Published by Recently I published a couple of articles that gave me the idea for this question. One articles was entitled “Why Some People Hate Christians” and the other was “The Fool and The Kingdom of Heaven”. There were a few readers that assumed that because of the things I wrote that I did not believe in God. This assumption was due to the fact that I do not share the same vision of God that they have. This assumption that God as a being, concept, or word belongs to one religious group over another is one of the most dangerous misconceptions in the universe.
Presently our world is involved in a conflict that in part is caused by the idea that one side is fighting in the name of God. This conflict is made even more extreme in that both sides feel they are the defenders of God. At least that is the official story when it comes to the “war on terror” and the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It is really not anything new, as for years all over the world people have been fighting over the ownership of The Supreme Being. At times these conflicts involve countries and at times it is just a couple of people at a coffee shop, workplace break room, or now on The Internet. The major conflicts caused by this vying to own all of God’s marbles seem more dire on the surface, however in actuality all forms school yard theological posturing are pathogenic to not only our planet, but also the entire universe.
Some people assume that if a person does not believe in The Bible that person does not believe in God. Others assume that a person must believe in The Qu’ran to also believe in God. There are even some that take a work like “The Secret” and say if a person does not believe in that fully they do not believe in God (The Universe). Still others insist that a person must believe in God and Goddess and follow the Wiccan Rede to be correct. It seems people have The Supreme Being and All That Is completely figured out in their present state as a mortal living on Planet Earth for this brief period of time amongst the eons. A little presumptuous!
It seems to me that even if The Bible or The Qu’ran were the actual words of God it is a bit blasphemous for mortals to think that those works can be completely understood after 20 years of study let alone a couple of weeks of being a new convert. As with any theological or mythological text it takes awhile to gleen some of the major points let alone the finer ones. Yet people seem to think that reading these texts gives them the right to speak for God over others. Again taking the role of ownership of God. I am quite sure if God could be put in chains and whipped into submission, people with this type of mindset would do so.
Am I presuming to own God by writing these things? I hope not. It is not my intention. My relationship with God is an ongoing and unfolding mystery that renews daily. I simply decided that instead of letting others who “think” they own God tell me the way, to instead open up to God and let God tell me the way. I want to let God help me to unlearn all of the stuff that stifled that spark of God that I came into this world with.
No one owns God.
I rate you 10 out of 10 my friend. If God is a corporation, it may have been affected by the economy by now. It reminds me of the words once spoken by Jiddu Krishnamurti, among his followers who were eager to make him accept the responsibility of being the 2nd personification of the coming of the Messiah.”Truth is a pathless land and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.” Now everyone else seem to play God.
I asked you in your previous article who God is to you? It seems to me you are at a crossroads regarding what you believe and in the process you want to convince others to be like minded. What makes you think that others have not been where you are today?
Religion has existed since time immemorial since humans are in need of God and they define through their religion how they worship Him. But has God revealed to humans how He wants to be worshiped?
I submit that He has through the scriptures. This is made obvious by the way most religions have similar things they claim regarding the worship of God. At particular times in History we find someone who is discomforted by how His people worship God and start a religion or cult and find people who are searching and woo them with his dogmas. This is perhaps what you refer as myths.
To worship God one must allow their spirit to direct them. To assume that your intellect alone will lead you to the truth, it is submited, is the height of naivety. I come from Kenya from a tribe called the Kikuyus. When the British colonised my country, they were surprised to find a tribe which was so spiritual as my tribe because to them Africa was a dark continent where God was not known.
My people did not have a Bible but they worshiped God in the manner prescribed in the old testament of the Bible. They had prophets, priests, they believed in blood worship and kept lambs for this purpose. They prayed facing mount Kenya becaus they believed God dwelt in the mountains. They also had their story of Adam and Eve similar to that in the Bible. The colonialistsl were surprised at how spiritual attuned my people were as they observed them pray and witnessed them get into deep spiritual experience.
Why do I bring this up? because here were a people whose History and faith was passed on by oral tradition yet they worshiped according to Bible truths. Today majority of them are Christians because to them it is just a continuation of their faith only now it is written.
