God and Religion ...

A very wise friend once told me that GOD and religion are separate.

 

As per the definition of religion: the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods

 

If I indulge in analyzing this statement I am intrigued by two phases, one  “the belief in and worship of a superhuman” I do not necessarily agree that when we believe in God you have to worship him. We need to trust him and have faith, but an act of worship is complicated. We need a relationship with God. Remember we need, not God. I do not believe that God is God because we believe that he is GOD. Also he is God for all, I do not think that he sees an atheist suffering and do not comfort him or deny him safety or love. We need a relationship with him and we need to remind us of him because we need that peace of being watched over, the peace of being loved and the motivation to be a little better. We should be allowed our version of belief with or without the worship.

 

Today, my prayer group talked about trust in God. I think trusting God is very simple and natural. I am not saying when we are down and are told “God does things for a reason” or “God will be there for you”. I am talking about just us and God. We trust in him and walk in his shadow till we have to think about it or talk about it or prove it to someone. We can’t explain it but we trust him. In fact I think at times religion casts doubt on this trust because we may not believe in some aspects of religion. And because we are told that religion is the path that leads up to the lord, we start to put our doubt in our trust on Lord.

 

  Second term that I really like is “personal God”. After been brought up in the land with maximum number of names and descriptions of God, I adamantly believe that there is only one God. But there is more, he is a personal God.  My God knows me, he knows my strength and weaknesses, my pain and tears, my tensile strength and breaking point. He is there for me when I need him, I do not have to share him with any one. He is really a personal God even if he is also the God for everyone else.

 

Now we search for a definition for God, we get the following

1 [without article] (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.

2 (god) (in certain other religions) a superhuman being or spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity:a moon godan incarnation of the god Vishnu

 

I object to both definitions, the problem I see with the first is “all moral authority”. I do not perceive God as an authority, leave alone “all moral authority”. Because if he was one, he should have disowned us, all of us long back. Authority can only judge but not forgive, guide, love, redirect, nurture and protect. So God cannot be called an authority of any kind.

 

The second definition “spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes”. I do not perceive that God has power over my fortune for a very simple reason. I believe that if God had power over my fortune, my eyes would have never known what a tear is nor my heart would have never been introduced to pain. We, all of us are like a class of four year olds at a preschool and God is our class teacher. He works round the clock to protect us from us. He let us do what we need to do and be what we need to be, looking over and after us. He sits in his place vigilant and concerned. He guides us, teach us and empowers us be happy and confident, to laugh and run around. But we do not always listen to Him and when we fall, we magically find him helping us on our feet and alleviating our pain.

 

So if I had to define religion I would say “A way to remind us of GOD presence and mercy, so we do not forget that we are protected and are being watched over” and my definition of my loving personal God is “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing”