by W.D. Nelson

Created on: December 03, 2008

God. The very word evokes everything from fear, anger, laughter, confusion and serenity. How can one word (or name, if you will) do so many things to one person? Don't look at me, I don't have an answer, I only see the results.

God can help you, curse you, throw you into hell to burn forever or take you with him into his mansion of many rooms. Even true believers, talk about punishing the terrible, horrible things done by a man, woman, or child, who God has given "Free Will", yet he is a loving God and will give you forgiveness if you ask for it. At least that's the way I understand it. With that being the case, the worst person alive can have a chance to be saved by God before death. (Sudden deaths like a shooting, a car accident, etc. won't give the horrible person a chance to ask for forgiveness). I learned one thing throughout my Catholic upbringing, if I want to rely on LOGIC, forget about believing what they were teaching me. These were sad and confusing times for a seven year old kid in a Catholic School. The Bible itself says that we must believe "as children", children who easily believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy or the monsters underneath their bed at night. Is that what it will take to un-scramble my confusion and be able to pray to a God I can't see? Must I become a child-like person to believe in God?

Jesus. Now there is a whole other matter. People may debate God and most of the times keep a civil tongue. Debating Jesus is a much more heated debate and could actually get violent at times. For that reason, Jesus Christ will not be discussed any further in this article. Suffice it to say that if a person had trouble praying or believing in the God of the Bible, then the belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is a far stretch. If a person doesn't believe in God, believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is a moot point.

Can a person who doesn't believe in God, still pray to God? In my experience, a person certainly can. There is an old saying that there are no atheists in a foxhole. To those who are not familiar with the term "foxhole", it was a hole that soldiers would dig to protect themselves from the enemy soldiers. What it means to say, is, at some point in everyone's life, usually the lowest or scariest time of that life, everyone will pray, regardless of previous beliefs or, in this case, non-beliefs. Anyone can pray to God. I used to say that I'd rather believe in God and find out He doesn't exist, than NOT believe

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