The foundations of faith (13)

We need to address 2 obstacles. Part 2: What can I expect God to do for me?

I think it’s helpful to remember there are not “special” religious emotions: “religious love”, “religious joy”; there are “ordinary” emotions – love, joy, peace etc that are prompted by God’s presence rather than the secular world. So, don’t be fooled into thinking that unless you have some special or supernatural experience that you haven’t met with God. A lot of the life of faith is about our willingness to look at the world in a certain way – hence my idea that faith is more of a verb and a choice rather than a noun.

So, two people observe a beautiful sunset. One says, “What a beautiful sunset”; the other says, “What a beautiful sunset; isn’t God wonderful”. It’s not that they are simply attributing the sunset to God as the creator, when really it’s caused by the laws of science, but that the beauty of the sunset has pointed the religious person beyond even the beauty of the sunset to perceive “behind” or “within” the sunset a sense of even greater beauty in their sense of the presence of God. God “speaks to them” through the sunset.

Now, what makes the religious person willing to do that? While the secular person is not willing to do it?

I don’t think that atheists refuse to see God even though they do feel God’s presence really. Instead, it’s as though the idea does not occur to them, perhaps because they have ruled it out as impossible. They love the sunset too, but while the religious person feels it’s obvious that God is calling to them, the atheist will not go beyond what the material world presents to them. I’m not denying that the atheist is profoundly moved by the beauty of the sunset, but they see no need to go any further in their response, while to the religious person it is obvious that the sunset is a window into a deeper reality, which we call God. So, somehow, and I am still unsure quite how or why, experiencing God’s presence is connected to a willingness to be open to him.

If anyone still feels unmoved by what I’m saying about religious experiences, all I can say is:-

• What a noble heart you have to still be intrigued by and drawn to a life of faith when all that you give is – in your experience – hardly ever acknowledged by and reciprocated by the God of love – when numbskulls like me only have to look at the sky and God is reaching out in love.
• Do what is right, and love mercy and justice and goodness. For whatever reason, God seems absent to you, but by your actions you demonstrate (at least to those who know you) that God is all around you and his love flowing strongly from you.
• Keep your heart and mind open to the possibility that God might draw near in palpable ways – he IS near, but maybe from time to time that will become tangible to you.