MY FAITH
MY FAITH
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Finding Faith in God's Perfect Love
The destruction on Sept. 11, 2001, was caused by people of religion, though not necessarily of faith, and provided me with further reinforcement that religion is the root of much evil in the world. Religion is humanity's attempt to put faith in a box, to constrain it, to order it, to control it and to create a hierarchy between the faithful and the object of their faith. I am a person of faith, but not of religion.
After Sept. 11, my assertion that I was an atheist seemed to be too pat, too poorly reasoned. I was forced to look inward to try to understand the big-picture message God has tried to send to people over and over again. Rabbinical Judaism, Christianity and Islam all have, at their core, a prophet who said each of us has a direct connection with God, and all we have to do is use it.
I was raised in the Protestant Christian tradition. I am able to accept the miracle of Jesus being the incarnation of God, but I deny that I must believe in Christ to be redeemed. Why am I so certain? The Christian Bible teaches me that God is perfect and that God loves me. What is perfect love, then? The most perfect love I can imagine is unconditional. Unconditional love is a love that is constant, unwavering and without judgment. So if God is perfect, then God's love is perfect, too: unconditional, constant, unwavering, without judgment.
But if God is perfect, and God's love is perfect, then what prevents me from being in a constant state of grace?
Me.
I'm the impediment, not God. I don't need a priest or a rabbi or a Bible or the Koran. I need to shut up and listen with my heart open and my mind quiet. God didn't give me a heart to close off or a brain to use as a doorstop. God speaks to me in the silences and then bids me to have the patience to understand what He's said.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, I have discovered a faith that has transformed me. I believe in miracles now. I hope someday the people who have religion will also gain faith. But that's their journey to God, if and when they decide to undertake it. God tells me it's none of my business how others reach out to Him.
All I need to do is practice my faith in God and seek to reach that level of perfection in love that God has for me.
For me, that is enough.
--Terrel Hoffman, Port Orchard, Wash.
