Origin, pondered.

In a previous post, I suggested that my difficulty with accepting divine intervention would be a future topic. Tonight I would like to expand upon that.

Before you read further, I need to establish two ground rules.

First understand that I am not looking for your retort or spiritual input on this post. I always welcome a conversation about faith but social media is not a forum that yields a productive one. Second, this is me expressing my beliefs not me asking for your spiritual support or guidance so please remember that. Remember, if you would ever like to discuss any of this (I say discuss because I do not "debate" it anymore) then you know where to find me. I am capable of contributing to one of the most opposing, yet productive, conversations that you will ever have about faith and I welcome your invite.

There are two schools of thought. Either you believe that an omnipotent being chose for us to exist or our life exists as a side affect of a cosmological anomaly that occurred almost 14 billion years ago. The former makes up a diverse theological mix many of which believe that divine intervention either previously occurred or that it still occurs today. That is the concept I am zeroing in on tonight.

In the secure bubble of our own worlds, there is evidence of miracles. We fight incurable diseases against insurmountable odds, we are able to appreciate the small miracles of financial woes subsiding, children remind us that we are created in His image and we can feel love from other people that reminds us of our own humanity. What happens when we wander outside of that bubble?

To us, the greatest injustice is when someone is wronged by the government or when someone falls victim to a medical condition or freak accident. We cannot be empathetic to truly awful circumstances like incurable and widespread disease, family members starving to death and brutal dictators that cause unspeakable actions, to name a few. There is little evidence of divine intervention in areas in those areas of the world. For every mother that claims her prayers were answered because of a miracle of modern medicine, there are ten more elsewhere that bury their children because either they were murdered or died of a some type of disease that may have even been curable. Is this a matter of where divinity intervened?

In the wide scope of events, can one of these mothers say their prayers were answered because their child lived and the other mother's prayers were not answered because their child died? Theology loves to dive in and take specific credit for when situations turn out well but when outcomes are dark, theology will back off quickly with a generalization; this god answered those prayers because of this reason but this situation did not turn out well so we must not be meant to understand. That idea is the precipice of my juxtaposition and I take firm perch there. For those of us that believe in divine intervention, that point will cut those of us that believe in divine intervention like a knife because it is the one that has no answer; it takes faith to continue to believe it.

That question and that lack of resounding answer "why", is why I cannot ever have faith that some type of being intervenes today. I recognize beauty and make a deliberate effort to appreciate it every day. To me, there is something glorious behind all of it. I do not believe it steps forward today and intervenes in the affairs of men but I do believe there is a divine presence. Perhaps that just adds integrity to my belief that I have more control of my own affairs and therefore motivates be the better person to serve that being. I do not know but I will not spend my life serving a concept I cannot reconcile. I may very well end up in a "good" lifestyle that mirrors that effort but I believe that I align myself with most "good" people and that practice may be all the faith I ever need.