Well...

 Prove It...

I was raised Methodist, attended Episcopal and Baptist for a while but then decided that my faith was more spiritual than institutional and decided I needed to teach myself a thing or two...  so, I read the Bible (cover-to-cover) taking notes and writing down questions... and discovered there was a lot of information that these religious institutions were omitting...  at least not wanting to share with their congregations.

As part of my spiritual journey, I discovered that there were 12 major religions in the world today, so I decided to learn a little bit about each one of them...  I also read the mythologies of countries all over the world, most of which formed the basis for their religious beliefs.

In all these religions and mythologies, I found similarities about:

• Creation
• God/gods
• Heaven/Hell
• Life After Death
• A Great Flood
• Virgin Birth
• Death of Savior
• Teaching Mankind

So... which religion is correct?

Or...  are all of them correct?

Could God have given them a slightly different story based upon their location and circumstances?

As my self-education continued, I became involved with astronomy, cosmology, theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, string theory, and Stephen Hawking's theory of Spontaneous Creation...  all of which underscored the overwhelming magic of our universe and how it it practically impossible for this type of detail to have arisen out of random chaos brought about by expansion from a big bang.

Since, I was not finding anything substantial on which to hang my spiritual beliefs, I got involved with a program entitled ANCIENT ALIENS...  and, the more I watched that show, the more everything about which I was thinking made sense...

There is a God...  and, there were gods...  all of whom were extraterrestrials from another planet in another solar system in another galaxy and quite possibly from another dimention or even a parallel universe...  we are not alone...  and, when they came to visit us, and supply us with knowledge to grow our civilizations we began to think of them as a God or many gods...

Mankind is THEIR CREATION...  we are even perhaps created or genetically modified in their image...  these aliens or extraterrestrials altered our DNA to push us quicker along our evolutionary path...  they gave some of us knowledge in the hopes that it would be shared with others like:  Einstein, Tesla, DaVinci, Von Braun, and Turing among others who had knowledge ahead of their time.

What really strikes me and sometimes causes chills to race inside me is when I think about what Jesus said to Pilot:  "My Kingdom is not of this world."  How profound is this?  Obviously, the world about which he was speaking was EARTH...  so where is his kingdom?  

• Another Planet?  
• Another Solar System?  
• Another Galaxy?  
• Another Dimension?  
• Another Universe?

Why haven't any of our ministers, priests, pastors, or other members of the clergy explained this kingdom of his in terms that made some kind of logical sense other than saving, he was talking about heaven...?

Don't they owe us that much courtesy?

SO...  my faith is based upon my spiritual journey that continues everyday as I search for more clues as to what is really going on...

AND...  one final thought to leave you with...

if we were created on this planet called earth thousands of years ago, why hasn't our eyes adjusted to the sun because many of us still have to wear sunglasses outside when the sun is shining...  and, why hasn't our skin adjusted either because if we are out in the sun too long without protection, we get sunburn...  don't you think evolution would have caused our bodies to adjust to this sun by now?

My Faith

I was raised in a Christian home and we attended the United Methodist Church close to our home almost every Sunday without fail and our attendance included both Sunday School and Sunday Church Service.  I was baptized by my parents at a very young age and don't remember anything about the procedure...  so, 20 years ago, I was baptized again and was fully aware of the procedure and since it was in a Baptist Church, I was fully emerged in a tank of water.

After leaving high school my faith followed me even though I did not attend Church very often for one reason or another.  Once I was married, my wife and I attended an Episcopal Church which is not as odd as it sounds because we received free counseling if we attended on Sundays.

During my second marriage, my wife and I attended a Baptist Church and because of the Pastor and his enlightened religious philosophy and understanding and teachings, I decided to get baptized for a second time...  it was important to me that I made the decision rather than have that decision made for me by my parents.

The Pastor that baptized me was released from his contract with the Church because of receiving numerous DUI traffic violations.  While I did not intentionally put him on a pedestal, I did hold him in a position above everyone else and was incredibly disappointed. 

I have read the BIBLE cover-to-cover, took notes and copied passages on a CD for future reference and while I do not think about my faith everyday of the week but my faith is so embedded in my mind that it automatically follows me around everyday and allows me to appreciate the beauty all around me that has been created by our Creator.

Science tells me that our Universe was not created by our Creator that is was created by a BIG BANG and accelerated expansion probably from the explosion of a BLACK HOLE...  but, science cannot explain where all the matter inside this BLACK HOLE came from...  that is to say, did this stuff just appear out of nowhere...  and, this is where my faith comes in because it explains what science cannot explain.

AND...  while I had no idea after leaving high school where I would end up in life, my life was actually predetermined for me and while I made choices, these choices were orchestrated in such a way that I ended up where I am today...  in other words, I was supposed to end up here regardless of what I did to take me in another direction.

ALSO...  all my skills and natural abilities were given to me as a gift from our Creator.  I did not give myself these gifts nor did my parents...  so, they had to come from somewhere...  I am where I am for a reason...  and my purpose in life may not be shared with me but it will be made clear to me when it is appropriate...  until then, I just live my life.