If you find the writing in this entry a bit clunky it’s because I will not use pronouns to refer to a god or God. Doing so would erroneously impart gender and further anthropomorphize what is clearly not a human being. There is more then enough error polluting and shrinking the human mind regarding the topic, beliefs, and worship of deity. I will not knowingly add to it.
To believe in a god who's nature and will is presumed understandable requires the fabrication of a split mind. Those who are believers will tell you without hesitation that God is omnipotent, which is to say in possession of complete, unlimited power and authority. Pressed a bit further they will attest that God is infinite and beyond comprehension. God lacks nothing. Cannot be injured or killed. God transcends, which means God goes beyond our capacity for thought, belief and understanding. That is one half of the believer’s mind talking. The other half says something completely different. God is understandable. We, the believers are the ones who know what God wants. God has needs and we must act in certain ways to fulfill them. The contradictions here are more than obvious. If God is infinite in all aspects, we as finite beings cannot know God and cannot know what God wants. Furthermore, if God is complete and lacking nothing, why would God want anything at all? What could a human possibly do to add or subtract something from God? Mental illness is required to be a believer. This state of psychosis is most often initially inflicted upon us as children by our parents who are themselves stewing in error. If there is a God, an ultimate source of all that is, what kind of arrogance and deluded thinking is required to believe such an entity could be understood? If there is a God, how could any human act mental or physical enhance or diminish that entities existence.? If there is a God, how could God's nature remain anything but beyond the scope of our senses and perceptions?
Many believers may agree with me thus far if only to a point. No doubt they would take care to further assert that though I may be correct in part, I am neglecting to take into account what they believe to be Divine Revelation, which is God’s own communication to humans about God’s nature and will.
Let me point out that if God, being all that God is, did communicate directly with humans, I am certain the message would have been clear, concise and beyond misunderstanding. If God has engaged in Divine Revelation, the enormous amount of argument, confusion and violent disagreement over that revelation indicates the failure of both the message itself and its means of delivery.
Over the years the Bible has become for many the primary source of Divine Revelation. Searching there we will find many faces of God. A loving God. A jealous God. A merciful, forgiving God. A vengeful God who not only punishes the wrong doer, but even seven generations of his or her descendants and in many cases, entire nations! So, what is the nature of God? What is God’s will? What does it reveal about a person who believes he or she knows God’s nature, God’s will and what should be done to satisfy God’s will?
Belief is not benign. There are many tragic consequences tied to it. History reveals countless incidents where actual, demonstrable facts were cast aside in favor of religious belief. People were burned alive for asserting the truths of a round and not flat earth, an earth that revolves around the sun and an earth that is not at the center of the universe. Even worse, faith has epidemically been the primary initiator of untold suffering for humankind.. How many wars have been fought, tortures inflicted, bombs tossed and (fill in your own terrors here) because of faith? If you say, well faith also brings forth charity you should stop and consider how insane it is to conclude that faith is required for people to behave and relate well . Secondly, that any sort of charity that might drip down from faith could ever outweigh the damage it has done and continues to do incessantly. Religion, God and belief are fantasies we cannot give further indulgence. When we were still primitive concocting gods and religions to explain what was mysterious in our existence was the best we could do. But clinging to ancient and dangerous mental concessions to mystery is stunting our evolution and progression as individuals, societies and a species. Children may find comfort and amusement in their beliefs of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, but any adult who believed in them would be considered mentally impaired. Belief of any kind in a supernatural deity that can be understood and known is a contradiction of that deity’s nature and will always require a schizophrenic mind. Better to look at the world, at history, at suffering and what really works to lessen it. Better to use our intellect, awareness, talents, resources, strong healthy natural, not supernatural relationships to improve the conditions of all those in need in our world. We have grown beyond the Stone Age. We need to once and forever move beyond Stone Age adherence and slavery to erroneous concepts of a god and dangerously flawed modes of thinking and conceptualization of our existence. We don’t live in caves anymore. Continuing to think like our distant ancestors would be like limiting ourselves to using there tools and knowledge as well. I am sure you, like me, would not hobble yourself by using pre-historic means of acquiring food, treating the sick and injured or even traveling and communicating. Why then should we continue to employ faith and belief in our quest for understanding our existence so that we may all enjoy better lives?
