There is an area of life that for many of us, is a big unanswered question. When we are in the decades of working hard to support a family and raise kids, we don’t have as much time to deal with big unanswered questions. Philosophy and things having to do with ideas often take a back seat to the necessities of life. But as you move out of your active working life and into retirement and the life of a senior citizen, you finally have the time to ponder the bigger questions and try to resolve troubling issues of the heart and soul, now that you have the time to grapple with them.
The big unanswered question that may have waited all your life to be answered is the question of god. It’s strange to think of god as a question. But whether there is a god has implications either way if the answer is yes or no. If we can decide with absolute certainty that the answer is no, then we have issues of meaning. The issue of meaning comes from the need for us to feel we were put here for a purpose. And some believe that if someone put us here, that someone has to be god. So, if we conclude in our own logical abilities that there is no god, some will argue that we also sell away our ability to assign meaning to our own existence in this life. That is wrong as all lives have meaning and to think that if you don’t believe in a god, your life is meaningless is a pretty big price to pay.
If we decide that there is a god, then we are faced with the issue of which god. Most scholars estimate that there are around 4200 active religions in the world today and we are faced with the question of what to do with that. How do we “deal with god” if there is indeed one of the 4200 gods we believe in, what does our god want and how can I communicate with this entity? This is a question that has to be answered individually. So, if you ask fifteen people about this issue, you might get back that many answers.
As we age, we have some compelling reasons for putting in the extra effort to figure out how to deal with the question of a god. For one thing, we are statistically closer to the end of our time on earth. And the outcome of our decision about the issue of a god will have a lot to do with the afterlife, which is to say, whether there is a heaven or some other form of living past the portal of death. And if we determine that such a thing is a possibility, that introduces all kinds of new possibilities into the equation of approaching that transition in the next few decades.
Another compelling reason why are in a good place in our lives to confront the issue of which of the 4200 gods is the one we should believe in is that we have a lifetime of experience and time to think about this behind us. Our alleged greater wisdom and knowledge that comes from being the elders of society give us an advantage in tackling this big question. So, we should feel confident that we are equipped to take on the question, even though it’s a big one.
We owe it to our children and grandchildren to try to find an answer to this question. If we provided no guidance to our children as they grew up about this issue, they may be still seeking answers even now. And we want to be able to give wise counsel to those sweet grandkids when they crawl up on your lap and ask, “Grandpa, is there a god?” It may be a good time to say, “I don’t know, but as humans, we have over 4200 religions to choose from, and each has its own form of a god. So, make your best guess and live a life full of meaning and joy.”
We have resources. There are many religious texts that might provide insight. And there are churches, mosques, and synagogs on virtually every corner to help you sort out this problem. We must be courageous and not sidestep the question as we may have done throughout life. The issue of god is a serious question and it's one that deserves our mental time to try to resolve. By giving the question serious consideration and the benefit of the doubt for both sides of the issue, we will be taking a journey into knowledge that will benefit everybody that knows us once we determine the answer once and for all.
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