Ryan Bell, a blogger and former pastor, recently authored an article titled "Why you don't need God". I respect Mr. Bell's perspective. I would like to propose a different perspective. In many ways, saying that you don't need God is similar to saying that you don't need your parents. As an average, typical adult, you don't need your parents. You have the ability to provide for yourself and make your own decisions based on your own beliefs and values. Whether or not you choose to keep your parents in your life is ultimately up to you. Whether or not your beliefs and values are similar to those of your parents is ultimately up to you. You really don't need your parents. However, thinking that you don't need your parents does not mean that your parents don't exist; thinking that you don't need God does not mean that God doesn't exist. For most of us, our parents want to be a part of our lives (regardless of whether we need them or not); for all of us, God wants to be a part of our lives (regardless of whether we think we need Him or not).
Mr. Bell states that "acknowledging the absence of God" has changed his life. While I trust that Mr. Bell's life has changed, his experience provides no evidence that God does not exist. Him choosing to make God absent in his own life does not change the existence of God. God is not defined by popular or expert opinion. Mr. Bell later alludes to God as a human invention. I suspect God may find it humorously ironic that we as humans think that we invented Him.
One of the most important gifts we receive from God is our agency - the ability to make our own choices and live our own lives (even if we choose to exclude Him). I completely agree with Mr. Bell when he says that "If we don't make the world a fair and habitable place, no one else is going to do it for us. Our lives matter because our choices affect others and our children's future." God does exist, and He wants us to use our agency to make the world a better place.
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