Really?

Certainly here's not a day that goes by when God and I have a conversation.  I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise, we are expected to pray and read the Bible every day just as we eat and sleep each day. I'm talking more about those big questions like "Is there really a God at all, or is God a creation of mankind?  Which characteristics of God as described by the Bible are most accurate, fearful or loving?  Why are there different concepts of God even within monotheistic religions?  And how does that all apply to our daily lives?"

I'm reading excerpts from Karen Armstrong's The History of God.  She rather thoroughly writes about ancient gods of the Greeks, Egyptians and Babylonians.  She relates those gods to the Gods of the Israelites; I say Gods because she suggests that the God of Abraham and the God of Moses appear almost to be different Gods even though there's only one.  It's not hard to think that mankind characterizes their gods to meet the needs of their time.  And that's not far from saying that mankind created gods at their convenience and that God doesn't exist.

This is where faith enters the picture, an a little logical common sense.  Proof of God is always debated, so we simply have to believe.  Why believe?  Look around you, the wonder and beauty of nature, the love and warmth that comes from caring.  But then I am biased with 72 years of going to church.  I suspect people with 72 years of a different experience may be strongly biased in a totally different direction.

Perhaps my comfort space includes the existence of God but what most people believe and do is a creation of what they want God to be.  I accept and believe in God but I'm very skeptical of what people say about God.  Honestly because there are so many interpretations and contractions regarding the Bible, I accept the Bible as true but not literal or factual, and in the same sense I believe that the Koran and other religious writings are valid and worthy of consideration.

Overall I look forward to learning the answers after I die, either because I will not exist, or because I will be with God and I can ignore second-hand interpretations.  For now, I accept that I most love God and others, and so it is.