"I don't
believe in God. I believe in something, just not in God".
When questioned
about their belief in God, a lot people seem to have a very narrow view of what
God is supposed to be, inextricably linked to organised religion. When they
cannot reconcile that narrow view with their own belief system they state that
they do not believe in God and therefore have no relationship with the divine.
That relationship may still be desired, as it could bring security,
unconditional love, support at times of need and a sense of belonging, but it
would constitute a lie to oneself and can therefore not be maintained. Many who
claim they are non-believers however, are still left with the feeling that
there is something bigger than ourselves, something they would like to connect
to at some level, just not within the traditional context of organised
religion.
As I see it, there are many ways to approach the concept of God and organised religion is just one of them.
As I see it, there are many ways to approach the concept of God and organised religion is just one of them.
Organised
religion generally poses the personal God, usually male, an omnipotent (all
powerful) being who rules the world and who, by allowing human beings the
freedom of choice, also allows the existence of His Antagonist, the Devil. This
God wants His subjects to come to Him of their own free will, but when they
don't, they will spend eternity in the flames of Hell. There is only one life
and it must be lived by God's rules. Within Christianity, there are ways of
purging sins, through confession and true repentance, in which case an
officially assigned representative of God can grant you forgiveness and cleanse
your soul. If you can not get access to such a representative of God before you
die, tough luck, you die and go to Hell whether you are repentant or not. Up
until very recently, the Catholic church did not allow stillborn babies into
heaven, they had to stay in 'Limbo' for eternity because they were not baptised
before death. ('Limbo' is a place just outside Heaven, away from Hell but also
away from the presence of God.)
I personally
believe that this is a very limited view of God. This God is not omnipotent;
there seem to be enormous shortcomings to his power if he is incapable to grant
forgiveness to a repenting soul, without an intervening human representative
(e.g. priest) acting on his behalf. This God is not omnipresent (present
everywhere at the same time) either: he is absent in Limbo, absent in Hell for
eternity and absent until access has been granted through baptism, again
performed by an officially assigned human representative. Choice is relative,
here: 'you do as I say, or you will burn in Hell for eternity'. After death,
this God refuses shelter to anyone who has not abided by his rules; the concept
of forgiveness is pretty short lived.
Access to heaven
is, up to a certain point, simply luck of the draw. It is not granted on the
basis of your contribution to the world as a caring, loving, non-judgemental
human being, who is never afraid of helping out other people, and making right
and just decisions, rather than ones driven by personal gain. This may play a
part, but not the most important one. Access to heaven is gained mainly by
baptism, worship on Sunday, by praying and reading your bible, by telling God
you think he's great, you love him and can't live without him. So if you happen
to be born in a place that has never heard of this God; if you die alone; if
you cannot get access to one of those representatives before you die, who can
grant forgiveness for your sins and cleanse your soul; if you die angry with
God because you have been hurt and abused, you are not allowed to be with God.
You go to Hell.
Life in this context is not a process of growing: it is a cruel and unfair test, with most people in this world seriously disadvantaged, or even incapable of passing, through circumstances beyond their control.
Life in this context is not a process of growing: it is a cruel and unfair test, with most people in this world seriously disadvantaged, or even incapable of passing, through circumstances beyond their control.
Organised
religions are frameworks, encompassing theological theories about the nature of
the divine, usually represented as absolute truths, and rules about approaching
and incorporating the divine into one's life, usually predicting dire
consequences if these rules are not adhered to. The most important thing to
understand about organised religions is that they have to keep their
institutions alive and as such it is within their best interest to stipulate
worship through their facilities, using their people. The need to be needed in
order to survive must prevail, because otherwise, they will cease to exist.
That is why giving money to religious institutions, in collects or as gifts, is
considered a divine duty, why one can only receive true salvation through the
institutions and why members are ordered to keep coming back, every morning in
the past, and now, as most congregations are waning, at least once a week.
Institutions, at their best, do wonderful things. Through them, wonderful
people help other people in wonderful ways. But they remain organisations whose
belief structures and divine rules are coloured by a need to survive.
I believe that
the problem many people seem to have with the concept of God could be due to a
failure of organised religions to move with the times, theologically. Many
individual representatives of the churches do not subscribe to the idea of hell
as they used to, nor to the idea of God as a vengeful, punishing force. Many
even acknowledge the possibility of a relationship with God outside the
confounds of church and traditional worship, but in essence, the churches still
put forward an imposing patriarchal society in all aspects of religious life: a
personal male God, benevolent father, head of the household, prescribing a
framework of morals and lifestyle rules and restrictions as well as regular
worship within religious institutions.
