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Archive for March, 2026

How Can We Really Know What God Is Like?

Posted in Acceptance, Bible, christian living, Jesus follower, Love of God, tagged , , , , , on March 18, 2026|

by Mike Edwards

I write a lot about this topic as I named my blog over 15 years ago  What God May Really Be Like  So I often revisit what God may really be like. I used the word “May” because I was countering dogmatism growing up in church. Who knows what God is really like unless God talks to you directly? I am claiming that if you are told something about God that goes against universal moral intuitions, question it – such as is a literal Hell real? There are many interpretations of the English word “Hell” in the Bible. Would a loving God really create a torturous afterlife place for unbelievers? Intuitively, the only God worth believing in must be perfectly loving and moral. We can only assume what love is by comparing to perfect human love.

God must be good intuitively! 

Many of us left organized religion, not God, because claims about God’s character was contrary to our deepest moral intuitions. It doesn’t make sense why a Creator wouldn’t love the same way we humans believe we were seemingly created by a Creator to love (aka goodness vs. evil). Even those who try to defend God’s violent ways in the Old Testament agree, or they wouldn’t attempt to rationalize why a supposed inspired/infallible Book by God reports bad actions contributed to God. We can’t always understand what perfect love is – to help a drug addict or let them hit bottom – but even the Bible assume we can understand God’s perfect love/goodness through human lens – “be perfect, as your heavenly God is perfect.” (Mt 5:48).

God can only be understood through “goodness” lens anyway

If God is bad or evil at times, we can only understand such actions by comparing/exploring what is good. If God was supposedly unloving, we can only pursue such knowledge by discussing what true love it. It seems we can only rely on human reasoning to decide what interpretation of the Bible is more likely, what are loving human actions toward others, or understanding what God’s love is like. 

How do we know what “good” is? 

Parents create/have children to be loved and teach how to love others. An existing Creator surely creates desiring to love and be loved. God surely love how we know parents should love their children. We all seem to know the question we ought to ask ourselves – am I loving others perfectly? That is how God loves. We know how we should love and how God loves – are you loving others like you want to be loved? We may not always be certain the most loving action, unless my son or son-in laws mistreat women!  There is a reason anyone who justifies selfishness is often friendless.

Our inborn sense of good and evil, not an ancient Book, tells us sexual abuse or murder is immoral. Self-evident morals aren’t hidden in any Holy Book If one thinks their Creator loves contrary to universal moral intuitions (should infidels be destroyed in this life?), it is because of their interpretation of a supposed inspired Book by their God. When there is debate about laws we must have discussions.

Surely, perfect human love is the same as Godly love

The only God worth believing in must be perfectly loving as opposed to in any way hateful. God’s love surely is the same as supreme parents – other-directed not self-consumed. Love gets excited when we do well and make a difference in the lives of others. Love anticipates, hopes for my success, believes in me, pulls for me even when failing, because I do the same for my children. We doubt God but God still loves. Parents bring children into the world hoping their children freely reciprocate their love for authentic relationships. Why would God be any different.

Why wouldn’t God be most like what our moral intuitions suggest? 

God’s goodness isn’t just according to the Bible!

Ancient literature is subject to interpretation. Even if the writers understood their God perfectly, which we can’t prove, we can’t claim our interpretations are perfect. The truth is biblical scholars who have a deep respect for the Bible don’t agree what God thinks about gays, women, hell, and other moral issues. See here. See here. See here.  Gays are supposedly condemned, women’s leadership roles are limited, despite their gifts and a fiery torturous afterlife awaits infidels – all in God’s name

A Book cannot be the sole determinate of what God is like since the same passages are subject to different interpretations. Also, the majority of people born in this world did not have a copy of the Bible. We are left to wonder how a Perfect God, the only God worth believing in, truly loves. It is only intuitive that a Creator loves the ways their creations ought to love one another. We all seem to know the question we ought to ask ourselves – am I loving others like I want to be loved. It isn’t presumptuous to imagine what a loving God is like through our moral consciences. See here.

