I’m always amazed and mystified when I hear about the things that we are finding in outer space.  Recently, scientists have discovered the oldest galaxy thus far.  There’s just so much to discover and find out that it’s endless.  It’s mind boggling and there are concepts that are just too big for some to grasp.  Like, for instance, I have trouble grasping the concept in the article that talked about how this galaxy is actually a 20th of it’s current age.  So, it would be like looking at a 4 year old but, in reality, they’re really an adult.  I’m assuming, from my reading and self-study, that this has to do with how long it takes the light to get here (or at least to the telescope’s lens).  That concept alone is absolutely huge.  When I read scientific journals about the universe being endless and about the different materials that it’s made up of, it’s really hard to match these concepts with a God that has the fickle behavior of a mere human being.

Around the church, I occasionally hear folks mention that something is in “God’s favor”.  Really?  How would you know?  I’m at the point now where I really wonder, if I know that I have a limited capacity to grasp the vastness of the universe how could a lady in church have the wherewithal to know what God wants?  I guess the answer, for many, would be “in the Bible” but, as I’ve stated in an earlier post, I’m coming to the conclusion that the Bible is a book that was written by human beings to control (and entertain:) human beings.

In a dark way, it’s really comical when you think about it.  When attending funerals it is often mentioned that it was God’s “will” that the person died and that he or she is “in a better place”.  I always like to study the interaction with people in the scenario.  The wife is so stricken and paralyzed with grief over the passing of her husband that, usually, anything said never registers.  The grief of the family is so thick it’s like getting choked by heavy, Southern heat and humidity in the middle of July.  And then, slowly stepping forth from the crowd is one of the church mothers that approaches the wife of the deceased.  She takes the hand of the grief stricken mother and then, in a putrid mixture of a tone that’s both condescending and a veneer of congeniality she’ll say, “I’m so sorry for your loss.  He’s in a better place with our heavenly Father”.  How is saying something like this in such an obviously insensitive manner a consolation?  Why can’t you just sit with the person and…well, just…be? I’d hate to imagine loosing a loved one but, in my position, I really couldn’t imagine that and dealing with church politics.  And, yes, within the church there are politics…even at funerals.

So, even the concept of death, which many religions’ main focus is, is a concept that is to “big” or to much for many people to handle.  So why and how can we put a concept of this entity or the energy of what we call God in a box that fits our needs?  It’s a very big question, indeed.