What is the Purpose of Religion?

Is religion a club? Is it a requirement of life? Is Hell a tool to Save souls? No. Religion is a relationship between you and your God. Since there only appears to be one God, let's just call him/her/it/them God. God created the universe. Many people say they don't believe in God for a variety of reasons. Some hate God. What has God done to deserve this? He created the universe and us and gave us lives. I've thought about it quite a bit and have come to the conclusion that I've received way more than I have given. We're here and we got here somehow. Someone set the universe in motion. Perhaps He used the Big Bang and evolution to accomplish this purpose. Who knows? How would you determine whether or not God exists other than that we exist? That does it for me. From that point we can only wonder Who God is and how we can get in touch with Him. We can ascertain that all that is good is made possible by Him and all that is bad is a simple consequence of our choosing to do bad things instead. Life is a learning experience. Most people aren't interested in learning, though, they just want to suck out all the good they can without thinking about their responsibility of passing it on to the next needful person. I'm sure God doesn't appreciate that. He gives out of love and we hoard out of greed. We Americans are the worst. It's incredible how much we need.
Where is God? I don't know. I can only detect the universe. I don't know what's outside it or even if. But God created all that we know. He is not governed by the universe's rules. Is He with us? Is He outside the universe? I'm sure that both are routine to Him. He is Something we cannot detect unless He chooses to reveal Himself as He did to Moses. How many of us could handle such a thing? I think if He appeared before me, all I would feel is utter shame. All we have is our religion - our communion with the Creator. And, as far as I can tell, it's better when you don't do it alone. That's what your church or synagogue is for. People gather and share themselves and admire their Creator. They show their gratefulness. Many dance to show their joy. That's religion.

What is Religion?

Religion is the belief in a higher Power, Something supernatural. Some worship nature. I think that is offensive to the One who created nature. Other religions are simply philosophy about how the universe works. Buddha almost died practicing Hinduism. Jesus did die trying to purify Judaism. By the way, the Jewish leaders he was trying to straighten out were the ones who had him killed, not the Jewish people.

To me religion is the relationship between a person and his Creator. We do not really know much about the Creator except this: Someone created all we know who is not subject to the creation's rules. Therefore it is a futile effort to try to prove or disprove God. You might say that everyone's religion is whether Someone caused the universe or it just happened. I find the latter option rather ridiculous though I'm still waiting for the final report. Good luck with that.

I believe there is a God. In fact, I'm pretty certain. I have seen things that are beyond coincidence in my own life. So the whole premise of this blog is that there is Someone we don't understand who gave us lives we didn't earn nor deserve. The typical person who hates God cannot deal with that fact.

I live in Texas and we have tornadoes. I have seen many tornadoes and have seen a good number form. One day bad weather moved in and  I was watching the sky. Directly above us a large tornado started forming. I seldom just stop everything and pray but this seemed to be a rather good idea considering the circumstances. As I asked God not to let this tornado cause misery I noticed something happening in the corner of my eye. Something that looked like a wall cloud came across the sky and took out that tornado. That is something I will always have burned into my memory.

I think most of the time God answers our prayers in ways we don't recognize. However, sometimes He just steps in and does something obvious. This is just one of many things I have seen. He didn't do it because I had some sort of influence on Him nor did He do it because I deserved it. What I have is a free gift He gave me and life is a learning experience. Some learn, some don't. The meaning of life is to be grateful.