In my life I have always been interested in the concept of God. I've never been able to bring myself to believe that some omniscient omnipotent omnipresent super being created all of reality on a whim and put us here to experience it. It's too easy, too clean. Nothing I've experienced has screamed to me that this existence was developed through divinity.
My curiosity, and lack of ability to simply accept one persons explanation over my own observation, has led me to repeatedly ask questions that make many people with less flexible perspectives uncomfortable. The fact that I have yet to get the same answer twice from anyone has only enforced my interest. I have had many many discussions with Christians of a wide array of denominations. Some of the more memorable ones are those that have tried to justify to themselves the reason they believe rather than concluding that they have made a choice regardless or evidence and are following a belief that means something to them. An example of this is a discussion I had with a gentleman in a christian bookstore. His opinion seemed hinged on the improbability of sciences description of creation. He said that he had read in christian science literature that the human eye is so complex, that it would take 40 times the projected existence of the planet earth for it to have developed from single celled organisms. My rebuttal to that idea is that if just the human eye, only a minute fraction of the cellular makeup of just humans, not to mention all the other organic life on earth, was that complex, how much more complex of a being would be what God is described as. And how much MORE improbable would it be through the advent of infinite time times infinite chance for a creature of that magnitude to have spontaneously come into existence. The next on the list for justifications for belief in God by way of rationalization, is from another discussion I had in a christian book store. A young man was adamant that every culture in recorded history had developed from a monotheistic philosophical background. *(while I could argue against that citing specific sources that wasn't the point.)* This way of thinking is commonly known as the "accepted reality" viewpoint. What the vast majority of people believe must be true or have some basis in reality. A case in point against this is obviously the whole "world is flat" or "sun revolves around the earth" problems that were had millenia ago. But even more to the point is that the vast majority *(I don't like making absolutes)* of all the known cultures in recorded history believed in large, wise, long-lived if not immortal, serpent creatures. That's right, dragons. So while I'm not about to start believing in dragons based on what others have believed in the past, I'm certainly not going to start believing in God for that reason either.
So here we come to an impasse. There are those that choose to believe and there are those who do not or cannot. I feel that religion at one point in the development of civilization was useful and good. There was a need for structure and a central binding to community existence in order to create a working society. Most religions espouse the very same ideals, love, trust, honesty, integrity. Good, core values for anyone to follow. And again most religious beliefs have focused on an ideal. A mascot if you will. For Christianity, that mascot is Jesus. Jesus was the perfect person. Turned the other cheek, didn't lie, didn't try to get out of his responsibilities, respected his father, was hard working and kind even to those less fortunate than him. He was a great person. To the christian people he embodied, or was set up as an idol TO embody, the very best features and social attributes that anyone could display. And operates as a strong guidepost by which to measure yourself. Now, somewhat off the immediate subject, few people stopped to consider the absurdity of Christianity being the majority shareholder of the United States religious community, when Christianity at it's core is a socialistic ideal. That's right, Jesus was a commie. He believed in feeding the poor and that no man should stand above another under God. He believed in universal health care, he never asked if the Lepers were insured. He spent a great deal of his time being a one man social service. Christianity, generally speaking, espouses that everyone is to serve god with their strengths and abilities, and is to be forgiven and assisted by their fellow man with regards to their shortcomings. So how is it that those who so strongly believe that Christ is the end all be all example of what's good in humanity, and should be copied exactly, don't think for a second that giving back to the community and creating better and more comprehensive social services is serving their beliefs in a more meaningful and fundamental way than attending church could ever be? Not too mention that the core of the most predominant "christian" fundamentalists groups are ruled over by extremely wealthy xenophobes, with little to no charitable history. I've met many many people who claim Jesus as their savior, and yet seem to fail to understand the core tenets of Christs' teachings.
So back to the idea of Jesus as a mascot. Many forms of the martial art Kung Fu use the idea of animal forms to focus mental energy in order to find harmony and style of movement. So the idealistic view of living as Jesus lived, could be quite simply stated and Jesus Style Kung Fu. A way of combating the everyday stress and worry and strife that we all as humans in our lives face. Martial Artists at no point BELIEVE themselves to be the animal that they're "channeling," nor do they necessarily believe that there are animal spirits that they are communing with in order to gain their prowess. So there is no real need to believe that Jesus was the son of some super being that created everything in order to follow some basic rules of how to behave in a community where every thing you do has a chance to either help or hurt someone else.
So in the end I guess that I have to say that I could never believe in the whole deity thing. But that I don't really see anything bad with what a lot of religions state at their core. They just have a lot of really misguided people ruining the holy experience for those that might just get it.
Well I hope you're all practicing your Jesus style. Being nice and having integrity is far more important than any level of monetary or social success you could get as far as I'm concerned. And hopefully the whole Karma thing IS real and it will do you some personal good in the long run. Guess we have to wait to find out huh.
Happy Socialism!
