Is there a good reason to believe in God?

You can't help having a crush on somebody the way that you can't help admitting to yourself that there is a God. Whether you impose on to yourself that you are an atheist, there is a gap inside of you, a void, a space that can never be filled, an ignorance. Something is missing and no matter how much you try to fill in that gap, you will never find the missing piece until you accept your defeat, until you give up the search and let One give meaning to that space.

People, undenyingly, have different beliefs, let alone people all over the world belong to different religions. Lots of us even identify ourselves based on the kind of "god" that we worship. Some worship, Allah, others the Holy Trinity, some Jehovah, some Jesus Christ, while some identify themselves as a god. Yet there are others who have identified money, careers, jewelries, institutions, nature, animals, food, gadgets, etc. as their gods. Consciously or not, we have someone or something that governs our ideas and selves, directs our intentions and actions, and leads us into our identity. We identify ourselves with a god. Yet this case of identification becomes problematic when our beliefs lead us to become who we're not supposed to be - lead us to become less than human. So, what god molds us to become truly human? The answer i have found in St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, a God "that than which nothing greater can be meant" -  a God above all others - a God who caused all others to exist. This God, i have further learned and realized, is an unmoved Mover, a necessary Being, the Source of all goodness, an omnipotent, omniscient, cosmic Lover. You could not even define Him nor understand Him.

In this short series of discussion, therefore, i would not argue on the existence of one God. Yet, knowing that there is a God doesn't seem to affect everyone believing in God. As i've mentioned we acknowledge different gods in our lives, despite the fact that there is one God. Some might argue that there is no point believing in one omniscient Being when there are a lot of perks in believing in other cooler gods. However, i'd like to direct the reader towards the realization of the beauty of identifying oneself as an effect, a product, of an unbounded and an unlimited love of the true God.

Belief in God Gives One a Purpose for Living

Bertrand Russel, an atheist, once quoted, "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless." Indeed, what on Earth am i here for? To make the most out of everything i have? For what? i mean,  if i efficiently use up all my resources for my personal wholesome development, what would become of me and all i have worked for when i die? Well, you could tell me that i could simply pass them on to my descendants or to the people i have left behind. But after that, you would realize that as the cycle of generations goes on and on, i would eventually be forgotten along with all the labor i have done in my lifetime of existence. You would realize at this point the contingency of human life and all his works. It may be correct to say that he had been successful in life but what is all this success for?  Indeed, the songwriter was right in describing himself as "a flower quickly fading - here today and gone tomorrow; a wave tossed in the ocean; vapor in the wind" So, if all this is bothering me, why don't i assume that there is a God and be able to answer my life's purpose - to prepare myself on Earth for an eternity of being with God? But of all assumptions you could choose to  assume, why choose this assumption, existence of God, as a presumption to finding one's purpose in life? The answer, i believe, is that it is the most obvious answer, there is a God, and that this belief brings about goodness and purpose of our existence. One illustration of the effect of believing in God is back in the primitive ages in Philippine history. People at that time, lived a simple life yet there are some events which bothered them a lot - storms and bad weather. Because of this, they assumed that the sun is a god and offered their harvests to this god, thinking that it would please the sun and thereby provide them with pleasant weather conditions. Their belief in their god changed their way of living. They had been more careful of their actions and quite aware that somebody/something is watching over them. They had been mindful of their deeds, afraid of triggering the sun to become angry. In a way, they had been morally aware, and that was really some improvement. In relation to our generation today, belief in God presents us a deeper understanding of life and shows to us a more profound purpose for living. We become aware that there is more to what we can seen now, there is more to human life.

Belief in God Calls for Conformity of Beliefs

Observe the world and tell yourself what you can see. We are a dynamic people. Times and lifestyles constantly change. Compared to the primitive people long ago, we think and act differently as much as we value different ideals uniquely. People all over the world watch one another for the other's misconduct, and some would just love to stress out to the world that they are "right" and in the "light of truth". However, we could never really judge who's correct and who's awfully mistaken! Euthanasia, for example - we are never fully sure what righteous stand we could present here; to kill or not to kill? Some kill the other anyway. Illegal drugs: to be used or not to use? Some use lots of it anyway. To legally defy marriage or not? Some would legally divorce anyway. As much as certain situations spring up and confuse us, our way of thinking confuses us as well. According to Pope Pius XII, "the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin." Perhaps this is the most ridiculous lie we tell ourselves, because the world is changing and cultures are changing, our values and beliefs would need to adapt to these changes as well. This is seriously poisonous and our methods could actually make us lose our identities. We argue over some issue and tell the peoples that "this belief presents justice", or "this norm is the new norm". However, the belief of the existence of God calls us to treat each other as brothers and sisters. In John 13:35, Jesus said, "...love each other just as much as I love you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are My disciples." This call and command gives us the idea that we should bound our decisions in love, faith, and concern for the common good. In the midst of social debates and arguments, one could actually choose to confuse oneself and the other further, or one could choose to love. The world will continue to change, and we should look forward to that. But to keep our values rooted in God would give us a sense of unity amidst the diversity of our cultures and personalities. Believing in God gives us the enlightenment that morality is universal and that it should never be compromised, and truth and faith is never apart from the each other. 

Belief in God Opens Oneself to the Encounter of God

You could either say to the glass of half-filled water that it is half empty or it is half full. Amidst all suffering and animosity on Earth, you could either choose to believe that there is a God or there is not. i wasn't exactly a hundred-percent-believer. Let us just say that i had only been commanded by my parents to believe in God. However, along the stages of growth and development, God manifested Himself through. Now this sounds so personal and so not bounded on facts, but it's the same as you, not opening yourself up to the world outside your room, would never experience the world outside. Well, there might have been some cases where encounter comes first before belief, as what Paul in the book of Acts experienced. But given the chance to encounter Him by slightly believing in Him is a very big leap towards finding Him. It is as if you allow losing your lost self to find your whole being restored in the end. C.S. Lewis could affirm to this idea when he said that "You don't have a soul. You are a soul; you have a body." Our spiritual dimension or nature will never be attracted things that are physical or worldly or fleshly, because it is not our nature. Yet, because we have a body, we exist in the physical world. We are able to relate with inanimate objects; we are able to relate with one another. In this relation, we have the tendency to lose our true nature and forget who we really are. It is once again in losing who we are in this world that we find out who we truly are. Losing our grip in the world would give a leeway for an encounter of a higher Being. Letting go and surrendering our "identity in the world" would allow us to find our "identity in the infinity of God". Somehow, this letting go is actually God's first move of calling us. 

So, is there a good reason to believe in God? Go figure. ☺

Marcus Aurelius bronze fragment, Louvre, Paris: "To move from one unselfish action to another with God in mind. Only there, delight and stillness."

Schopenhauer considered that the good conscience we experience after an unselfish act verifies that our true self exists outside our physical person