Could You Be Wrong About God?

A healthy theology begins with doubt.

Now I'm not saying one needs to become an atheist like I did in order to wind up a true believer. What I am saying is that if your faith comes out of someone else's experience rather than your personal knowledge of who you are in relation to God, how strong can that faith be?

Of course Mom, Dad, Grandma or whoever can lead you from the cradle to the altar, and that's a good thing when it happens. However, until you sidestep the one(s) who led you, take time to tear down what you've been taught, and reassemble it from scratch, your faith is liable to be blown apart by any huffing, puffing wolf that comes along.

Study your Bible and your heart like your life depends on it, because it does. Will your faith take you from where you are now to an eternity in union with the Spirit of God? Do you even believe that is possible, or are you jumping, shouting, praying, and saying what you've been told just because you have been told?

If you don't think it makes a difference how you worship or who you think God is, ask Paul of Tarsus.

Play it safe if you want and choke down your questions so you don't look like a bad Christian (or a bad Jew, bad Muslim, or unsure atheist, for that matter). Sooner or later you'll gag on all those swallowed question marks, and the mess will need to be cleaned up. Why not just start the questioning now?

(Cartoon by the late, great Charles Schulz)