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Faith.

FeaturesFaith.

If you look up the word faith in the dictionary, there are 2 definitions: 1. Complete trust or confidence in someone or something. 2. Strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. Why do some people have blind faith, while others, like myself, have had some earth-shattering tragedy in their lives, that make them question faith, and beliefs and teachings and the existence of some higher power? Those who are, I will use the word “blessed,” to have that unflinching faith, in spite of all the suffering and misfortune that they might be experiencing—it’s something I can’t wrap my mind around. I don’t believe I’m a weak person, except in affairs of the heart. I smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day for 23 years, until one day my youngest daughter advised me that I was killing the family with my addiction. That same day, I decided to quit, and although it was the hardest thing to do, I never smoked a cigarette again. That was 34 years ago, so I know I’m not of a weak mind, but that faith, that is something else, beyond my mortal and mental grasp!

I have family, and loved ones who have this unshakable, immovable, unquestioned faith that I have to admire. Some of them have been through hell—losses, diseases, unimaginable tragedies, but they know something that I apparently don’t, can’t see, can’t fathom. That there will be divine intervention which makes everything possible, no matter the odds that say differently. Abraham, Moses, Job, they had that faith, and boy, were they tested, by a very unforgiving Abrahamic god! If you believe every word in the Bible, then I suppose it’s easier to open up your mind, to see possibilities in everything, if not in this life, in the after, in the vast beyond!

I look at the Bible Belt, mostly the southern and midwestern states, so religious, so zealous in their faith, being visited by every tornado, or flood or hurricane! Maybe their faith is being tested. Meanwhile, Babylon (New York, California, Chicago) is spared those reminders of Mother Nature’s wrath! Life goes on, and so too the strength of one’s faith.

My lack of faith is not only in religion, but also in politics and government and people in general. You live long enough, you will start questioning everything, everyone, not in a conspiratorial way, but because at some point everything breaks down, like an old vehicle! I have always believed that by the end of this century, this whole earth is going to be once again covered up in water and forests, and that divine being, if he exists, will have to start all over again, maybe on one of those 4,000 exoplanets recently discovered!

To have faith, where you know that you are right and everyone that doesn’t agree with you is wrong, is a gift, or a curse, that comes from a special gene inside us, I believe. In these uncertain, vicious, heartbreaking times, maybe those blessed with that gene are the lucky ones. The rest of of us might be living in the land of the damned! Faith! Is it a curse or a blessing?

Glen

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