The Path to Everywhere

Hello, everybody.
Usually, I write fiction here and then comments and notes about that fiction, but I recently saw a posting by my good friend "Wanderer" http://lessonsunlearned.blogspot.com/ that sparked what promises to be a long discourse on God. Wanderer and I go back about ten years and there were times when he and I would get into one of these interesting discussions and his wife and mother would just sit back and laugh at us. He posted a very interesting piece on prayer called "My Role in Your Life", most of which I really liked and would gladly pass along to others who had questions on prayer, but a short statement at the end caught my attention and being the skeptic that I am, I couldn't get past that. It's like if somebody gave me a meal that had all good food, meats, breads, cheeses, great desserts and beverages, but in the middle of this meal was a cyanide capsule. Knowing that, would I eat the whole meal, ignoring the assurance of death because the vast majority of what was presented to me was edible? No, of course not. So, what I say to any Christian, and any other person as well because believe it or not, the rules do apply to everyone, search out all that you are given and test it according to scripture. As Jesus said, a little leaven works its way through the whole lump of dough, and a little falsehood wrapped up in a lot of truth will eventually pervert that truth until it is just another lie. That being said, I would like to remind Wanderer and everyone reading this that we are friends and if I didn't care, I wouldn't say anything. Thanks for giving me stuff to sharpen my spiritual teeth on, and I hope that some of my comments and the stories below do the same for you and many others.
Anyway, the nature of the argument isn't that important to this particular post and if you want to read it, go to Wanderer's blog and look around for a while, you'll come across my statements sooner or later. But the question that he asked me that prompted me to sit down and stray from my usual short stories and poetry was this: "If God is everywhere, how can there be only one way to get to Him?"
Like I told Wanderer, that question may take a while to answer, not because I do not know the answer (though to say that I have the final and authoritave answer myself would be arrogant. I believe in the Bible, and the Bible gives me the answer, and since the Bible claims to be the word of God, then I believe that God himself answered the question thousands of years before Wanderer, myself, or anybody else even thought to ask it) but because it is such a profound and thought provoking question that to give a pat answer like "Jesus says..." would do it disservice. Although if you keep reading this you will discover that in the end, for me, that is what it will come down to anyway. But let me spout off and rant for a while. I'm a writer. I love to do that.
I want to try a philosophical, a-biblical answer, if possible. The question starts with an if. "If God is everywhere..." So we must establish that God is indeed everywhere before we can begin to answer the question. Is God everywhere? What if there was a place, in this plane or another, where God wasn't? If such a place could possibly exist, and (to bring yet another if into the equation) if our sole purpose in life, or even if one of our many purposes in life, is to find and be with God, then wouldn't it behoove us to avoid the place or places that he isn't? Then a journey would exist, even if it is a very short and uneventful one, to get out of the place where God isn't to get to the place where he is. But if God is everywhere, in everything, in everybody, the only journey becomes finding him in those things, including ourselves. Then, God is in the searching, God is in the finding, and everything we do, whether we know it or not, is part of that journey. After all, ignorance of something doesn't make it untrue or nonexistent. I could know nothing of gravity or even claim not to believe in it, but if I jump off a bridge or a cliff or a building, I would still fall. (Anybody who thinks otherwise, try it, and let me know, hopefully only from a hospital and not from a morgue, how it goes. On second thought, I don't want to get sued, so don't go jumping off of anything and blaming me. Trust me, gravity will take you down, I would not be responsible!) In the Christian philosophy, many would define HELL as "separation from God." So the Christian faith seeks to find God and be where he is, because where he isn't is quite literally Hell. Let's not get too biblical here though, because the question still remains, is God everywhere? (see why I said it would take a while? If you get bored, feel free to scroll down and read a story or two. I recommend "The Old Man" and "Stikora") I can't answer that without quoting the Bible. Sorry. But let's just assume that God is omnipresent. That being the case, why look for him? Why try to find him or go to him? If he's already there, why do we have to jump through hoops to get to him? Muslims travel to Mecca at least once in their lifetime, Buddhists and Hindus also make many treks (I traveled one of those roads myself a while back in Tibet) and many other faiths have some sort of pilgrimage, albeit the journey may be more spiritual than physical. Why do we journey if we don't at some level believe that there is some "where" where we need to be? Why do we try to find meaning in life if we don't believe on some level that there has to be a "why"? Why do literally billions of people of all faiths strive to find and please and fellowship with what they call "God" if at some level we don't know that there is something beyond ourselves. Only a true atheist, and those are very rare indeed, would disagree that there isn't a some "thing" beyond us, even if that beyond is actually contained within us.
