Last year (2014), my ex-pastor friend Ryan Bell* decided to try “a year without God.” “For the next 12 months I will live as if there is no God,” he wrote. “I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things, or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else’s circumstances. (I trust that if there really is a God that God will not be too flummoxed by my foolish experiment and allow others to suffer as a result).” He stopped attending church, praying, reading the Bible, etc. He had had a lot of questions for a long time, so his transition year was the last of many steps to get to where he is today.
I’ve had a lot of questions for a long time about my diabetes, and I’ve tried many things in my search for answers. I’ve read a lot, watched a lot of YouTube videos, perused a lot of recipes and menus, and even sampled many ideas. Briefly. But in December of 2014 I decided I would become very intentional about my diabetes management, based on what seemed to make the most sense to me so far. Low-carb, moderate-protein, high-fat. So what better to call my journey than “Year Without Carbs”! Technically, that’s not totally accurate, because it’s not a “no-carb” approach. But to “outsiders” it appears to be “no carbs” because it’s certainly not the carb-laden way of eating that we all grew up with. And even though Ryan has now (2015) affirmed that he is, indeed, an atheist, his “year without God” was essentially a year without the God that he grew up believing in.
During the past few (or several) years, many of my peers have given up believing in the God we all grew up believing in. In other words, we have given up believing in what we grew up knowing as a vengeful, vindictive, merciless Divine Power. Some have given up believing in God altogether. Others have radically changed their perception about who God is and what God is really like. But I digress.
During and after my “Year Without Carbs” will I still “believe in” carbs as the only way to salvation for diabetics? Or will I discover that my perception about carbs vs. fats has had to change, based on empirical evidence? And thus I begin my journey….
*Background (April 3, 2013): Evangelical Pastor Fired for Supporting Marriage Equality and LGBT Inclusion http://www.glaad.org/blog/evangelical-pastor-fired-supporting-marriage-equality-and-lgbt-inclusion
*Update (September 26, 2018): Ryan Bell’s winding road from Adventist pastor to USC humanist chaplain
https://news.usc.edu/149337/humanist-chaplain-winding-road-from-adventist-pastor-to-usc/
*Update (April 7, 2022): Ryan Bell Weds Brooke Peterson