 What was Jesus’ thoughts on God’s goodness or love? 

Many, including me, are convinced to understand Jesus is to understand God. It seems Jesus came to suggest salvation is a current life of love, not a future destination to avoid Hell. Jesus told the woman who had committed adultery: “go now, and leave your life of sin” (John 8). Where was Jesus’ evangelical spiel? Jesus was asked by a religious expert how to have eternal life. He simply said to love God and your neighbor (Lk.10:25-37), since loving God leads to loving others. Jesus confronted the religious who kept laws but didn’t follow Jesus with their heart. Godly love surely seeks to empower us to be the unselfish people we deep down desire to be for a better world. See here.

Goodness or Godly love is exactly the same!

The Bible doesn’t always describe God in perfect human moral terms, so may God-believers resort to suggesting God’s actions are sometimes a mystery. Believers assume God must be perfectly good so rationalizations are made, since they assume the entire Bible is approved/inspired by God, They must explain why the Bible reports God acting violently or destructively. See 9 Reasons To Not Trust The Bible’s Claims About God! But a Book can’t be the definitive word about God since subject to different interpretations, and we can’t prove God always controlled what the writers understood and wrote about God.  

How you imagine God’s love can determine how you relate to God

  • The truth is we can’t know definitely what an invisible God’s love is like. But the only God worth believing in loves perfectly. What is perfect love?
  • I propose we can know what God’s perfect love is like but imagining what a perfect parent’s is like. We can’t always know what perfect love is – whether to let an addict hit bottom or force them into rehabilitation – but only the guilty don’t know sexual abuse or domestic violence is evil.
  • If we think God is hard to please and pissed off about sin rather than what sin is doing to us, we may judge others just as harshly rather than showing patience and mercy
  • If God is really a warlike God according to the OT, we will use such behaviors to possibly justify going to war when we should
  • If God condemns gays, we will condemn gays out of devotion to God
  • If God thinks men have authority over women in some positions, that will filter down to your wives, daughters, and friends and stifle their gifts.

I’m convinced belief in a benevolent God, according to common moral intuitions, makes you kinder. We often treat others the way we think God treats us.  How has God’s threats of punishment helped you break away from bad habits or behaviors you long to change? I guess fear God if helps to avoid consequences of destructive actions. But if struggling and need encouragement and mercy, a loving God awaits with open arms. Grace or authoritativeness doesn’t guarantee change, but I believe we best change because of a friend’s or God’s love and acceptance. See It Matters If Your God Is Nurturing Or Authoritative!

Mike Edwards has been writing for Done with Religion for some time and has been a great addition to the site. Mike also writes on his own site that can be found at What God May Really Be Like  He can be contacted by email at: medwar2@gmail.com

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The Word of God

Posted in Bible, christian living, Love of God, Word of God, tagged , , , , , on March 13, 2026|

by Michael Donahoe

When we talk about the Word of God, we usually think of the Bible.

If we say the Bible is just a book, people get all offended and ready to voice their opinion about the Bible being the Word of God.

Actually, I disagree with that thought. Based on John 1:1, the Word of God is Jesus. He is the true, living and inerrant Word of God. The Bible never says it is the Word of God or that it is inerrant.

So often, we Christians focus so much on the Bible that we forget we have the living Word of God inside of us. The Holy Spirit, who is God in spirit form, just as Jesus was God in human form, lives within us.

There is certainly nothing wrong with reading the Bible. Men were inspired to write what they thought about God, what they experienced in their search for God and what they saw as they followed Jesus. Through it we can learn from the past, we see the story of redemption throughout, we come to know the love God has for us and how God provided our salvation through Christ. We learn what pleases God and we come to know that it is only by grace that we are restored to fellowship with God.

The Bible teaches us the law and how we humans are completely unable to live a life pleasing to God through the law. The law was our tutor to bring us to realize that we need God’s grace through Christ.

The Bible teaches us of the freedom we now have in Christ and by that grace we can live a life pleasing to God. We learn that God is a Spirit of love and that God loves the world and wants to fellowship with us.

