Challenge Series: Do I Really Need God, Anyway?

 Challenges to Being Catholic Today

This is the first in a four-part series that explores some of the challenges faced by young adults and others in living their faith in the contemporary world.  Look to the left to see the previous challenge articles.

Do I Really Need God in My Life, Anyway?

You may read the title of this reflection and think that the answer is patently obvious, at least from the vantage point of faith. Here we find ourselves at the very basics of our Christian faith – belief in and relationship with the living God. But perhaps things are not as obvious or simple as we might first imagine.

We live in a world in which many people do not seem to give any “space” for God in their lives. Polls show that the vast majority of people in the United States believe in God and most say that they pray, at least in some way. Robert Schreiter, the distinguished expert on religion and culture who spoke this year at the Catholics On Call Partners Conference, told vocation directors and campus ministers that in comparison with most countries in the developed world, U.S. society is quite religious in character. Still, many young adults whom I know tell me that they daily rub shoulders with friends, co-workers, classmates, and neighbors for whom God is just not a part of their lives. These people may well be virtuous, caring individuals but they seem to live out their lives without any reference to God. God is just not a factor in their aspirations, plans or decisions.

Meaningful public discourse about God is also difficult to find. Because of our convictions about the separation between church and state, public appeals to belief in God are usually viewed with great suspicion. When such appeals are made, they are often merely “window dressing” to political rhetoric, especially political campaign rhetoric. It is useful for political candidates to include some kind of generic reference to God in their campaign speeches. But it is hard for thoughtful people to take such references seriously.

When was the last time you watched a movie that included any thoughtful reference to or talk about God? I am no film expert, though I do go to the movies occasionally. I saw “The Da Vinci Code” in which there was, of course, a lot of reference to religion. But the references in that movie certainly did not make belief in God very palatable! Does Hollywood have any place for meaningful talk about God?

I do not want to paint an excessively dark picture here. But I think that it is true that for Catholic Christians today, including young adults, one of the greatest challenges is simply that of making space for God. It takes a certain amount of courage to commit oneself to building a relationship with God through prayer, participation in the life of the Church, and service to others. It takes great boldness to admit to friends that your relationship with God is important to you and that it is integral to the decisions you make about your life. It requires real fortitude to affirm that your belief in God really makes a difference in your life.

Do I really need God in my life, anyway? I guess it all depends on what we mean by “need.” If we think of needing God merely in terms of harnessing the power of the divine in order to achieve success in our life projects, we probably don’t need God – at least as God is revealed in the Scriptures. All of us know very successful people who do not invoke God’s blessings on their endeavors. And the idea of “having” God in my life just to improve my chances of success comes very close to a religious stance of “using” God.

At a deeper level, though, we need God more than anyone or anything else. The words of Psalm 84 – one of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible – eloquently express this deep-rooted need.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God….
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than live in the tents of wickedness. (NRSV)

This psalm, like many others in the Scriptures, articulates something basic about our humanity. We have been created with a hunger, a yearning, an ache, for the One who created us. God created us for relationship – relationship with one another and with Him. Paraphrasing the words of the great Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, our tradition tells us that the fundamental meaning of our existence, the reason for everything, is that there is a God and God wanted to give of Self in love. God created us so that God might give Himself to us as One to be known and loved. The deepest purpose of our existence is to live in dynamic, loving relationship with one another and with God. In this sense, yes, we do need God. The “DNA of the human spirit” has been created with a need and a deep desire for relationship with God.

It is true that this relationship with God, especially as God has been revealed in Jesus, is costly. It is about much more than beautiful religious poetry. It demands commitment and entails ongoing conversion. In order for this relationship to mature, we must allow it to have practical effects in our lives. At the same time, the more space we give to God in our lives, the more space we make for our true selves to develop and blossom. Since we have been created for communion with God, we grow into our authentic selves in and through our relationship with Him.

Making a space for God in our lives, however countercultural it may be, makes a great deal of sense.

Robin Ryan, CP