Belief in God 2

I think that very young children are guided to view God as a super parent who loves them, and is there to help and protect them.

As we become older, we learn that to get things done, we have to make a certain amount of effort towards making them a reality. Some persons still view this realization as being implemented with God's assistance, whereas others may view this as being done, mainly, or solely through their action, perhaps with the input from other human beings like themselves. The significance of communicating with, or relying on God as a Super, or Supreme, being becomes diminished, and may even be abandoned altogether. I think that it is at this stage that people seriously begin to question the existence of that being, or God.

Of course, if we are taught to "know" God through some scripture or teaching, which is said to come directly from God, as being inspired or revealed, and we come to realize certain inconsistencies between what is written and what obtains in the physical world, and there are quite a few of these, some people may question the existence of God, based on some teaching, scripture or written word. Some may abandon the idea of God altogether. Others may cling dogmatically to the scriptures and insist on the existence of God. Those who continue to believe in the existence of God may do because of the psychological security with which it provides them and/or simply because it is stated in their scriptures.

The psychological security provided by belief or faith in the scriptures is not to be underestimated. Many persons who may criticise or make fun of the scriptures and religion when things are going reasonably well in their lives, may find that, in times of some terrible tragedy or traumatic experience, they may fall back on the psychological security provided by an acceptance of the sort of trust and faith in God that they had as a child. Such an experience may be facing an impending tragic accident, vehicular or otherwise, in which there is an almost negligible chance of survival, where one is literally staring death in the face. Most people may never be tested to that extent, so it is easy to claim that they know themselves and have debunked the idea of a supreme being, or God, altogether. Of course, this does not rule out the idea that there may be some who may face the experience on their own without reaching out to a supreme being. I remember the words of one of my professors at university: "You only know yourself to the extent that you have been tested."

Some persons in dire social circumstances, perhaps due to poverty and other factors, draw a lot of their strength and comfort from their belief and faith in God, mainly through their adherence to a religion. Among these may be single parents, especially mothers, some of them being unwed. Some may receive financial assistance from the government in more developed countries. In less developed countries, such assistance may be nominal or even absent. It is a daily struggle for such single parents to make ends meet and to provide for their families, which may also include their parents, and themselves. It is their belief and faith in God that gives them the psychological strength and courage to carry on.

A classic example of this is the slaves from Africa, who were treated as less than human and forced to work on the plantations in the USA in the 17th to the 19th centuries. It is ironic that many of them drew their psychological strength to cope with their hardship from their fervent belief and faith in God as presented in the religion of their oppressors, that is, Christianity. They worshipped with a deep heart-felt sincerity and devotion, such as displayed in the singing of those "negro spirituals" like "Swing low, sweet chariot" which enabled them to carry on in the face of their hardship and oppression.