What I notice in the Western world is the confusion of culture with Chritianity. Most of the so called missionaries take their culture not the gospel which is offending. That is what religion does, because it is about rules and regulations as oppsed to a relationship or experience.
Having said that, I repeat we all have free will on what we chose to believe. For me Jesus Christ is Lord. I believe in eternity and that it is appointed for humans once to die and then judgement.
Well said
wanjiku,
You are kind of making yourself a prime example of just what I am writing about in this article. Again telling others how they must believe in God. That was a crossroad I past many years ago. There were and are many car wrecks at that intersection. Instead of standing around gawking at them and obcessing over them I choose to keeping walking toward the divine. If you want to keep trying to put the chains of scripture on God and keep whipping God into submission of your human understanding that is your choice. However, when other share their experience further down the road do not think that you can tell them they do not believe in God or how they should believe in God without them calling you on it. You do not own God.
As for the similarity to stories in the Bible and other folk tales that arguement could be used in favor of any religous belief system. There is a good reason so many of these myths are similar. Because they come from original sources that were meant to teach ethics to people and those people migrated to various parts of the world. There are over 300 versions of the Cinderella story alone. The book of Ruth is one such story. Even the Pinocchio story has it’s roots in ancient history.
If you want to see where Genesis stories came from try looking at the Sumarian texts. More detailed and predating Genesis.
Saviour God stories were many and predated Jesus. All those cults including Christianity presummed to own God. At this time in history we can not afford any one group presumming to own God. Stop it!
I often encounter the same presumptions when I rail against religion in my works. My definition of religion is ‘God created in man’s image’. When man-made doctrines and arbitrary rules are added as burdens onto the shoulders of a true seeker, for no other reason than to make the search more difficult and the result less gratifying, that is what I take issue with. Nice work, Mark.
I like this article, I will have to read all of them today. This is an eye opener though.
Mark Brown, I could say the same thing about you. You say I am telling people how to believe God, how so? What are you doing when you are also questioning how others believe God?
Are you suggesting that you have a monoply of ideas on this issue? I gave my tesimony and justification of why I believe what I believe in. You also stated why you believe what you believe. What makes you right and me wrong?
No one denies that the Bible has History in it , but if you believe that man is from one seed scatterd all over the planet earth, then you can undersatnd the similarities of what you call myths.
Let us agree to disagree but remmember there is nothing new in what you say. I have been where you are but for me I have found what works for me. I wish yo the best in your journey.
Mark, I have battled the same thing for years. People do not understand that keeping an open mind and looking for spiritual knowledge is an option. As far as they are concerned they know all truth because it was taught to them at an early age and have read it in their religious books, Bible, Koran or whatever dogma they believe in. It’s sad.
wanjiku,
The difference is that when I tell people what I believe it is not a condemnation of that person. When I tell you how I believe I am not condeming you based on my beliefs. However, when people who believe in works such as the Bible say that they believe it is the word of God then all they are laying all of the condemnations against humanity on the person they are professing their beliefs to, If you claim you believe in the Bible then read it, read all of the nasty parts that laying some fairly horrid condemnations on various types of people. The Bible is a work of either and or. Of course a book written in the past will have some things that intersect with historical data. The problem still lays that it says some things that in the modern age have been refuted. The problem is that in this day in age people that take it on surface cause many problems for innocent people in the zeal to keep shoving an ancient text down the throat of the world. The problem is that people including the last American president tried to use The Bible as a weapon.
All I am doing is suggesting that people try living a life where they listen to God directly instead of listening to people who have manipulated ancient texts for their own desires. I hold nothing against you as a person. The problem is that your profession of faith in one compilation of ancient texts and what those texts say is a condemnation of every one who does not share the exact same view of God as you do. While others on this planet do not share the same beliefs as I do but we can have discourse on the subject of God without one party thinking the other is damned for eternity or does not believe in God.
You\\\\\\\’re the one that brought up the \\\\\\\”a fool in his heart says that there is no God\\\\\\\” to me in my piece \\\\\\\”The Fool and The Kingdom of Heaven\\\\\\\” suggesting my lack of belief in God, because of a piece that I wrote about my belief in God. So trying to play the victim role here or agreeing to disagree seems a little tacky.
