It's Like Wagon Train; You Just Never Get Anywhere
That, I found, is the problem with people who forsake "organized religion" in favor of being what I think they call "seekers". The purpose of this writing is not to prove that organized religion, specifically Christianity, is factual, but to show that it is far more rational than...well, seeking. I believe the "seekers" call themselves Universalists.
People who subscribe to belief systems such as Universalism, are those who, as I understand it, are constantly trying to find and expand new thresholds of their spiritual life. They forsake organized, traditional systems like Christianity because they find them too close-minded. I get the sense that they feel like rats in a maze; sure there are many places to go, but inevitably you hit a wall. Subscribing to a belief such as Universalism allows them, they feel, to break down that wall and seek other levels of spiritual awareness beyond the boundaries set by traditional religions. These people are not necessarily atheists, however, they don't really believe that God can be defined in any consistent manner. They are not really sure if He is involved with humans on any sort of personal level; He might be, but then He might not. In fact, as I understand it, while they believe He might exist, they also believe He might not. So I guess I guess you could characterize them as agnostics, who still leave in the possibility that atheism could be right.
Their arguments against the Christian God being true are, in part, rooted in their belief that God as Christianity defines Him is inscrutable; that is, He cannot be defined, or understood, or known to any extent, and therefore the religion itself is moot. Christians cannot be taken seriously, nor their advocations of God's workings in their lives because God can't really be known so how can Christians actually believe that what they experience from God is truly from Him? In addition, much of what Christians say God does could in fact be attributed to simple human endeavor and/or coincidence.
Now, the part I disagree most vehemently with is the part about not being able to know God. That He is inscrutable. I believe that this is a totally false and fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity. My reasoning is this: It is true human beings can never know God completely, nor completely define Him. I agree that it is simply not possible that a finite human could ever define or know totally an infinite God (God, by very definition is infinite). God has to define Himself, and he DOES this in the Bible. The Bible makes very clear who God is, what he expects from us, and what His purposes for his children are. Now, the Bible also says that God's ways are unknowable and His judgements unsearchable. But I believe it is a misinterpretation of Scripture to say that this means that God is completely inscrutable. What these verses are saying is simply that God is infinite, and all-powerful, and omniscient, and omnipresent and therefore man will never be able to understand God apart from what He allows us to understand. And He does allow us to know Him to an extent; that's the whole point of the Bible. In the Scriptures God is very clear on who He is in terms of relating to us. So because God reveals Himself in the Bible, the Christian is not seeking to define his own spiritual experience, nor is he trying to define God because God has already done both of these things. And God defining himself as opposed to man defining Him makes perfect sense. I mean, would you want to worship a God that your limited, feeble mind could discern completely? Wouldn't that be scary? Doesn't the mere fact of God being God sort of imply that there will be things about Him you'll never grasp, in this life or the next? If God is by very nature who He is, then obviously man cannot define Him, and obviously in order for us to relate to Him at all he would have to define Himself.
The Universalists reject all of that. They seek to make their own spiritual way. They seek to discover things for themselves. Unfortunately, this is a very sad and exceptionally limiting line of thinking, and it can lead to only one inevitable conclusion: they will keep seeking until the day they die and they will never, ever have any real truth, or peace, nor will they ever find any kind of answer. For a human being to seek his own spiritual awareness limits him to the confines of his earthly body; what he can see, smell, touch, and taste, and what his limited and feeble mind can think about. Talk about being confining and close-minded! To the Christian, much is experienced beyond ourselves. Like answers to prayers (the Universalist will never know this because they don't pray, and if they do, it's not with faith but to a God that they believe may or may not exist), like the baptism, conviction, and peace of the Holy Spirit (which the Universalist will never know for obvious reasons), like the sense of true salvation and hope for the afterlife (which the Universalist will never know because they don't know anything about salvation, or the afterlife, and don't believe in it, and even if they do they are open to the fact that they could be wrong).
