Does God Exist?

"Does God Exist" is a non-profit organization that encompasses Christians, Buddhists, and agnostics (unsure if there is a God), "lay people" and monks.  The one thing that we DO all have in common, is that we believe that being good, kind, and "loving thy neighbor" is very important. Thus we have no religious or atheistic "agenda" or "motive" to prove something one way or another.   So we hope to at least address the question with an open mind and heart.

So, does God exist???

good question! (or should I say, God question)

defining, or re-defining “God” and  “Love”

The biggest problem is that the word God means MANY different things to many different people. I may not believe what you think God is exists.  You may not think what I think God is exists.  So "does God exist" is meaningless until we clarify what we mean by "God".  Thus, anyone who REALLY wants to know the answer to that question, needs to explore the different concepts of God, and see if any, or none, "works" for them.

When I was a child, I belonged to a church.  I lost faith in it, and in "God". Then I decided there had to be "something", and eventually became a monk to find and understand that "something". 

First, let me cover some important ground - things that I learned in my earliest days at the monastery, that will give you a frame of reference.

So before we delve deeper into concepts of who or what God is, and "does God exist", let’s clarify the meanings of a couple of words/concepts that will be used a great deal in this book - God and Love, and in a different way than you may have heard them used before.  Both terms and concepts, can mean many different things to many different people. 

LOVE

         In my first days and months at the monastery, I attended courses given by elder monks.  In one of my world human concept and terminology courses, which was given by the elder monk, “Raga”, we began covering the teachings on the various types of emotions that people often lump together, and call “love”.  

         “Love can mean sex (‘We made love’).  Love can mean you really like something (‘I love my new car’).  Love can mean the pleasure or ‘thrill’ you get from someone you have a romantic relationship with (‘I love Nadia’).  Or love can mean compassion, kindness, caring, giving, sharing - that’s the kind of love that brings true happiness, inner peace.  It’s the kind of love we all really need, and need to give - it’s also the kind of love that would make the world a far better place.  So if we wish to focus on developing this kind of love, we must clearly delineate it, and give it a name. Thus, we call it ‘Unselfish Love’, because that is what it is.”

GOD

         Raga went on to define the various ways the people of the world see and understand God.

         “God is a very abstract and difficult thing for the human mind to fathom.  To paraphrase the ancient teaching - ‘The God I am talking about, cannot be talked about’.  It means that God is really impossible to explain, or truly understand intellectually.  But with that in mind, I will endeavor to explain the unexplainable.

Next, “THE BIG GUY IN THE SKY” CONCEPT OF GOD -