Gravity and Secrets

Perhaps the oldest debate is the existence of God.  Does God exist, or not?  Does religion matter in that, or not? What is the nature of God, if He exists?

I doubt that any contribution would make a serious impact on this forever-long debate:  I can't prove God exists, I can't prove God doesn't exist. With those wise words, you could print this and add it to your bookshelf right next to Friedrich Nietzsche.

(That was sarcasm.)

Straight up, I believe in God.
I'm religious.
I'm Christian.
I'm a Mormon.
I'm biased on the subject.

I'm not an idiot, I don't believe in some hypothetical religion because I was spoon-fed through a funnel until I was chalk-full of rote answers and robotic prayers.  I believe because I didn't believe and had to figure it out because for some reason, this question can shake people. Blind faith has its moments, but a lot of times it is balderdash.

I can't see gravity.  I have no idea what causes it, but a quick Google search yielded this result:

All the effects of special relativity, such as the slowing down of clocks and the shrinking of rods follow from the above.  In fact, it is often better to think of some things, such as electromagnetic fields as being four-dimensional objects.  However, the important thing to remember for the moment, is: when you move through space you are compelled to move through time but, when you move through time (which of course you are always doing) you do not have to move through space.

So, what does this have to do with gravity?  It is quite simple!  When a mass is present in the above space-time it distorts it so that whilst it remains true that travelling through space causes you to travel through time, travelling through time now causes you to move (accelerate) through space.  In other words just by existing, you are compelled to move through space - this is gravity.

Really?  You expect me to believe that?  This sounds ridiculous. Yeah, I didn't study this a lot and the source might be unreliable, and maybe Einstein is wrong or only partially correct, and the picture doesn't really explain why people are pulled toward the center of the earth instead of to the poles, and shouldn't that mean that Eskimos and polar bears would be sucked into space, and is this time stuff just clock error, but my point is this: it doesn't matter.  Gravity could be made by a monkey running on a treadmill in the center of the universe and it wouldn't matter.  I know gravity exists because I feel it.

I feel it when I'm walking up the stairs in the dark and think there's a step when there's not.  I feel gravity when I ride a roller coaster and feel like I left my stomach at the top. I feel it when my necklace rests on my chest instead of floating in front of me, when the sheets stay on top of me so I am warm while I sleep, and when I drop my toast butter-side down. We can't see gravity, but we see its effects.

I believe in God because I feel it and I see its effects.  Yes, religious people of all faiths suffer from cancer and heartbreaks and broken shoe laces.  Yes, all people -religious or not, atheist or pagan - have successes and good relationships and have a fulfilling life. But you cannot shake me from knowing I have felt God.  I've felt Him when I've been angry, sad, depressed, embarrassed, ashamed, and happy.

For some reason, believers in God think that the non-believers are less happy. This, of course, lends the correlating belief that believers are more happy.  I believe - and I don't think there is a very good way to scientifically measure this - that a Catholic whose child just got killed by a drunk driver feels every bit of sorrow and grief as an atheist would.  An atheist who just had the best first date can come home just as giddy and and as happy as a Protestant.  But I'm here to tell you I've felt gravity when I've flown and when I've fallen.  Joy and despair have nothing to do with it, for I have felt God at all ends. I've felt Him when I've been angry, sad, depressed, scared, embarrassed, lonely, betrayed, ashamed, and happy. But God feels different because....I guess because it just feels....deeper. Like those emotions are only the outside and at the core of who I am, I am much braver and mightier than I seem on the outside. Deeper because I know my purpose and see the big picture.  Deep like I know a secret.

Ooo! I like the way that sounds!

Yeah, that's it: a secret. (Knowing a secret and keeping a secret are two very different things, by the way.) Secrets like when your parents tell you that you'll be getting a brother or sister, but that you're not allowed to tell anyone yet. Sort of like hiding in a closet in a dark house because in about fourteen seconds you and the others are going to pop out of hiding and yell "SURPRISE" and sing happy birthday and royally surprise the socks right off of that birthday girl. Secrets like knowing that your roommate's boyfriend is going to propose tomorrow and you have a key task of making sure she arrives at the location on time and you are so excited for her but have to pretend like you don't know a thing so you don't spoil her own  excitement.

Knowing God is like knowing a secret: knowing that in just a little while it will all come together and all the details will be understood. Knowing secrets is good like that.