Why do I believe in God?

Lots of reasons. One is, it?s a pretty big part of being Mormon. But another is fruit.

Uh-huh. Fruit.

Ultimately, my faith in God is built upon a foundation of prayer, familial love, spiritual experiences, scripture study and preaching by the Lord?s servants.

But as Elder Olsen and I were talking late one evening in Dresden?a city in the former East Germany?we started talking about fruit as a deliciously eloquent argument for God?s existence.

Religion and belief in God were all but outlawed in East Germany. About 40 years of that kind of human-rights crushing, state-enforced atheism pretty well raised a nation of people who didn?t want to believe in the Almighty.

I learned if I wanted to engage people in religious conversation, to share with them the most sacred and important things in my life, I?d have to find a different, more basic piece of common ground than profound spiritual experiences and scripture reading.

Before I could get people excited about a 14-year-old boy meeting God and his son in a New York forest, I had to get them excited about opening their minds to an idea their government had basically forbidden.

And fruit is a pretty basic piece of spiritual real estate.

Bear with me.

Now what is fruit? Biologically, fruit houses the seeds through which trees reproduce. Fruit serves a very basic, natural purpose in that regard.

But then?from an evolutionary-advantage point of view?wouldn?t it really save the tree time to just generate the seeds? Why do they need to produce small, attractive, pleasant-tasting, colorful seed houses? And why do these seed houses come in the wide variety of flavors that they do? And why?of all things?is a tree-reproduction conveyance system nutritious for people?

I believe the answer to these questions is divine design. Fruit trees need to repopulate themselves (so, incidentally, they can furnish us with fresh oxygen), and God thought it would be an easy way to provide his children with food.

To ignore God?s orchestrating this natural, scientific process demands more faith than it does to acknowledge it.

Fruit is but one of many examples of God?s role in nature. I do not see a separation between religion and science.

Last year, I was The Daily Utah Chronicle?s health science reporter. The more I learned about research, science and the exploration of the natural world?in a second-hand fashion, admittedly?the more my belief in God was confirmed.

As the architect of all truth, whether it is scientific, moral or personal truth, God is the inventor of the natural world.

The more human beings add to their wealth of scientific knowledge, the more they become like their creator. I reject the absurd idea that science and faith cannot play in harmony.

Albert Einstein said the more he learned about the universe, the more he believed in God. He also said he didn?t believe that God played dice with the universe.

If anything, scientific pursuit relies just as heavily upon faith as does spiritual exploration. Scientists exercise faith that what their instruments tell them is true. They exercise faith that their searchings will not be in vain, that they will lead to discoveries and advancements.

God is more than the divine botanist who created fruit for me. He is the father of my soul and my constant companion. With him, my victories are multiplied and my failures are divided.

Jared welcomes feedback at: [email protected].