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A Different Look at God, Faith, and Religion


Consummate Deist

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According to the Bible, in Mark, it was said that the folly of the Pharisees was their reliance on the word of God in letter: they twisted, and accepted without question, and so were denied entrance to Heaven.

Over thousands of years of interpretation and translation, meaning has been added, and meaning has been lost. For even a short message passed between ten will contain slightly different adjectives at the end than at the beginning. The Protestant movement, in part, denounced the Catholic belief of inerrancy of the Scripture. However, the movement didn’t go far enough.

What is disturbing is that some of the simplest and yet most important messages have been lost or countered with snappy quotations of various verses. What has been established is a sharp line between this human concept of religion and the purest hope of faith. The sacred, invaluable concept of life has been turned into “merely a test.” The idea of man-kind as guardians of the world and carriers of the Breath of God is lost in the idea of the “glory of God” and “imperfection and worthlessness.” Absolutely nothing saddens me more than when a young man or woman falls prostrate and proclaims that he or she is “nothing” compared to God.

Finally, the true beauty and perfection of the world has been marred by fundamentalism: a repeat of the mistake of putting religion before faith. We see its effect in the world today: the idea that science is “wrong” because there isn’t enough God in it, and so fundamentalism helps to hide the seamlessness of the world, for God and science are not so different.

It is my utmost desire to attempt to correct some of these half-truths and maybe plant a seed of hope in the hearts of those who just let life pass them by. This is our chance to shine, not foreplay to the “better” eternity in Heaven.

Creation

“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

A key idea in Judeo-Christianity is that the world was created by the Word of God. God spoke, and from ideas, nothingness became a universe: just space; and then in space appeared particles, which formed the glorious beauty of the stars, and the planets, and the Earth. Light and darkness; water and earth: all from the Word of God, and so in some way, God has presence in these things.

The Bible often uses the metaphor of God as a being, for it is much easier for one to wrap his mind around something that is physical. However, this metaphor of physicality was just the start of the problem of fundamentalism, and helped fuel the separation of science and faith.

It was (and sometimes still is) widely believed that literally, “the being” God created the world in seven days. The same people claim that through genealogy, the age of the Earth could be traced back to about 5000 BC. The denial of evolution is, too, representative of the problem of religion in that tradition, custom, and the exact interpretation of religious writings becomes paramount to fact.

If people will believe that the world was created in 144 hours in spite of evidence to the contrary, then why is it so difficult to imagine the possibility that God gave the universe a form, and then guided it with nudges, and so the worlds were created over billions of years?

In fact, this key idea displays the true beauty of science, because over the thousands of years of recorded history, the curious have attempted to understand the world in terms of measurable and physical quantities, and they have been successful. The world makes sense, because God created the world. There exists physics because God gave the entities of the world physical properties. Perhaps God is truly, in the purest sense, energy: the light and spark of the world that allows for motion; for life; for existence.

People who understand science perhaps truly understand God better than any of the rest of us, because they experience His effects on the world every day. If human beings were meant to simply listen to stories from a book and accept that as the sole truth, then why do we think? Why do we speak? Why do we learn?

Why do we exist?

Why Are We?

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Well, why do we exist? It isn’t an easy question. Some people say we exist for the “glory of God.” The Bible does contain many references to this, but what exactly does it mean?

There are two key meanings for glory in this context. One is “great honor, praise, or distinction accorded by common consent; renown. .” The other is “majestic beauty and splendor; resplendence.”

A famous example of humans as tools for the “glory of God” is in Isaiah, where God decrees “bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”

Now, if we accept that God is everything and has a presence everywhere, then for God to declare that we were created for His “glory” in terms of the second definition of the word, “majestic beauty…resplendence,” then all God is saying is that mankind makes the world beautiful and vibrant. That’s not so bad.

Unfortunately, many believe that glory refers to the other definition: in other words, God created man so that someone would praise and honor him. “It is a command to align our lives with His eternal goal. He created us for His glory. God's great aim in creating and governing the world is that He be glorified. ‘I created you for my glory. I formed you, I made you,’” said Pastor John Piper in his sermon notes .

Piper, in later sermons, continues to explain that God seeks our praise for the sake of love, because “if God is truly for us, if He would give us the best and make our joy full, He must make it His aim to win our praise for Himself. Not because He needs to shore up some weakness in Himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because He loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can only be found in knowing and praising Him, the most beautiful of all Beings.”

