God is like a cigarette...?

... Is he?

Or rather, do we simply treat God like a cigarette?

I tried to stop smoking for the last 2 days. It was pure torture.

Now first, let me clarify - I'm not a heavy smoker. I smoke on average 3-7 sticks a day, which is too little to even go on a nicotine patch even if I wanted to. But over the last 2 days, I realized that smoking is as much a psychological reliance as a nicotine drain. The only thing that kept me going for the 2 days was really the encouragement and support of my friends, but when the stress kicked in, I simply gave in to the want for a puff (which I didn't really need).

This made me remember a comment that my friend made several years back:

"Isn't God just something that people 'use' when they need something to rely on?"

I remember instinctively arguing back, only to end my discourse with a stammer. Why do we so desperately want to believe in God? Any god, for that matter. Most people who claim to be atheists are actually agnostics, because a part of them still wishes that there was something out there to rely on.

Tell me, friends: When things are going bad, isn't it wonderful to be able to feel that someone is watching over us? That someone loves us, no matter how bad we are? When life is beautiful, don't we (occasionally) want someone to share this joy with? To feel that someone is walking beside you along the twisted, narrow path? That someone is there to shoulder your sorrow and double your happiness?

Isn't that the reason why we're all, somehow, looking for love?

So maybe my title is wrong. Maybe God isn't like a cigarette.

Maybe He's better.

But. Is there a God? Or is He just something we create because we need something to rely on?

Graphics taken from http://weird-funnythings.blogspot.com