Introduction

Realistic Religion is a little book for open minds. It’s for independent thinkers. It’s for those who have questions. It’s for those disillusioned with traditional religion, particularly Christianity, which is my heritage. It’s an update of our traditional view of God. If I wanted to find God, where would I look?

The Bible depicts God in various ways, but predominately as a king who dwells on high— “The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all humankind,” the Bible says. “From where he sits enthroned, he watches all the inhabitants of the earth.”[1] This became the predominant view of the Christian religion.

But times have changed since those words were written. We’re living in a different day and age. We now have computers. We have technology. We have spacecraft that travel far beyond the earth’s atmosphere and telescopes that see much farther than that, so we now know God isn’t up above the sky or anywhere else out in the known physical universe, at least not like a king on a throne. Which poses a problem for most of us humans. We have no truthful understanding of the ultimate reality that we’re a part of. So it seems time for a reality check. It seems time to take a hard look. So it seems time to ask— If God exists, then where is God?

Coming to a realistic answer to that question is the purpose of this little book. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 take a look at some history. To form more realistic beliefs about God, it’s helpful to know how our traditional beliefs were formed, how they were perpetuated, and how they’re changing. Chapter 4 comes to a logical conclusion about where God really is, if not up above the sky. A logical conclusion about where God actually is, if not out there in space. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 share some experiences of the author and some reflection on them, experiences that support the logical conclusion. Chapter 8 proposes some revisions of traditional Christian beliefs. Chapter 9 focuses on the connection of all people. Chapter 10 is a summary with a few new thoughts added.

I think my most important credential for this writing is simply a lifelong desire to know the truth— the truth about this life we’re living, the truth about we human beings, and the truth about ultimate being, also known as God. But I have some other credentials also— a Bachelor of Education degree, a Master of Divinity degree, and two years studying philosophy. I’ve worked as a teacher, pastor, hospice counselor, small business owner, and a few other things. I’ve also worked at the art of songwriting most of my adult life, which has produced virtually no success as we usually think of it, but has, no doubt, influenced my writing here.

There are many religions in the world today, there’s Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, to name a few traditional ones. There are lots of others. And which one is the right one? Which one is the real one? Most people believe it’s the one they were born into. That was true of me up until age twenty, then I began questioning my religious beliefs, which caused me to begin forming new beliefs. It’s now been a lifelong process. In the search for truth, nothing is sacred. Everything can be questioned and probably should be. Please keep that in mind as you read these pages.

And as mentioned, these next three chapters are historical, which may not be everyone’s favorite thing, but give them a look. Some things may be interesting. It’s easier to see where we’re going when we know where we’ve been.

Footnotes

[1] The Bible, Psalms 33:13-14, NRSV.