The part we need to get over is how we like to fight and argue over which version is the correct writings of the Bible. We need to remember that all versions of the Bible are only translations and man-made interpretations of what men thought about God and what they knew about God, yet all was given through inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

We need to focus on Jesus. Only Jesus is the true and living Word of God. When we focus on Jesus and listen for the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit within us, we will then hear and come to understand that the true and living Word of God is Jesus.

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Michael Donahoe was added as a writer for Done with Religion as his views fit perfectly with those that are shared on this site. He and his wife have been outside the walls of religion for fifteen years. He enjoys writing about his experiences and thoughts, and he wants to encourage others who are going through the religious deconstruction process. He also writes on Substack at https://deconstructiontrail.substack.com/ and https://personalmeanderings.substack.com/

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Why Do Bad Things Happen If God Really Exist?

Posted in Bible, christian living, Love of God, tagged , , , , , , , on March 8, 2026|

by Mike Edwards

Books have been written trying to answer this question. It is a fair question. If an almighty God truly exist and since a non-evil God is the only God worth believing in, why don’t they intervene more in evil. I’ve written a great deal trying to answer why God doesn’t intervene more in suffering and evil if supposedly all-powerful and loving. See here. I am trying to give a brief answer, though this Post is longer than previous ones, to spur thinking on one’s own how they might answer or think about God on this question compared to what they have heard. It matters – one’s attitude toward God can determine the depth of their relationship with God. One of the main reasons many want to believe in God but hesitate is why so much evil exists if a good God is real and all-powerful.

Is God Really All Powerful?

Most who have grown up in the institutional church have been taught that God is all-powerful, thus why doesn’t God, supposedly loving, intervene more with evil in this world? But, how can God be all-powerful and humans have some freedom/power? It makes no sense to say God can exert all power and creatures can exert some power. Even the Bible doesn’t claim God is all-powerful and can do anything. God can’t tempt others (Jas. 1:13). God can’t lie or be unloving. God can’t make one believe or freedom would be a farce. Maybe God can’t be all-powerful. Thus controlling!

God can’t be controlling! 

If God is supposedly perfectly loving, adult children know perfect love can’t be controlling. This may explain why God can’t intervene in suffering. This may be an unsatisfactory explanation to many – but better than some rationalizations given below. A parent may think they know best for their adult child, but acting controlling in a child’s life could make them even more rebellious. Besides, controlling love is an oxymoron. Even the Bible claims love does not insist on its own way (I Cor 13:5). Instead, God works with creation through influence. In this view, God suffers with the world and works to heal it, but can’t unilaterally prevent all suffering. See A Loving God Can’t Be All-Powerful!

Don’t miracles prove God is all-powerful?

But how can God do miraculous things – against natural laws such as bringing Jesus back from the dead – and not be all-powerful. One cannot deny Craig Keener’s scholarship on miracles as reliable reports exists all over the world of physical/literal miracles. I am not going to try to convince you to believe in miracles or not. But it is important to consider if miracles are possible because it can shape our views of God and God’s love. Most of us have asked God for a miracle in our life, even unbelievers. Most would admit the answer usually has been “no.” I am defining a miracle as something supernatural such as a malignant tumor disappearing in one’s body without any possible medical explanation, or walking on water. Most miracles prayed for seem to defy natural laws. .

I doubt miracles don’t happen because some people are less sinful or beg better at the feet of an arbitrary God? A possible better explanation for healings is that various biological and environmental factors are involved such as cells and organs. It may not be a stretch to say God has to account for human and natural freedom as well. Perhaps miracles can happen when God’s love aligns with countless factors known and not known. God cannot intervene singlehandedly, but a loving God always wants to intervene whenever circumstances will allow.