So you can believe in God in your own way. But to you and other FUNDAMENTALIST Christians clean up your own belief system/religion/believers before you trying to save the rest of us. Hint: Start by trying to actually read what \\\\\\\”The Bible\\\\\\\” says.
Ruby,
I think the big problem is this notion that spiritual doubt is somehow the work of Satan/The Devil or some other evil force. Just maybe spiritual doubt about certin forms of Dogma is a warning from God instead. Many doubts about the Dogma of various religions are moments when people are awake and feel the inate sense of truth and what is actually good for us as humans and as a species that is supressed by all these years of scriptures and texts that have just muddied it all up to keep humanity enslaved mentally.
I went to a one church as a child that claimed it was a sin to wear a necktie and to others where you were disrespecting God if you as a man or boy did not wear a necktie. What that all has to do with one’s spiritual advancement is shakey. But both groups had an answer for the question. However, little sense those answers made.
That was well written. I don’t think most conflicts in the world are caused by religion though. The Vietcong are not religious; neither are the Khmer Rouge. (Just two examples that spring readily to mind)
However, I too believe in something out there without necessarily prescribing to any particular orthodoxy. I guess to me the world doesn’t make sense if there isn’t a Something out there. But it also does not make sense that this unfathomable being would be explainable (and explained) by any one book or orthodoxy.
Regards,
Inna
Good article, but you know my zeal by now. You are right about this one, No one has a monopoly on God, however I beleive the Bible is clear on who God is walking with and who he is not. People believe that God’s love is unconditional but that is not true. The conditions for Gods love is spelled out in the Bible and if you are in line with the word, then God is with you.
Inna,
On the surface the Viet Cong and the Khmer Rouge may not appear to be religious, however they can be traced back to a man name Karl Marx, who even though he stated the “Religion is the Opiate of the people” became an unwilling deity in a new religion, that of Communism. Ideologies and philosophies can become just as bad as religions. Non-belief in God also can be a driving force for conflict. Also Ike’s decision not to help Ho Chi Mhin in the 1950s may have been in part due to Ike’s religious beliefs or American Seperationism or alligence to France and a conviction of European manifest destiny in a sense. The point here is not a tally of how many conflicts were caused by religion. The point is how people in many conflicts think they own God. The point is not only world conflicts but interpersonal conflicts as well.
claleur,
I understand how you believe. I was raised within that system. However, the idea of summing up God’s will in one book or collection of ancient texts is something that I can not buy.
Even if those who suggest something like The Bible Code are correct it seems a bit of a sliver to explain a being so emense as God. If The Bible Code is correct then Fundamentalist Christians have “got sum ‘plaining to do” when the final trump blows. If the old testament is a holographic divine work that explains everything thing and every aspect of life in detail, then what it says about and the condemnations it places on fundamental Christianity and it’s leaders in the US especially are dire.
However, most people should realize that you can make most ancient works mean whatever a person wants them to mean.
Mark,
This was very well done. It always amazes me how some people arrogantly believe that others that do not worship exactly as they do are not “good people” …. “christian” ….. “believers in God.” My religion is considered taboo to mainstream Christians (Catholic, Baptist, etc..). So, I completely understand what you are saying. People need to just stop trying to dictate how others worship…..or have we forgotten that this country was in large part founded to escape religious dictation.
Excellent piece! Many of my thoughts are sprinkled in this mind-provoking article. Well done.
I liked this article, when we as human being get to the realization that no one has any more spiritual prescence than anyone else. We will have evolved. For one person to hold their beliefs more godly than another person in itself tells the truth about thier godliness. For how can one be punished for not knowing what they have never came into contact. My point is this, If a person was raised to be a Christian, Moslem, Bhuddist, etc from cradle to grave, why would God punish them for not serving like an opposing religious beliefer would have them serve. Thanks for sharing.
You tell me
Where to find the one,
Omniscient
Omnipotent
Omnipresent
Force they all call God,
I think Time is God,
If you can beat me to this
Then I will tell you who owns God
Nor you
Nor I
But Time will tell
What God really is?