The Gods' Children...
Someone asked me earlier this year about my religious beliefs...and I was stumped. I guess I am somewhere between an Agnostic or Atheist--I believe in the unity of everything being all a part a Whole...but I choose not to believe in a God or Heaven or Hell. Natural Order is about as close to a deity as I claim. I don't know what the proper term is for what I believe.
When I was asked why, I had to think long and hard about it. And I guess what it comes down to is that I believe that the need for Gods and Goddesses and Spirits owes more to prehistoric imagination and a lack of understanding than it does the revealed word of any almighty being. At some point, some troglodyte out there saw the sun and the moon and started talking to them as friends...and where the sun was the same every day (except for the occasional eclipse) the moon was ever changing...but within repeatable patterns. You factor in gale force winds and certain people dying where others are spared...and it led to serious questions. And someone came up with the idea that there was a personality behind this phenomena...and that if we can try to make this power happy, our lives will be better. This of course, led to someone telling everyone that he had all the answers and if they made him special and powerful he would share happiness with the others. This is where shamans and priests came from...and then religion came soon after.
I guess the real reason I don't believe in the Judeo-Christian viewpoint of God is that I refuse to believe in an omnipotent force who creates "Children" solely to praise him for their creation, gives them intelligence and free will, and then smites them for not doing what he says.
I hate it when parents use their kids as chess pawns, holding love over them as a carrot so they will do what they want.
I see it in people all the time--the last thing I want is that in a supreme being.
And the idea of the afterlife is the biggest swindle of them all. The Judeo-Christian concept of Heaven is an idea that can only come from a slave culture, developed by overseers to keep them at bay. If you toil in this life, no matter how hard it is, but believe in this higher force, you will be rewarded with togetherness and joy and whatever is culturally relevant to you...but only after you die. It is perfect. Requires no proof, but the slightest wavering in devotion and you will be cast into an eternity of the opposite of heaven...everything you hate for all eternity.
So, I guess when I die and go to Hell, it will be all lying, manipulative, power-hungry, two-faced people acting all pious and using the promise of love to control other people. So, you know, like Earth as it is now...but for all eternity.
Better to believe in a Universe that is all made of the same stuff, from an Ant to a Supernova...that is all Unified...but Phyiscal.
Less disappointment, that way.
When I was asked why, I had to think long and hard about it. And I guess what it comes down to is that I believe that the need for Gods and Goddesses and Spirits owes more to prehistoric imagination and a lack of understanding than it does the revealed word of any almighty being. At some point, some troglodyte out there saw the sun and the moon and started talking to them as friends...and where the sun was the same every day (except for the occasional eclipse) the moon was ever changing...but within repeatable patterns. You factor in gale force winds and certain people dying where others are spared...and it led to serious questions. And someone came up with the idea that there was a personality behind this phenomena...and that if we can try to make this power happy, our lives will be better. This of course, led to someone telling everyone that he had all the answers and if they made him special and powerful he would share happiness with the others. This is where shamans and priests came from...and then religion came soon after.
I guess the real reason I don't believe in the Judeo-Christian viewpoint of God is that I refuse to believe in an omnipotent force who creates "Children" solely to praise him for their creation, gives them intelligence and free will, and then smites them for not doing what he says.
I hate it when parents use their kids as chess pawns, holding love over them as a carrot so they will do what they want.
I see it in people all the time--the last thing I want is that in a supreme being.
And the idea of the afterlife is the biggest swindle of them all. The Judeo-Christian concept of Heaven is an idea that can only come from a slave culture, developed by overseers to keep them at bay. If you toil in this life, no matter how hard it is, but believe in this higher force, you will be rewarded with togetherness and joy and whatever is culturally relevant to you...but only after you die. It is perfect. Requires no proof, but the slightest wavering in devotion and you will be cast into an eternity of the opposite of heaven...everything you hate for all eternity.
So, I guess when I die and go to Hell, it will be all lying, manipulative, power-hungry, two-faced people acting all pious and using the promise of love to control other people. So, you know, like Earth as it is now...but for all eternity.
Better to believe in a Universe that is all made of the same stuff, from an Ant to a Supernova...that is all Unified...but Phyiscal.
Less disappointment, that way.