Is there a God?

Does God really exist? I believe yes He does.

I have read various articles in which people question God's existence. They say things like "if there is a God/supreme bring and He is good and loves us, why would He let bad things happen?" Or "look at what the bible says or what this religious person has done, therefore there is no God and/or religion is bad."

Many people look at the things humans do and then blame God for those things or claim if people act a certain that way then there couldn't possibly be a god. That's why I love the example story about the barber. (The shortened version is a barber doesn't believe in God and spends the entire haircut saying as much, including the examples above, to the man in the chair. After, the man who just listened to all that, exited the barber shop and returned a few moments later with someone who hasn't had a haircut in a while and proceeds to use this man as proof there aren't barbers.) You wouldn't ever look at someone who doesn't take care of their hair or cut their hair and assume hair stylists or barbers don't care or don't exist, right? So then why blame God when people, religious or not, make choices?

I believe in coincidence, chance, and happenstance but I also think there are things too big to fall into those categories. The existence of the earth and everything on it: too complex and too slim of chances for all this to just happen without any assistance.

Have you ever studied the complexity with the rotation of the planets, their moons, and the solar systems? As objects move too close or too far, climates change and determine if life can be sustained. The size of a moon, its rotation, and its distance from a planet determines if it will orbit or it becomes a free floater.

The human body is amazing and man has nowhere near the knowledge to create anything that comes close to the why the human body works, let alone create life out of nothing. The cells, organs, molecules and everything else work together in such a way that its hard to believe in chance. Minimal changes cause terrible problems within the body. Our bodies have the potential to heal themselves within certain limits.

To me, just about everything we can observe here on Earth and in outer space around us are evidence that God exists and that he has a hand in ensuring the creation of the matter around us.

Love and support...?

I have had a few debates/arguments within the past few months on Facebook. I actually started the debates/picked the fights. I did this because the people I was debating had decided to bad mouth, name call, and other similar things people who voted for Donald Trump. However, I wasn't upset or offended because I voted for him. I did not vote for him. I was upset because I have friends and family who did vote for him. I don't know all of the reasons why they chose to support him. What I do know is that someone who disagreed with my friends' or family members' choice was mocking, "disowning", and belittling my friends and family. So I stood up for them. Sadly, in 2 of the instances the person/people who were saying such things about Trump voters have/had close relationships with the people they were talking about. In one of instances, they all but mentioned the person they were treating so disrespectfully by name.

Here are the list of reasons why these people acted so horridly towards others (according to what they said to me):

1. Their opinions or reasons are stupid and are invalid so I don't have to acknowledge them. 
2. They chose what they did and have to live with that choice of choosing hate. 
3. Trump is evil and they are supporting evil. 
4. If they were a real (the person's ethnicity) they wouldn't even consider voting for him.
5. I am standing up for what is right while they are in the wrong. 

I am sure there are more but this is what I am drawing from memory of how the conversations made me feel. 

These interactions have left me feeling bothered; not because of what was said to me in the moment or what I said in return. What bothered, and continues to bother me, is the lack of love and understanding being shown. 

As I have previously written about, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and based on what I have learned from the teachings of the Church I think tattooing your body shows a lack of respect for your body and God's creations. I think drinking alcohol and taking certain drugs (marijuana, crack, meth, etc.) impair thinking and acting which prevents you from using agency properly. For moral reasons, I don't think abortion should be legal. The list could go on. However, here is my point and one I believe that Jesus Christ taught. We can disagree without being rude or disagreeable. We can love and support without agreeing or condoning the choices that person makes. I try to encourage others to not do those things I think are wrong or sinful even if it means supporting laws that seem to limit choice or freedom. If asked about it, I would try to teach them what I believe and why and then encourage them to change their lives to better follow God's commandments. And here's the big BUT...even if they don't change or if they don't ask, I'm not going to end friendships, point fingers and mock, or anything else that might jeopardize those relationships. If its a person with whom I don't currently have any type of relationship, I will still try my best to treat them with love, respect, and kindness.

Somehow people have decided that in order to love someone, you must agree and accept their life choices. I don't buy into that. They are not mutually exclusive ideas. Jesus Christ showed compassion for all but it didn't stop him from chastising the woman caught in adultery or from throwing tables and throwing out the money changers at the temple. He didn't agree with what these people did. He loved them and did what He thought was necessary for for them to change.