When I think about my religious journey, I have come to the very recent discovery that this is the reason that I seek God. God represents to me all the things that I don’t know. Not just me, but mankind. Even in these years of incredible scientific accomplishment, there are still so many things that we don’t understand.

From the important. Why do us mortal human die? What happens to us after we die? How did we come to exist? What are the origins of the universe? To the more mundane. Can an ant think? Does a little puppy have a soul? To the esoteric. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?

I believe, on one hand, this is the core of religion – embracing and accepting the things that we do not know. Acceptance is key to peace and also to endeavor to further understand things that are within our current realm of understanding. God has made and created an infinitely complex universe in which for us to live. Plus our lives within this world are equally complex. There is only one person that understands everything, and that is God.

But us as human beings, we like to pretend that we know everything. In fact, our society rewards people that know more than others. But we all must come to grips with the fact that we know little about some of the basics of our existence that God has given each and every one of us.

There is a very large distinction between knowing and believing. Knowing is a human thing, and, I believe, that believing is a spiritual thing. For example, there is no need for us to believe that lightening creates electricity, we, as humans, know this basic fact. Believing is for things that we don’t already know.

Which brings me to the Bible. Before I begin, I want to state that I believe that the Bible is a divine book. My belief is not from the Bible itself but one of deduction. If one man or group of people could create a body of literature so powerful that it would be still be read 2000 years from now, and still be the most published and read book in the world, I suggest they do so. Many people have tried to write many books, but none of had as profound impact as the Bible. Our most powerful authors today, John Grisham and Stephen King, for example sell millions and millions of books. These are paltry numbers in God’s eyes.

All that said, the Bible is a book about believing (not knowing). There are many profound truths in this book. Some of them are readily apparent, and many are not. But the Bible is meant to be subject to interpretation, almost by design. I reject those that find factual flaws in the Bible. I believe they are only interpreting the book wrong. I also reject those zealots that want confuse the two different concepts of believing and knowing.

These zealots lead us to some very dangerous places. A good example is gay people. The zealots interpret the bible to say that God does not approve of gay activity, and hence we need to castigate gay people. This is so fundamentally flawed. First off, the zealots BELIEVE this, but they cannot possible know it. Secondly, it is only one group’s interpretation of the bible. I interpret the bible completely differently on this issue. I believe that there are gay people in heaven, and if God can make room for gay people in his kingdom, why can’t we make room for them in ours?

But what riles me most is this ridiculous debate about the origin of man. Both sides are just dead wrong, and it is ludicrous to present either side as fact or science. There is little absolute evidence that man evolved from apes. And there are numerous obvious flaws in the “intelligent design” interpretation from the Bible. My view is neither of these theories should be taught as fact, but perhaps as two opposing unproved theories.

The larger question is “Why do we care so much?” This issue bothers me because it clouds the larger picture. As the human race evolves, we are slowly chipping away at the sum of all things that we don’t know. If you believe that this is God, then that would indicate that we are closer to God now than before because we know more things. I believe God wants us to become closer to him in both ways BELIEVING and KNOWING.

First we need to BELIEVE that we don’t know everything, and that God does. I believe that. I also believe that I will know God better after I die. Yes I believe.

But this article is about KNOWING. No one knows what happens after we die. We can only believe. But there are many things that we are capable of knowing, and I believe that God wants us to know everything about what he has created. God has made man unique in our ability to improve our existence over time. Unlike apes for example. We learn and know more things through SCIENCE. Science is part of God’s plan too. My fear is that when we get into these ridiculous arguments about evolution versus intelligent design, it slows down the scientific process. And this process is fundamental toward increasing the body of things that we know and hence becoming closer to God on a whole new level.