Allow me to digress a bit. On one of my favorite TV shows (and I will now reveal to all of blogdom what a nerd I am) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine there were ongoing discussions about gods and "prophets" and faith. Three things came to mind while I was writing this. One character, a Cardassian, was arguing with a Vorta. The Cardassian mentioned a race called the Bajorans (sorry, non trekkers) who believed that the aliens who live in a nearby wormhole are gods. The Vorta scoffed at that, even though the Vorta believed that the Changlings (or the Founders), another alien race, were gods. When the Cardassian pointed that out, the Vorta said, "That's different. The Founders are gods!" The second one also involves that Vorta. His race was genetically engineered to believe that the Founders were deities. When this was pointed out to him, ironically by a Changling, "Did it ever occur to you that you believe the Founders to be gods because they engineered you to believe that?" (or words to that effect) the Vorta replied, "That's what gods do." And the third and last of these displays of nerdity, involves the Bajorans again. There were too races of aliens fighting for the wormhole, both claiming to be the true gods of Bajor and both gaining followers. One follower of the Prophets said to a follower of the Pa Wraiths, "The problem is, we both can't be right." Just a few thoughts about the nature of God from a science fiction show. (BTW, the last paragraph shows exactly why I believe Christian Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror should exist.)
But let's get back to the question at hand, if anybody out there still remembers it. If God is everywhere... So let's say he is, just for the sake of argument. He's everywhere. Does that mean we believe in a pantheistic everything is God philosophy? If God is in the water, is God the water? Is the water God? If God is in the stone or the wood or the birds or the air, is any or all of those things God? To some, they are. To others, that is blasphemy. To the God of the Bible, it is a ridiculous question. You see, my God is not above sarcasm. A quick paraphrase of Jeremiah 2:27,28 would read, "If the stones and wood are your gods, fine! When you're in trouble, ask the stones and sticks to help you. See what happens!" To a pantheist, cracking a stick in half will help you find God. God is in the stick, God is in the cracking. (pretty Zen of me, huh?) To a Christian, a Jew, or a Muslim, this is idolatry and a waste of your time, effort, and a good stick. But who's right? A monotheist says God made the stick, a pantheist says that God is the stick. If he's everywhere, isn't he both the maker of the stick and the stick? Not according to some belief systems. But that's a whole other argument there.
Let's take a different approach. The God is everywhere thing is very big and almost uncomprehendable, much too big for a simple man like me to figure out. So let's focus on the journey aspect. Wanderer himself used the words "...way to get where he is." I know what he was trying to ask and he'll probably be a little upset at me for twisting his words against him, but that's also something I love to do! Sorry...
Get to where he is. Let's say for the sake of argument that God is in Heaven and our goal is to get there. Heaven isn't a physical place we can find in a space ship or burrowing underground (although some believe it is, but this is for the sake of argument), it's a spiritual place, another plane if you will, and the journey to get there doesn't involve physical motion like an earthly trek, but a spiritual movement, spiritual growth, spiritual lessons, etc. But, to put this in human terms, let's assume that instead of getting to Heaven, we want to get to Albuquerque (my pastor used this today and he used that particular city as an example, so I'll go with it. Besides, it didn't seem to be a coincidence to me that the pastor talked in length today about the question Wanderer asked me, even though to my knowledge he never even read that specific post. God, if there is a God, is funny that way...). Albuquerque is a specific place in a specific location. To get there, first you have to move in the direction it is located in. For me where I am, I would go south. To someone in Mexico, the direction would be north. Wanderer would move west while someone in Phoenix would go east. So, we're all traveling in different directions to get there. Could it work that way with heaven? Could it work that way with God? Could four people travel in entirely different directions and still arrive at the same place? Keep reading...
Then, say the man from Mexico decides to ride a motorcycle to get to Albuquerque. Then I, going south, would ride a donkey. Wanderer hops aboard a jet plane and flies. The man from Phoenix decides to take a river raft, carrying it on his back between rivers. So now we have four different people traveling in four different directions and using four entirely different modes of transportation. Could that work the same way with God? Can we all get to heaven using different modes of transportation moving in different directions?
