The Long and the Short of it.

[John_S3V]

I think it's a mystery, because the exact reasons are unique to every person. It can't be explained in a couple sentences. It'd probably take a book for each person to explain their specific reasons for whether or not god fits into their reality.

This is quite true, individually. What I find interesting is that, no matter how individually personal each viewpoint may be to each individual, they come to one of two conclusions... not a wide variety of personal ones. They either believe the claim that god exists... or they do not believe it. There are a wide variety of interpretations of both sides, but the core difference is that single belief. God does/does not exist.

I think the question of 'why is that?' is very important. We can argue back and forth over whether god does or does not exist, we can go round and round about the semantics of certain words, the veracity of the bible(s), and micro-philosophize about the definition of 'god' until we're blue in the face. Each side only becomes stronger in its personal belief. What is different about us? I don't think any of us can answer that to my satisfaction. I'm beginning to think it is related to brain function. Still. I'd like to know. Heheh.

I don't think the conclusions are as cut and dry as they seem. Christians are widely divided on even their own beliefs. But, as for the conclusions, 'god or no god', I think that a lot of atheists call themselves atheists, because they don't believe in YHWH or anything else that humanity has cooked up in its head. That's not to say that their isn't something else out there. I usually call myself agnostic despite the fact that I don't believe for a moment that YHWH could possibly exist. The reason I call myself agnostic is because I can't tell you where the universe came from. I can't say with all certainty that some sort of god-like entity didn't create the universe. Maybe there is something, something completely unfathomable and unlike anything we've ever even imagined that's responsible for all this and we're just yet to discover it. I have no clue.

There's a lot of unanswered questions about this universe. If you think large scale you can ask questions like where the galaxy came from and if the big bang is a satisfying answer then where'd that come from, or more specifically, where'd the elements needed to create it come from? Or, you can think small scale like what properties makes a proton positive and what properties make up those properties? We keep discovering smaller and smaller things. Molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, elementary particles... if you keep asking enough why's eventually you'll simply get, 'Because that's how it is.'

I certainly don't think YHWH is behind all this sophistication, but it baffles my mind trying to imagine how everything is ultimately explained. There's no telling what kind of unfathomable truths may lie in the beginning and the end. I don't pretend to know because I have no desire to take away the mystery of the universe. It's a puzzle that will surely keep humanity busy for centuries and centuries to come.