Many believe in miracles because the Bible says so. It is possible that many miracles in the Bible weren’t meant to be taken literally but to illustrate God’s love for righteousness than actual events. Thus, the writer isn’t lying.  Genesis talks about a magical tree of good and evil and talking snakes. No such trees and snakes exist. A Global Flood could be a literary device to illustrate the destructiveness of human versus God’s ways. The same for the parting of the Red Sea. Maybe Jonah wasn’t really shallowed by a whale. The gullet of a whale is too small to swallow an adult. Was the writer trying to show God has a right to show compassion and Jonah’s misguided enthusiasm for the destruction of his enemies? See here others explanations miracles not being literal such as feeding the 5000.

But the Bible can’t be the definitive word on God 

I often don’t refer to the Bible because the Bible or any ancient literature is subject to interpretation. Maybe I am right or wrong on my understanding. Scholars don’t agree on interpretations of many biblical passages. And we are free to speculate if God agrees what all the writers penned about God, even if we agree on the meaning of the passage.

Most Bible-quoting folks believe we are made in the image of God. If a Creator exists, perhaps that Creator informs their image-bearers – you and me – through their moral intuitions how we ought to love others. Humans are free to speculate what a God’s love is like. Such a God should love how humans love. I am convinced God is always seeking to intervene when possible, as I am as a parent. We don’t have to assume God can answer our prayers but doesn’t for some unknown reason. We can wonder why a loving God doesn’t always intervene. Maybe God can’t! Surely, God suffers with us but the unfortunate truth in a free world is suffering happens and God can only influence and not overpower. 

Freedom can explain some evil but not all evil

It is not logically possible for God to create freedom unless there is the possibility of love or hate.  I don’t know of any human parent who brings children into the world not desiring their children freely reciprocate their love as opposed to being forced. Without freedom we could accuse God of not creating the very best world where only true, authentic relationships can develop. Freedom allows human to develop qualities of moral character that cannot be created initially.  Freedom obviously cannot guarantee a pain free universe.

Not “all things lead to good, even horrific evils.” Is God really in total control?

Others come to see suffering not as something caused by God, but as something used/allowed by God because God is supposedly all-powerful. That view may work for some, but I believe many hold onto this view because convinced God must be all-powerful. The Bible is quoted which implies God allows evil for good. Genesis 50:20 is quoted: “Joseph, reflecting on his brothers’ betrayal in selling him into slavery, says: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

This suggests to many that God is always in control, even though bad things happen. It simply is not true all evil leads to good, as if God in complete control. Ask victims of rape or abuse. We must ask why doesn’t God stop such evil if all-powerful? Some abuse often leads to a lifestyle of abusing others or hating God. It isn’t always true that all suffering helps develop virtues like courage, compassion, and resilience. This may be true for some but not all.

It is natural to ask, “If God could stop this (by allowing), why didn’t He? Many feel betrayed or abandoned by God. Some find it hard to pray. This reaction isn’t a lack of faith — it’s an honest human response to suffering. Feeling angry with God can be part of a genuine relationship — it means you still believe. God can be questioned! If we maintain that God allowed – thus limits their Power – this suggests God can do something but doesn’t. We must come up with a better explanation that God simply allows – thus controls – evils but isn’t responsible for such evils. A God who can prevent evil but doesn’t is counter-intuitive to love. No loving parent or God sits idly by when they could prevent tragedies such as rape or murder. What loving parent acts that way. We are left to believe God doesn’t care, God is punishing us, or God has abandoned us and left us.

 Explanation that God and evil being a mystery doesn’t suffice either

Some argue that God’s reasons are beyond human understanding — that we can’t see the full picture from our limited perspective (as in the Book of Job). It makes no sense if God is seeking a relationship, why would God be mostly mysterious. When my child is seeking to understand, I don’t simply tell them “you can’t understand. Just deal with it.” It is true we can’t understand God fully, but God’s spiel when seeking to understand isn’t “go away, figure it out.”

What may be a start to a solution

Please know there are alternative views of God if currently struggling what claims you have heard. Accepting God is not all-powerful has helped me deal with brain cancer. See Why Did God Allow This Cancerous Tumor In My Brain?

