I have two cents to add.
I accept and profess that the Universe and all of creation that we know of, operates on tens of thousands of PRINCIPLES and LAWS that most of the educated are aware of and we easily accept as facts.
Some examples of these Laws and Principles are the Law of Gravity, for instance. Our planets revolve around the sun, and are held in absolute perfect positions, or they would just fly off into outer space or collide into each other. If we throw a baseball upward into the air, it will return on a downward path that is perfect in relationship to the path it traveled upward. That ball will obey that law.
There is the Law of Procreation. A sperm has to be delivered to and enter the egg at a perfect precise time, to make a new born. Us pot growers know Male Pollen has to enter the female flower at a perfect time to make a new flower.
The Law of CAUSE AND AFFECT, or the Law of CAUSE and EFFECT. We all accept that when we throw a rubber ball on the concrete walkway, that it will bounce back up in a pre-determined direction.. We know the law of Physics if we shoot pool. AND If we line up a standing stack of Dominoes, and push the first one over, the remaining Dominoes will also tumble over. Most of us accept as fact, what goes around, comes around, OR What comes around, goes around, be it a bad cold, or gossip or whatever. IF we strike a person with a harmful blow, the most normal and natural reaction is for that person to strike us back. It's a natural Law. Many of us that are older and wiser also have learned that if we throw a piece of chewing gum on the concrete walkway, we will eventually live to step on a piece of chewing gum thrown on the sidewalk. If we cheat on our spouse, well, we all know what happens. We call it KARMA, or REAP WHAT WE SEW, or the Law of Cause and Effect, or WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND. We have all experienced that law or principle in action.
There is the Law or Principle of Duality. There is LIGHT and Darkness, Male and Female, Good and Bad, UP and Down, Left and Right, Two eyes, two ears, two lungs, two nostrils, two arms, two hands, two genders, two equal and opposite parts, two equal and exactly the same parts, etc. It is still Duality. Who could argue with this?
The Law of Rythm. The "pendulum swings" manifests in everything. The measure of the swing to the left is the same perfect measure of the swing to the right. This law operates in life quite visibly with people who are bipolar. One day they're up, the next they're down. For most people, the law is realized when they become very, very happy. The law dictates that someday they will be very, very sad. When pain stops, it feel good.
The Law of Cycles. We obseve the perfect cycles of the seasons, the tides and ocean waves, the menstrul cycles of women, the revolving of the plants, Good Times, Bad Times, Good Luck, Bad Luck, The fish are biting, the fish are not biting, Floods and Droughts, the cycle of the Oak tree with it's leaves dying and being born again, the sap rising and lowering in the trees, etc We all accept that life occurs in cycles.
The Laws of Polarity. Everything has its opposite. Again, DARK-LIGHT, MALE-FEMALE. This law helps us to understand the perfect principles of the flow of Electricity, the principles of yin and yang. Some energy attracts and some energy repels. One is not better than the other but both exist equally. I like to think of the astronomical world where one body can capture another by pulling it into its sphere of influence. This principle can be understood in life when we recognize the truth in this saying: If you want him to be more of a man, be more of a woman. If you want to get more, give more.
The Laws of Love. The love you take, is equal to the love you make, or give. (Paul McCartney said it)
The Laws of Vibrations. Atoms, Neutrons, etc Everything vibrates. we ARE ALL connected. Nothing is still. Nothing is NEW. This Law helps us to understand the essence of things. It is this fine network of vibrations that connects us with every other living thing. You might picture it as an invisible world wide web. It is in tune with the vibrations of the universe that we attract and are attracted to every experience in our life. To use a metaphor, suppose you like country and western music. If you set your radio dial to country and western you will not hear classical or jazz music. If you vibrate at a peaceful level, you will not meet people who are violent. Sleep with dogs, get fleas. Hang with gentle people, avoid violence.
The Laws of Mentalism. What we see in this physical world, EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS IN THIS PHYSICAL WORLD, that man made, first existed as a thought. (GETTING DEEP)
The Laws of Attraction, and Repelling.
AND I COULD GO ON AND ON. Like I said there are thousands and thousands of these Laws and Principles that we all accept and beleive.
IF no one ever read a book, and was of average intelligence, he would observe these Laws and Principles in life, in the world that surrounds us and accept them.
These LAWS create, they nurture, they protect, they "cause" , and these LAWS for the most part, operate for the betterment of us all. They seem to operate on LOVE and GIVING, instead of HATE and TAKING. They encourage, and do not discourage. Yea, if we stick our hand in the fire, it burns our hand and hurts, that's a LAW, but it is to protect us from jumping our entire bodies into the fire. These LAWS are operated and caused by FORCES that I think none of us understand. I don't understand my microwave or TV remote, but I still use it.
