God must exist, for the very idea of him existing is his existence
During my reading of Anselm’s treatise on the existence of God, I came to realise that all who questioned God’s existence – those of us who walk on this earth every day battling with believers and trying hard to “prove” that God is not “real”, are quite simply fools. God’s existence cannot be questioned in this way as the very fact that there are so many people who believe in Him means that he exists. Many people would ask how I felt I could explain this to them, how can something exist just because we say it does. All I ask them is to answer me one question: have you ever seen a million dollars?
This might seem trite, but actually it is very logical. In our society today, it is money who has been raised to a God-like status, with millions of people striving their whole lives to receive more and more of it, and most of us, who live within the confines of the capitalist systems installed in the Godless Western World, will never in our lives, ever, see a million dollars. Even counting all accumulated wealth across the span of our entire working lives, it is unlikely that many of us will ever come into contact with that much cash. Even less likely still since most of our transactions are done electronically – with money / cash / currency that is simply imagined, data in the net. Please do not feel that I am digressing or comparing God to a credit payment, not what I am simply trying to demonstrate is that the collective belief in a thing – anything – establishes enough of a feeling of its existence that no one questions that a million dollars exists. I hope this is not too far-reaching an example or comparison to draw.
God exists simply by me saying He does. That is the nature of belief, of religious fervour. His existence cannot be denied because He lives through me in my state of being and of loving Him. I am a vessel through which the Lord exists, as is every other Believer, too. Because of this insight, I spend my life in debt to Him, and showing others that he exists by existing myself. I give my life to Him, and in return I am bestowed with His great love, and that is more concrete to me than any imaginary money transfer and any number of millions of dollars.
What is the difference between religion and personal belief? Is there any difference at all?
Is there a difference between personal belief and the concept of religion? I feel that I already have some inclination as to what the answer of this question might be, as I am sure that “religion” refers to a collective identity with a / one belief (system) and the expression of that. But what I am interested to know is that If a person believes in God but does not feel that he or she is associated with one particular collective experience, does that mean that he or she is not religious? Is there a way to be a personal individual believer who can still reach the Lord’s love in the way that these people who attend church services, pray together, eat together etc. can? I am not asking this because I feel that I, myself, am one of these individuals, I just want to better understand my fellow Believers and my connection to them and their connection to the God I love so much.