To believe in a god who's nature and will is presumed understandable requires the fabrication of a split mind. Those who are believers will tell you without hesitation that God is omnipotent, which is to say in possession of complete, unlimited power and authority. Pressed a bit further they will attest that God is infinite and beyond comprehension. God lacks nothing. Cannot be injured or killed. God transcends, which means God goes beyond our capacity for thought, belief and understanding. That is one half of the believer’s mind talking. The other half says something completely different. God is understandable. We, the believers are the ones who know what God wants. God has needs and we must act in certain ways to fulfill them. The contradictions here are more than obvious. If God is infinite in all aspects, we as finite beings cannot know God and cannot know what God wants. Furthermore, if God is complete and lacking nothing, why would God want anything at all? What could a human possibly do to add or subtract something from God? Mental illness is required to be a believer. This state of psychosis is most often initially inflicted upon us as children by our parents who are themselves stewing in error. If there is a God, an ultimate source of all that is, what kind of arrogance and deluded thinking is required to believe such an entity could be understood? If there is a God, how could any human act mental or physical enhance or diminish that entities existence.? If there is a God, how could God's nature remain anything but beyond the scope of our senses and perceptions?
Many believers may agree with me thus far if only to a point. No doubt they would take care to further assert that though I may be correct in part, I am neglecting to take into account what they believe to be Divine Revelation, which is God’s own communication to humans about God’s nature and will.
Let me point out that if God, being all that God is, did communicate directly with humans, I am certain the message would have been clear, concise and beyond misunderstanding. If God has engaged in Divine Revelation, the enormous amount of argument, confusion and violent disagreement over that revelation indicates the failure of both the message itself and its means of delivery.
Over the years the Bible has become for many the primary source of Divine Revelation. Searching there we will find many faces of God. A loving God. A jealous God. A merciful, forgiving God. A vengeful God who not only punishes the wrong doer, but even seven generations of his or her descendants and in many cases, entire nations! So, what is the nature of God? What is God’s will? What does it reveal about a person who believes he or she knows God’s nature, God’s will and what should be done to satisfy God’s will?
Belief is not benign. There are many tragic consequences tied to it. History reveals countless incidents where actual, demonstrable facts were cast aside in favor of religious belief. People were burned alive for asserting the truths of a round and not flat earth, an earth that revolves around the sun and an earth that is not at the center of the universe. Even worse, faith has epidemically been the primary initiator of untold suffering for humankind.. How many wars have been fought, tortures inflicted, bombs tossed and (fill in your own terrors here) because of faith? If you say, well faith also brings forth charity you should stop and consider how insane it is to conclude that faith is required for people to behave and relate well . Secondly, that any sort of charity that might drip down from faith could ever outweigh the damage it has done and continues to do incessantly. Religion, God and belief are fantasies we cannot give further indulgence. When we were still primitive concocting gods and religions to explain what was mysterious in our existence was the best we could do. But clinging to ancient and dangerous mental concessions to mystery is stunting our evolution and progression as individuals, societies and a species. Children may find comfort and amusement in their beliefs of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, but any adult who believed in them would be considered mentally impaired. Belief of any kind in a supernatural deity that can be understood and known is a contradiction of that deity’s nature and will always require a schizophrenic mind. Better to look at the world, at history, at suffering and what really works to lessen it. Better to use our intellect, awareness, talents, resources, strong healthy natural, not supernatural relationships to improve the conditions of all those in need in our world. We have grown beyond the Stone Age. We need to once and forever move beyond Stone Age adherence and slavery to erroneous concepts of a god and dangerously flawed modes of thinking and conceptualization of our existence. We don’t live in caves anymore. Continuing to think like our distant ancestors would be like limiting ourselves to using there tools and knowledge as well. I am sure you, like me, would not hobble yourself by using pre-historic means of acquiring food, treating the sick and injured or even traveling and communicating. Why then should we continue to employ faith and belief in our quest for understanding our existence so that we may all enjoy better lives?
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