Now, another question some of you might be asking is "Why in the world would you decide to talk about 'House' on a blog about believing in God?" It's true, the character of House is a strong atheist. He believes God is a made-up character designed to either justify the power of the church or to make people feel better about living in a harsh world (or what he considers to be a harsh world). For some people, either or both of these scenarios could be true, but the reason I picked this show is because for all House's religion bashing and seemingly infinite wisdom, there are still things he finds himself unable to explain and he still cannot hide his humanity.
A majority of the time, House is a very selfish character. While most people become doctors to help other be well (or for the money), House does it simply because it makes him feel powerful to solve complicated health issues. God knows that Greg House tries very hard to maintain this image too. He often makes fun of or pull pranks on people for no reason whatsoever, simply to keep his image as a hard, shrewd, but necessary doctor at Princeton Plansboro Hospital. I would argue however, that a good amount of the time his actions are also in favor of others. He has a very strange way of doing it, but the actions do help others. They are often motivated by his own selfish needs- he wants his doctors to be the best they can be, but only because then they are of greatest use to him. But he also knows that all the doctors will eventually leave him to move onto better things, and he can't argue that this is good for him because it means finding replacements and he abhors this task. Every time he's forced to find a new person, he is frustrated and puts it off until the last minute. He does care about his doctors and he often makes connections with his patients, despite his best effort not to. It shows that while he is not an easy man to find the goodness in, he simply cannot help it. Despite his efforts to put others down, he winds up helping them. His relationship with others always results in more goodness than wrong.
I believe this is simply the way we as a people are engineered. People are selfish to survive, but they are also good. No matter what terrible thing they do to someone else, some good always does come of it. Even war, one of the most terrible of events in human history, teaches us how precious peace is, and how fragile and important all human life is. This lesson is especially apparent in House's New Jersey Hospital, where death is everywhere, frequent, and threatening. House didn't just save lives. He saved souls and changed lives for the better, even when some of his patients died. You couldn't meet House without being significantly changed. And I also believe that you couldn't meet House without in some ways meeting Hugh Laurie and David Shore who are real people. The character of House is fictional, but remember that the ideas come from reality and from the minds of people who are real. Therefore, House in a way, is a real person.
"Everybody lies" House tells us, but I don't thing that the idea that there could be a God is a lie. House helped me to grow up and far from forcing me to doubt my belief in God, he strengthened it, because I was forced to question more then ever what is true and logical. The end result is that I still see a God. I still see a life worth living. For all House's misery, what a fascinating life he had, that we all have to live. Life isn't about happiness or avoiding pain. It's about solving lots of little mysteries over a long period of time. It's about experience and learning, and House really captures this for me. Best of luck to Hugh Laurie, David Shore, and all the actors and crew members of "House M.D." You made a difference in my life, and you make me believe.
