Why I Believe in God
Read Time:4 Minute, 32 Second
When I was about 10 or 11, my mom and I got in the car to drive to church. Out of the blue, she told me to lock the doors. We never locked the doors, even at night. But, I did it. We came to a stoplight and a man tried to get into the car. My mom ran the red light and sped into the church parking lot. She turned around, ashen faced and asked me if I was okay. I was terrified and crying, but at least we had locked the doors.
In my early 20’s, I got pregnant out of wedlock. I had a good job, insurance and my parents let me move in with them. We found an adoption agency and entered into a contractual closed adoption. Anonymous hopeful parents would fill out a survey of sorts, which I would read with the social worker, and together, we chose a couple to adopt my baby. I never knew their names, first or last, nor they, mine. When they took their new daughter home, they named her Erin.
I know a lot of atheists, and I respect them a great deal. They understand that I am not a “Bible thumper,” I don’t believe the Earth was created in 6 days, and I about as far removed from fundamental Christianity as possible. I don’t even go to church. But, I do believe in God. I have experienced too many miracles not to. The man trying to break into the car, the adoptive parents naming their new baby Erin, and the fact that my son is perfectly healthy.
The women on my mom’s side of the family carry a gene that causes a degenerative illness in boys. My cousin has lost two sons to what we originally thought was osteogenesis imperfecta, but turned out to be linked to a recessive gene all of us carry. Except me. My son was born healthy and happy, gorgeous and perfect, and remains that way. I guess one could say I just dodged a genetic bullet, but why, out of all the women on that side of the family, did it skip me? My theory is that God, or Aslan, or a higher power knew how heartbreaking it was for me to give up my daughter, and wanted to give me a child to take home and love and cherish.
I also believe in evolution, I’m pro-choice, I don’t think gay people are evil, I don’t hate the poor and I do not find myself waiting for the Rapture. I know the real reason fundamentalist Christians love Israel and I know that people like Michele Bachmann, Bryan Fischer, Tony Perkins and all the other hate mongers are not practicing true Christianity. The New Testament for the most part is really lovely. Jesus, whether you believe He is the Son of God or not, was a cool dude. He told us to be nice to each other, to be kind and loving, to give to those less fortunate, and in return, we nailed Him to a tree. By the way, I really and truly feel that if Jesus (the ACTUAL Jesus) came back today, our current crop of “Super Christians” would nail Him right back up again.
The primary reason I believe in God is that I am still alive. I shouldn’t be. I drank enough when I was younger to kill the entire Russian Navy, I had unprotected sex, I’ve even “died.” But here I am. Why is that? I don’t know, but I do know that there is a reason, one that will probably be made clear when I die and hopefully wind up in what I believe is Heaven. My version is the best place of your life. If your best place is the beach, you spend eternity on a beach. If it’s the pristine forests of the Northwest, or a rain forest in South America, or a favorite opera or play, well, you get the picture. My heaven is private, but there will a lot of people there I love, along with cats and flowers. Lots of flowers.
So, in the midst of the “Atheist club” that is Mad Mike’s America, here comes this ex-Catholic, liberal Christian. Mad Mike still lets me write, Chris and I still have our wonderfully intellectual dialogues and I think Al Stefanelli is one of the smartest and most profound writers I’ve ever come across online. So, when flaming Christians scream about how Atheists disrespect them and are “targeting” them and discriminating against them, remember that their argument is actually a steaming pile of dog poo. I am not attacked (although I haven’t read the comments yet), I am not discriminated against, and no one is targeting me. Of course, I am also not a hateful, closed minded fundamentalist. Liberal Christians are a wee bit different than folks who watch The 700 Club. We’re rational, sane and we try really hard to be more like Jesus wanted us to be.
I like believing in God. Yes, I think He looks like Aslan, but that’s the cool thing about God: He can look any way you want Him to.
This article was originally published on April 5, 2012.
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[…] In MadMikesAmerica Erin Nanasi explains why she believes in God. […]
I have often said that everyone has a right to their own beliefs, just leave me out of it. The problem with most Christians is that they believe that everyone should think their way. One can have a belief in an oak tree if that is what helps get through things that go bump in the dark. Just don’t expect me to be a part of it.
