Book of Sandra

Chapter 8

I had told my sister on Saturday that I was not going back out of the house until Monday unless somebody comes to pick me up. It was ugly outside and I just wanted to hang out with some movies and sip on tea. As I was sitting there writing I got the sudden urge to take a shower and get cute. So I popped into the shower and started doing my hair because I was might have some company. While I was in the process the phone rang and a friend of mine insisting that I go to a basketball watch party.

I try my best to be obedient when I get an impulses, its how we develop our intuitive ability. When you can be trusted to follow the guidance of spirit you get more guidance. I said yes because I knew I was suppose to go, this while seemingly insignificant was the reason for my getting cute. He picked me up moments later because I still was not trying to drive and we made our way out to her home.

The exit ramp was pretty long and we were riding behind a van that had 3 or 4 bumper stickers. The one that caught my eye said "God doesn't believe in Atheists." I rejected the idea almost immediately but said nothing to my friend. We were discussing where the nearest KFC was to grab some chicken. He broached the subject.

He asked "did you know that Paul was an Atheist?" Paul was a mutual friend that often showed up at these gathering. "Yep," I said simply noting the incredulous tone in his voice. "I can't believe that" he said "he seems adamant, talking about if there was a God why would he let all this horrific stuff happen without intervention. I can't believe you knew and didn't say anything." "What difference does it make?" I asked him. He seemed shocked but let it go there only to bring it back up during a commercial break in the game.

All of us were friends and though we gather pretty often, religion is not normally a topic of conversation. They tossed around the difference between an Atheist and an agnostic trying to figure out which category Paul would fall into. Again I asked why does it matter? We discussed many ideas.

Knowledge of or belief in God does not mean that a person is necessarily a good person. Our churches are filled with unjust people. There are plenty of good people doing good things that don't know God. That concept did not compute for them. I said that we view the world from our own limited perception that the world had people that were not exposed to the bible and yet worked in harmony with others and nature too. How pervasive was the Judea/Christian teaching and was it the only possibility? Joseph Campbell talks about other creation stories and how religion comes out of our experience in The Power of Myth. How can we not factor in other cultures? They asked if I believed in God, which to me sounded absurd. Of course I believe in God but not one that exist in the box of my understanding.

I mentioned that when Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment? Jesus said that to love God with all your heart and soul and the second is "like it" to love thy neighbor as thyself. Because we demonstrate our love for God by how we act towards one another, you can't love God and not man. There are plenty of people who love and demonstrate that love that don't believe in God. There are none believers whose works fall in line with the teachings of Jesus far better than those proclaim that belief. Judge a man by his works or a tree by the fruit it bears. Our friend Paul may claim not to believe in God yet he does the work of God.

There was one line in the Stephen King movie "The Stand" that summed it up beautiful. When the old was told by the deaf/mute that he didn't believe in God, she laughed about the absurdity of that statement and said to him. "Aw baby that don't matter God believes in you." That should be enough.