Re: 2223 -- the god thread
Luz Shosie and Ned Vare
on 8/10/02 1:30 AM, [email protected] at
[email protected] wrote:
Who knew that this was a religion group....? Well, so be it. I'll give it a
shot. (it will tie in, just wait)
The Bible tells the story of the evolution of man's perception of, and
relationship to, the supernatural -- god -- the "greater force" behind
worldly things, and the spiritual life, so to speak. "It's all in God's
hands," as they(we)
say.
Early on, man desperately needed explanations for things that were, and
still often are, beyond our comprehension.
Faced with often overwhelming natural forces, we imagine an all powerful
spirit that controls the world, indeed, the universe, and in the process,
controls our puny existence.
Early "gods" were the very forces of nature...Zeus, Mars, etc. There were
graven images of animals, tree worshippers, sacrifices (murders) to show our
fear of the forces of "heaven." Kings became gods to their people.
Humans have, is seems, always had a need to ascribe anthropomorphic
qualities and motives to the forces of nature and to the nether world and to
the firmament. Thus, some gave their god a male human form and placed "him"
in the heavens. "He" was to be the good (god) guy who would protect them, if
they obeyed certain rules. And to explain all the "bad" stuff that happens,
they created another guy (bad guy) and he lived, they were sure, underneath
everything.....in Hell.
All this imagery has been incredibly useful for financial institutions such
as churces. The threat of Hell and damnation, along with the promise of
someday sitting on the knee of a benevolent "creator" comprise the twin
enticements for supporting a huge corps of therapists called clergy. (Hmm,
sounds like what the public schools do to create their brand of conformity,
"Sit still and be quiet, and you'll get As; but if you don't we'll drug you
into a stupor)
But the Bible goes further, because man is still evolving. Man's view of
"god" changed over the centuries to a more and more enlightened idea. That
advanced thinking is described in the New Testament. For my money, Jesus
(and a few others, like Buddha) led the way out of the era of nature and
animal worship into an era in which god is seen simply as man's highest view
of himself. Jesus called it Love. Christianity changed everything, or, as
Ren said,
many people still enjoy group rituals and celebrations or their "truth."
There's even a joke, "Hey, I saw God, and she's black !" -- talk about
upsetting the apple cart...
So, today, we don't grovel in front of a carved statue of a beast, we don't
pray (beg) to an unknowable "man" in the sky, but we grow (if we can) in an
understanding and demonstration of our own highest ethics and best
attributes. If we read the Bible (which I used to but don't these days) we
learn that we are created in the image and likeness of God.
What "good news" (the meaning of "gospel') that is! If we can believe that,
then we know that we are not born as "sinners," but with all the qualities
we need in order to perfect our lives. It means there is no need to beg for
favors, no need to pay for forgiveness, no need to believe that anyone or
anything has power over us or is god's go-between. (Martin Luther drew that
line in the sand for us, saying, in effect, that we could speak driectly to
god, if we wanted to. Wow, what a breakthrough)
We have examples of people in several cultures coming to similar
conclusions. Man has evolved much since the days of cow worship and man
worship. Today, there need be no intermediary (priest) between man and
whatever we view as a creative/benevolent spirit, or god.
The same evolution took place in nations...America was founded on the still
relatively new (in 1750) idea that the individual is more important than the
group, and our government was viewed by the framers as the mechanism to
protect individual citizens from harm, whether from other individuals or
groups. While government schooling is the last vestige of socialist ideas
(top-down control, or subsumption of individuals to the group),
homeschooling is helping our country to overcome that oppression and evolve
to a higher level of self- and universal awareness.
Ned Vare
[email protected] wrote:
> Message: 11Ned carries on:::
> Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2002 03:04:23 -0000
> From: "gruvystarchild" <starsuncloud@...>
> Subject: christianity
>
> "Christianity comes from Christ, religion is man made."
Who knew that this was a religion group....? Well, so be it. I'll give it a
shot. (it will tie in, just wait)
The Bible tells the story of the evolution of man's perception of, and
relationship to, the supernatural -- god -- the "greater force" behind
worldly things, and the spiritual life, so to speak. "It's all in God's
hands," as they(we)
say.
Early on, man desperately needed explanations for things that were, and
still often are, beyond our comprehension.
Faced with often overwhelming natural forces, we imagine an all powerful
spirit that controls the world, indeed, the universe, and in the process,
controls our puny existence.
Early "gods" were the very forces of nature...Zeus, Mars, etc. There were
graven images of animals, tree worshippers, sacrifices (murders) to show our
fear of the forces of "heaven." Kings became gods to their people.
Humans have, is seems, always had a need to ascribe anthropomorphic
qualities and motives to the forces of nature and to the nether world and to
the firmament. Thus, some gave their god a male human form and placed "him"
in the heavens. "He" was to be the good (god) guy who would protect them, if
they obeyed certain rules. And to explain all the "bad" stuff that happens,
they created another guy (bad guy) and he lived, they were sure, underneath
everything.....in Hell.
All this imagery has been incredibly useful for financial institutions such
as churces. The threat of Hell and damnation, along with the promise of
someday sitting on the knee of a benevolent "creator" comprise the twin
enticements for supporting a huge corps of therapists called clergy. (Hmm,
sounds like what the public schools do to create their brand of conformity,
"Sit still and be quiet, and you'll get As; but if you don't we'll drug you
into a stupor)
But the Bible goes further, because man is still evolving. Man's view of
"god" changed over the centuries to a more and more enlightened idea. That
advanced thinking is described in the New Testament. For my money, Jesus
(and a few others, like Buddha) led the way out of the era of nature and
animal worship into an era in which god is seen simply as man's highest view
of himself. Jesus called it Love. Christianity changed everything, or, as
Ren said,
>> turn[ed} the status quo on it's head.<<Religion has become a personal thing, instead of a group thing, even though
many people still enjoy group rituals and celebrations or their "truth."
There's even a joke, "Hey, I saw God, and she's black !" -- talk about
upsetting the apple cart...
So, today, we don't grovel in front of a carved statue of a beast, we don't
pray (beg) to an unknowable "man" in the sky, but we grow (if we can) in an
understanding and demonstration of our own highest ethics and best
attributes. If we read the Bible (which I used to but don't these days) we
learn that we are created in the image and likeness of God.
What "good news" (the meaning of "gospel') that is! If we can believe that,
then we know that we are not born as "sinners," but with all the qualities
we need in order to perfect our lives. It means there is no need to beg for
favors, no need to pay for forgiveness, no need to believe that anyone or
anything has power over us or is god's go-between. (Martin Luther drew that
line in the sand for us, saying, in effect, that we could speak driectly to
god, if we wanted to. Wow, what a breakthrough)
We have examples of people in several cultures coming to similar
conclusions. Man has evolved much since the days of cow worship and man
worship. Today, there need be no intermediary (priest) between man and
whatever we view as a creative/benevolent spirit, or god.
The same evolution took place in nations...America was founded on the still
relatively new (in 1750) idea that the individual is more important than the
group, and our government was viewed by the framers as the mechanism to
protect individual citizens from harm, whether from other individuals or
groups. While government schooling is the last vestige of socialist ideas
(top-down control, or subsumption of individuals to the group),
homeschooling is helping our country to overcome that oppression and evolve
to a higher level of self- and universal awareness.
Ned Vare