I could go on! Say the Mexican uses a map to direct himself northward on his motorcycle to Albuquerque. Wanderer trusts the pilot of the plane and his radar system to guide him. I, having been there, only use my memory as a guide. The man from Phoenix asks directions from everyone he meets and they guide him along the way.
Throw in a hundred different variables and a hundred different people using a hundred different modes of transport with a hundred different guidance systems, and still, they will all reach Albuquerque, right? Of course, if one thing is the same for all of them: that they are actually headed towards Albuquerque.
Let's say the man from Phoenix asks directions from somebody who has never been to the city, or maybe even from somebody who doesn't want him to get to Albuquerque. That person tells him that from Phoenix, he should head west a few hundred miles until he reaches the ocean and then take his raft out there and follow the north star or maybe even tie his raft to the back of an oil liner headed to Asia. Now, no matter how much this man wanted to go to Albuquerque, no matter how prepared he was, no matter how good his intentions were or how detailed his plan, if he follows that advice, he is not headed to Albuquerque.
Or what if Wanderer gets to the airport in Rochester and asks them, "Which plane goes to Albuquerque?" and they tell him, "Just get on any one of them. It doesn't matter where they are headed. As long as you are a good passenger, obey the fasten your seatbelt light, and are polite to the flight attendants, you'll get to Albuquerque." "But," says Wanderer, "You have a hundred different planes here, all going to different places. I want to go to Albuquerque." And they say to him, "Whichever plane appeals to you, that's the one you should take." So Wanderer sees a big shiny 747 sitting on the runway and thinks that such a big fancy plane has to be going to Albuquerque. He gets on board, obeys the fasten your seatbelt lights, is polite to the flight attendants, orders the fish, keeps his headphones low so as not to bother the other passengers, and sits back for a nice relaxing flight to London. Is he going to Albuquerque?
Wanderer used the example of heading North. If you head north and if I head north, no matter what path we take, we'll both eventually reach the North Pole. True, but what if we're both not heading north? Just because the North Pole is in the same direction for both of us, if I head East and you head South, neither of us will get there. Yeah, I know, you go south long enough you're going north again and then you'll reach the north pole, but what about poor me wandering around in an endless circle around the equator always believing that if I travel long enough, I'll reach the north pole? Just like Albuquerque, where you can travel towards it from a hundred different directions, or the North Pole, where you can take a million different northward routes and still reach it, one wrong turn, one detour in a different direction, one boarding of the wrong plane or taking the wrong advice, and you can get so far off track that finding your original destination may seem impossible! What if finding God, or finding the place where he is, is the same way? What if we can take a wrong turn or board the wrong plane and find ourselves moving away from him and not towards him, always hoping to find him and thinking that if we travel long enough, even in the opposite direction, we will find him?
Think about that for a while. When it comes to things of God, this, as with all other analogies, falls far short of the deep and mysterious spiritual mysteries and revelations. But, while you ponder that little philosophical rambling of mine, let me go on to another point.
