Windy Sydney

When I was a kid, I remember asking my Mom a series of questions that ended up frustrating the hell out of her...

I think I was 8 or 9, and I remember being home sick from school. Mom was trying to get me to drink some orange juice, and I wanted to talk about God. See a pattern with me?

I asked my Mom who created the earth.

"God created the earth."

Who created God?

"God doesn't want us to think about that!"

This was a loooong time ago, and my mother has started asking *me* these questions.

What created the thing that created God? What was there before that? What happened? Why are we here?

No one has answers to these questions. They might claim they do, but it's all smoke and mirrors. I personally think that we won't know until it's our time to cross over into... well... whatever.

I certainly hope that there is an afterlife with a loving creator, a place where I can see my deceased family members and friends... hang out, enjoy each other's company. That would be great... but do we know anything for certain? Nope.

One thing I *do* know is that God would be silly to use a system of secret names and handshakes in order to reach heaven. Especially when the secret names are given to so many people. Do you know how many women were given the name Ruth, for example? When a priesthood holder crosses over into the (imaginary) celestial kingdom and calls for his wife(s) Ruth, do you know how many women would step forward?

Why would God use handshakes if the ability to learn the handshakes and then give them to non-believers existed? Wouldn't God create a better way to handle that?

The way I see it, if God created this earth and all the living things on it... including plants, water life, animals, weather... everything... it certainly took a ton of planning and exact precision work. Why then, would He leave something like a secret handshake up for grabs?

Makes me scratch my head and wonder why I ever believed it to begin with!

Andee