GOD. (Just Some Thoughts).

I saw a YouTube video last night which suggests that people with AS or Autism may be more prone to being atheists than neuro-typicals.

In honesty, this did not surprise me but it did make me sad. The reason I was sad about this is because I always become a bit down hearted when I know that anyone does not experience the wonderful privilege of knowing the Lord as their savior. This is because, in my view... There is nothing like this freedom. I came to know the Lord as my personal savior at age 15. I can say with total certainty, that it was (and is) the best decision I've ever made. Now, as has been stated in this blog many times, I've not officially been diagnosed with AS or Autism. I have a strong suspicion that I have it, and so I've been researching it like crazy, which is what led to writing this blog.

The following are my own personal experiences and opinions based on knowing God as. I understand him.

I know, for me personally, I tend to be very cynical and suspicious... Distrusting of people's motives. My cynicism often will "choke" my willingness to be open minded about things. I tend to analyze things to death, which can often be to my detriment because it is difficult for me to be secure with what I cannot see. Even if I BELIEVE in something I do not see, it's very challenging to be secure in what is not seen because I can't control those things. It seems to me that more than anything, Aspie's want control, and predictability. They (we) want things we can "predict". Even when we can't see something (the wind, for example), we can predict that it will be there and take some measures to control how we are affected by it.

The idea of God can be unnerving for several reasons. We cannot see him, or feel him, or hear his voice audibly. What does he look like anyway? Is he tall, short, fat, thin? What color is his skin, hair, eyes? He's perfect (so you've probably been told). Well gee, we're not, are we? This opens up a whole different line of questioning... If he exists and he's perfect, why do so many imperfect things happen? Why do people call this loving? Why does the Bible call this loving? Well, as you can tell, we could be here all day just with questions, couldn't we?

But, I believe that the hardest thing for most of us to swallow about God, and the reason many people don't believe in him, is because of the fact that he wants us to allow him to take control of our lives. On a practical level, I think this seems rather rude and conceited to many of us. Here, if he DOES exist, we aren't even allowed to see his face, but he requires of us that we give everything over to him? He allows all these painful things in our lives, but the Bible says he's good and perfect? And maybe the hardest thing... Hell. What is Hell? Does it even exist? If God is so good, why do people go there? What about sin? Why must we be accepting that our "sin" is so unacceptable to a God who claims that he loves us?

This is a lot of questions and a lot of ideas. Just talking about God can make an Aspie want to escape and say why bother?. I mean, this topic can make an Aspie feel as though their head will explode! God is not an easy thing for neuro typicals to discuss...never mind all the pointless arguments for things! But, to the Aspie way of thinking, with seeing everything through the "lens" of themselves, torrents of emotion that can take over completely, an insatiable need for verbal explanations and tangible, physical proof, the idea of an unseen. All powerful, all knowing entity that requires control of our lives can be an insult (I think) to their very existence.
Now what I won't do right now is quote a bunch of scripture. There will be scripture references at the end of this; but right now, I want to focus on people and what they are like.

Aspie's in particular have (I think) a lot of difficulty being told what to think or why they should think that way. Neuro typicals have this problem too particularly when it comes to spiritual things... But not to the same extent that Aspie's do. So...tangibly speaking... How can we understand who God is? Many people, whether Aspie or nuero typical will say that they do not understand the Bible. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't understand road maps myself. I see the words and the lines and the directions, but still am not sure where they lead to. Even when I know the destination, I still have no idea how to get from point A to point B. But, with practice, I can read them better. Even so, because I don't drive, I still need to trust someone else who REALLY knows how to read that map to get me where I need to go. But in the end, it's always reassuring that someone who cares about me is willing to "drive" me there, safely, and get me home.

The Bible is like a detailed road map. It's much more than that, but practically speaking, it's a road map. This "map" show's us both where we've been and where we're going (in life). And God is driving the car. To put it a different way, God is "walking" with us through our "journey" and he is the guide... He is the leader, with the "map" directing us each day through life. A lot of us don't understand this "map.". That's okay. A lot of us don't understand road maps either, which is why we need a "driver" or a "guide." (God). Think of it as taking a taxi through a strange city. You have to tell the driver where you wanna go, and then trust that he will get us there.

