Where Is God?
The world's major religions
developed during a period of transition between oral traditions of epic events
and the development of written texts.
Most, if not all, stories were embellished for purposes of
persuasion and perpetuity. The duration of a story was dependent upon the
memory and skills of the teller, as well as the interests of the hearer.
By the time these stories were
written into history, they had little resemblance to the original events and
were shaped to meet the interests and understanding of the tellers and scribes
who recorded them.
Yet, religious adherents today
easily approach the point of combat in defense of their understanding or belief
in a particular theology.
Today there are an estimated 38,000 Christian sects or
denominations in the world. All of which base their "theological truth"
on one or more versions of the same New Testament. Like wise, there are a
number of varied interpretations and philosophies among adherents of Judaism or
Islamic faiths based on their own common books of religious law.
Most of these divisions in religious truths are attributable to
geographical locations, whether it is by race, country, village, tribe, or part
of town. A person raised in Alabama
is more likely to be associated with a Western style Christianity; where as a
person born in Iran
will likely become an adherent of Islam. Their religious experiences are
acquired by cultural influences, rather than conscious choices of truth.
Today, millions of dollars and immeasurable energies are spent
to evangelize or proselytize others to our beliefs. Multiple theologies that
have been declared by the many sects and denominations as the "real"
truth.
Eventually one has to ask, are these the results intended by a benevolent
Creator? Or is this the result of human attempts to perpetuate a particular ideology?
When you weigh the human desires for religious truths against
the reality of our existence as a micro-dot in the space of billions of galaxies
and even more planets, where is God? In the measure of time, our whole organic existence
on this planet isn't even a tick's (or tock's) length or speck on the celestial
clock.
We and every living and non-living thing on and in this island planet
is made of material produced by the death of stars. What and who we are has
been shaped by the circumstances and events of this planet. This planet was not
created to suit our life forms.
As products of this planet, we possess the same basic physical
traits and behavior as every other animal. Two eyes, 2 ears, 1 mouth, 4 limbs,
oxygen dependent, experience hunger, seek safety, feel pain, procreated by male
and female, mortality, etc. As humans, which are but one notch above the
animals, we have developed additional philosophies that we have honed and
perfected over hundreds of years; immortality in a reward based after life.
In the time before there were any religions
or gods, survival fears fostered superstitions to answer the unknown and uncontrolled
events in our world and were attributed to mystical forces of good or evil.
Today, although our well developed sciences have answered most questions about
our past, present and future, there is still a significant element of our behavior
that clings to many perpetuated superstitions.
Conclusion: God exists
in the mind of man. KC 1/2012
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