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Home › Entertainment

Sheila Nevins | 04/08/2009 11:00 pm

Sheila Nevins Is Still Waiting and Hoping

By Sheila Nevins RSS
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In response to: Do you believe in God?
Sheila Nevins
Oh my God, intriguing question. Wish I did. Wish I could. Often try. There must be an exquisite divine intelligence that manifests itself in the miracle that is life. But where is it and how can we touch it? It is for us to know. Annoyed always with the expression "It’s not for us to know." And why not? God is not a being with a beard and a scepter — this I am sure of. God does not demand reverence if s/he exists in any form. Stop the useless prayers. He or she does not determine behavior or results so quit the asking. No one is listening. So many have died in vain in the name of God. What’s that about? You can’t honor the mess created by the religious zealots in God’s name. Yet there is a spiritual essence to existence that transcends matter and disasters and brings wonder and unspeakable joy. In these moments may be the closest one gets to "God." Taking in the miracle is impossible with daily getting and spending. Unspeakable tragedies belie a benign presence. Yet unspeakable beauty and selfless love support a gentle creator. And so in conclusion I don’t know the answer. I want to believe and I await a glorious sign. But the vision does not come within my sightlines and the phone never rings. S/he never calls. Still waiting and hoping.

Read more about: Belief, God, Religion, Spirituality

11 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

N P

Sheila,

I agree with you. And may I say, you write you so well. 

By N P on 04/09/2009 1:31 am
Dawn Smith

Sheila, I think we all have asked ourselves this question at some point in our lives. I was raised Catholic and everytime I asked  my mom a question about God she would respond " when you’re dead you can ask him yourself ". Not exactly comforting news to a child. I walked away from the church as a teenager because I couldn’t stand the hypocrisy of ‘Organized Religion’ but I never lost my faith that there was something greater than all of us. If there is a God ( I chose to believe there is) I see him in the faces of the ones I love, a perfect sunrise/sunset , a sense of perfect harmony at the oddest moments in life. None us knows for certain because no one has returned from meeting Him personally. SO………..I guess my mom was right, I’ll just have to wait till I’m dead !!

I have to say I love your writing and would DIE for your hair !!!

By Dawn Smith on 04/09/2009 7:33 am
phyllis Doyle Pepe
Oh, Lord, Dawn, you would DIE for Shelia’s hair? Then what would God say when you do meet him at that train station in the sky. "What? You died for someone’s hair? Well, for shame,  the rest of eternity you will be dyeing hair for all the others that wanted hair like Shelia, but just wished for, not died for!" 
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 04/09/2009 1:12 pm
Dawn Smith
LOL ! I just got home from working a 12 hr shift and yes, you’re right. I do love her hair but die for it? NOT !!! I think God would say " Child, you’re an idiot !"
By Dawn Smith on 04/09/2009 6:14 pm
c hubbard

"Unspeakable tragedies belie a benign presence."

Exactly right.  When I see an unspeakable tragedy and the survivors say, ‘god saved us’, I think, where was god when that happened to you?  What is it comedians say?   ‘if you buy the premise , you buy the bit.’  I don’t buy the premise.  If their god had the power to save them, why did s/he let it happen to begin with? 

By c hubbard on 04/09/2009 9:01 am
Barbara B
Dawn I feel the same way.  There are so many beautiful things in life as well as bad things.  I walked away from Organized religion but I believe in my faith that people to evil not god.  Maybe a fantasy to some people but hey it gets me thru hard times.  Hope I meet you in Heaven.
By Barbara B on 04/09/2009 9:07 am
phyllis Doyle Pepe

When we speak here of God, I assume we are referring to the Biblical God. Throughout the ages man has had all sorts of gods––I especially enjoy the Greek and Roman mythology, so colorful, so capricious. But the God of the Bible is no less capricious, if not downright evil. He ordered the deaths of millions––spite them here and spite them there––he was happy one day and vicious the next and at times was confused. How did we get all this information? It was written down by man, quite a few of them. We are, in this 21st century, still clinging on to ancient writings  about a God that made sense to these people then who knew nothing of atoms, galaxies, natural selection, etc.  

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 04/09/2009 9:30 am
Belinda Joy
Sheila, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony of your response in regard to the question. You began your reply by stating “Oh my God…” followed by declarations that you wish you did and could believe in God. I have friends who are self defined atheists who constantly speak of “Oh my God” or “Lord only knows” I find that curious and have yet to figure out the subtext at play with people who say they don’t believe in God, yet invoke his name in their day to day speech.
By Belinda Joy on 04/09/2009 1:00 pm
phyllis Doyle Pepe
Belinda: Yes, it is a curious, but understandable phraseology. The references to God, Lord, etc. are ingrained in our culture––it is part of our language. At one time it was considered crass or disrespectful to use the word God, so it was shortened to gosh, golly, lordy, and so forth.  Sheila being a clever and witty writer I’m sure knew what she was about with her opening "Oh, my God.." 
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 04/09/2009 1:23 pm
albert miller
I guess some people will never realize that on earth we are paying a debt for something done some other time, in some other place. We all get our"sign" of GOD’S existence, when we leave this one. The earth is exactly as it is meant to be, at every second.No joy or sorrow, boredom or excitement, sickness or health,happiness or heartache is accidental.
By albert miller on 04/10/2009 2:33 am
Linda Myers
I have seen a lot of these moments that you are talking about, times without explanation where something just happpens. When my five year old grandson was about to be born, his mom and dad were repainting a house and hurrying to get it done, they had finished the babies room and put up the crib, but were not living in the house yet. The next morning they came back and a picture of a unicorn was hung above my grandons’s crib. Nobody had been in the house since they left the night before, but yet the picture was on the wall.
By Linda Myers on 05/19/2009 12:24 am