerve. For less than an instant, blood flow was blocked. It’s very exciting, though, as I’ve begun to realize that maybe a little of that vision has returned. I’m not sure, and I don’t want to get too excited, but I think there’s been a change. The ability of the body to heal itself is amazing!
All right, I’ve gone on too long. Again, it has not been my purpose to offend anyone. This is my answer to this prompt. Honestly, I could go on for a very long time!
I do want you to understand that you are free to state your own opinion, but I will not engage in any debate with you publicly. You can contact me by messenger, if you really need to. And please be civil. If you curse or use profane, vulgar language, I will not post your comment. If you don’t like what I’ve written, then I kindly suggest you go read something else 🙂
Just Writing! 
Thank you for this encouraging post. I agree that Creation points to a Creator. I’m glad the Bible tells us all about Him too.
Blessings on your weekend – Wendy Mac 🕊️
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Thanks, Wendy. I spent more time there than I expected to:)
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A couple of days ago, as I was driving through the beauty of eastern New Mexico’s high desert countryside, I said a prayer. I prayed “Oh Lord, isn’t it amazing that a random, massive, big bang explosion that happened billions or trillions of years ago, somehow caused all this intricate life and beauty to come into existence?”
Then I laughed and said “Of course I’m kidding, God. Your creation is so awesome! I don’t know how anyone can look at this beautiful world and not believe in You. Least of all me! Thank You, Lord, for being so patient and forgiving and loving with me, even through my ignorant agnostic/atheist years.”
I was not a believer when I went to nursing school. One day, my assignment was to observe an open heart surgery from start to finish — standing on a footstool at the patient’s head. When the surgeon cut open the chest cavity and retracted the rib cage, I stared in amazement at a throbbing, beating heart flanked by billowing, breathing lungs. And I thought “How did this evolve, all by itself, out of nothing?”
No, I did not become a Christian believer that day. But this experience marked the moment when my long journey to fully believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, began. Yes, the evidence of God’s creation is all around us, and within us, every moment of every day. Just take your pulse, like you said — there’s the evidence, right there. However, because we see this marvelous creation every single day of our lives, we take it all for granted. It has always been here. It will always be here. It just… is.
But open up the chest cavity of a living, breathing man and — WOW!
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When my husband was in college, going through his agnostic phase, his believing friend said, “Okay, Terry. If there’s no God, then explain to me the birth of a baby.” He couldn’t. And years later, as he watched the birth of our first child, there were tears rolling down his face. I knew exactly what he was thinking 🙂
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