No, God doesn’t plan or control tragedies in your life

  • God doesn’t plan for you to be unable to have children if you desire to be a mom or dad
  • God doesn’t plan for your body to be wrecked by cancer
  • God didn’t want you sexually or physically abused as a child
  • God didn’t want your partner to leave you by wanting a divorce
  • God didn’t want your loved one murdered or severely injured in a car accident
  • God didn’t want you let go from your job

In our suffering we don’t have to feel God doesn’t care or that God could do something and doesn’t. God knows and empathizes with us in our suffering. God grieves with us. God can empower, inspire, and accompany us. God can influence us to follow Jesus’ example which can make for a much grander world. God doesn’t derive pleasure by seeing us in pain but the unfortunate truth in a free, uncontrollable world is that God’s power it limited and suffering happens. Lean on God and others for emotional support and encouragement in difficult times.

Mike Edwards was added as a writer and has been a great addition to the site. Mike provides many interesting views and various ways of looking at things. He is not afraid to ask questions and he keeps an open mind as to teachings of the institutional church. Mike also has his own site where he writes at What God May Really Be Like

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Why Did God Allow My Brain Tumor? — Update Of My Cancer Journey

Posted in christian living, Acceptance, Love of God, tagged , , , , , , , on March 2, 2026|

by Mike Edwards

This is the first time I am responding to the below post written 6/22/25 when a tumor was found in my brain. See update after initial Post below. I still have brain cancer. The tumor was removed but I still get brain scans that the tumor is not back growing. I am done with radiation and chemo treatment for the next 6 months but who knows after that. For some reason the initial diagnosis of the MRI that you have a tumor in your head didn’t freak me out. I just went in death-mode preparation. I don’t have scan freak-outs that I get every 2-3 months (maybe because I take a zanax), but I am too aware that brain cancer could come back and decisions will have to be made. I don’t know if I want to go through chemo again or whatever.

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Long story short  6/22/25

On April 15, 2025 my tennis partner, who is a Doctor, sensed I was off. (More than usual). I typically walk home after the match, but he insisted in driving me home and that I see my regular Doctor. I am so thankful for his urging. I saw my Doctor a day or two later and an MRI was scheduled. Within hours I got a call that I had a tumor in my brain. I had very few symptoms before except minor headaches that I thought nothing of. I was ready to play a third set of tennis that day but my buddies said no. Guess I was acting off/weird. Within days of the MRI, I was scheduled for brain surgery to remove the tumor (April 21). I spent those few days preparing my family, not knowing if I would make it out of the surgery alive or have motor skills severely damaged. Things went very well in terms of the tumor being removed (cancer still remains), The tumor was a severe cancer type.  So, I begin chemo/radiation treatment shortly after for 6 weeks. I’m in my last week of 6 weeks of treatment.

No, God didn’t CAUSE my tumor! 

I hope no one thinks God caused this tumor to teach me a lesson for my sins. I ain’t no saint but I’m kinder than most folks. I have friends who will verify. I know some selfish/evil people that are cancer free. I refuse to believe a loving God using tragedies to punish or teach one a lesson and we remain clueless reasons for such actions. Besides, that assumes God is simply pulling strings to control events in the world. Did God cause this for a greater good. I doubt it. God can’t control how I will react to a tragedy in my life. I could be pissed at God and no good comes of it. Some claim all evil eventually leads to good as if some grand plan by God. Not my God! Ask sexual abuse victims or family members of murdered loved ones if good always comes out of evil.

Or it is claimed we sinners have no right to question a Holy God. I have a God I can doubt, question, get angry with, whatever. That is what a loving parent/God is like. How do I know this? I have been a child of a parent and a parent of children. Why would a Creator create us to have intuitions of what true love is (allowing a child to question) but not be loving themself?

See Does God Really Punish Or We Just Reap What We Sow? Assuming God is in control of punishment makes a mockery of freedom. It is an oxymoron to claim God is in complete control and we humans have freedom. If God does actively punish and carry out wrath, God is letting a whole lot of evil in the world slide. God doesn’t love more those spared than those supposedly punished.

Does God Really Allow Cancer?

