Perhaps where the atheist (and any other person of reason) is most correct in their criticism of Christianity resides in how Christianity is less about conviction and the seeking of Truth and more about finding a home to feel welcomed. It's about convenience. Christianity is not about personal development, contemplating truth, wisdom, and revelation; it is about feeling good about yourself, getting compliments and praises from those around you, and participating in community events and in church services. Most churches do not encourage personal critical thinking skills (especially against the establishment of Christianity itself); most churches, rather, encourage cognitive and behavioral conformity to the idiosyncratic teachings of their pastor or minister. Perhaps the greatest criticism laid at the feet of Christianity is inferences drawn from the evidence offered from Christian people.
Person 'A' says, "God has shown me a great Truth, and He has put on my heart the desire to fulfill His word. I must begin my own church and teach people according to the inspiration that God Himself has given to me through prayer and through the personal relationship that I have with Him. What I do henceforth is to live God's Truth as He has revealed it to me. I shall dedicate all the days of my life in service to He who died for me and my sins."
Person 'B' says the precise same thing as person 'A.' With just as much personal conviction, with just as much reference to Biblical passages, with just as much weight on their heart to accomplish God's will, person 'B' sets forth to proclaim God's Truth.
Now imagine that the teachings of person 'A' conflict with and contradict the teachings of person 'B.' -- How can this be? Did not God inspire them both? Was not God the provider of inspiration? You hear it all the time from people who claim to be doing God's work. God, apparently, wants you to help fund your church's youth ministry to India or to South America. God is putting it on your heart to purify his Church; God wants YOU to revitalize His church. After years of reading the Bible, we can conclude that polygamy is okay -- no wait, after years of reading the Bible, we must conclude that polygamy is forbidden. Well, our church believes that the Eucharist is the real embodiment of Jesus Christ through the bread and the wine -- the bread becomes his flesh, and the wine becomes his blood. No, this is incorrect. Nothing really happens during the Eucharistic celebration -- it is nothing more than a ceremony to recall historical events; no hocus pocus happens.
Well, our church believes that children should be baptized. Oh. Well, our church teaches that children need to reach the age of reason before they are allowed to be baptized. Our minister wants us to attend church twice a week: on Sundays and on Wednesdays. Well, our church says that once a week is good enough. Our church teaches about the existence of purgatory 2 Maccabees 12:46. What? We don't have Bibles with that book in it. Our Bibles are real and yours are "of man."
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Do you see? I don't care who's right and who's wrong. People have been killing one another for centuries in order to determine which school of religious thought best encompasses God's will. Everyone who disagrees with one another also claims that their point of view is best, the most correct, and is what God really teaches while at the same time, condemning those who have different points of view. How arrogant of Christians.
You're not worshiping "God."
You're worshiping "Yourself" as "God."
Hey, that's a nice golden cow you have there. Did "God" tell you to make that too?
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Objectivity is standardized subjectivity.
Perspective. Is there such a thing as a perspective-less perspective? Is there such a thing as a Truth that exists beyond the realm of human understanding? The short answer is "no," and even if there were realities beyond human interpretation, by definition, such realities would be beyond the domain of human comprehension and therefore could not be articulated through human thought, human speech, or through any other means of human communication. In other words, reality exists as a function of human perspective -- of each person's own unique perspective on the world. No person can rightly claim to see the "Truth Beyond Truth" -- to have God's perspective on life, the universe, and everything else.
God's word is mediated through human interaction; God's word has been translated into the human tongue; God's story has been told by human beings and passed down through generations before being written down. The Truths of religion have come into focus through human teachers, through human reflection, and through human thought. It is not as if God visits each person and bestows insight to them individually. I wish this were the case! If God did visit each person individually and taught each person the same material in such a manner that each person would walk away with similar understandings, then there would be no contradictions among those claiming to do God's will! But this is not the world we find ourselves in. Each person and indeed each religious branch of Christianity seems to contradict the teachings found in other branches and sects of Christianity. Is it God who plants the seeds of division among His flock?
Back to the point at hand; so often, in so many speeches and teachings about "God" people reference the Bible. People LOVE referencing the Bible when finding evidence for just about any position imaginable. But missing from the equation is the act of interpretation! Human beings -- sinful and "fallen" human beings -- are the ones who interpret the teachings found in the Bible. And at times it seems that two people can read the same passage and walk away with different and even contradictory meanings. Therefore, quoting the Bible and relying on the Bible to justify a particular point of view seems to suggest that such behavior is more of an indicator of the one doing the quoting rather than on the "Truth" of the particular quoted material.
The lesson here is that our subjectivity influences our perception of the Truths found in Biblical teachings. There is no such thing as a pure objective reality, and the person who claims that there is a pure objective reality must know such a concept as a function of their subjective perspective on the objective reality. Unless someone can demonstrate to me (in my subjective reality) from their subjective reality the proof of an objective reality that exists beyond both of our subjective points of view, then I must assert that "Bible Thumping" or rather "Bible throwing" is more about bending God's word to meet the demands of a particular situation rather than to illuminate a "Truth Beyond Truth."
God's word is mediated through human interaction; God's word has been translated into the human tongue; God's story has been told by human beings and passed down through generations before being written down. The Truths of religion have come into focus through human teachers, through human reflection, and through human thought. It is not as if God visits each person and bestows insight to them individually. I wish this were the case! If God did visit each person individually and taught each person the same material in such a manner that each person would walk away with similar understandings, then there would be no contradictions among those claiming to do God's will! But this is not the world we find ourselves in. Each person and indeed each religious branch of Christianity seems to contradict the teachings found in other branches and sects of Christianity. Is it God who plants the seeds of division among His flock?
