Journey Center Blog

I’ve been reading a book called “Finding God in the Questions: A Personal Journey” by Dr. Timothy Johnson. The title describes my life very well right now. For the last few years, I have been having a lot of questions about what I have been taught my whole life about God and other spiritual matters.

After watching the movie “2012” a few months ago, I started to think about the big flood described in the Bible. Did it really literally happen? If the whole world was flooded and everything died, what did the animals and people eat? Wouldn’t it take a lot of time to re-grow all the vegetation? How could a primitive boat survive that kind of conditions? These and many more are the kinds of questions I am now asking about the Bible and my faith and trying to find answers to.

I’ve had questions and doubts over the years, but never as seriously as recently. I don’t think I ever allowed myself to go there before. I was too afraid that my thoughts would lead me away from the truth. I was too afraid of how my changing ideas would change my life and my relationships with people. But I don’t have those fears anymore. And I think this process of questioning everything, seeking answers about who really wrote the Bible, what was going on around them at the time, what political and social influences might have biased what they wrote, has actually been drawing me closer to God.

I’ve been finding as Dr. Timothy Johnson writes in his book that “Doubt doesn’t have to tear down belief, however; it can purify it. When it does, the beliefs on the other side become more certain” (p. 15). By thoroughly examining what I believe about so many spiritual issues and why, I am able to make my spiritual walk my own.

I am discovering that I can approach God more in spirit, less in dogma. I don’t have to just find God in the “Holy Scriptures”, in sermons or in other people’s ideas. I can find God in the world around me, in people who may not even believe in him, in the beauty and magnificence of nature, in the sweet smile of my little niece, and in the joy of playing at the park with my dog. The Bible contains many stories of many other people’s experiences of God, but I am also free to have my own story. I am free to seek God myself and find him the way I find him. I am free to think for myself, ask him to reveal himself to me as he desires and come to whatever conclusions I come to.

All this questioning makes me so thankful for the Journey Center. I live in WA state and don’t get to be there in person very often, but when I am, I am deeply aware of how truly accepting, open, loving and freeing this place and the staff are. They accept me as I am, with all my doubts and questions and differences and love me just for me.

 Reference: Finding God in the Questions: A Personal Journey by Dr. Timothy Johnson. Dr. Timothy Johnson (M.D., M.P.H.) is the medical editor for ABC News and has reported on health-care issues for Good Morning America since 1975. He also provides on-air analysis of medical news for World News Tonight, Nightline and 20/20. (from the cover)

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Staff Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.