It is claimed a mystery how God can allow evil but not be evil. Humans don’t get a free pass if they can stop evil but don’t. Ask sexual abuse victims when their parent knew and did nothing. One might ask why God allows such harm if supposedly all-powerful. Thinking God is all-powerful (thus all-controlling) assumes God can pull strings to make certain things happen (allow). So much for genuine freedom?  See God Can’t Stop Your Suffering And Evil!

Thankfully, I don’t entertain such a view of God which has helped having a positive view during all this, though I have many miles to travel in my journey. My silent friend (God), along with family and friends have been a life-saver. You have a lot of internal conversations when waiting for brain surgery or going through cancer. When one believes “God allows” your mind can wander. Why me and not others (is God’s love arbitrary – if God can supposedly control everything), what lesson is God trying to teach me. I never had to go there. I am convinced God isn’t all-powerful.

If we maintain that God limits their Power, this suggests God can do something but doesn’t. We must come up with a better explanation that God simply allows – thus controls – evils but isn’t responsible for such evils. A God who can prevent evil but doesn’t is counter-intuitive to love. No loving parent or God sits idly by when they could prevent tragedies such as rape or murder. Are we to believe God doesn’t care, God is punishing us, or God has abandoned us and left us clueless about the grand plan? God doesn’t just allow your suffering!

God may not be all powerful 

It is only natural to believe a Supreme Being, if they exist, is all powerful. Most Christians believe this because of their understanding of the Bible taught in churches they attend but questions arise if God is all-powerful. If God can control everything, why doesn’t God intervene more in medical emergencies, rape, physical abuse, etc. A miracle supposedly saved Trump but not the gentlemen in the front row. I doubt it. God doesn’t pick and choose when to cause or allow suffering.

God can’t be all-powerful if all-loving. Perfect love isn’t controlling. Ask any adult child with a controlling parent. Thomas Oord in his new book defends ably that the Bible doesn’t necessarily claim God is all-powerful and can do anything. See here. God can’t tempt others (Jas. 1:13). It makes no sense to say God can exert all power and creatures can exert some power. I have never understood why God doesn’t stop evil if God can do anything.  If “everything happens for a reason” because of God, this would make God responsible for all goodness and all evil. It is claimed a mystery how God can cause or allow evil but not be evil. This isn’t true for humans. Some claim all evil eventually leads to good as if some grand plan by God. Hardly!

What about prayer and miracles? 

Many prayers asking for healing are obviously not answered. Are miracles arbitrary – God picking and choosing to bless some and not others? Conditions in our body may not always be right. Various biological and environmental factors are involved such as cells, organs, etc. If God wouldn’t take away your human freedom, it may not be a stretch to say God has to account for natural freedom as well. Miracles can happen when God’s uncontrolling love aligns with countless factors known and not known. God surely intervenes when circumstances will allow. Pray if you like, but God is already working to do all God can to prevent suffering. That’s what perfect Love does! See  Why God Doesn’t Answer My Prayers?

I am convinced God is always seeking to intervene when possible.  Pray for miracles, but don’t assume God can answer our prayers but doesn’t for some unknown reason. God suffers with us, but the unfortunate truth in a free world is suffering happens, though God is dying to help. We can pray but be more understanding when God can’t answer our prayers. Pray to God for emotional support and encouragement in difficult times. My silent Friend has gotten me through some difficult times when my brain begins to wander.

Did God really choose the Holocaust by not responding, including senseless suffering to children in the world?

Do you read the Bible Edwards?

I believe we should assume the Bible isn’t inspired by God. We can’t prove the Bible is or isn’t inspired by God. Besides, the Bible is literature that requires interpretation and we don’t all agree on the correct interpretation even concerning moral issues such as if God condemns gays or not. Many assume inspiration means God approved or controlled all recorded by the writers, especially characterizations of God. Many don’t think of inspiration as meaning that God encouraged or motivated writers/editors to record their understanding of God, thus possible being right or wrong.

See here all my rants on the Bible and why we need to rethink our understanding of the Bible.

So, what good is God? 

