{"id":13194,"date":"2024-03-09T04:00:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T22:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/09\/why-i-dont-believe-in-god-anymore\/"},"modified":"2024-03-09T04:00:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T22:30:36","slug":"why-i-dont-believe-in-god-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/09\/why-i-dont-believe-in-god-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Don’t Believe in God Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"\"<\/a>I don\u2019t believe in God anymore. I used to, though.<\/p>\n

This is a choice I\u2019ve made. \u201cBelief\u201d in God connotes\u2013at least as I see it\u2013a set of ideas about God that may, if time allows, eventually make their way to other parts of my being.<\/p>\n

The older I get, making sure all my \u201cbeliefs\u201d of God are lined up as they should be loses more \u00a0and more of its luster. I see the Bible focusing a lot more on something far more demanding: trust.<\/p>\n

Try it. Which is harder to say? I believe in God or I trust God?<\/p>\n

I see a huge difference between \u201cI believe in a God who cares for me\u201d and \u201cI trust God at this particular moment.\u201d The first is a bit safer, an article of faith. The latter is unnerving, risky\u2013because I have let go.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve all heard of the \u201ctrust fall.\u201d There\u2019s a reason they don\u2019t call it a \u201cbelief fall.\u201d Belief \u00a0can reside in our heads. Trust is doing it, risking it. Trust is humility, putting ourselves in the hand of another. Trust requires something of us that belief doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

When God promises Abraham that he will have more offspring than the stars in the sky, translations of the next\"\"<\/a> verse conventionally say that Abraham \u201cbelieved\u201d God. (Genesis 15:6)<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve\u201d isn\u2019t the right word there. \u201cTrust\u201d is. The Hebrew word is the same one we get \u201camen\u201d from. \u201cAmen\u201d is not a social cue that grace is finished and it\u2019s time to eat. It is the final word in the prayer: we\u2019re done talking now, Lord, and we now move to trust.<\/p>\n

God promised an old man a lot of kids. Abraham trusted God to come through. That is way harder than believing. Believing has wiggle room. Trusting doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The same thing holds for the gospel. \u201cBelieving\u201d in God\u2013or even having \u201cfaith\u201d in him\u2013doesn\u2019t cut it. At least the way these words are used today.<\/p>\n

Beliefs can be collated into a \u201cbelief system\u201d\u2013an intellectual construction of what sorts of things are right to think and not think about God. Followers of Jesus, however, are called to do something much harder.<\/p>\n

Jesus tells a famous story about why those who follow him need not worry about anything. Don\u2019t fret about how much you have, what you wear, or what you will eat. Don\u2019t worry. Trust. (Matthew 6:25-34)<\/p>\n

Jesus illustrates the point in what at first blush seems rather off topic\u2013at best marginally helpful. He tells us to consider the grass of the field and the birds of the sky. Look at them, Jesus says. They\u2019re doing just fine and they don\u2019t worry for a second.<\/p>\n

Of course they don\u2019t worry, Jesus, because they are\u2013if I\u2019m not mistaken\u2013grass and birds. Grass doesn\u2019t have a brain and birds are skittish little things that fly into windows. These things aren\u2019t really relevant, Jesus, because, you see, by definition, Jesus, these things are incapable of worry<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

And when you put it that way, you can see the profound point\u2013and challenge\u2013of what Jesus is saying: worry should be as impossible for us as it is for grass and birds. His followers\u2013if they get it\u2013should be as incapable of worry as insentient grass and bird-brained birds.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieving in God\u201d doesn\u2019t get you to that place Jesus is describing here. Belief leaves room for worry. Trust explodes it.<\/p>\n

What a way to live.<\/p>\n

The older I get, the less interested I am in believing and the more I am in trusting. That takes a lot of practice. In my experience, God seems more than willing to provide plenty of opportunities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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I don\u2019t believe in God anymore. I used to, though. This is a choice I\u2019ve made. \u201cBelief\u201d in God connotes\u2013at least as I see it\u2013a set of ideas about God that may, if time allows, eventually make their way to other parts of my being. The older I get, making sure all my \u201cbeliefs\u201d of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}