There are some who would say that all religions are true in and of themselves and that all pathways are equally valid. "God", whatever he/she/it/or they happens to be, has revealed himself/herself/itself/themselves in many different ways to many different peoples, cultures, and religions in whatever way he/she/it/they fell that that culture needed at that time. A Hindu friend of mine (yes, I'm a Christian, but I have many friends of many different faiths. We almost always "argue" with each other, but usually come away better for those arguments.) used this argument on me. Also, a Buddhist friend said something similar. Makes sense to their point of view. After all, the Hindus believe in a god that didn't create, he became creation and all of creation is a part of him and all of creation will be a part of him again. So, for that philosophy, god is as much in Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha as he is in Hitler, Ganges Khan, and Pauly Shore. That philosophy of everything is true for somebody and nothing is true for everybody works fine until someone throws a wrench in it. That wrench was thrown in by whoever came up with monotheism. I say whoever because, still for the sake of argument, whether it was God himself or some misguided man, the classic monotheistic religious world view creates a path way to "God" that isn't compatible with the concept that every path is valid. Back to Star Trek for a moment. If anyone remembers the Original Series episode "Mudd's Women" they no doubt remember when a simple illogical statement was used to make an android's head explode. The android, a machine and therefore purely logical, was told two things. First, he was told that everything that Harry Mudd said was a lie. Once he had accepted this, Harry Mudd himself told him, "I am lying." The android concluded that if everything that Harry Mudd said was a lie, then if Mudd said "I am lying," then Mudd must be telling the truth. But how could Mudd tell the truth if everything he said was a lie? The android literally burned out trying to answer that question. It's a paradox. How can two entirely opposite ideas be true? The above concept of "God" states that every path is equally valid. So, along comes Judaism, then Christianity, then Islam, and then about a million and three off shoots all claiming to be the one and only path to God. If every path is true, then what these three religions and their many branches claim is true, but if the three of them say that they are the only path, then every path is no longer true. Anybody's head exploding yet? Let's say that a god does exist according to that philosophy who wants everyone to find him in their own way. That god would be the god who explained to the Hindus about reincarnation and to the Christians about heaven and hell. Okay, I can accept that. It makes sense according to the cultures. But, that god would want everyone to get along and love each other, right. One precept common among most faiths from Mormonism to Islam is the love of God and the desire for peace on Earth. So that god, while revealing many different paths, would make those paths work together and not against each other. After all, a Buddhist, a Christian, and Muslim, and even an atheist would all be headed to the same place, just in different ways. So, this God says to the Buddhists, "All ways are valid." and says to the Christians, "No man comes to the Father (God) except through me (Jesus)." There is a conflict. Not a very big one, mind you. They both can be enlightened, happy, and holy people. So let's look at another conflict: Jesus says many things in the gospels that literally equate him with God. Many so-called scholars look back at this and try to reinterpret his sayings, edit them, or say that he didn't mean what we are trying to say he means. But, his statements were understood by his audience, the Jews. One example is John 10:30 where Jesus says, "I and my Father are one." (NKJV) The Jews immediate response was to pick up rocks and prepare to stone him for what they considered to be blasphemy. Jesus makes many other such claims, and the rest of the New Testament is filled with even more. So, Jesus claims to be the Son of God, claims to be God, and claims to be the one and only way to fellowship with the Father. Then, a few hundred years later, God reveals the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad. The Koran says, among other things, "In blasphemy indeed are those who say that God is Christ the son of Mary" (Surah 5:17.) and "They do blaspheme who say: 'God is Christ the son of Mary.' But Christ said: 'O Children of Israel! worship God, my Lord and your Lord.' Whoever joins other gods with Allah, Allah will forbid him the Garden, and the Fire will be his abode." (5:72) So now we have two different revelations from that same God-being we talked about that each say that the other will spend eternity in hell because of their beliefs. The Koran actually calls for the death of anyone who ascribes a partner to God. How can these two statements, which, whether justified or not, have sparked thousands of years of war, come from the same God who revealed to the Hindus that every path was valid? Every path is right, true and equally valid, which means that everything Jesus said is true and everything Muhammad preached is true and everything I'm saying now is true and it is entirely plausible that Pauly Shore or Charles Manson can lead you to heaven if you just sincerely believe them! Right? If everything is true, then what Jesus said is true, and then everything is not true? Now my head's exploding!
Like I said, it would all come back to "Jesus says..." I know that there is nothing that I or anybody else can say to anybody that will prove the existence of any god, or prove the correctness of my particular path to him. But I take it on faith. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) He says in John 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Can I prove it? No, but that doesn't nullify it. Am I wrong? Although I believe with all my heart and soul that Jesus is the only way to God, I guess logically, I could be wrong. But that is what faith is all about. God is everywhere. I believe that also. So one path to everywhere may seem to be a paradox that my finite human mind cannot begin to figure out, but then so are the Trinity, the virgin birth, the resurrection, or how a Holy God can give his life so that an unholy wretch like me can find salvation. Even if God is everywhere, there is only one door to him, and the key that opens that door is Jesus Christ. Take it or leave it, believe it or don't. Morpheus in "The Matrix: Reloaded" was reminded that not everyone believed in the same things he did and he replied, "My beliefs do not require them to."
Sorry about this little rant of mine. I am working on new stories and poems. They'll be up soon.
God Bless you all!
ARB
And, if anyone out there wants to argue with me, please do. It's fun! But please watch your language as you do so, or I'll have to delete you!