We’ve come full circle around a paradox, however. God teaches, throughout the Bible, that selfishness and self-centeredness are wrong. However, to give the definition of glory as “praise and honor,” then God seeks selfishness, even if it ultimately is (as according to Pastor Piper) for our ultimate happiness. For the praise and honor is for God; and if we do this, He rewards us.

The story of the plagues in Egypt and the Pharaoh are an interesting example of the idea of “God’s glory” as being selfishness. Just before the terrible plagues are laid upon the Egyptians, God speaks to Moses:

“And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.

And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”

According to these passages from Exodus, God basically says, ‘I want you to tell the Pharaoh to release your people. I will harden his heart, and he will not listen to you, so that I may lay my rule on Egypt.’

Did the Pharaoh have a choice in refusing to let the people of Israel go? By this passage, the answer is no. There are many possibilities, here: God is selfish and seeks glory; the Egyptians were not human beings and so were used as tools to show the Israelites God’s power; or, perhaps, there was a mistranslation. Just by changing “I will harden his heart” to “his heart will harden” makes the greatest of difference.

Let me stress this: God is not selfish. God does not seek our praise. He doesn’t need it! God is absolute, and embodies everything, even us.

The goal we must align ourselves with is not to enhance God’s honor, God’s praise, or our honor. The reason we are is to instill happiness into this world.

A Universal Goal and Morality

Happiness is the essence of our struggle on earth, and the ultimate goal we all share. The very concept of good and happiness comes from God, and that is why we exist. We do exist to give glory to God, but not because God wants us to praise him, but he wants us to create magnificent beauty; inspire hope; and help to spread happiness through the world. It is the second, less recognized definition of glory that we must aspire to give to God.

Making the world, a happier, better place is what has secretly driven man from the dawn of time, and all that God truly wants from us now. Now, one seeking solely one’s own happiness is in fact committing a very selfish act, but to help others seek happiness and to enjoy the world is the whole point of being alive. It is easy to dismiss happiness as too simplistic a goal, and also one that easily comes into conflict with others’ ideas of what happiness is. This is where the discussion of morality comes into being, and that idea I will argue later.

For now, let us segue and examine the idea of the world not as an intermediary step and test and man not small and unworthy, but rather the world as an amazing opportunity, and man as a piece of God that is seemingly imperfect as an individual, but as a whole, truly seamless.

When God created the world, the last passage of Genesis 1 is “and God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Key word? Everything. Man, the world, light, and even darkness: all of these things are good. We were not born naturally sinful or wicked. For even Adam was good, though he made mistakes. Paradoxically, there is perfection in our imperfections: what would good be, unless we could taste evil? What is hope, if one has never known despair? The world is beautiful because there are ugly parts, and so in summation, all is perfect. Man makes mistakes because there are two kinds of perfection: absolute perfection, in God, and the perfection of understanding that we, as part of God, can achieve.

Further, if the world is perfect, than how different is Heaven? It is folly to dismiss the perfect world and stunning opportunity of mortal life and put credence only in eternity. How can one live life to its fullest if he believes that it doesn’t matter in the end, and the only point of life is getting into Heaven, which is “better.” The only way to perfection, and to true understanding, is to value life as priceless, and to seek to live it to its fullest.

This is where happiness and morality kick in. Happiness is a measure of how full and rich a life one has had. For cannot the poor lead happy lives? Then happiness is immaterial. A spinster is not always lonely and miserable, so happiness is not romantic love. No, happiness truly is how much one has come to understand their part in the world as its guardian, and what one has done to make it more beautiful for those who will follow.

God would not have created us and given us life if we were not important. As I mentioned when I began, it is truly saddening to see someone pray by first throwing themselves down on their knees, and then proclaiming that they are “nothing”; that they are “unworthy.” There is nothing more untrue. We were all given God’s spark, and life entered us, so we are here for a reason. How much more worth can one attain? We have a purpose—no—an obligation to do what we can to make this world better.

For by living life to its fullest, we not only show God that we appreciate life, but we display true selflessness. It is selfish to do good deeds because we desire entrance to Heaven. For isn’t then Heaven a motivator? A goal for ourselves alone that we seek? It is as a war fought fairly for unjust reasons. It makes the war no more just, just as seeking Heaven for ourselves makes our good deeds no less wicked.

So when we live life to its fullest, we must do this selflessly: by caring for others; by being kind to one another; by doing the right thing because it is the right thing. If there is another reason, then our good deeds turn to selfishness.

