Does God exist?
As one ages, the idea of going to church becomes more compelling. After the age of 50 one begins to realize that time is limited, time is running out and that the grim reaper does exist.
This prompts the need to answer the three big questions: does life have any meaning, does God exist and is he looking out for me? And what better way to discover some answers than to go find a church and listen carefully for god to say something.
Which church to go to? I couldn’t decide so in order to cover my bets and I thought I would visit the three major Abrahamic religions including a Judaic temple, a Catholic church and a Muslim temple.
But even before I got started, divine intervention occurred as I was on the elliptical machine at Healthtrax doing my morning workout.
I turn on the TV and there I see that handsome Joel Osteen, the charismatic Southern Baptist televangelist who preaches to about 7 million viewers weekly out of his church in Houston, Texas.
His lecture was taken from the bible about how you should not bury your talents but rather have the courage to develop them.
Who could argue with that logic but I tend to resist his messages knowing that his degree was in communications and that his net worth is about $50 million. Somehow that gives me pause.
I jump into my car and head straight up Roslyn Road for Temple Beth Sholom with the hope that I will find some more convincing proof of God’s existence. Alas, the temple was closed for the day and all I could do was admire the architecture and leave.
Next, I head back down Roslyn Road and notice the popular Beacon church, the Tzu Chu Buddhist Temple and the East Williston Community Church.
The Buddhist temple was closed but the Community Church was open for business so in I walked with an uneasy sense that I didn’t belong there.
I entered the beautiful little church and could see that it was empty except for two cute kids who were running around having fun. I took that as a sign that I was in the presence of something good but still felt that was insufficient proof that God exists.
So off I went to St. Aidans down the street. It was doing a thriving business and it was hard to find a parking spot.
The mass was in full swing when I got there and I estimated there must have been at least 300 in attendance. The songs seemed to be focused on how God and Jesus would take away the sins of the world and forgive people.
This was decidedly different from the Joel Osteen message which was a lot more positive. The media people in the Osteen operation I am sure are advising him to keep things ‘light, tight and bright’ as they say in the publishing business.
I stayed in the mass for upwards of ten minutes and snuck out the back door and into the lobby of the church where I noticed a sign-up sheet whereby you could enlist the services of a prayer group to pray for you or someone you loved.
I felt this was a good opportunity to ask either God or the parishioners at St. Adian’s to pray for me in my upcoming golf club championship. That may sound trivial to you but I assure you it means plenty to me.
I thought it wise to make a monetary contribution to firm up my chances but saw that all I had were two singles and then some twenties. I was reluctant to fork over the twenty so I gave the two singles and hoped that would be enough.
I promised myself that if the prayers and the two dollars got me through the qualifier I would return and give a much more sizable contribution.
Through this whole spiritual voyage to find God I was hoping that Nietzsche was wrong when in 1891 he pronounced to the world that God is dead. His pronouncements are still with us today.
He was one of the first philosophers to see that science would become the grand influencer, that the world would become more secular and that people would lose their need of a belief in the supernatural.
In 1966 the cover story for Newsweek was “Is God Dead?”
Nietzsche suggested that the true answer to joy would not be found in a belief in God or religion but in a commitment to self-mastery, discipline and the will to power. He called this the Overman and suggested that our destiny is to overcome the weakness of human nature by a force of will and a commitment to a goal.
His philosophy is still going strong and we have seen that the age of narcissism, individualism and self-absorption are in full command. But we all know that something is amiss.
We can build all the gyms we want, look grand, make more money than God but still there is an emptiness that forces us to return to the questions I have asked. What is the meaning of life? Does God exist? Is someone looking out for us?
I can’t say for sure but I do know this. I hope that the St Aidan’s prayer group will say some prayers for me and that God will show me the way to qualify for this year’s club championship.
Yes, I ought to put in time on the range and putting green but a little boost from above will surely help matters.
