Do you think that you could stand before God, on the day that you die, and say "I chose to believe in You, because what you gave me to live for was better than having a universe without You," and feel that He would truly understand? Could you stand before Jesus, and say "I love you because you are the best way that I was given to learn about God"? I think that, as a friend, He would accept that.
Or would you have to say, "I don't know you, because no one ever tried to explain to me about who you are. They only told me what they wanted me to think, and that I should not read the Gospels. I was told not to trust or be friends with Christians."
These are important questions, because we don't know whether there really is any kind of afterlife, beyond certain anecdotal stories, and promises in the Scriptures. So it seems necessary that we should ask ourselves, "Are we living the kind of life that we are satisfied to examine with equanimity? Can we evaluate our time here as being best suited to build the most happiness, and show us how best to live together in peace and harmony? Does the way I live deserve to be blessed with the love and kindness of my peers?" Because, if this is all there is, as Socrates thought, and "you only live once," then we should be making the best of it that we can.
Why would we base our lives on nebulous promises of Heaven, or threats of Hell, if those threats and promises come from stories that don't teach us how we can live the best possible ways for happiness and a life of goodness and virtue? We have minds, and consciences of our own, with which to measure the goodness of the world's great religions, and determine which God is worthy of our devotion. If God cares enough to reward or punish us, He should care enough to guide us correctly, and give us a chance to follow willingly.
Some claim that God is only One, and that all gods are the same, but with different faces. But I don't think that is true. If it was, why would God insist that there are other gods, and that He must be the only one we accept and to whom we devote our lives? It makes a difference which god you want to follow and emulate. Does your God teach peace and kindness, or conquest by any and all means necessary? Does your God allow you the freedom to choose what you want to make of yourself? Or does He demand your strict obedience to every law and order that comes from the seat of power, without any attempt to explain or justify his dictates, followed by threats of cruelty handed down to dissidents? The societies that grow from these very different worldviews have little in common, and cannot live alongside each other. If there was only One God, his prescriptions for the different cultures and societies might be a bit different, but they would not conflict to such a degree that war would be inevitable. God does not go to war with Himself.
There is a growing movement around the world that insists that there is no God, because none of the world's religions have either the stories or the histories that would reccomend themselves as worthy to be followed by honest and conscientious people. These people are quite adamant, saying that they deserve the right to make up their own rules, according to their own ideas of what is right. But they also believe that they have no obligation to agree with each other, and that their proposed ideals can and do change, according to the times and circumstances. While it may be true that a flexible philosophy is better, a standard that is relative is no standard at all. But they demand the freedom to say that a universe with Nothing to guide them is better than one with a God, especially one who fits Himself to the capacities of the human mind. They only look at the failures of humanity, and think that they can judge God as missing, or both stupid and powerless to guide us properly. They don't want to consider that they might not be seeing the whole picture.
The Atheists also fail to note that, when they achieve power, bringing their "elite" group to the pinnacle of politics, they cannot rule a free people. They find that they must stand their authority upon a foundation of strength, including the threat of state violence and repression, and so become a totalitarian state, belying their own insistence on the freedom to create their own ideology and the laws to build their "ideal state." Every move their citizens make, every decision and choice, even their education and desires are scrutinized for signs of dissent and rebellion. And no ideology that might suggest that the State is not the ultimate authority can be countenanced. So, the demand for freedom of thought itself becomes counterproductive.
So, really, is a universe without God better than one with God? Perhaps so, if the god you choose is the wrong one. Wars have been fought over which God is the true God, and may be again - perhaps soon. But it isn't because God wants this to happen. The choice of how we are to understand God is up to us, even if the spiritual Powers struggle beside us in the conflicts. We have to decide whom to follow, and whether what this or that God stands for is what we want to live and die for - even if I can't fully achieve a proper imitation what He wants me to be. We have to use our own consciences and listen to our hearts, trying to discern what is truly righteous and most likely to promote a future that will build us up into the best people - virtuous, harmonious, helpful and happy - so that we can be satisfied and proud to pass such a world on to our children. We can't do that if we choose the wrong god, but I believe that we do need a God. We don't have an immobile fundamental standard within our own nature by which to measure and judge things. We have to have an external set of ideals, a lighthouse on the shore of this chaotic oceanic abyss, to guide us toward our hoped for destination. A God worthy of our choosing will give us that.
Our prophets of ages past have recorded the ideals and standards that God has revealed to their hearts. That is why we were given the Scriptures. It is for us to read and compare them, and see which ones speak to our hearts. We cannot, in good conscience, allow others to dictate what we must believe, not even our own parents, and never those who want to wield power over us. Those Scriptures speak for the various ways that we have tried to encounter God, and how we believe that God has answered our quests to know Him. In those texts, we can find the standards and ideals that we are meant to follow. Sometimes they are given as unchanging laws, or then as perfect ideals that we must strive to reach, even though perfection is beyond us. Those ideals are the pathways to follow, the Ways to seek his approval, what we want to achieve. We know them as Truth, Freedom, Love and Wisdom, and they have always been recommended to us as desirable for a good life.
Humanity, however is not perfect, God knows. But a truly worthy God accepts our creature limitations, and makes allowance for us, even as He demands our utmost efforts. Even though God Himself is eternal, knowing our futures even before we are born, still He grants us the power to choose our own way, and blesses us when we choose rightly. A worthy God doesn't create us unable to avoid damnation. Who would follow a God like that? A hateful God would be a Devil, and be unworthy of our devotion.
So I challenge you: Read the Scriptures for yourself, all of them, especially the ones that your political leaders would forbid. Listen to your heart and your conscience. Use your mind to think about what they are teaching. Do they hold out a future in this world that is worthy of your efforts? If you follow, will you be building a better world for your children? If you can imagine that there is no Heaven, and no Hell, would you still think their guidance worthy of your devotions and sacrifices? If so, then follow. If not, keep searching. Read other people's Scriptures to see what they believe in. What kind of God do they follow?
Don't just listen to teachers' interpretations, but learn for yourself. Find the best version of the God that speaks to your inner self. Maybe even go further, and see where the traditions of men fall short of the perfection of the most worthy God that you can imagine. And then remember, the real God is better. God is that than which no greater can be imagined, and no greater Love can be than that a man would lay down his life for his friends, but the real God can actually do better than both. He wants to give us the best possible expressions of Truth, Freedom, Love and Wisdom, and the best possible Way to live a truly abundant Life, with Him in eternity.
To that God I would be proud to say on my dying day, "I chose to believe in You because what You gave me to live for made my universe better than any that didn't have You in it. So yes, I put my faith in You, and I love You. Thank God for You!!"
