It's the big question, isn't it? The real leap of faith. Belief in God, by comparison, is a snap. Even our Founding Fathers - Enlightenment Rationalist Free-Thinkers though they were - had little difficulty accepting that there was a supreme Creator. What a lot of them had trouble believing in, though, was the idea that this all-powerful superbeing could possibly have the slightest reason to trouble Itself on our behalf - or even notice us, in particular. Would we not have to be colossal egotists to believe such a thing? Why, out of all the vast and immeasurable glories and wonders of the cosmos, would an infinitely powerful, infinitely sublime supreme being take such an interest in such mere specks such as we? And such as.
Well, it's a good question. I certainly can't prove anything either way, can I? A person can't even prove the mere existence of God - no evidence exists. Forget about finding evidence for what might be on God's mind - forget finding proof of God's attitude towards us. But if you care to indulge me, I can tell you what I believe, and why it makes sense to me.
It doesn't make much difference to the equation, but my personal hunch is that humanity is alone in the universe. In terms of races of intelligent beings. But like I said: even if we're not alone, it wouldn't make a difference. If there were several such races, if there were many such races, dotted across the span of galaxies here and there happily practicing their sentience, it doesn't threaten a thing. Because in every case where (for lack of a more loaded word) "Man" has come into being, in each case where God has created a race of beings in God's image - that is to say, sentient, self-knowing, feeling, possessed of mind and soul and will, of "personality" if you will - the purpose is the same. Whether there is one such race or many, God's purpose is the same.
This world is the forge of souls. This world: and by "world" I mean everything; everything in the sky and beyond our vision, everything out past the farthest feathered edges of our own galaxy and infinitely extending in all directions! My worldview is universal, thank you very much; my world encompasses the universe quiet nicely. And this world has one purpose: it is the forge of souls. God created the world as a place in which selves - consciousnesses - could come into being, could achieve self-knowledge. Could ultimately come to know God, whether to accept or reject, freely.
The physical universe is the backdrop upon which that can happen. Certainly, it is a place of wonders! Impossible for us to wrap our minds around. A very grand thing indeed. Very difficult for us to believe that God could find you and me, lowly worms that we are, more interesting than all that light that spins in the heavens. That's because at bottom - we aren't such colossal egotists, are we? No. Well, maybe sometimes I am. But leave that aside. For most of us, it's a terrific strain on the imagination to believe that God would care about us. We know ourselves too painfully well. Often we do not love ourselves, and how could God - so much more good than we! - how could God love us? Why would God love us? Once we presume God's slightest interest in us, we must realize God would be much more knowing of all our worst and our tiniest flaws than even we could be. How could God look favorably on that? GROSS.
Yet I believe that God does take an interest in us. I believe that the mysteries of the universe are prosaic to God, whose infinite mind probes them down to their finest subatomic scale in an instant, and discards them as mere physical phenomena. I believe that we are the reason that the universe is here. It is here because we need it; we need a place to be born and a place to form. God wanted us. God created us to love, and God wanted us to have a chance to form our selves through our free choices. God hoped we would accept God's grace into our hearts and souls. God wished for us to understand and appreciate the nature of creation, and then, at the end of our lives, God looks for us to come back to God in love. To remain with God forever; each precious person, each self, each immortal soul. We are what God hopes to get out of creation.
Now, God isn't going to force anyone to choose God. Our universe, our world is one we can come to understand on its own terms. One in which we can feel at home. One that actually makes perfect and absolute sense, with no need for recourse to the supernatural. Only in such a world can God truly be freely chosen. Only where there is room for doubt, can faith be a leap.
And then of course, once you do believe in and love God, your heart opens to grace are you begin to perceive all sorts of signs and wonders. You become a sucker, essentially. A sucker for God! And finally, to a Christian, Christ is the crowning proof of God's interest in us.
But that last part's a little too easy to bother pointing out.
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