Which Way Again? or All Aboard Part 3

It is like a finger pointing toward the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory. ~Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon




[This wooden statue of Quan Âm Nghìn Mắt Nghìn Tay (Quan Am with 1000 eyes and 1000 hands) was fashioned in 1656 in Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. It is now located in the History Museum in Hanoi.]

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I have heard, and even used, the description of religion being the hand that points to something greater (i.e. God). When I gave this some thought it started to make sense to me. The religions that acknowledge a creator God each have beliefs, traditions, and rituals that helps guide them towards God. Some say their way is straighter, while others say theirs is the only way. If one does view religion as a hand pointing toward the Divine they are essentially saying that God is found in one direction only, but by saying He is best found one way negates all the others. God is found to the left, not the right; he is found up and not down. This is when the attribute of Omnipresence invaded my thoughts.

[Excerpt from Wikipedia]

"Omnipresence is the property of being present everywhere. According to eastern theism, God is present everywhere.

In western theism "Omnipresence" is explained in a bit unclear way with just the ability to be present in every place at any, and/or every, time..."

I believe this is one of the major differences between Western and Eastern religions. Although, in the West, God has the ability to be everywhere but He is only found in certain pockets, hymns, and prayers. God is not found amongst the unbelievers, the sinners nor in the secular and progressive world. God is only found in one direction, the direction that YOU believe in. But, He is not found in this direction just because you believe in it, he is found in this direction because your religion's scripture, traditions, and rituals instruct you into only looking into one direction. Any other direction will fail in leading you towards the Divine, but by limiting oneself, locking your eyes into place, you limit the growth of your spiritual journey. I'm not saying that you must believe in every belief known to Man, but I do not believe that God can be contained to a single interpretation (description). I am not trying to persuade anyone that their beliefs are false but you can enrich your spiritual life when you come to understand what your brother believes.

I've said before that this suffocation/entrapment of God is why I left Christianity, and now I take that statement back. I have not left Christianity but I've chosen to expand my spirituality beyond Christianity to grow and flourish among other religious and non-religious beliefs and practices. It will always be a part of me but I don't think I'll ever hold myself to exclusively one religious tradition. I expose myself to other beliefs so that I may experience and embrace the Spirit. Some may say I'm just "covering the bases" and praying to every god to firmly establish myself a place in Paradise/Afterlife/Heaven/Moksha. I am just opening my eyes so that I may "see in all directions at the same time" (Death Cab for Cutie reference. If you don't get it, don't worry.).

So, at least for me, the hand (representing religion) must point in all directions simultaneously because God can be found in all directions that follows in the spirit of love. Now, am I "limiting" God because I say that God can be found in all directions that promote love towards your fellow man? Some would say yes but I am describing a Creator God, and even that description is pointless! In fact all descriptions, theories (theology), titles, and names are ALL MAN MADE. When we open our mouths and even say the word "God", the word is just a title, a description based on a human language pronounced and spoken with human tongues. A chair is called a chair because WE NAMED IT a chair. It's function, name, and everything associated with the word "chair" have all been assigned by humans.

Religion is the vehicle, the language we use when we speak of the Divine. Religion does not need to be defended because it is just a series of symbols. What those symbols represent to those that use them is what should be sacred and NOT the symbol itself. Let us take care to understand what our brother's symbols represent and what it means to them. I'm not speaking about being politically correct but to try and learn from one another. Even if we argue as to which symbols best represents the Divine we can at least acknowledge the eternal truths that those symbols represent. Love, Compassion, and Justice.

Psalm 139:7-10 (New International Version)

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

All Aboard? Part 2 or Go Mormons Go

A few weeks ago I posted the question Why would God make it so difficult for anyone to choose the right religious system that will get them to Heaven?

Of course the question assumes that there is a God, Heaven, and a way to get there. With that assumption we mus first attempt, with our feeble mortal minds, to figure out the "why". Whatever labels that any of us may have for the divine are just that, labels. For God to be God He (she/it? more labels...) would have to transcend all known human thought and labels. Even the word God is a label but we would have to break out of our ever expanding snowglobe of a universe to see if our labels match up with what we consider reality. So without going into a discussion about what truly is reality or what God may or may not be is beyond our understanding. Let's keep it in the context of a "loving Christian God" since that is how most Americans perceive God.

When Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit they doomed us all. Not because of the fruit but because of disobedience. They broke the Law and sin entered into the Human experience. And ever since then we are bound, cursed by that one act. But there is hope. God sent his only begotten Son (God incarnate) to pay the price. But who is collecting? To rephrase the question, since God set the rules and God paid the price then is God also bound to his own rules? Can God not pardon us directly wiping away all sin (including Original Sin) without God sacrificing Himself? Does that mean that the Law God created is now God since he is also bound to it? If he were not there wouldn't be a need for Jesus' sacrifice and we could come to Him directly. It almost seems as if God is powerless to the Law He himself created. But what hope do we have if even Almighty God is powerless?