God, want's to teach us how to read and understand his "map". But, he will only do this if we (as individuals) ask him to show us how to read it. When we tell God that we want him to teach us to read his map... You probably have heard of "asking Jesus into your heart"? You say to God that you want Him to show you how to read his map. Now, I realize that this example isn't a perfect one, and ask you to bear with me because none of them will be. But the cool thing is, that none of us are perfect anyway... And neither am I. So there's some constancy for you! :)
Now, logically speaking, can we "change" a road map? Sure, we can... But we'd never reach our destination. Logically speaking, the directions on the map must stay the way they are for us to get where we need to go. This is the way the "map" of the Bible works too. The "directions" don't change and neither does the (final) destination.

So, you could say, this is the purpose for the Bible. It tells us where to go and helps to know our "driver" through life. To me, this adds up to a lot of security for me! I've got a "guide" and a "road map" to get me through. Cool! Life is hard enough, I could use the reassurance (personally) :). So, how do we get know our "guide"? It's actually very simple. We read and follow the directions.

Now, isn't it annoying when our parents ever asked us to do something and the only reason we got is; "Because I said so."? Didn't you hate that? Now, be honest... How many times did you find out that your parents were right... Even though at the time, we hated (at least some of) the instructions? God is the same way. Nobody likes all of his instructions, but just like our parent's instructions needed to be followed... God's do as well. Sometimes we wanted our parents instructions to change, but they wouldn't because if our parents took their job seriously, then they were consistent with us, right? (They didn't back down). God is the same way. My point is that this is why the Bible does not change. This is why God (himself) does not change. He's the same yesterday, today and always will be. What does this mean for us? How about security, consistency? Those are nice, stable, safe things right? It would seem to me that the Aspie mind in particular can truly benefit from the comfort this can bring. This can allow our minds to relax a bit and know that God has our back's (literally). Which brings me to my next point...

Perfection. How is it that God is perfect?
I don't know. If you don't know either, guess what? You're in very good company! No one knows. Why is this good? Congratulations my Aspie friend... You are just like everybody else!! In not knowing how God is perfect, you now have common ground with everybody on the planet! (See, and you thought you were so topsy-turvy) :). Now, I won't tell you that you have to trust... You don't. That's up to you. Now, if you don't trust him, there is an end result... It's called consequences. My mother taught me a lot about them as a kid growing up. But don't worry... This just the law of cause & effect, that's all. There are "results" to each choice we make, yes? :). Insanity is when we do the same thing over and over and expect different results (or so I have read). With our road map the Bible, we can predict, with 100% accuracy the consequences involving eternal things; because the map tells us what they are. Stability.

Now, here's the one that people tend to hate the most. It is a scary place, but take heart... None of us actually HAVE to go there!! :)

Hell. Yes, there is a destination called Hell, and our road map, the Bible tells us how to avoid getting stuck there. Our "map" also states that if we do get stuck there... There's no way to get out.
For practical purposes, Hell is the space God created for those who can't come into God's space because they do not agree with his terms. Don't you hate when you have a plan and you want to carry it out your own way, and someone insists that you do things their way instead, and they don't think about how bothered you are?? God's the same way. He has his own way of thinking, and it's narrow. He has his own plan and knows exactly how he wants it carried out. His interest, is seeing who agrees with him & who doesn't. Our road map, the Bible, says that if you agree with God's way of thinking, you are allowed into his space. (Heaven). If you don't agree with him, there is a separate space you'll need to be in. (Hell). Because these are eternal matters being talked about.... Both of these destinations are forever. One is Paradise, and the other is, well... Hell. It's God's order, it's the way he thinks. But he doesn't really want any of us to get stuck there. :)

How it works: Our "map" says that if we have not accepted Jesus into our heart then we basically have not agreed to his terms. For more on what this means,

Okay... The Trinity. Don't worry...this won't be nearly as complicated as you think. :)
What is it? God the Father...God the Son...God the Holy Spirit.
Why are there three? Because we need three. ("We" being the human race).
Why do we need three? Because God the Father is perfect, and we are not, and only if God is in 3 forms is He COMPLETE.
God the Father: sinless perfection. We can rest in the fact that God can handle everything because he IS perfect. Can we relate to that? I know I sure can't!
(Keep reading...

God the son (Jesus). How do we know, Jesus was God? Because our "map" let's us get know our "guide"... Remember?
How do we know we can trust the One who made the map?
He's perfect, so he can't make any errors...otherwise the order of perfection wouldn't be perfect. WE as people are not perfect... And... That brings me to my next point.

