God, within reason

Or "What I believe and why."

I had originally planned to go through a series of blasphemies before addressing why I am a Christian, but events seem to have overtaken my plans. So what? What fun is there in following plans?

But the main reason why I am doing this is because I don't think that God meant 'religion' to be so mysterious and difficult. I think Jesus came here to show us that God meant to be close and real and everyday. The amazing thing, as any alchemist will tell you, is that the everyday is the most mysterious and hardest to understand of all. We have no cure for the common cold, we have no way to predict when and if it will rain, we cannot even define what is life satisfactorily. In a more personal and relevant sense, we know what we want in life but we don't know how to live it. We live to love but we don't know how (to love). A true and wise saying I came across puts it thus: Be careful what you wish for, it might come true.

This very difficulty with life, and with all aspects of life, is what convinces me that God must be. You see, difficult as it is, it is not easier the smarter you are, or the richer you are, or the stronger you are. Often, it is as if the foolish, the poor and the weak are the ones who are blessed and who can live their lives simply and fully. Take for example, music. We can all enjoy it and it is not those with the most intelligence or who does best in school who ends up as Kit Chan or Taufig. And yet, the greatest professors in the world cannot analyse nor decipher what makes a nursery rhyme works, let alone a symphony. This is why, when we find out something new or great, whether it is an invention, a story or a discovery, we are eager to share it. Because it is beautiful and amazing. And we are moved. We are happy. I think, through this, we have touched God - or more likely, vice versa.

This is very much like the intelligent design argument. With a small difference. I call my argument the divine intelligence argument. It is not so much that I believe this world must have been designed by an intelligent 'mind' but that the intelligence so revealed, revealed thus far, points to a 'mind' so profound that it is simply amazing and beautiful. It is an intelligence that can create a universe from a bang, music from a sine wave, and rule the world with strict order and yet reveal a chaos of even more beautiful order - an order defined by its own order or, if you like, a pattern made up of its own pattern. It is an intelligence that created a world in which its beauty and wonder can be enjoyed by even the smallest mind but beyond the understanding of the greatest.

To reason with God, and to find him constantly beyond our reason is, I believe, the whole point of our existence. It is not enough to accept life as it is, we are to strive for better things, to work and endeavour. To get closer to Him. And yet, it is not right to confine life to just what we can understand of it. We need to embrace the irrational, the unexpected and the inexplicable. It is through this that we see the majesty and mystery of God.

God is beyond our reasoning, yes, and yet if we cannot embrace him we have missed the purpose of our existence. Do not live with a version of God that you cannot understand, unless your lack of understanding comes from knowing him too well - as you might your parents, your children, your spouse and your loved ones. Neither should you define God and say he is this or that and not this nor that. Abide with him.

This is not as difficult as it might sound. Live your life. Seek love and give with love. Be the best you can be in all things. Enjoy your successes, and appreciate the beauty around you. Cry over your failures and disappointments. But arise from the ashes. Know deep in your heart there is God and he is with you. Hold tight to that thought and you will keep to the path. If you wander, come back. There is forgiveness and acceptance.

If you are smart, it is because you have been fortunate to be born that way, to have parents who care, and to go to the right school and be in the right circumstances. If your parents expect a lot from you, it is because they love you and for them, nothing is too good for you. Even if you have the world, they will want you to have more. Always remember this. If you are not so smart, should they be angry and expect you to work harder? Or, if you are even smarter, should they be satisfied and let you take life easy?

I have often wished that bosses will not ask if you are good enough but what you are good at. Ask the first question and you will find few who satisfies. Ask the second question and you open up a new universe of possibilities. So, ask.