The only God worth believing in or having a relationship with must be a perfect Lover. God can’t be all-powerful or controlling and be true to God’s nature. Thomas Jay Oord in his books says that so many positive elements can come from affirming a universal, divine Lover. Such a Spirit empowers, inspires, and accompanies us in our relationships with others. God knows and empathizes with us in our suffering. This is what I have experienced. God obviously grieves due to all the evil in the world. God suffered when Jesus was crucified. God suggested through Jesus’ example and words what kind of life lived here on earth can make for a much grander world. My relationship with God, though a silent friend, has carried me so far.

My future 

I thought initially that surgery and removing the tumor out of my brain was my greatest danger, when discovered I had a tumor. Thus, why I tried to prepare the family and get financial house in order, as I thought I might not be back. Turns out most don’t die on the surgery table. Motor and physical skills can be damaged, which I didn’t realize as much, but I had a great surgeon. I was only in hospital two days after brain surgery, had brain fog for a week (you had to have 5 PHDs to understand my texts), but I felt pretty good after a week. It does help to be retired.  I began radiation and chemo therapy for 6 weeks. So far, no nausea, I can handle the tiredness because I was very active before tumor. I get tired – I get moving. Sitting makes me more tired. My stamina affected but I can change some of my habits to hopefully see my grandchildren become teenagers. I am a cool POPS. I didn’t have a relationship with my grandparents, so I want to get it right as I did as a parent when I had children.

I am walking on the average 2-3 miles a day. Playing tennis two days a week. But, 5 weeks of great fortune with treatment doesn’t guarantee the next week of treatment and thereafter. And it takes some weeks after treatment to recover from tiredness, etc. So the journey ain’t over! I will have an MRI August 6th, a month after treatment to see how much treatment was successful with the cancer. Even if very successful I may be prone to seizers and other medical matters down the road. I could live a year but some with my type of cancer live 10 years or more. We will see. Thank God for God, family, and my friends. Peace!

February 25, 2026 – Update of my brain cancer journey

I have mainly written this journey to hopefully help some suffering and disappointed with God. What we have been told about God may not always be true. This is the first time I am responding to the above post written 6/22/25 when a tumor was found in my brain. I still have brain cancer. The tumor was removed but I still get brain scans every 2-3 months that the tumor is not back growing. I am done with radiation and chemo treatment for the next 6 months but who knows after that. For some reason the initial diagnosis of the MRI that you have a tumor in your head didn’t freak me out. I don’t have scan freak-outs (maybe because I take a zanax), but I am too aware that brain cancer could come back and what decisions have to be made. I don’t know if I want to go through chemo again or whatever.

Spiritually speaking, I know God didn’t cause or allow this. See above. God and I are good thanks goodness. God has been my biggest comfort through this journey as well as my amazing partner Janet. And I have amazing kids, I can talk and share with God with all my thoughts without feeling that God doesn’t care by allowing/cause my cancer. I happen to believe God is the perfect lover. I am free to speculate what that means. Basically – how I should love others like I want to be loved. How I wish to be loved and know how I should love others is how God loves!

Future fears – honestly, this second leg of my journey has been more challenging. I have had a few setbacks but not like having head split open and possibly coming back brain damaged. I got a skin disorder (bullous pemphigold) and a mild case of shingles from treatment. Going through infusion treatment. I got a low blood count making me susceptible to infections but good to go. I gained weight and knees hurt, but still walking for recovering. Tennis by choice has taken a back seat.

If you sit down and talk to me and ask questions, I may be even more open. I am not sure I will handle this second journey better than the first. I am told I have been a good patient with the initial news -fake it till you make it!  I’ve been told it helped being so active and healthy. What may not be so visible is my understanding of God and my amazing wife and children.

But we will see what the future holds. I know God, Janet, and kids will be there for me.

Mike Edwards was added as a writer and has been a great addition to the site. Mike provides many interesting views and various ways of looking at things. He is not afraid to ask questions and he keeps an open mind as to teachings of the institutional church. Mike also has his own site where he writes at What God May Really Be Like

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