Why should I believe in God?

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First let’s address God, then let’s address the need.

God is a spiritual concept. It’s no more and no less than a vehicle to put your spirituality in. We imbue God with divinity and lots of other things.

The concept of God evolved over time. If you look carefully at Christianity you can see the tracings over time. It’s a form of retroactive definition. The God we worship now is closer to the truth than all of the Gods worshipped in the past. Just as science gives us a more clear picture over time of how this world works, all religions ‘collaborate’ over time to give a fuller picture of how spirituality works.

So people mightily miss the point when they take a literal interpretation of scripture rather than a humanist one. Including many (most?) theists. The currency of religion is beauty and everybody who wants to be spiritual should follow the beauty.

There’s beauty in the medieval imagery of the Bible, but you don’t have to study or use that part of it if you don’t want to. The Bible was written for the needs of ancient peoples, not you. Plenty of Christians get by without ever reading the Bible. Will they be pure enough to enter heaven? Probably not, but that’s what purgatory is for.

There’s plenty of modern Christian myth available for you, from A Christmas Carol to Star Wars. Just about every story out there has elements derived from Christian morality.

That said, let’s discuss the need.

It all boils down to how your brain is wired and what your early experiences were regarding spirituality. Either a God-shaped hole forms in your mind, or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, guaranteed you become an atheist as you get older. It’s just the easy choice. Religious pedagogy has gone into the toilet over the last 200 years. So the good aspects of belief are not taught.

This is probably a good thing, and I consider it part of God’s plan. There was, and still is, some truly nasty things going on in religious institutions, from sheltering pedophilia to fundamentalist warmongering. Atheists remain in God’s grace. That Christians don’t currently have the vision to imagine a place in Heaven for them doesn’t mean they’re going to burn in Hell. I imagine a third section is getting created for them as we speak where they get to witness the awesome splendor of God and make a choice as to what to do about it. I think most will eventually choose to reincarnate and give it another go.

Enough on that tangent, back to the topic at hand. The yearning to believe in God is the same yearning as you may have felt to, say, be part of something that matters. It’s just hooked to a spiritual belief rather than temporal matters. In the same way that a programmer might desire to work for Google, the biggest and most awesome of the places where a programmer might work, believers want to be a part of the biggest and most awesomest kingdom known to man. It digs deep in the psyche and touches deep, resonant chords. They want to live in the kingdom ruled by Jesus.

But ultimately it boils down to whether spirit has touched you or whether it hasn’t. Spirit was quite gentle with me, allowing me to slowly, brick by brick, build up a relationship with God, over decades. But for anyone who truly believes, it’s not perceived as belief, it’s perceived as having this awesome presence in your mind, all the time. You live with God, you don’t just believe in Him.

If spirit does not touch you, that’s fine, belief no longer seems to be required of everyone. You can get your spiritual needs met through the culture of your choosing. You don’t even have to call them spiritual needs. Cleanse the entire ‘stench’ of belief from your mind. It matters not. God can wait.

You can even convert to Buddhism and chase their version of perfection if you want. It’s all the same stuff, in the end.