We need a Theory of Everything for religion.
You know, like the one physicists are looking for in physics. One that ties up in a nice little bundle all the disparate understandings, or lack thereof. One that makes all the little quantum thingies and big space-time things that do (or don’t) make sense by themselves make sense together.
The Christian says Christ will come again in judgement, and looks forward to the resurrection of the physical body and eternal life with God.
The Hindu says the cycle of birth and death continues until good karma and spiritual purity lead to liberation, and eternal life with God.
For the Christian, eternal life with God means retaining one’s identity and enjoying God’s good company. For the Hindu, it means dissolution of the self in God’s self, and losing one’s identity, which was only ever God’s to begin with.
At least one of them is, at best, mostly wrong.
Then there are a few other religions (around 4,200 or so) that say other things.
And yet there is truth. There is a Way That Things Are. A reality that cannot be chosen, shopped, or cobbled together from bits and pieces that sound good to us. None of us gets to choose our truth(s). Or rather, most of us don’t get to choose our truth and be correct, too.
This also applies to atheism, you know. We can say there is no god, or we can say there is a god. But one of those statements is false. The question of belief is irrelevant. Believing in god is a choice. So is not believing in God.
God is, or god is not. What we believe does not change what is (or is not).
I am not interested in beliefs. I am interested in knowing.
Here’s what I know:
~ God is.
~ I am.
The rest in due time.
I looked for God. I went to a temple and did not find him there. I went to a church and did not find him there. I went to a mosque and did not find him there. Finally I looked in my heart, and there he was. ~ Rumi
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. ~ Lao Tzu
Be still, and know that I am God. ~ Psalm 46:10
Better than Depeche Mode, though that was good too. What has it got in its pocketses? What has it got
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How can anything be better than Depeche Mode? My pockets aren’t that deep.
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Ha, that is brilliant. Enjoy the silence, or something. I do like the grainy aspect of the videos they were doing around that “Behind the wheel” era.
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The common thread that runs through all theological beliefs that each one purports to know what happens to you after you die. I don’t think *any* of them have any true idea. Just faith. I think religion was invented partially as a salve to the mystery of death.
Yesterday’s gospel reading was the one that put a wedge between me and the bible. The story of Abraham and Isaac. What kind of cruel, sadistic God is going to ask a man to murder his son just to prove the depth of his conviction and then, at the last moment, say, ha just kidding. You don’t have to slice his throat. It’s inconceivable to me.
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There’s definitely some truth to what you say about the salve for death. You might also say there’s a little need for a salve to the ass-kick of life. As for the God of the Old Testament, I don’t get it. I have a textbook I hung onto from back when I was in seminary school for all of less than two semesters called Reading the
Old Testament, which I never read. I kept the book thinking I’d want it for just such a question as that, one day.
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I once read a commentary by some eminent theologian, who argued that even Abraham could get his signals crossed; “God did tempt Abraham” doesn’t ring true, somehow, and this story is a lesson in miscomprehension. An angel showed up to stay his hand, not because Abraham had demonstrated his faith, or because God had decided Isaac wasn’t such a bad kid, but because Abe had definitely gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick. After that point in the Bible, there are no stories where God speaks directly to Abraham.
This kind of reminds me of the Pope’s announcement, a couple of months ago, that “lead us not into temptation” is a mistranslation.
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I think if you ask 10 eminent theologians to interpret a particular passage or story, there’s a good chance you could get as many as 10 different interpretations.
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Bravo. Seems like humanity got caught up in its own beliefs and plugged them in as a proxy for the truth.
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Thanks Kevin. Yes, we do like to shape our own reality. I see you’ve changed your hair? 🙂
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Thanks for noticing! 😘
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That’s my favorite verse.
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I just recently discovered it. Me likee.
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