“You’ve Convinced Me That The God, That You Don’t Believe In, Doesn’t Exist”

Svoid, in his comment to ‘White-Out”, drew my attention to a very well written article, produced by a man who believes that God doesn’t exist. (There Is No God, by Penn Jillette.) I quite agree with a lot of what he wrote: he has totally convinced me that the God that he doesn’t believe in, doesn’t exist!

However, that’s not the God I believe in. I suspect that the God I believe in, actually shares a lot of Jillette’s concerns. Jillette suggests that if he believed in God, he wouldn’t have as much appreciation for life’s bounty because he’d only be looking forward to ‘heaven’ rather than enjoying the here and now, would tend to blame God for the world’s suffering rather than work to alleviate it, and wouldn’t have to try so hard to be nice, because he could just be forgiven by ‘believing’. I agree that all those things – and more – are often excused in the name of religion, but that is man’s error and not God’s.

If you consider yourself an Atheist, perhaps your current disbelief comes from your gut feeling that, what you think God is supposed to be, doesn’t make sense. And maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s not really God himself, that you’re fighting, but your erroneous understanding of Him. :)



[If you’re an Atheist and you’re really at peace with that, there’s no reason to go any further. However, if you consider yourself to be open-minded and you sincerely love truth and logic, I suggest you study the Bible and the Book of Mormon to find out more about who God really is. The whole truth (as opposed to parts of it, garnished with man’s imagination) will appeal to your sense of logic.]

(Non-trite) Thanksgiving Thoughts to Think About

• "GRATITUDE is the great equalizer of success." (It's hard to be grateful for your success and big-headed about it at the same time.)

• "GRATITUDE is the essence of happiness." (How can you not be happy when you're grateful for what you have?)

• "GRATITUDE is the foundation of charity." (How can you not want to share with others when you're truly grateful for what you have?)

A friend of mine was sharing some things he'd learned regarding GRATITUDE, last year during the Thanksgiving season. I almost tuned him out, sure that I'd heard it all before. However, I was surprised to find that what he had to say was anything but trite, and very profound.

Think About It

"It's our thinking about our circumstances - not the circumstances themselves - that determines how we feel."

Richard Carlson

White-Out for Life

One day, at work, I had made a mistake on something I had written by hand which had to be accurate, and asked a friend to pass me the White-Out. As I used it to cover up my mistake, I jokingly commented to my friend, "Too bad we don't have White-Out for life." But as soon as I said it, I stopped myself, and not so jokingly said, "Oh, I guess we do, don't we! The Savior and His Atonement."

Too often, like myself, we forget this, and waste time stressing over our mistakes as though they're fatal, and never move on - which, in a sense, makes them fatal!

Thought for the Day

Expecting too much of life leads to

DEPRESSION.

Expecting too much of one’s self leads to

DESPONDENCY.