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I have been writing a series of articles on religion and history. The response has been more favorable than I would have imagined. I haven't offended anybody.....yet! Which is good, because, although I am careful, religion is a touchy subject. But I will tell you that I have put a LOT of work into this. Why?
Well, I am teaching a 7th Grade class that deals with comparative religion and I think electronic notes are better than handouts. But that is not the reason. I am teaching the class and hence writing the posts.........because it interests me. I think about it. I think about, therefore I write about it on my blog. JoeUser is my home.
A close friend of mine, a born-again Christian, once quoted that "Man is born with a God-shaped hole in his soul." I like that! I don't think that any one definition of God is going to fill that hole or is right for everyone, but I agree with the premise.
Religions, all religions as far as I can tell, are attempts to answer three basic human questions: Who are we? How did we get here? What are we supposed to do?
As human beings, we all address at least one of these questions everyday of our lives. The answer to the first two often imply the answer to the third question, but each of us has to answer at least the "What are we supposed to do?" question. Do you get up and go to work each day? Why? To provide for yourself and you family? Why? Why not just steal? Because society says that stealing is wrong? Why does society say that? I don't need to belabor the point. Pursue the line of reasoning far enough back and you will come to "Because God the creator said not to." And we accept that...more or less. It is introjected into our psyches, if not our souls. We feel guilty if we don't.
I have read Freud and Jung and Adler. I understand the concept that religion is the inner voice of conscience, of racial survival traits, made outwardly manifest. I have read Aleister Crowley saying "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." But I understand that Atheism is religion without God. ("A" meaning without, "Theism" meaning belief in God.) So what? If you can't prove God's existence or nonexistence, then it is just a variant faith.
"I believe in two things, sex and death. And at least after death, you're not nauseous." Woody Allen, Sleeper. Just to be clear, that is sarcasm. It shows how silly the "God is dead" school of thought can be.
Religion effects history. What we believe effects what each of us does everyday and what we do as groups. Ask the tens of thousands who died in the Crusades if religion is unimportant. Ask the people who were inside the World Trade Towers if religion is no longer relevant.
History also effects religion. There is no religion that is the same now as it was a thousand years ago. Not Christianity, not Judaism and not Islam. When I wrote about the Gnostic Gospels, including what was said to be the testimony of the twin brother of Jesus, a respondent said that they were not important, only the four gospels of The New Testament were important. HUH?!? I'm okay with someone saying that they are not legitimate, especially if they can marshall facts to support that position. But, if you are a Christian, you don't want to read about Mary Magdalene seeing Jesus when he was resurrected? I don't get it. It is okay to disagree with something, but I have a hard time with people saying that they "don't need to know about it." Not if they say that they are religious.
There are things that we will never know. Religion is the only branch of human knowledge where we believe that the ancients knew more than we know now. Say "It is so because Moses/Jesus/Mohammed said so" and that argument is pretty much over. Because of this, we have lots of works that either tell unverifiable stories or are contradicted somewhere else. But still, the subject matter is so important that I feel that it bears research.
So, my goal is present what I know and what I wonder about. We can look at the evidence, we can learn as much as we can, but at the end each of us needs to make up our own minds. And mostly, I write for myself.
Well, I am teaching a 7th Grade class that deals with comparative religion and I think electronic notes are better than handouts. But that is not the reason. I am teaching the class and hence writing the posts.........because it interests me. I think about it. I think about, therefore I write about it on my blog. JoeUser is my home.
A close friend of mine, a born-again Christian, once quoted that "Man is born with a God-shaped hole in his soul." I like that! I don't think that any one definition of God is going to fill that hole or is right for everyone, but I agree with the premise.
Religions, all religions as far as I can tell, are attempts to answer three basic human questions: Who are we? How did we get here? What are we supposed to do?
As human beings, we all address at least one of these questions everyday of our lives. The answer to the first two often imply the answer to the third question, but each of us has to answer at least the "What are we supposed to do?" question. Do you get up and go to work each day? Why? To provide for yourself and you family? Why? Why not just steal? Because society says that stealing is wrong? Why does society say that? I don't need to belabor the point. Pursue the line of reasoning far enough back and you will come to "Because God the creator said not to." And we accept that...more or less. It is introjected into our psyches, if not our souls. We feel guilty if we don't.
I have read Freud and Jung and Adler. I understand the concept that religion is the inner voice of conscience, of racial survival traits, made outwardly manifest. I have read Aleister Crowley saying "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." But I understand that Atheism is religion without God. ("A" meaning without, "Theism" meaning belief in God.) So what? If you can't prove God's existence or nonexistence, then it is just a variant faith.
"I believe in two things, sex and death. And at least after death, you're not nauseous." Woody Allen, Sleeper. Just to be clear, that is sarcasm. It shows how silly the "God is dead" school of thought can be.
Religion effects history. What we believe effects what each of us does everyday and what we do as groups. Ask the tens of thousands who died in the Crusades if religion is unimportant. Ask the people who were inside the World Trade Towers if religion is no longer relevant.
History also effects religion. There is no religion that is the same now as it was a thousand years ago. Not Christianity, not Judaism and not Islam. When I wrote about the Gnostic Gospels, including what was said to be the testimony of the twin brother of Jesus, a respondent said that they were not important, only the four gospels of The New Testament were important. HUH?!? I'm okay with someone saying that they are not legitimate, especially if they can marshall facts to support that position. But, if you are a Christian, you don't want to read about Mary Magdalene seeing Jesus when he was resurrected? I don't get it. It is okay to disagree with something, but I have a hard time with people saying that they "don't need to know about it." Not if they say that they are religious.
There are things that we will never know. Religion is the only branch of human knowledge where we believe that the ancients knew more than we know now. Say "It is so because Moses/Jesus/Mohammed said so" and that argument is pretty much over. Because of this, we have lots of works that either tell unverifiable stories or are contradicted somewhere else. But still, the subject matter is so important that I feel that it bears research.
So, my goal is present what I know and what I wonder about. We can look at the evidence, we can learn as much as we can, but at the end each of us needs to make up our own minds. And mostly, I write for myself.
Kepp at it Kupe.
