text: “What do you mean you don’t believe in a Creator?” “What do you mean you do?” “We came from something.” "Exactly, some thing , not some one ." “No, you’re not getting it. There’s a Hand above us, a Hand that created everything.” “Lies. It’s called the Big Bang.” “It doesn’t make sense. You can’t tell me that the stars above us, the cricket singing, the beating heart within you, were all created by some random explosion. Think about it: from the minute you believe in the magic of a greater being, you recognize the magic all around you.” “You sound stupid.” “Thank you for the compliment.” “There is no God, nor gods. There’s science. Pure fact. Studies of years of evolution and erosion and creation.” “I see. In school we’re taught that the Big Bang was an explosion of light, right?” “Where are you going with this?” “Yes or no?” “Yes.” “Well then, the Bible says, ‘And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.’ An explosion of matter would mean that everything we see is just a solid.” “God was created by the patriarchy to keep people in place.” “God exists; humans have manipulated His grace to create a being we’re expected to fear.” “The patriarchy has gotten to you too. You keep referring to this nonexistent thing as a male.” “Call it Mother Nature, I don’t care. There are many names for God: Díos, Allah, Jehovah, the Great Spirit, the Holy Spirit...The Creator isn’t a person; He--excuse me, It--It is an energy. We humanize It to better comprehend how things work.” “You don’t even know to explain the creation of the universe.” “Just because I can’t explain it doesn’t mean it’s not legit.” “Next thing I know, you’ll be telling me that aliens and ghosts are real.” “They are!” “I’m embarrassed of this conversation.” “There is an entire universe out there that we haven’t explored. We haven't even discovered half of the creatures in our oceans. There’s no way that we are the only living things to exist.” “Or unliving, apparently.” “Sure. If we exist in the physical, don’t we exist in the spiritual?” “We die. Our body decomposes. We are forgotten.” “We go back to Him.” “There is no evidence of a God!” “Have you watched The Polar Express?” “We watched it together back in 3 rd grade.” “The train conductor told the boy that sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see. Do you see the wind?” “I feel it on my skin.” “And I feel God in my heart. He sends shivers through my soul.” “No, you’ve been programmed by society to believe in a deity that is all powerful.” “Untrue. I don’t agree with everything. I don’t agree with the idea that God is an all-loving, all-forgiving Creator, who, the minute you do something wrong, turns into a vengeful God. It just doesn’t work.” “So you admit that religion has its flaws and untruths.” “Religion and spirituality may go together, but that doesn’t mean they don’t split up at times. God is the everlasting Truth. There is nothing but pure energy.” “If I can’t feel it, see it, touch it, taste it, or smell it, it doesn’t exist.” “Okay...what if I’ve experienced His grace?” “Entertain me.” “I used to have seizures. After my second episode I began taking meds, but those worsened the number of times I collapsed. I went to a recommended Turkish priest who had helped a girl I know. He prayed over me and blessed some water before putting it in a bottle. Then he told me to empty the bottle at a river or ocean and then toss it in.” “That’s littering. I don’t support.” “I forgot to empty the bottle for two years and the seizures worsened. I remember that three Novembers ago I took it to the beach at night and poured the water by my feet on the sand. I was there for about fifteen minutes while praying. Finally I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes. The water had been high tide, but in those minutes, it was very low. I said internally, ‘If this water touches my feet and pulls the Holy Water in with it, I’ll be healed.’ Guess what. The very next lull of waves touched my feet, pulled the water in, and I’ve been seizure-free for three years now.” “You’re thinking too much into it. I study medicine, you don’t, okay. Sometimes medication takes a while to kick in.” “I didn’t finish.” “I’m not changing my mind to believe in some supernatural thing that doesn’t exist.” “I’m not asking you to change your mind; I’m asking you to understand why I believe. That night I woke up at 4:00 in the morning and decided to meditate. For once in my life, I meditated for half an hour. I started at 4:03 and ended at 4:33--on the dot, I remember. Well, I decided to close my eyes for a bit more. I kid you not, ten minutes or so passed, but when I opened my eyes, it said 4:32!” “I’m pretty sure you read the clock wrong.” “It went back a minute!” “That doesn’t happen.” “I’m telling you it happened! You can’t expect to hear this stuff from Hawking or Michio Kaku.” “That’s because they know the thing you just said is impossible.” “And yet Jesus walked on water.” “I used to believe that...I’m not too sure anymore.” “Do you believe that Jesus, some random poor man, was crucified for committing no crime for the fun of things?” “I believe that people disagreed with him and they hated him. He had no say.” “He knew what was coming. At the Last Supper, He told his disciples that one of them would betray Him. I think Nikos Kazantzakis, a Greek author, put things in an incredible manner. In his book The Last Temptation of Christ , Jesus told Judas to go do what he should. In turn, Judas said that he couldn’t betray Him, and he asked Jesus if He would betray his Master. After a moment, Jesus answered, ‘No, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to. That is why God pitied me and gave me the easier task: to be crucified.’ Isn’t that beautiful?” “See, I just don’t believe it. If he knew he’d die, why didn’t he flee?” “Because He died for us. He accepted the Cross and prayed for the sinners while being nailed in. Do you think someone would die for strangers if they didn’t believe what they were saying? In His case, Whom he was preaching about.” “People used to sacrifice sheep to gods, so maybe he believed in something that wasn’t real.” “Let me ask you something. Have you seen a star before?” “We’re looking at one now.” “No, have you yourself seen one up close? I want you to tell me that you yourself have seen a star and studied it enough to know it’s a ball of plasma being held together by its own gravity.” “I see where you’re going with this but it’s not--” “Scientists tell us that black holes exist, which I believe, but I haven’t seen one before. Some scientists tell us that black holes lead into parallel universes, yet you nor I have had the firsthand experience of traveling. Yet you believe it, and all because a scientist you’ve never met before nor studied from claimed it to be so. Don’t discredit things too quickly.” “Science is based on extensive logic, reasoning, and fact.” “I saw the time go back a minute and you don’t believe me!” “I see us getting nowhere.” “You haven’t actually told me why the Big Bang makes sense to you--other than the concept of an explosion of light--which, I might add, the Bible mentioned thousands of years ago.” “I don’t give a damn about the Big Bang! My dad’s schizophrenic, I’ve had depression for years, my nephew was killed trying to break up a fight, two of my boyfriends cheated on me, I watched a two-year-old die on one of my medical rotations...If your God’s so loving, why is there so much evil in the world? Talk to me about the starving, or the trafficked children, or the baby who dies within a year. The concept of a loving, omnipotent being that allows for this to happen goes against itself without needing anyone to point out its flaws.” “My heart goes out to those people too. I think of their terror and scarred lives, I do; I question God’s reasons as well, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe.” “God doesn’t care nor does He do good, so why bother believing?” “Your anger is directed at people more than it is to God.” “I hate Him for everything!” “...How can you hate something that doesn’t exist?”