So, unfortunately, in an effort accept and leave their minds open to everything, they ultimately can believe in nothing. And that is as far as their seeking will take them.
-Whateverhorses
People who subscribe to belief systems such as Universalism, are those who, as I understand it, are constantly trying to find and expand new thresholds of their spiritual life. They forsake organized, traditional systems like Christianity because they find them too close-minded. I get the sense that they feel like rats in a maze; sure there are many places to go, but inevitably you hit a wall. Subscribing to a belief such as Universalism allows them, they feel, to break down that wall and seek other levels of spiritual awareness beyond the boundaries set by traditional religions. These people are not necessarily atheists, however, they don't really believe that God can be defined in any consistent manner. They are not really sure if He is involved with humans on any sort of personal level; He might be, but then He might not. In fact, as I understand it, while they believe He might exist, they also believe He might not. So I guess I guess you could characterize them as agnostics, who still leave in the possibility that atheism could be right.
Their arguments against the Christian God being true are, in part, rooted in their belief that God as Christianity defines Him is inscrutable; that is, He cannot be defined, or understood, or known to any extent, and therefore the religion itself is moot. Christians cannot be taken seriously, nor their advocations of God's workings in their lives because God can't really be known so how can Christians actually believe that what they experience from God is truly from Him? In addition, much of what Christians say God does could in fact be attributed to simple human endeavor and/or coincidence.
Now, the part I disagree most vehemently with is the part about not being able to know God. That He is inscrutable. I believe that this is a totally false and fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity. My reasoning is this: It is true human beings can never know God completely, nor completely define Him. I agree that it is simply not possible that a finite human could ever define or know totally an infinite God (God, by very definition is infinite). God has to define Himself, and he DOES this in the Bible. The Bible makes very clear who God is, what he expects from us, and what His purposes for his children are. Now, the Bible also says that God's ways are unknowable and His judgements unsearchable. But I believe it is a misinterpretation of Scripture to say that this means that God is completely inscrutable. What these verses are saying is simply that God is infinite, and all-powerful, and omniscient, and omnipresent and therefore man will never be able to understand God apart from what He allows us to understand. And He does allow us to know Him to an extent; that's the whole point of the Bible. In the Scriptures God is very clear on who He is in terms of relating to us. So because God reveals Himself in the Bible, the Christian is not seeking to define his own spiritual experience, nor is he trying to define God because God has already done both of these things. And God defining himself as opposed to man defining Him makes perfect sense. I mean, would you want to worship a God that your limited, feeble mind could discern completely? Wouldn't that be scary? Doesn't the mere fact of God being God sort of imply that there will be things about Him you'll never grasp, in this life or the next? If God is by very nature who He is, then obviously man cannot define Him, and obviously in order for us to relate to Him at all he would have to define Himself.
The Universalists reject all of that. They seek to make their own spiritual way. They seek to discover things for themselves. Unfortunately, this is a very sad and exceptionally limiting line of thinking, and it can lead to only one inevitable conclusion: they will keep seeking until the day they die and they will never, ever have any real truth, or peace, nor will they ever find any kind of answer. For a human being to seek his own spiritual awareness limits him to the confines of his earthly body; what he can see, smell, touch, and taste, and what his limited and feeble mind can think about. Talk about being confining and close-minded! To the Christian, much is experienced beyond ourselves. Like answers to prayers (the Universalist will never know this because they don't pray, and if they do, it's not with faith but to a God that they believe may or may not exist), like the baptism, conviction, and peace of the Holy Spirit (which the Universalist will never know for obvious reasons), like the sense of true salvation and hope for the afterlife (which the Universalist will never know because they don't know anything about salvation, or the afterlife, and don't believe in it, and even if they do they are open to the fact that they could be wrong).
So, unfortunately, in an effort accept and leave their minds open to everything, they ultimately can believe in nothing. And that is as far as their seeking will take them.
-Whateverhorses