Jesus? Maybe, maybe not.

If there wasn't a Law established by God there would be complete Cosmic chaos so we all have to play by the rules, including God. Since the Law demands death to anyone that sins only a divine sinless being can fulfill this demand. The belief in this sacrifice is what saves the mortal soul.

Sound difficult? Your safe as long as you have the right belief. The Law, not God, is asking you to have the right belief but with thousands of religions and beliefs over the ages the odds are astronomically against you in picking the right one. If, as in the previous post, the Mormons have the correct belief then one can come close to salvation but still burn if you are a protestant. They're both under the umbrella of Christianity but only one sect has the truth.

So how can the human mind with limited time and energy pick the Right belief? We can't! We can either be lucky enough to be born a Mormon or willing to speak to their evangelists and convert when they knock on your door.

I came to this understanding after a long long spiritual crisis that I will cover in detail at a later time. I came to the point where I could no longer claim myself a Christian. I found myself sitting on a fence between two religions and I cornered myself into believing that I had to choose one! Period. I was torturing myself by my loss of faith in Christianity but was also tormented by the fact that if I do choose another religion how long will it be before I leave it and return to fence sitting? That's when I realized that I would never be free of the torment of choosing the right religion because there is no right religion. I can spend a lifetime scrutinizing and sifting through religions looking for scientific, moral, historical, and theological flaws desperately searching for the right one but I would never find it. I was trying to save my life only to realize I was slowly losing it. So I let go. I stopped trying to save my life and slowly I have felt a richer love for God and my fellow man then I had in my previous life.

I can not say that I am doing the right thing and eventually I might just pick up a religious system that helps to express my spirituality. But I can not believe that Almighty God (if there even is a God) expects our feeble and mortal minds to pick the correct belief. I do not worship God out of fear of Hell or to receive Heaven as a reward. The gift of life itself and the chance to worship my Creator is Heaven enough for me.

Peace be upon you all.

All Aboard?

If you don't have an open mind about learning and/or accepting other faiths as possibly valid then you should probably skip this post entirely so that I don't waste your valuable time. And time is valuable so why waste it on reading something that will irritate you for the rest of the day?

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A little over a week ago I wrote about a South Park clip that touched on the topic over which religion will (possibly) keep you out of Hell. You can read the original post here. In the post I described the frustration one may get when "shopping" for a religion as a huge train station with dozens of trains all departing for Heaven. The Passenger has a ticket bearing a single word, Faith. All the trains look similar and all state they're heading for the same destination but which one do you board?

Are they really all heading in the same direction? Why even board a train, why not drive (or walk) there yourself? Would that be easier? Which is more rewarding: riding a train following a predetermined set of tracks to your destination or making your own trail?

I use the word "shopping" as a reflection of the American attitude (or maybe reflex) towards everything in life including religion. Too impatient to reach Enlightenment, try the gift of God, given freely by Christ's sacrifice, found in Christianity. Theological concepts in Christianity too difficult or too contradictory to scientific evidence, try some Jewish Mysticism. The point is that America is blessed with a large (if not the largest) selection of religions available to them. Or is it a curse?

Yesterday at church the pastor gave a very touching, heart warming, while interesting sermon on the true meaning of Christmas. With Christmas almost upon us I believe most churches delivered similar sermons focusing on Christ as the focal point of the holiday season. He started by going over the Gospel accounts on the birth of Jesus and how we as Christians can rely on the Word of God as factual truth. We are to focus on that truth as we celebrate Christmas regardless of what society may say. Society promotes inclusiveness saying it's "alright to worship Muhammad, or Buddha equally as we worship Jesus". We must put society's view on inclusiveness beneath us since Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So not only is Christianity a valid way to Heaven it's the ONLY way.

When I heard this I didn't feel offended, hurt, or even mad. I felt a deep sense of sadness not for myself but for the message that Jesus brought and displayed with his life. Now I know this is a church that exists to spread a certain message about Jesus but it got me thinking. Of course it depends how you interpret the Life of Jesus although some may say there is only one interpretation. Was he not inclusive when he wined and dined with sinners, thieves, and whores? Was he not inclusive when he said "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." [Matthew 19:14 NIV] Now some may say there is a difference between being inclusive to all people but not to all walks of life. Who can say that your personal lifestyle and religious views (or lack thereof) are not directly tied to your psyche? I'm not saying that we can't attack other religious viewpoints because it might destroy someone's sense of reality (or feelings), I'm just saying what's the point in battling over religious viewpoints we can't prove? People are going to naturally defend their view since it's part of their psyche. If we each firmly believe that we're getting on the right train why should we dissuade others from boarding another?

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.."

If the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the little children can we not also learn to return to that age of innocence and love? If children are born without a sense of prejudice and instinctively know how to love and accept others for who they are how did we, as grownups, stray?