Religion and God were not a topic often discussed in our home while I was growing up, though my mother had been raised in the Assembly of God tradition. When I was about 10 years old, I went with my best friend and his mom to an Assembly of God revival meeting. When the preacher started shouting hallelujahs and amen’s and the crowd jumped to their feet and started waving their arms and mumbling words I couldn’t understand, I got scared and ran outside to wait for the service to be over. That was the last time I was in a church until I got married 14 years later.
Over the years, I would occasionally watch a televangelist on TV, but soon discovered that the entire program was geared toward one objective: The Pitch. Send me your (tax-free) money so I can stay on the air. What was unsaid was, and keep living in my expensive home with the swimming pool and keep wearing $1,000 suits and expensive jewelry. Religion is big business.
It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in God; I did. I just couldn’t believe in the God portrayed in the Bible. I guess I was subconsciously applying my reason to the stories found there and recognized them for what they were, myths and fairytales. About three years ago, I come across www.deism.com and, for the first time, my beliefs had a name. I bought a copy of Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason” and read it until the pages were wore out. It was about this time that I also became interested in the Intelligent Design theory.
I eventually came to believe that Deism, evolution and Intelligent Design fit together, at least for me, like a hand and glove. That led me to a new and deeper understanding of my Creator, both as the first cause and the intelligence behind the evolution of the universe and all life residing there, including on Earth.
In spite of that, God is still a mystery to me. But I don’t worry about it because I know that, one day, as I cross over, my Creator will pull back the veil and the mystery will be revealed to me. I no longer fear death because I have absolute trust in my Creator. And life is good.
*"Nones" are people who believe in God but not in religion. They hold Deistic beliefs but have probably never heard of Deism. A religious survey shows there are about 34 million "nones" in the U.S. alone. It is a goal of the World Union of Deists to reach all of these people with Deism.