Back to the point at hand; so often, in so many speeches and teachings about "God" people reference the Bible. People LOVE referencing the Bible when finding evidence for just about any position imaginable. But missing from the equation is the act of interpretation! Human beings -- sinful and "fallen" human beings -- are the ones who interpret the teachings found in the Bible. And at times it seems that two people can read the same passage and walk away with different and even contradictory meanings. Therefore, quoting the Bible and relying on the Bible to justify a particular point of view seems to suggest that such behavior is more of an indicator of the one doing the quoting rather than on the "Truth" of the particular quoted material.
The lesson here is that our subjectivity influences our perception of the Truths found in Biblical teachings. There is no such thing as a pure objective reality, and the person who claims that there is a pure objective reality must know such a concept as a function of their subjective perspective on the objective reality. Unless someone can demonstrate to me (in my subjective reality) from their subjective reality the proof of an objective reality that exists beyond both of our subjective points of view, then I must assert that "Bible Thumping" or rather "Bible throwing" is more about bending God's word to meet the demands of a particular situation rather than to illuminate a "Truth Beyond Truth."
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Is Christianity Anti-Christian?
Christians agree that there is one God and that Jesus Christ is God made flesh. Indeed, to be considered a Christian, one must follow the teachings of Christ. But while this Truth appears to be self evident, it is also the ultimate problem. And this problem permeates the world around us.
The origin of this problem is that the teachings of Christ are mediated through humans and through human systems of information processing, which are all flawed and contaminated with sin from the start. In other words, that which is sinful claims to be able to process that which has no sin. And with this as the premise, we begin our exploration.
Take a man or a woman who believes that God has put a message upon their heart; with utmost conviction, that particular man or woman begins the process of fulfilling heaven's message. Be it to actualize a life in the service of the Church, or to organize a community around a set of truths of principles, something burns deep in the breast of the one whom God calls. And the feeling to satisfy this unseen motivation cannot be stopped or detoured. The spirit moves and brings with it the flesh.
Take yet another man or woman who has heard the beckoning of the Father (John 6:44). With a spirit set a fire from the mouth of God, that man or woman pursues and chases the the One who has sent the message. With utter conviction, they act in a manner they know will honor the Father who sees them in the privacy of their heart (Matt 6:6).
Now that I have your attention, let us talk about division (Matt 3:24). If there is but one God who sets the hearts of humanity on fire with the Holy Ghost -- if there is but one God who touches the hearts of these whom He beckons in the first place -- there should be no contradiction among those who hear His one voice. Notice that I used the word "contradiction" which means:
One Church claims that God motivated them to act in such-and-such manner and to adopt so-and-so teachings, while another Church acts, believes, and teaches in the opposite for the same reasons. It boils down to this: if God has been identified as the primary motivator, and if there is no contradiction to be found in God (1 John 1:5), how can there be contradiction among the hearts that people have claimed that God has touched? Is God to blame for Christianity's contradiction or are we humans to blame for it? It is easy to see that the structure of some versions of Christianity are built upon a selfish foundation -- a fundamentally un-Christian foundation.
And it is certain that a testament to this division is that each Church will justify their creation with being commanded from God. Each split, each division of Christianity occurs because the one doing the splitting believes that he or she is acting according to what God has placed upon their heart. Here, then, God is no more than a reflection in the mirror in our minds -- and perpetual contradiction is proof.
The origin of this problem is that the teachings of Christ are mediated through humans and through human systems of information processing, which are all flawed and contaminated with sin from the start. In other words, that which is sinful claims to be able to process that which has no sin. And with this as the premise, we begin our exploration.
Take a man or a woman who believes that God has put a message upon their heart; with utmost conviction, that particular man or woman begins the process of fulfilling heaven's message. Be it to actualize a life in the service of the Church, or to organize a community around a set of truths of principles, something burns deep in the breast of the one whom God calls. And the feeling to satisfy this unseen motivation cannot be stopped or detoured. The spirit moves and brings with it the flesh.
Take yet another man or woman who has heard the beckoning of the Father (John 6:44). With a spirit set a fire from the mouth of God, that man or woman pursues and chases the the One who has sent the message. With utter conviction, they act in a manner they know will honor the Father who sees them in the privacy of their heart (Matt 6:6).
Now that I have your attention, let us talk about division (Matt 3:24). If there is but one God who sets the hearts of humanity on fire with the Holy Ghost -- if there is but one God who touches the hearts of these whom He beckons in the first place -- there should be no contradiction among those who hear His one voice. Notice that I used the word "contradiction" which means:
con·tra·dic·tion [kon-truh-dik-shuhn]While there are differences in interpretation of God's influence, there should be no contradiction between essential and fundamental meanings and teachings. Rather, at most, each interpretation should bring attention to a particular nuance of the larger Truth expressed by the one God through many human tongues. But we know from experience that this is not the case at all.
- the act of contradicting; gainsaying or opposition
- assertion of the contrary or opposite; denial.
- a statement or proposition that contradicts or denies another or itself and is logically incongruous.
- direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency.
- a contradictory act, fact, etc.
One Church claims that God motivated them to act in such-and-such manner and to adopt so-and-so teachings, while another Church acts, believes, and teaches in the opposite for the same reasons. It boils down to this: if God has been identified as the primary motivator, and if there is no contradiction to be found in God (1 John 1:5), how can there be contradiction among the hearts that people have claimed that God has touched? Is God to blame for Christianity's contradiction or are we humans to blame for it? It is easy to see that the structure of some versions of Christianity are built upon a selfish foundation -- a fundamentally un-Christian foundation.
And it is certain that a testament to this division is that each Church will justify their creation with being commanded from God. Each split, each division of Christianity occurs because the one doing the splitting believes that he or she is acting according to what God has placed upon their heart. Here, then, God is no more than a reflection in the mirror in our minds -- and perpetual contradiction is proof.
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