Do you believe that during any given year, the Earth rotates completely around the sun?

If you do, then you are not alone. Most people will agree on the earth's orbit. But have you ever wondered why we believe that happens? I guess the obvious answer would be, it has been proven. But, that leads to more questions. Proven by whom? Can you prove it yourself?

My guess is that most people reading this cannot prove that for themselves. Now, I'm not trying to convince you of any other occurrence that would make a year. I (like you, most likely) believe in the earth's orbit. However, what we often don't think about is how and why we know it. We think we know it because it has been proven, but really we know it because we trust the teachers who told us that, and the change in the sky lighting supports that theory. This is true for a great number of things we know to be true. Most of the things we believe aren't things that we ourselves have proven. Sure, somebody proved it, but it wasn't me, and it (probably) wasn't you either. Again, I'm not questioning these truths or the truths of any other scientific discovery. I'm sure somebody can prove them, but I can't. I take their word for it. When it comes down to it, most of what we believe is based on what others tell us.

This process is actually how most people become believers of God as well. We encounter trustworthy individuals who share their idea with us, and we adopt that idea as our own. This, however, is where the similarity between science and religion ends. While I will never develop personal knowledge of most scientific truths, my knowledge of God has long surpassed that. This is why I say that I am more convinced of my faith in God than of my faith in proven scientific truths.

How can this be? To answer, I need to tell you a bit of my story. I went to Catholic school growing up, so religion was just another subject in school, same as science. I believed it because teachers told me it. It wasn't until a retreat, while in college, that I had a "God Experience". It's hard to describe, and it sounds unbelievable, but I felt like God took hold of my life and spoke to me. I didn't hear any words or voices. It wasn't a vision, but I felt His presence, more amazing and louder than I could ever imagine. If you have ever asked the universe "why" or said "thank you" to no one in particular, you have experienced a glimpse of this. I was having thoughts that I knew were not my own. I felt a strange mix of feeling free and also like I was commanded to serve by a Greater Authority. Who I was and who I was meant to be finally came into focus. I had a much greater sense of my own identity, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I was given a mission. Like I said, it sounds weird and unbelievable, but I know it was real. It was more real than anything I had ever experienced. Even more unbelievable is that it continued after the weekend was over, even up to the present day. I did come off from the "high", but the sense of knowledge that I belonged to God, that He was real, that He loved me, and that He had a mission for me remained. The sense would come and go, but I found that I could reconnect with it through prayer. In fact, when I go too long without praying, an emptiness starts to overcome me. I find that I need prayer. I long for it. I hadn't just come to know God. I desired Him.

So this is why I say I am more sure of God's love for me than of the earth's orbit around the sun. Yes, the earth's orbit seems totally reasonable and I have no reason to doubt it, but at the end of the day, I am believing the word of other people. If scientists came out today and said they made a new discovery about the earth's orbit, I would probably accept it and eventually believe it. It would not really affect my life in the slightest. Whereas the love of God is something I know with every fiber of my being. I've felt His mercy in the confessional. I've "heard" His "voice" in prayer many many times. I've seen His grace transform the lives of sinners (including this sinner). I've experienced the trial of trusting His plan when it seemed senseless. I've seen enough of His promises come true that I no longer have to take it all on faith, because I've experienced it for myself. To try and convince me otherwise would be like trying to convince me that my mother doesn't love me. So yes, I believe that the earth orbits the sun, but only because of my faith in the scientific community; whereas, I believe that God loves me, because I know Him and He knows me.