Am not a firm believer. Of anything, per se. There are flaws, fantasies, misconceptions, fallacies, miscommunications... always a room for doubt. Ironically, during the times of Sunday School, had proclaimed my favourite disciple of Jesus was none other than... yes, you guessed it probably... "Doubting" Thomas.

A recently televised serman of Dr. Melissa Scott confirmed she doubted something in the Scripture. While she calls it the Holy, it was transcribed by men. Is it holy? That is an interpretation, open to doubters world-wide. Her point was that if you begin to let doubt creep in, you begin to question it all. She indicated that was wrong to do, for we should all have faith in those writings.

I feel it should be directly opposed to that. We should all doubt. We are human, not selfless robot automatons that can be programmed to believe or behave a certain way. If there is a quote, "Creator", unquote; then He/She wouldn't have been satisfied with making robotic biologicals. Look at the evolutions and sheer magnifigance of creation itself. Diverse, highly mathematical, composed of smaller parts that make a whole. Different languages, different ways of communication. Maybe some things get lost in translation, intentionally?

Far from being a religious sort, occasionally I read the Bible. And other works in regards to mythology and magic, paganism, spiritualism... very wide spectrum... a smattering of the wierdness or the unfanthomable.... which isn't that any more after a time of pondering. There is or are reasons. And who is to say that the miracles aren't reasonable demonstrations of a higher being's will.

If you doubt something, if you have an open mind and actually try to disprove something, you'll find a firmer belief when it can't be disproved. If you want to challenge timelines, particular wording or phrases, chain of events, actually geographical possibilities, ironies... there isn't any shortage of picking any certain item to scrutinize. Yet one thing is for certain, many look to holy or good books as sources of Inspiration. They inspire people to have faith in higher ideas, beings or people.... be it those around them or themselves.

Great authors have blessed us with their works, some of which people consider to be divine in an Earthly sense. While I can't say Shakespeare was perfect (look at the anachranisms), he was certainly a broad, creative writer. It is possible to one-up him, but only if people choose to doubt his "perfection" as an artist. If you simply see where people have done it better than anyone else could have, you do not have the necessary inspiriations to succeed. Which is what faith is, in essence, correct? The belief that something will change, that it will get better or that records will be broken for human achievements. That we can evolve into yet higher life-forms.

I don't buy that the Bible is the tell-all help-all. Just like some people will resort to Dr. Phil, Dr. Ruth or even Dr. Scott. Erma Bombeck or Bill Cosby may have more effect upon people's lives and in equally good ways. The Holy Bible was written as a serious work for serious-minded folk. Many learned to read from it, to read into it what they chose and to live by it to a greater benefit. Theologians continue to debate the merits of various religions when it all boils down to the same thing in this hugely diverse world of choices... learn what you can and believe what you shall.

So when good things happen, when you witness miracles.. if you can justify it by other rationale than God/Allah (insert favourite choice), more power to you. There is nothing wrong with being a disbeliever. And if you find that you've begun to question all of humankind's present condition and it's entire history, then you are probably on the right path. Or you can have faith that some things are as they are. And go from there.