Since the dawn of time humans have tried to define what makes them human. What is the purpose of memory, reason and skill? Once we have the basics of survival, what do we do? In the 21st century the search is very important. Lots of us have food, shelter and safety, and lots of spare time on our hands. What are we supposed to do with ourselves? What’s the meaning of life? Why are we here?
I think there’s an urge, a stirring, a longing inside of us to try to make the world a better place. Part of that manifests itself in greed, in getting more of everything than we could ever need; but that gets old after a while. We get tired of acquiring things; we turn our attention elsewhere. Sooner or later we ask the question “Is there a God?” and we set out to find Him.
Where do we look? Some of us look to the popular source of all answers and wisdom, the Internet. It has the advantage of being open all the time, anonymous and free. Churches are seen as stuffy, boring, full of hypocrites, and some think all they want is money in the collection plate; besides, if their God is so good why is the world in such a mess? And why are there so many different denominations?
There’s lots of bookstores on the Net (a good bookstore is www.faithexpert.com , which I own) where searchers and believers can go to find books full of answers. There’s church sites and preacher’s sites galore; some have free audio and video. Links to some of them are or will be at www.faithexpert.com/cp/Links.html .
The question is hugely important: What do you believe and why? To formulate, strengthen or challenge your answer, join the search. You'll have lots of companions.
I am a Christian, a member of St. Aidan Anglican Church in Moose Jaw, Sask., Canada. I was close to the church through my childhood and adolescence, drifted away in my late teens, and rejoined after a personal crisis in my early 30's... like so many others.