God

Question: With all due respect, I felt that your response to a recent question regarding cremation might have offended some readers. Your opinions that keeping ashes in an urn on the mantel seemed "creepy," and scattering them in public places "slightly ghoulish," were very strong. I'm sure some people find great comfort in having their loved ones' ashes with them. As well, it must be very gratifying to most people who choose to scatter ashes. I have no personal connection or experience with cremation.

Question: You say God made everything. You say you see God's light shining brilliantly through a text, etc. Do you also see God in the tsunami that wiped out 200,000 people, or in the murder of a 9-year-old child? — L., via godsquadquestion@aol.com Answer: Yes, I do see God in everything and hope that some day you can, too. I see God in the tsunami because the tsunami was caused by a living Earth that sustains life. The mantel over the core of Earth cracks, belches lava and causes earthquakes and tsunamis, but these are all natural events, not punishments from a vengeful God. Such events are also challenges to use our God-given intelligence — and the resources produced by that intelligence — to mitigate the effects of natural catastrophes.

COSTA MESA — Unaware that a higher authority was watching over him, in this case Costa Mesa police, a Garden Grove man repeatedly stole from a donation box at the Trinity Broadcasting Network while wearing a shirt that said "God is Good," prosecutors said. Robert Ellsworth Shorter Jr., 38, is charged with nine counts of felony second-degree burglary for a string of thefts on the church network property off of the San Diego (405) Freeway between July and September 2010. Shorter was fired from his security job at TBN in 2008 for sleeping on the job, authorities said.

"Humpty-diddy, baby!" is an exhortation without precise translation, akin perhaps to Bluto's thunderous "Let's do it!" in "Animal House. " Or, more poetically, it's a bugle blast accompanying the charge of a cavalry unit. During his life, the legendary football coach Paul Briggs often bellowed "Humpty-diddy, baby!" He died last week at 90. With that phrase he fired up players and coaches on his sideline. Paul was a prince of a man who lived a long and rewarding life. He was a widely loved football coach for 57 seasons — 37 as head coach at Bakersfield High School and 20 as an assistant at Orange Coast College.

Question: I've been reading The God Squad column since I was a teenager and enjoy your perspective on life and spirituality. I'm a 25-year-old woman and have been in a committed relationship for 18 months. Things are going very well between us, and we've begun spending more time with each others' families. We have a very comfortable relationship; he makes me smile and laugh, and he is a gentleman. I truly love him and have started to think about marriage and kids. There's just one problem that's causing a deep hurt and confusion in my heart: I was raised Catholic, but my fiancé is an atheist.

I often receive questions about miracles but rarely answer them. This isn't because I don't believe in miracles — because I do — but rather because there are some things from God that don't lend themselves to easy, facile explanations. Some gifts from God need to be accepted in awesome silence and gratitude. Also, some things we consider miracles are, in the words of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, "just the report of natural events by enthusiastic participants.

Question: I lost my 22-year-old daughter to a possible heroin overdose. I won't have the answers until the medical examiner's office speaks to me in a few weeks. I found her on the floor of her bedroom. A syringe was found in her bed. She'd recently come home from rehab. While she'd only been back a month, I thought we were doing all right. Relapse was always a concern, but I never thought I'd lose her. I spoke to her that morning. She was excited about a job interview and we were getting a Christmas tree that afternoon.

Q : I read your column and have been trying to figure out what you believe. You've said that "in the beginning was God and God created everything," but who do you believe God is? In a recent column on tithing, you advised someone that "if you only have enough money to pay your debt or tithe, pay the debt first. God can wait. " This implies that God isn't that important and we don't need trust Him to supply our needs. I'm confused. What do you believe? Is God real or just a concept to you?

Dear God, we pray that you might receive in love the souls of those dear innocent people whom fate and fury took from their families and from our grieving country in Tucson, Ariz. We pray for Gabe Zimmerman, Phyllis Schneck, Christina Green, Dorothy Morris, Dorwin Stoddard and John Roll. We do not pray for "six people. " We pray for one person at a time. In your mercy. O Lord, shelter their souls in the world to come and take them close to you forever in heavenly peace. May their memories be for a blessing.

The new year calls us to contemplate our lives, to reflect upon the past, and to make resolutions for how we will live into the future. By now, many of us have already broken our resolutions — eaten that dessert we said we wouldn't eat, slept through gym time, stayed that extra hour after work even when we promised to spend more time with the family, or smoked the last cigarette for the umpteenth time. Or perhaps you have found yourself empowered by the first week of the new year, living into your hopes and dreams and seeing the budding fruits of your efforts: a pound lost, a chapter written, a movie watched, a book read, or an extra dollar saved!