A God we Can Believe In

Frank: It was 1967 and I was an Obstetrics and Gynecology Resident at Yale New Haven Hospital, and I was helping take care of a patient who was having considerable problems with her pregnancy. At one of my visits with this patient, she asked if I would pray with her and I, of course, agreed. Then, however, she paused and asked a second question. “Doctor, do you believe in God?”  

I was 27 years old at the time and quite frankly was not sure of my answer. I had been raised in an observant Jewish home by parents who enjoyed and practiced their Judaism and did believe in God, however I had not formed any definitive answer to this important question.  

Despite my uncertainty, I told my patient that I did believe in God, and we bowed our heads in prayer. As I left the patient’s room, I realized that I had not been completely honest and that I needed to ponder this question so that the next time I was asked whether I believed in God, I could answer with complete honesty and certainty. 

Mark: Frank, it is interesting that this is the story you chose to open our discussion on the concept of God and the resulting possibility of a belief in that same Master of the Universe. 

It has often been said that “There are no atheists in foxholes.” And while that may be true, I have also come to acknowledge that neither are there any — or many — atheists in hospital beds, nor in the hearts and minds of those who gather at their loved one’s bedside.  

There are moments when — despite our uncertainty — we still want very much to believe in something, perhaps Someone, who is greater than we are, with a power more magnified than ours is, and who may have the ability to intervene in each of our lives, or the lives of our loved ones, to perform miracles that defy logic or any rational explanation. 

And even if God works through us, even if it is the hands of doctors that cure us or save us from harm, or death, are these skills any less than God-given, however we might define that gift? That, too, might be viewed as an intervention of the Divine. 

So, let us begin with the question asked by your patient: “Doctor, do you believe in God?” 

Frank: Over the next few months after that prayer session with my patient, I began a journey to help me find an answer. Certain facts began to play a significant role in achieving that answer. It is estimated that there are two trillion galaxies in the observable universe and that a typical galaxy contains 100 billion stars. The galaxy we live in, the Milky Way Galaxy, contains 400 billion stars and has a radius of 52,850 lightyears. In other words, the universe around us is, to say the least, incredibly enormous. 

How could all this wonder of the universe be in existence without a creating initial event? It seemed reasonable to assume that whether one believed in a creator called God lighting a match to create the universe or whether it was some other initial event, a Divine presence had to exist to cause such an enormous, vast, and magnificent universe to exist. Now that I had answered the question of whether I believed in a Divine presence that I could call God, I also needed to understand if God also played a role in the formation of life.  

Earth with all its contents and living forms is clearly an incredibly complicated structure and humans have for an exceedingly long time attempted to explain how it came into being. Two explanations, over the years, have risen to popular thinking. The first is that a Divine presence created the Earth and all within it over a six-day process and how this unfolded is told in the very beginning of the first book of the Hebrew Bible. I call this the “poof theory.” God said “poof” and all that is contained on Earth suddenly appeared with no other explanation offered.  

The second explanation for the existence of God is one that I call the “evolving theory.” This explanation involves a Divinity which billions of years ago initiated the process of evolution. When the process of evolution began, everything changed and every future species of complex life from trees to grass and snails to humans owes its existence to that process. This process of how life began is, in my way of thinking, more powerful, complicated, complex, and awesome than the “poof theory” and was the theory that began to help me understand and believe in the presence of God.  

A spiritual being that could provide the building blocks and process for such an incredible event as the evolution of all living things including humankind would be consistent with the power and glory of what we call God. This now was the essence of my belief.  

Mark: Frank, I think you have laid out a beautiful beginning for our attempt to take a deep dive into the belief in and nature of God. You have done so in a way that makes sense and meaning for us, and hopefully for others, in our desire and our search to create and sustain a truly inspiring and compelling relationship with our Creator. 

As has been said, “The Architect of the universe would not build a staircase that leads to nowhere.” Clearly, to glance in awe of the universe, the complexity of the galaxies and their stars and their planets, the cycle of each day and the order of every season…is truly breathtaking, extraordinary and beyond our comprehension to fully grasp and understand.  

As a wise rabbi once said, “God performs miracles every day. But man takes his little hand, covers his tiny eyes, and often sees none of them.” 

For me, this enormous creative force is one of the ways I see God and affirm God’s existence. 

Rabbi Mark Schiftan can be reached at mschiftan@aol.com 

Dr. Frank Boehm can be reached at frank.boehm@vumc.org