My God Musings I had a Christian upbringing. Bible verses were crammed into my brain since I was a toddler. But then I grew up and started analyzing things. And I hold that things should make sense. If I try to hammer a nail into a board, I have a 50/50 chance of smashing my finger. I know my limitation so if I really must hammer a nail into a board and I get a smashed finger, I understand that it was the bad side of the 50/50 chance of my hammer ineptitude that caused the mishap. I don’t put the blame on God or Devil. Is there a God? If so, is it the angry fire breathing God of the old testament or the loving God of the new testament? When so many things go wrong in this life, you question. If there is a loving God somewhere, who controls everything, why does he allow bad things to happen? Are the bad things punishment or lessons to be learned? If God is punishing me, then why don’t I know what it is that I’m being punished for? Like the hammer and the smashed finger. For humans to learn, we need to make a connection between transgression and punishment. Wouldn’t it make more sense if I knew what it was that I did wrong and the punishment that I would receive for such a wrong? Where is the logic of punishing me if I don’t know the nature of the wrong? It is as though someone is telling me “Ok, Bub, you are going to jail for 20 years for breathing out of your left nostril. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. It is plainly stated in the Code of TickyTacky, paragraph 203.5667af341, sub-paragraph 3f7695.3c459 as amended by the replacement paragraph YaddaYadda”. If you are going to punish a child for taking one too many cookies, wouldn’t you let the child know that their “time out” was caused by the cookie raid? You can’t imagine the number of times during my childhood when I stood in church asking for forgiveness from God for doing childish things. If you continue to be punished for childhood wrongs that you asked forgiveness for, what hope do you have of being forgiven as an adult? I don’t think there is a God. I haven’t seen him. I haven’t heard him. In times of great stress, I have asked for him to hit me with a lightening bolt to end my suffering. I guess he said no or the Devil laughed. Some people contribute all good things to God. So, let’s see here. All good comes from God but he is not to blame for the bad things? So, I guess the bad things come from the Devil. If that is the case, it looks like the Devil is kicking God’s ass big time. If God is God, then why does he allow the Devil to harm us? Why did Job have to suffer and his family die. Was God just playing a game with Job and his family by letting the Devil do his work? One of the Big 10 states – I am the Lord thy God. Thou shall have no other gods before me. Ok, so if there is only one God, why did he make this statement about other gods? So you can’t have other gods before God. What about after God. Who are these other gods? And speaking of gods in the plural sense, how about that statement in the first book about “Let US make them in OUR image”? Who are the “US” in that statement? Am I the only one confused here?