Religion on Cliffhanger
It has come to my attention that my companion blog Cliffhanger, which deals with Peak Oil and related problems of the world today, has attracted a lot of religious interest, with seven comments, including some of my own. So I am transferring that discussion here, to Beyond God, since Cliffhanger discusses Peak Oil and related problems, not the existence of God or how Satan came to be.
The discussion related from my posting on Cliffhanger what I believe are the five biggest problems today (to that I can now add the subprime mortgage and credit crisis). Number 4 of these was Mainline Religions, in which I maintained that people invoke a God to deal with their problems instead of trying to solve them themselves, and that they justify all kinds of mayhem in the name of God (i.e., their God). One of the posts says that God did not create Satan. That's a contradiction. We are given that God created everything. Therefore, he created Satan. It is this type of contradiction that leads me to believe that there is no God. One could even argue that God is Satan as follows: God created everything. Therefore, he created Satan. Creation of an evil entity (e.g., Hitler of Auschwitz) is itself an evil act. Therefore, God is evil. God is the Supreme Being; so he therefore is the Supreme Being of Evil, so God is Satan. But the next step would say that since God created Satan, therefore God created God, which is impossible - nothing can create itself. The whole idea of a supreme Being like this is therefore refuted, and that is why I don't believe in a God.
The only way God could make sense, is to say that, since nothing is conceivable unless it comes under God or God created it (because of God's omnipresence and omnipotence), therefore, everything comes under God. But since God results in everything, therefore, God is Everything. So theories of Everything, including physical theories and Ken Wilber's books, are really works about God. However, I don't even believe that this God exists. This is because I believe in the Beyond Theory: There is something beyond anything you name. Anything has something beyond it. That rules out Everything, as there would have to be something beyond it. And that is the reason I named this blog Beyond God.
Incidentally, if you want to find out about the Bible, instead of just quoting it to prove your point, try Rev. Miles' Bible classes at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond. She tells us not just what is in the Bible but what motivated the characters and the authors of the Bible's many stories.
The discussion related from my posting on Cliffhanger what I believe are the five biggest problems today (to that I can now add the subprime mortgage and credit crisis). Number 4 of these was Mainline Religions, in which I maintained that people invoke a God to deal with their problems instead of trying to solve them themselves, and that they justify all kinds of mayhem in the name of God (i.e., their God). One of the posts says that God did not create Satan. That's a contradiction. We are given that God created everything. Therefore, he created Satan. It is this type of contradiction that leads me to believe that there is no God. One could even argue that God is Satan as follows: God created everything. Therefore, he created Satan. Creation of an evil entity (e.g., Hitler of Auschwitz) is itself an evil act. Therefore, God is evil. God is the Supreme Being; so he therefore is the Supreme Being of Evil, so God is Satan. But the next step would say that since God created Satan, therefore God created God, which is impossible - nothing can create itself. The whole idea of a supreme Being like this is therefore refuted, and that is why I don't believe in a God.
The only way God could make sense, is to say that, since nothing is conceivable unless it comes under God or God created it (because of God's omnipresence and omnipotence), therefore, everything comes under God. But since God results in everything, therefore, God is Everything. So theories of Everything, including physical theories and Ken Wilber's books, are really works about God. However, I don't even believe that this God exists. This is because I believe in the Beyond Theory: There is something beyond anything you name. Anything has something beyond it. That rules out Everything, as there would have to be something beyond it. And that is the reason I named this blog Beyond God.
Incidentally, if you want to find out about the Bible, instead of just quoting it to prove your point, try Rev. Miles' Bible classes at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond. She tells us not just what is in the Bible but what motivated the characters and the authors of the Bible's many stories.
posted by Jim at 4:31 PM
1 Comments:
I agree with everything you wrote entirely. I would like to add an idea of my own...Myths of Gods and Goddesses were "created" (in other words, made up) in Greece and Rome to bestow primitive societies with the ideas of right and wrong. The Myths created put fear into the tribes, and if they were to disobey THE RULES and MORAL ETHICS of the Gods, then they would be punished. Gods were used as a tool for control and fear, maybe by kings of the land who had wanted the tribes to act in a certain manner. So, what better way than to tell them they would be killed if they disobeyed what the Gods and Goddesses wished. In Church, the ten commandments are rules to keep the entire world in check. One of these commandments is "thou shall not kill", so you wouldn't kill someone because you would fear the repercussions of that incident (being judged by God and sent to Hell for all eternity). The whole Idea of God is a way to control our society, put fear into the wrong doers, and to follow a way of life that is socially acceptable by God's standards. Just imagine a world without the idea of God and without his standard of morals. It is a scary thought. Nobody would live by any rules of what's right and whats wrong, which is why i don't blame the kings of the land for making all of this Bullshit up.
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