However, remember that part of living life to its fullest is also seeking joy and understanding for ourselves: it is perfectly right to seek happiness for one’s self, but not when doing so is at the expense of others. This is where morality comes into play. Walzer, in his book Just and Unjust Wars, notes that there is a language to describe morality. There are things that are right, and there are things that are wrong, universally, which all men share an understanding of. Part of living is learning to do the right thing, and the people around us help shape our understanding of ethical behavior.

We Are ONE

Much of this has been written from a seemingly Judeo-Christian perspective, but it applies to all religions and all faiths. At the heart of any faith are the principles that we should do good, and that God is the creator, even it be many gods. My point is, it doesn’t matter what religion you follow, or how many gods one worships: if you impart good into the world, make others happy, defend what you believe in, then you truly have lived life to its fullest, and achieved the most perfect understanding one can hope to achieve.

Religion teaches us that we should hate other religions, and not worship other gods. I say, ultimately, there’s only one right answer to which God is what, and maybe it doesn’t matter which one it is. We all interpret things differently, and understand them based on where we come from and what we’ve been exposed to. Man explains God differently based on variations in culture, customs and location. But it doesn’t matter. All one has to do is believe. As it is said, after that, faith manages.

The Final Word

Faith has become masked by religion. Faith in God means worship through good deeds; through thanking God for our spark of life and an opportunity to make the world a better place, and not making that as an empty promise—rather, acting on that opportunity, and really reaching out to those around you. Only then can one hope to pursue one’s own happiness, or live life to its fullest, which really is all that God asks from us.

Religion, on the other hand, teaches us to fear God, and to hold God in awe, instead of recognizing that God really lives inside all of us. Religion teaches us that God loves us, but only if we sing praises to Him and glorify His name. Instead, it should be helping to teach us to love one another, and to be kind to each other, and to learn what right and wrong is, and why it is important to defend good. Religion should teach us the value of life, and not tell us that it is merely a step to heaven, or that we should spend it trying to decrypt religious texts that have been changed by history and vested interests.

Science is not wicked, nor is it the enemy: it is our way of explaining the properties of the world, and how God helped guide the world into its present form. We should delight in science, and understand it, for only then can we truly understand the perfection and beauty of God and the world around us.

Morality is built into us, because God lives within all of us. At our hearts is our soul—the Breath of Life that God imparted to us. It speaks to us, sometimes, guiding us in our decisions of what’s right, and what’s wrong. Listen. Listen, too, to what your parents have taught you, and what you’ve learned from the people around you. These people guide our lives and shape us as much as God does, for God lives in them as well as you.

It doesn’t take much to be a good person: do the right thing, and leave the world knowing you made your mark on it, for good. Thank God for your life, and show Him you mean it by actually living it. Don’t do these things because you are obliged to, or because you fear Hell: rather, be a good person because you want to—because it’s the right thing to do.

“The Universe speaks many languages, but only one voice…it speaks the language of hope; it speaks the language of trust. It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion: in the language of the heart and the language of the soul; but always, the same voice, that still says, “we are one”…we must be kind to one another, because each voice enriches us and ennobles us…and each voice lost diminishes us.”

We are one.

I cannot claim to have written this, I find that while I agree with much of what is said by the author (name unknown), there is much in it that I do not agree with; especially from a historical standpoint. I find it ironic that Christians teach the lesson of the Pharisees being too concerned with the letter of the law and not the spirit (No pun intended), and use it as an excuse to not follow the laws of the Jewish faith while still maintaining that they are Christian.

Then, they turn around and say that everything in the Bible is literal truth, and is the perfect, flawless word of God yet they don't understand the inherent irony/similarity that they share with the Pharisees. Oh well, The kooky Christians are at it again.

Also the claim that the Catholic belief in the inerrancy of the scripture isn’t exactly true. The Church never based it’s teachings solely on the bible, but rather the teachings and traditions of the Church Fathers and much later the infallibility of the Pope. Protestants are the ones who have based their faith strictly on the Bible, starting with Luther! With the Evangeliticals and Fundamentalists, this belief in scriptural inerrancy has passed that of the Pharisees and continues to grow within their dogma. This article is what I would a Deistic Christian view of God - CD :tu:

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The article sounds good, but it has some huge holes in it from a cultural stand point. it says it is written from a Judeo-Christian point of view, but it is instead written from a post-industrial revolution point of view. A first century Judean would not have sought happiness as an ultimate goal, but instead maintinance of their honor and social standing. that is not something someone who was poor, one who, from a first century perspective, was socially disadvantaged, by being a widow, orphan, having a disability of some kind, could do.

ive been meaning to write a short essay on the importance of cultural differences when interpreting texts. hopefully when i finish fighting the demons of scholarship applications i can get to it.

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