Last week, I explained that the innate challenge in answering the question “Is God real?” lies within the human mind, which you can read here.
Dear members and friends,
In my 21 years as a parish minister, I have learned repeatedly that affirming faith is not about logically and rationally convincing others, but inspiring and assisting those who are already on their spiritual journey. That journey to find the realness of God requires each individual to discover and affirm their own experiences of God in their lives. Personally, it took me a long time to be even somewhat sure that my spiritual experiences were not from my own imagination, but from God. Then, it took me another long period to grasp the meaning and importance of those experiences. My journey of knowing, experiencing, and acknowledging the realness of God began when I was six years old. At that time, I dreamed of my half-brother, whose existence was not known to me because he died when I was just a baby. Beginning with this, I have since had a series of scientifically unexplainable experiences in the form of dreams, visions, and even feelings. I tried to understand them through many methods such as Asian dream interpretations and modern dream analysis by Freud, Jung, and others. After studying Swedenborg and his correspondences, I felt a deeper degree of inner assurance in both the meaning and purpose of my own experiences; they were leading me to one simple truth: God is real.
So, is God real? My answer is a big and definite Yes. But if you were to ask, “Can you prove it?,” I must reply that you are asking the wrong question. Instead, you should ask, “Can you help me to identify and understand the presence of God within my life?” When you are ready and able to ask this question, you are actively sending an invitation for God to become “real” in your mind.
My family and friends in God, God is real in your lives and wishes to be discovered by you. Once in a while, if you just take a moment and reflect deeply upon matters in your life, you might discover the hands of God being present in almost all aspects of your life.
Blessings, Rev. Junchol Lee