God is eternal. He's always been here and will always be here.
And the Bible *was* written by men. Divinely inspired men, but men. And yes, it was translated by men. However, when compared with >2000-year-old scraps of the book of Isaiah found in the Qum'ran caves, the difference in the text was negligible.
See, the difference between myself and most of the Christians I know is this: I *know* God is not exactly as described in the Bible. I *know* the Bible has errors. I also *know* that every preacher/rabbi/pastor/$leader puts their own slant on the words ("The prayers of the righteous will be answered" -- of course that means that we can pray for money and God will give it to us, right? Of course, right. <sigh>). I *know* that many people will come to church to make a showing of themselves, their wealth and their clothing. I also *know* beyond the shadow of any doubt that there is a God in the heavens who loves us and wants nothing less for us than perfect happiness. I also *know* that because we are imperfect humans, we have no capability of attaining perfect happiness on our own. We *need* that God-figure in our lives to teach us what is right, whether it's the Christian God, the Jewish Jehovah, the Wiccan Mother Earth/Nature/$Your_(god/goddess), the Muslim Allah, the Native American Great Spirit, the Aztec Sun God or whatever... It's human nature to believe in a deity of some kind, even if it's not anything deific at all (for example: I know several people who absolutely worship and adore sex, money, cars, buildings, computers...).
I serve a God of Love, of Peace and of Joy. He is a Father-God figure, who will reward our good works and punish wrong-doings. He also has Mother-God aspects, and will nurture us in our daily walk. I believe that He loves all people equally and desires that they come to Him for the love and direction they need in their lives -- and I don't think He necessarily wants them to come through any specific church, denomination or religion.
I find the love of God by reading the Christian Bible, attending an Episcopal church, and prayer, but I won't begrudge anyone who wants to try a different way. |