Well exactly and for me it’s the arguments, the reasons for believing that are always specious, fallacious and non-sequitur and fail to realize that these arguments always work equally for an infinite number of gods with equal and opposite attributes that cancel each other out.
I do believe in oak trees but I have a number of them and being monotreeistic i can’t really choose.
There must be an invisible entity behind events? The uncertainty principle argues otherwise.
If you had simply said “I believe in god” without identifying a particular God – and I guess that’s what you did, I would drop it, but the Anthropic Principal is not proof or evidence of anything. If you had not survived, you wouldn’t be here to claim gods’ grace – so only survivors can talk about survival.
As RickRay said, religion is a cultural artifact. Had you been raised to believe in Enlil, (which in a way you have been since gods have common ancestors) you might think the Sumerian god of the winds liked you better than others. If you had been raised with the God of Random Chance, you might have thought you were just lucky.
Where the Anthropic Principle comes in is the realization that only those who survive are here to tell us and to try to explain utterly random sequences of events so as to flatter themselves. God is inseparable from vanity. If you take away the notion that those who survive a bit longer are god’s chosen, you’re left with the bare facts of physics: chance, entropy and the lot.
Two and a half Million people die in the US every year, three hundred and thirty million do not. Evidently god likes them better? Sorry, the Universe is not about us or our tiny planet. That should bring us together and not separate us as belief does. We all die. Ave nehil, morituri te salutant.
Nice one Erin. As an atheist, you’re my kind of believer 😁😘
I believe there MIGHT be ‘something’ but I doubt it unless you’re talking about alien life and I do believe in that.
I believe in God but feel no need to justify it. I just do.
I’m an Atheist, and that means I don’t believe in some Supreme Being. I think it’s all a bunch of silliness.
Aslan rules!!!
You’re about 3/4 of the way to sanity. If you were born in Saudi Arabia, would you believe in Jesus? No! If you were born in India, would you be a Christian? No! If you were born in China, Israel, Sweden….Not likely. You believe what you do, only because you’ve been indoctrinated into that culture, not because it’s true. With over 3000 denominations of Christianity all fighting amongst themselves as to how to interpret their bible, don’t you wonder why your Jesus never wrote anything and supposedly had others write for him decades after his death. Do you really believe people can come back to life and that zombies arose during the resurrection? Do you really want to worship a sky-father who imposes evil and suffering on innocents? Over 30,000 children a day die from dehydration and starvation. You can’t be so self-centred and arrogant about being special and Jesus/God watching over just you at any particular time. Cognitive dissonance must abound within your mind. But, thanks for being so honest and straightforward about your beliefs. I HOPE your light keeps getting brighter and your vision clearer as you mature and become more enlightened about the world of reality. Take Care!
While I don’t agree about there being a “god”, I do think you are a wonderful example of what a christian should be, and not what most of them are. I really wish the fundies would get a clue from people like you. Science is not an enemy, and for the sake of arguement, let’s assume there is a god. Why would god create something on earth and make it a bad thing? People with their own corruptions do enough of that on their own. Also, if a god does exist, could evolution explain how god created everything, and the 6 days of creation, day or rest be the same as the geologic timeline that evolution teaches? It to has 7 parts, so for the sake of arguement, could that explain how long 1 day is to “god”. To me, it is still bullshit, but for a believer, is this not plausable? Also, jesus said that people who do not abide in him should be cast forth as branches, allowed to wither and die, and be burned in a fire. That statement was the biblical justification for burning witches in salem. Just saying, jesus may have been all love thy neighbor, but he said some stuff that people use to justify murder, slavery and other horrific things too. Just a little food for thought.
Day of rest, sorry for the typo.
Erin, thanks for sharing your story. We love you here because you are you and each of us are who we are all with our good parts and bad parts just like any other human. Christian, non Christian, Atheist, Jew or whoever it is the person that counts. I enjoy your writing and your ability to see the good through all of the bad, or vice versa. It is rare to find a Christian who truly tries to live as Jesus preached that we should live. If more were that way there might be more Christians. One thing I do know, you are very welcome here and have been a great addition to the contributors to to the Blog.