Home > Gentile (Noachide Laws)
Religious Reality
The hold of the God concept on the human mind is easy to understand.
Basically, it is a product of the human mind which has evolved over the course
of human existence. This mental product is very real with real world
consequences.
In the face of incredible natural forces such a belief was likely very
reassuring in offering simple explanations: e.g., God did it, The Devil
did it, the Lord works in mysterious ways (a “cop out” that explains everything
and nothing). Likely such
beliefs helped to form communities of shared beliefs fostering more power over
the environment. Fictions, stories, and half-truths work; they are simple
and persuasive for the majority of people.
Science by contrast is skeptical and has intellectual and moral standards that
work to reveal reality as it really is. It operates on the basis of
theories and models which require considerable discipline, mathematics, and
precise testable statements (a “calculus”) that is not so easily evaluated by
the majority.
Author and physicist Victor Stenger in his
best-selling book, God:
The Failed Hypothesis strikes at the very core of God as an
external reality in showing the universe to be basically undesigned.
Interestingly, he also noted that the total energy of the universe sums to
ZERO. Stenger reviewed biological and
psychological findings about God being only present within our
minds/brains. He also maintains that the absence of evidence in God in
time becomes evidence of the absence of God.
George Murphy’s The
Cosmos in the Light of the Cross argues for a hidden god. It
reminded me of a recent observation by a friend with a beautiful backyard who
could not believe that I did not view it as evidence of God.
Sorry, her evidence of god was only evidence of nature itself! This is a
much simpler truth and reality which we can explore deeply and widely.
Comments:
Great stuff, thanks for sharing this.
Your writing reminded me of a guy I saw not too long ago on TV. I believe he was a surfer. He was talking about how a shark bit his arm off up to his shoulder. He thanked god for sparing his life. My immediate thought was, "God saved his life? Sure, just before he let the shark bite his arm off!"
How Religulous!
Tom
Ferrysburg
_________________________
That's an excellent letter, Bob. I especially liked the
description of "the Lord works in
mysterious ways" as a "cop out."
The neighbor who believed their beautiful backyard was
evidence of God is a common example of people's rationalization for God. It is
more comforting to believe that there is a God who will take care of me than it
is to think about the countless millions of people in agony due to starvation,
disease, mistreatment, and many other problems. That form of belief in God is
too much about "me" and not
enough about "us."
- Doug
Source:
The Grand Haven Tribune, Grand
Haven,