The feminine is
still entirely absent from the divine. Mary has never been granted divinity;
she may be the 'mother of God' but she is still considered human. The
archangels are male; Jesus is male. Nobody in this divine family has ever had
sex because sex, although quite necessary for the survival of the human race
(we can not all achieve 'immaculate conceptions'), is still dirty and, at the
heart of it, sinful. At the heart of most religious life is still worship,
rather than love for one another in day to day life. Why would God care so much
about being worshipped and thanked all the time? Does he have such a big ego?
Monotheism is the
existence of a single omnipresent, omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent deity,
or God. It is claimed that Christianity is monotheistic, but there are some
problems with this claim. In practice we do not see an omnipotent and
omnipresent God, as discussed earlier in this article. His omniscience is
questionable also. Firstly, his perspective is limited by his sex: he is male
and therefore lacks female perspective. (Although in the Old Testament this
view of God as solely male is contradicted, e.g. Gen 5.1-2: ... When God created
man, he made them in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and
he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.) Secondly, there are
many occasions in the Old Testament where God asks questions in order to get
answers, e.g Job 1.7 (To Satan:) "Whence have you come?" (God does
not know where Satan came from) or: Gen 18.26: And the Lord said, "If I
find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for
their sake." (God does not know how many righteous people live in Sodom).
But even if we are to take the bible as written by fallible people, rather than
God himself, it is still hard to sustain the notion that this God is truly
monotheistic.
So why is this an
issue at all? Well, it is an issue because there is an inherent contradiction
in organised religion. We are told on the one hand that this God is
omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient, but on the other hand, the entire
frameworks prescribed to us by organised religions tell us that he is none of
these things. The theology limits God's power, God's understanding, God's
knowledge, God's reach. The fact is, that many people who claim they 'don't
believe in God but believe in something' believe in God as something much more
than that.
True monotheism,
which Christianity claims to be but is not, encompasses a God that is truly
omniscient, neither male nor female, and at the same time, both; a God that is
truly omnipotent, who controls all and yet nothing because the world would run
this way because there is no other way; a God that is omnipresent, who is all
things and yet, nothing, because the very nature of being is already finite.
This God is past, present and future, and all at the same time because this God
is time and beyond time. This God is so all encompassing that we cannot escape
it, no matter how 'bad' we are or how much we deny its existence. To deny this
God would be to deny ourselves. This God does not need or demand worship, nor
praise or prayer, because this God has no ego. Rather, we are the ones that
need prayer, in order to connect back with what is true. Connecting to this God
would mean connecting with what needs to be, to embrace life. Hell is merely an
illusion, a state of denial, an absence, rather than an active force of being.
Hell does not truly exists because God is omnipresent and therefore a place
without God can not exist.
So in answer to
the main question: does God exist, we might say this: the concept of God as an
all-encompassing thing, or life itself in all shapes and forms, embraces any
view of the world around us. There is no limit to what you can believe or
disbelieve. We know so little and we are so little, in this world. One might
say that angels and ghosts and fairies do not exist, because there is no 'real'
proof. There is even less proof that they don't exist. One might say that
reincarnation is just an inability to accept that when we're dead, that's it,
we're really not that important. On the other hand, not believing it might just
be an excuse not to learn what we need to learn, because if we don't, we will
have to in the next life. The existential doubt of the existence of God has
always struck me as slightly odd. The sun rises every day, doesn't it? You are
breathing, aren't you? Do you deny the existence of the universe, just because
we can not measure it, just because we do not understand?
So what about
that relationship with God? How can you connect to all these things at the same
time, and why would you bother if you don't believe in the grey man on the
cloud?
Well, the answer is simple. You don't have a relationship with God for God, that would be ridiculous. You have a relationship with God or 'the divine' for you, in order to find a moment of peace and tranquillity and in order to feel connected and in control in a very demanding, stressful world. Addressing God in those brief moments does not automatically mean you believe God is a man on a cloud. You could pray, you could talk to God when no one can hear you, write a letter to God, do yoga, meditate, take some quiet time of contemplation. You won't be lying to yourself. You can have your theological cake and eat it. And at its best, maybe that is what organised religion manages to offer to some of us: an almostm tangible relationship with something that is ultimately beyond definition.
Well, the answer is simple. You don't have a relationship with God for God, that would be ridiculous. You have a relationship with God or 'the divine' for you, in order to find a moment of peace and tranquillity and in order to feel connected and in control in a very demanding, stressful world. Addressing God in those brief moments does not automatically mean you believe God is a man on a cloud. You could pray, you could talk to God when no one can hear you, write a letter to God, do yoga, meditate, take some quiet time of contemplation. You won't be lying to yourself. You can have your theological cake and eat it. And at its best, maybe that is what organised religion manages to offer to some of us: an almostm tangible relationship with something that is ultimately beyond definition.
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