Regardless of our understanding, these FORCES and LAWS do exist, and people, seekers and philosophers and prophets like Abraham, Moses, Socretes, Pythagoras, Jesus, Mohammed, Budha, Ghandi, etc, studied these LAWS, and gave them a personality, or Idenity, and they shared their meditations and conclusions with us all. A majority of people accept these conclusions, although we do not all accept the same conclusions. These seekers and philosophers and prophets called it THE FORCE, ALMIGHTY POWER, A CREATOR, that they called GOD . They also gave this GOD a personality, a gender, like an enity, called him KING, and other high titles, and they gave it a name; Jehovah, Allah, Zeus, Apollo, etc.
I have come to believe in and accept this Power and Force, and these LAWS and Principles, what I call and we call GOD. They work for me, they serve me well, they give me peace and underestanding. HE works for me, HE serves me well, HE gives me peace and underestanding. I don't have or use any of the suggested names, and I certainly do not accept any particular or specific denomination or religion given by man. But this GOD and the Laws and Principles are worthy of my time and research, my respect and study and meditations. Because of these LAWS and Principles I know what to expect more times than I do not, I have a Power or FORCE to beleive in and LAWS and Principles to count on and rely on and trust in. Just like I know if I throw a ball up into the air, it will return down, I know IF I do good deeds, my life will be better and IF I do mean things, my life will not be better and will be not as good. (CAUSE AND AFFECT) I have learned to chose good over evil, good over bad, light over darkness.
I have sought and searched and researched this subject to the point it almost over took me, more so back in the 70s and 80s. I still do today. I am a very avid reader of Non-fiction, about "where did I come from, why am I here, who made me, created or started me, who is GOD, what is God, and I read at least one to two books a week now about this.
My favorites are THE HISTORY OF GOD, and THE HISTORY OF RELIGION.
I have to ask myself are one half billion Jews wrong, one billion Muslims wrong and one billion Christians wrong, and nearly one quarter billion Hindu and Budhist wrong, for accepting the existance of GOD?
JESUS ?
I easily understand the difficulty with JESUS. we are told in "the Bible" that he was born of a virgin, walked on water, died and came back to life, and was the only man in History to do that. That is hard to beleive. (Yes I know of MIRTHA and pagan's Mithraism and the others who claimed ressurection in mythology)
So was Jesus' life a myth? When I read Josephus, the Roman Historian, all educated people accept and believe his account of Roman History. Historians accept and believe every word he wrote about Roman History, EXCEPT his account of Jesus, his teachings and his death. Josephus wrote that Jesus was a well known, well traveled preacher and teacher that was crucifed by Rome, at eh demand of the Jewish Priests, and that many, "hundreds of his followers" claimed to have seen Jesus after his death.
I have to ask myself how did Jesus and a dozen followers, along with a book composed of many shorter books and stories, convince over a billion people to follow his teachings and beliefs today?
I am amazed to read and study the cause of death of the twelve apostles. Peter AND his wife were brought to Rome, and told "Deny HIM and live, Claim HIM, and be crucified AND WATCH YOUR WIFE BE CRUCIFIED FIRST RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!" Peter responded, according to Josephus, tht he did not deserve to die like Jesus died, so they crucified him UPSIDE DOWN. PETER DIED ON THE CROSS, AND HIS WIFE TOO, as Peter watched.. WHY didn't Peter and the other apostles just take the easy way out?
(google death of the apostles)
And of the other eleven apostles, ten were given the opportunity to live, or be tortured, burnt at the stake, drawn and quartered, cut in half, stabbed, and they chose DEATH and TORTURE over living. WHY?
FAITH is defined as beleviing in the unseen.
Like I never saw the planet Pluto, or any neutrons, or atoms, or Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. Do you beleive in them? Because they have been revealed to me by others, and proven to me to be real by wiser and more educated and knowledgable people who did the research and study, in books, and stories, I accept them and believe in them. FAITH is just that, FAITH. You accept or you do not.
I have an apple sitting right here on my desk. Do you know whether if it is sweet or sour? Of course not. Why not? Because you have not tasted my apple, no matter what anyone tells you, you do not really, really know how it tastes. But what if a billon others tasted it first, right before your eyes, and told you, it tasted sweet. Wouldn't you lean toward being convinced that it is probably a sweet apple?
Well, I have tasted GOD, as many others have. And I have tasted Jesus. And OHHHH , how sweet He is.
I took an hour and half to write this, so I'm going to post it as a new thread too. Maybe someone will get it.
Now nail me to a tree. I do expect the non-believers to argue and attack.
LOL