[ArkansasPiscesGrrl]

This is an interesting thread, thanks!

I wanted to put a personal spin on this question on God and the existence of a God in this world. As to whether I would WANT to be God, I have a lifetime of experience in thinking I must be God (and therefore IN CHARGE and therefore RESPONSIBLE for EVERYTHING!!!!) That is a mindset that I really try hard NOT to have now! LOL

Anyway, I wanted to share here a bit of what I have done for me in regards to the whole God-thing.

I was raised Catholic, and am recovering thankyouverymuch. I had a belief in God, however I had no connection. It was like I figured God was out there for others, but God was not relevant or there in MY life. Too much shit had gone on in my life, I just figured God wasn't there.

When I needed to get sober, and I knew that the only way for ME was to get over my "God-thing", I figured I would be toast unless I could. But there was no way I could relate to the God I grew up with.

I was told by a wise woman that I could define my OWN god the way that I needed to. She said, Ann, you have been in management before where you had to hire and fire, right? So just make yourself a job description for YOU, for YOUR God.

Number one on MY list would have to be a god that was NOT judgemental, in any way shape or form. I told her that, and she said CHECK! You got it!

Really??? Hmmmm. OK, so what was next? OK, my god would have to be ok with how I had sex. CHECK! You got it!

Really??? Hmmmm. OK, then my god had to love me no matter what, no matter where, no matter how. CHECK! You got it!

I went down MY list, even going as far as what some might think silly but for ME would be proof that I could trust. (I had to be OK to fart in front of MY god!) CHECK!!

This worked for ME, and it helped me develop an understanding of a God for ME. Mine may not be the one for anyone else, but is there for me. sometimes god feels very masculine, sometimes very feminine, sometimes completely asexual.

As for the comments about how could a god exist amidst all the bad things that happen in this world. I understand that thought completely. Something that helped me personally with that was reading the book The Shack. It is a book of fiction, but I tell you, that still really helped me.

This again is not necessarily about the topic at hand, sorry.

And also again, this is for ME, YMMV.

APG