Jesus. Why was he human? Because we are all human and God could not "relate" to us as human beings if he had not walked the earth as a human himself.
Why is Jesus no longer with us? Because he died, just like all of us will someday.
People are born, they live their life for a number of years, and they die, right?
Same thing with Jesus. Jesus (when he walked this earth) was God, living a life like we do...

So that he could empathize with us as human beings.

My dear Aspie friend...Jesus was and is the ultimate example of EMPATHY :). He empathized with us, because he was human, and he left his BOOK here with us so that we can read about him and learn how to have empathy... Both for him and for each other. But there is something else he left with us as well; which brings me to my next point...

The Holy Spirit. Why do we need the Holy Spirit?
Because Jesus died, and is no longer with us (physically).
But God promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us. The Holy Spirit fulfill's that promise.
The Holy Spirit is the "Comforter" God left with us when Jesus died. The Holy spirit is the "light" that comes inside our hearts when we "ask Jesus into our heart". You've probably heard that expression before. Maybe, you've been confused by it... Or thought that it was nonsense, or not possible.

Remember you are free to believe whatever you like; I'm merely trying to simplify what can be a very complex subject. The Holy Spirit can be particularly challenging to the Aspie mind because he's invisible. He's like feelings... He's invisible. But on a practical level, you know that your thoughts exist, right? You know that your own feelings exist, right? Now, actually, this is very easy. To be literal about it, no one can literally step inside someone's heart, right? This is what Niccodemus asked Jesus about... Being born (again).

How can we be born again? We can't (not literally). So, the only way Jesus can be known by us now, is through his spirit.
When we are "born again," that refers to the process of Jesus "renewing" our heart's, (when and if we request it).

Okay, stop.

Take a breath for a moment, or even come back to this page tomorrow. :)

Actually, here come's the best part... But to the Aspie mind, this can be a bit uncomfortable...

There is no way that anyone can "behave" their way to Heaven.
None of us can memorize enough, be good enough, join enough churches, do enough charity work, follow enough rules, or develop enough methods memorizing verses of scripture in order to earn entrance into Heaven.

God knows that no person is perfect, but because He is perfect, he could not "empathize" if you will, with any imperfection. He has a one track mind, you could say. It's not cruelty... It's simply who God is. It's how he thinks. Being perfect... He can only think perfectly because that's the way He is.

(Do you see where I'm going with this? :)

Here's the thing... His perfection would not allow any relationship with us.
Why? Because of sin.

And here, we come to the story of Creation and Adam and Eve.

Still with me?

Substitution: God's perfection couldn't handle our imperfection... But, he's God... He can do what he wants, so he made a way to bridge th gap between us. We're human (duh) :) and God is "super" human, so.. Someone had t o be both :) The reason that Jesus rose from the dead (and we don't) is simply because he was still God (superhuman). :)
In Jesus, the the divine & human elements came together.

But let's get back to the beginning...

Now, many people do not believe the Creation story was literal. They say it was an allegory, or that it's only figurative. I'm not sure what you're view of this story is... But consider this question:

Why did God have to create a man at all?
Why did he have to create a woman at all?

According to the Creation story, God's work was all completed, and it was good. God was satisfied and he rested at the end of it. All perfect order had been put into place. The only "experience" God hadn't had yet, was risking rejection because he desired someone to relate to!

I mean, to me the whole Creation Story mirror's the way the Autistic/AS mind works.
God the Father had created his own (little) world, and he sat back and enjoyed everything He'd made...rested when he wanted to. He was all by himself... Nobody there to disrupt his thought process or make him lose concentration on his beautiful work... But he was alone. He analyzed his work, and something was missing. What was it?

Relationships. Empathy. Compassion for others. Understanding.

So, for starter's, he created a man, who experienced THE SAME sense of desire that God had. Adam got the job of seeing that all the creatures he named had mates... But that made him wonder where his companion was...
This "creation" is a mirror of what God himself felt.

"Who will love me? Who will relate to me?". (After I've done everything myself?)

So, Adam and Eve (his companion) were created in God's image and for his...pleasure, rather than the logical completion purpose.
So, the couple shared in his perfect world (3 people) just like the Trinity.
Order.

But, could the couple truly know what empathy was, or gratitude was, or thankfulness was...or security, or relief?
Well, they did not know what loneliness was, or isolation, or anxiety, or the pain of being different.
There was nothing different than the one (Auto) God's perfection. This was the condition he was in. His "one" track, (in his case), perfect, mind could allow no other results

Sounds wonderful, would you agree? (I mean, for there to be no pain or anything).

Except for one thing...

