If you don’t want to think about God, that’s your choice, but you may find it harder to do than you anticipate.
There are many people who try hard to ignore God. I know, because I was one of them for much of my life. I busied myself on other pursuits and avoided deep thoughts or questions that might interfere with my headlong pursuit of my self-interests.
For me, it got harder over time to avoid thinking about God, and I had to work at it. I’ll use my experiences to give you eight ideas for how you can avoid dwelling on thoughts about God, if that is what you really want to do …
1. Don’t Think About Nature
What does nature make you think about? The breathtaking beauty of a sunset, and the calming vastness of the ocean. The church-like solitude of a forest, the intricate delicacy of a rose, and the awesome majesty of a mountain range. When you gaze at the starry heavens on a clear night, do you feel God is behind it all? After all, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1) So if you don’t want to think about God, don’t think about nature.
2. Don’t Think About the Origin of Life
Deep in your heart, when you’re honest with yourself, do you think life on earth came about totally by chance? That the mind-boggling complexity and variety of animals and plants originated from an accidental interaction of random chemical elements? That the incredible design of human beings is an accident? With no involvement of an Intelligent Designer? Because, if you do, continuing to deny God’s role in creating life will require you to not think about a lot of things.
3. Don’t Think About Meaning and Purpose
Some people support a postmodern worldview with no God and no larger story related to our existence. They feel that all that matters is what they believe and they want. Everything is relative, with no absolute truth in the world. Others believe in a loving God who designed each of us as special. We each have value, and there is profound meaning to our existence. It seems discouraging to believe we have no purpose in life, so it might be more comfortable to not think about those things.
4. Don’t Think About or Read the Bible
If you don’t want to think about God, don’t read the Bible. Don’t dwell on the incredible wisdom it contains, or the way it seems to speak to us at times. Disregard the impossibility of such a consistent narrative being written by dozens of human authors over centuries with no higher guidance. Ignore how much of it can be verified by science, archeology, and historical validation. Certainly, don’t think about the eyewitness accounts or amazing prophetic accuracy of the biblical writings.
5. Don’t Think About Scientific Evidence for God
Scientists agree the universe was created at one point in time by a galactic occurrence called the “Big Bang.” You might not want to think about that, however, because it obviously begs the question of how the Big Bang happened, and who could have initiated it. Don’t dwell on the incredible fine-tuning of the universe that makes earth habitable for humans, or the infinitesimal odds of that being an accident of chance. To keep ignoring God, you’ll have to think about other things instead.
6. Don’t Think About Jesus or the Resurrection
The miracles and eyewitness accounts of Jesus could prove hard to ignore if you thought about them. And the fact that Jesus claimed to be God, which means he was either a liar or insane if that wasn’t true. Don’t choose to dwell on the love and grace Jesus embodied in how he lived and cared for people. Certainly, don’t consider the Resurrection, which provides the opportunity for your sins to be forgiven and future assured. That would be too much to ignore, so just don’t think about it.
7. Don’t Think About Tough Times
Personally, I don’t know how people get through tough times without God, but maybe you have that all figured out. If you don’t, you could just avoid thinking about it and hope that no trials will come your way. Certainly, don’t think about dying, especially if you see death as a meaningless passing into nothingness. Since tough times and dying would be so hard to deal with alone, with no God or heaven, better to forget about them for as long as you can.
8. Don’t Think About Believing
Wouldn’t it be nice to have more peace, joy, and purpose in your life? To know the contentment and security a relationship with a loving God would bring? If you don’t want that, don’t dwell on the fact that believing in God would give you comfort—and answers—in all the areas above. That opportunity to make your life better could become too good to resist.
In the last article on “Thinking About God,” I posed a question to all the people who are either avoiding or postponing having a relationship with God. It was: “How’s that working out for you?”
My question for you now is: “Why not give God a try?”
- You don’t have to be good enough to feel God’s love: none of us are, so relax.
- You don’t have to get your act together first: God invites you to come as you are.
- You don’t have to know all the answers: keep an open mind and start investigating.
It’s your life and happiness and future we are talking about, so how about you give that invitation some thought? If you are afraid or uncertain, that’s okay. That’s why they call it faith. But, right now, commit to at least one thing …
Think about it.
