God and the Soul

In every conversation... Even every story or film that wants to discuss God or the soul; I am always stuck on one simple but important -- the most important, in fact -- question. Where is the evidence for either a soul or a God? All such questions -- no matter how deeply delved into -- ultimately arrive at the same place fundamentally. Belief and faith. Personally, although I always remain open and receptive to any viable and sufficient evidence, I possess neither of these traits. Therefore, I am always left seeking some semblance of a logical and coherent reason to accept the claims presented. To my way of thinking, until actual appropriate and testable evidence is provided, there is literally no point in having any further discussion, deliberation, or speculation on either subject. Although, in reality, we are essentially talking about the same general concept in both cases. Until a God -- any God -- is proven to exist, there is absolutely no logical reason to discuss or give credence to the truth claims of any religion. Until the soul can be shown to be real, any discussion of an afterlife is irrelevant and moot. What adults do you know who offer any genuine consideration for the existence of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny? I would -- and have -- argued that there is in fact more evidence for either of those characters than there has ever been or ever will be for the existence of God, Jesus, or the soul. At least in Mormonism and Islam, their prophets were known to exist and provably real.

This brings up the notion of spirituality, which I have also discussed in my book, Everything is a Choice! It has become very trendy for people to remark, "I am spiritual but not religious." Putting aside the fact that virtually everyone seems to have their own personal definition of what that statement means to them, I am more concerned with the concept as it applies universally. This reasoning is twofold. First, is to point out that the person saying this does not buy into the ideas and doctrines of organized religion, which in and of itself, I always respect and appreciate. Secondly, by its very nature, it invokes the concept of the soul or the spirit. How is one able to be spiritual without a spirit? It should be obvious that in this context we are not talking about team spirit or having a spirited debate. I digress. My point here is simply what I have stated already. Until such time that someone brings forth provable testable and repeatable evidence for the existence of a God or a Soul, you are simply playing make believe. Hopefully if you choose this path, you are not also choosing the path of hypocrisy in telling your children that they cannot have imaginary friends. Until such proof is offered, for everyone who considers themselves to be "spiritual", I suggest that we change the language to a more accurate statement, such as, "I am always on a path of seeking and enlightenment." Notice how we convey the same general principle but without the inclusion of concepts that are -- shall we say... primitive and outdated for the modern truth seeker.