What does all the perfection in the world mean, if nobody can receive it, or be aware that it's given?

What should be done?

God could not veer away from his "perfection"... That's the way he is. But with only a one track way of functioning (perfection in everything)as a matter of order, how could "we" really "relate" to him or "know" how deep his desire to love us is?
The only way we could see the "light" is to know the darkness of consequence that comes from making choices.

Now, my point is this: God had to veer away from his one track standard of perfection, or his way of thinking, and take the risk that we would reject him (and face the consequences) In order that we would know how much he loves us. When you think about it, this is the risk that an autistic/AS person must take everyday...

Can we leave our comfort zone and what we're familiar with in order to do what does not come naturally (because our way of thinking just does not go that way?). Can we allow someone else into our own narrow ways of doing things and relate to them and enjoy them? Can we risk them walking away from us?
Absolutely!!

Now of course, we're not perfect...I only use God's perfection as the ultimate example of the way an autistic mind can work. It's an analogy. (Be careful with it, because I'm not trying to say that those who are Autistic are perfect :) Of course it would be much less complicated and a lot more comfortable if we could build our own little world around us, and stay there, and have no interruptions... But who really wants that? Not even God himself wanted that :). He invited Adam and Eve to make a choice, he used Jesus as the atonement for the "imperfection," and now, we are all invited to come into God's world and get to know him. But we must do it on his terms. Now, be honest, isn't it easier for you to let someone into your world when they will do it on your terms? God is the same way.

His terms are these: Just Ask.

That's all he wants. No method, no ladder to climb, no rigid rules. Just ask.
Especially for the AS or Autistic mind, this can be difficult because it's so easy (LOL) :). We analyze and research and poke and prod... We naturally think there has to be more to it than that. There really isn't. Jesus bridged the gap between our "stain" (sin) on God's, well... Autistic thinking! :) LOL!

Now, the idea of God is also difficult to grasp because we must use our imagination so much. God's road map, the Bible, is filled with stories about who he is, but we must use our imagination when we read them. To many with AS or Autism, this is simply not practical, or comfortable. But, love goes beyond reason...
I think imagination does too! Besides, for many Aspies, imagination can take very active role in the world that they feel safe in. The scripture says that when a person accepts Jesus into their heart, he then reveals to them what his word is saying. So, if you've never experienced being saved, and you read the Bible, and think that you can't understand it... You are right. His road map, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit must reveal to us what his word says... Sort of like a divine "interpreter" if you like.

(See scripture references below).

So, my friend, if you are having trouble identifying with what you can't actually see, don't worry... At times, everyone does. Based on my own experience, I know that he guided me to himself. I may not have been aware of it at the time, but in due time, God gently revealed that to me. He will never force his way in on anyone. He wants to be wanted by each of us....and he desires for all of us to have our own personal relationship with Him. In my opinion, he is the very best one on one counselor there is! He is the friend who sticks closer then a brother, and he will never leave you!

If your desire is to know Him personally, ask Him to come into your heart and show you who he is....

Go to a quiet place and close your door, and say something like this:

Lord Jesus, I agree with you that I have sinned; that I fall short of your perfection.
I ask you to come into my heart now, and show me who you are and save me from the sin that has separated us.
I acknowledge that I need you to take control of my life.
I cannot do this on my own.
Thank you for accepting me through the death of your son Jesus!
Amen!

My friend, it is an incredible, wonderful journey!

Best Wishes and God Bless You!!

Tina

Scriptures:

God will never leave you. Deuteronomy 31:6
Jesus is God in the flesh. 1st. Timothy 3:16
Belief in God (Salvation) John 3:16
God knows what he plans for us. Jeremiah 29:11
The Creation Story (creation of man & woman & the Fall (of man).
Genesis chapter 2 and 3
God knows us intimately. Psalm 139:1-18 and verses 23-24.
Be courageous. Joshua 1:9
God's perfection: Psalm 18:30
The Trinity:
(These verses refer to different parts of the Trinity).
Philippians 2:5-8
John 10:30
Hebrews 1:8
Isaiah 9:6
Isaiah 45:5
1st Corinthians 3:16
Hell. 2nd Samuel 22:5-6 2nd Peter 2:4.
Knowing God. Romans 12:2. 1st John 4:6-7
God reveals his word to you. 1st Corinthians 2:10
For those who love God. Romans 8:28. (All of chapter 8 is also excellent!)
Growing up in God's love. 1st Corinthians 13
God gives us wisdom: James 1:5