Questions

    Today, as at no other time in the history, mankind has achieved the potential ability to destroy all biological life forms of this planet. We have amassed enough lethal chemicals, lethal viruses, lethal radioactive material; and perfected delivery systems sophisticated enough to annihilate every living organism on our island in the universe. The obsession to obtain more “stuff” and power, greed, has created a potentially destructive atmosphere of social relations between people, theologically and politically. More money is spent worldwide on military armament and wars than on humanitarian needs of education, food, or medical services for all 7.1 trillion persons on the planet.

     During this destructive drive to the brink of a potential disaster, we have had the available counsel and guidance of many gods, yet here we are. It is exceedingly difficult to point to any one religious philosophy as an example to be emulated that could, or would steer mankind onto a path of responsible stewardship of our world. Although religions have espoused a respect for natural resources as well as for life, most have contributed to the conditions we see today by turning a blind eye to the devastating effects of our lifestyle choices on nature. The depletion of rain forests and other natural resources; the increased contamination of oceans; irreversible damage to our ultraviolet radiation protection from the sun; the genocide of races and cultures have existed for centuries, and continues unabated even among today’s enlightened and religious generations.

     So, how do we stop this runaway stampede of self destruction, like lemmings marching toward the sea? One way might be to become better acquainted with the gods of the 1% as they seem to be far more responsive than any of the others. Considering the fact that the 1% has the money and power to control just about everything in the world, there is probably very little that can be done without their consent or cooperation. There is no doubt that we need to become more responsible for the humane treatment of each other, for the responsible use of the resources of this planet, and care for the global environment we live in. The political divisiveness between nations and within nations continues to be a stumbling block. One of the major sources of this political divisiveness has been, and still is, unbending religious dogmas, founded on dubious myths and legends recorded thousands of years ago without any corroborating evidence, that have been engrained in the traditions of cultures whose tenets prohibit any questioning of the reality or truth of those dogmas.

     People have been persecuted and condemned by religious orders for suggesting the earth was round instead of flat; people were put to death by religious orders for suggesting the earth was not the center of the universe; people were persecuted for developing printing methods that provided public access to religious books and materials; people are persecuted and ridiculed by religious orders for suggesting that life forms may exist on other planets throughout the universe. Religions seem to cringe in fear at the suggestion that there may not be a god who directs their daily lives, hears their prayers, or has an afterlife awaiting the faithful. Questioning the practices and truths of ancient religious traditions is prohibited as if it would threaten their very existence to do so.

     Questions without convincing answers have haunted most of us all our lives. Questions concerning the integrity or accuracy of stories included in the Bible, and HOW this one book became the sole source for such fervent devotion and sacred authority. Why is there no corroborating evidence of these stories from other sources? How were the stories in the Bible collected and selected to be included in a single edition, and by who(m), and who were the many authors? What happened to the material that didn’t make the “cut” and was not included in this sacred canonized compilation?

     Why did communications and events between God and an obscure semi-literate people take place in only one tiny geographical area of the planet; in such a brief period of time, and produce a Christian tradition when there were approximately 30 to 35 million other people living in all parts of the globe during this same period?

     The gods of ancient ancestors were not as busy as those gods would be today. Ancient gods ruled over a very small world of visible stars, a sun, a moon, the earth, the seas and the people of a tiny corner of the world. These ancient gods were reportedly prone to punish individuals and tribes for any number of misdemeanors, and demanded unquestioned obedience and sacrifices for atonement of violations. Ancient creation stories were simple and designed to satisfy questions of the simple minds of the era. Today we know more about the infinite size of the universe we live in and the variety of infinitesimal sized particles of its composition. The lights we can see in the heavens with our eyes and our telescopes are not only stars, but billions of galaxies filled with billions and billions of stars and even more planets than all of the grains of sands on all of the beaches on this planet. The god(s) of today would seem to have their plates full with so vast a universe to look after, leaving little time to manipulate the winner of a sports event, a lottery, or a war.

     All manner of scientific disciplines, from historians, archeologists, anthropologists, physicists, chemists, biologists, and on, and on, have developed evidence and a consensus that the earth came into being some 4.5 billion years ago in a very violent and fiery birth. Space debris, a product of the death of ancient stars, drifting through space began to collide and stick together resulting in the formation of larger and larger pieces of debris until the planets of our solar system had swept their orbits clean of debris. Thus began the formation of our planet and the solar system we are a part of.

     As our molten planet cooled a thin crust began to form and slowly float around on the planet’s molten core until continents were created. Billions of years of continental collisions, earthquakes, and volcanoes eventually resulted in the geography we live on today.

     Our scientific disciplines again have established that life began approximately 1 billion years ago as something like single cell bacteria. This crude life form was subjected to the various forces of this planet, heat, ultra violet rays of the sun, water, cold, massive electrical storms, etc. which made micro changes in the developing DNA of each generation of life forms. These changes either improved the life forms to become better equipped to cope with the changing environmental conditions, or they became extinct. The life forms that could adapt continued to evolve and become better equipped to survive. In short, this kind of evolution eventually resulted in the many life forms of today, including humans.

     Man began to evolve from the Hominoidea branch of the evolutionary tree some 2 million years ago. As their numbers grew, they began to spread and by approximately 50,000 years ago were to occupy almost every corner of the planet. Many scientific disciplines have worked in concert to give us a glimpse into their lives, creativity, diets, migrations, etc. In the last 50 years we have been able to answer more questions about our ancestors than mankind has asked since the beginning of time. We can see farther into our past, our present, and our future, than at any other time in history.

     Many stories in the Old Testament can be found in the traditions of much earlier cultures by some 1 to 2 thousand years before the Old Testament writers claimed ownership. The story of Abraham was not recorded from an oral tradition into words on pages of clay and parchment for more than 800 years by Jews in Babylonian captivity. Moses, who is revered as the highest ranking religious leader by the Jews, and who is credited with authorship of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, also known as the Mosaic Law of the Jewish culture, was not recorded as words on the page for more than 400 years after the death of Moses.

     Could the ancient practice of passing information on to succeeding generations by oral traditions across 800 years have been superior to the oral communications of today? Could their devotion to accuracy without exaggeration or fact bending be greater than any found among any present cultures?

     If modern man has existed for 50,000 years as our best scientific disciplines confirm, why did a Deity suddenly feel the necessity to communicate important information about him or herself to only one person, the son of Terach, an obscure Middle Eastern idol merchant, only 4,000 years ago? The world population at the time of the God’s alleged covenant with Abraham was around 30 to 35 million people living in all parts of the globe.

     Why are all of the biblical stories and events set in only one tiny part of the Middle East? The obvious purpose of the Old Testament was to develop a collection of stories to establish a tradition for a people that did not exist before Abraham, who is recognized as the first Jew.

     The New Testament was written by unknown authors 50 to 200 years after the death of Jesus by people who had no eye witness accounts or firsthand knowledge of his life and times. Even the prolific letters of Paul are not first-hand accounts of Jesus or his teachings. Paul never met or knew the human Jesus. His alleged knowledge of Jesus began during a mysterious experience while on his way to Damascus, on a mission authorized by the Sanhedrin to arrest and persecute Christians.

     Three hundred years after the death of Jesus, there were many groups of his disciples scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Each group had its own letters and documents describing the life and teachings of Jesus, and interpreted the information in their possession in different ways, in the same manner as denominations do today. Constantine 1, came upon the scene to be Emperor of Rome as a somewhat benevolent ruler who allowed the practice of many cultural religions and customs. In February, 313 CE, Constantine played an influential role in the proclamation of the “Edict of Milan,” which decreed religious tolerance throughout the empire.  He recognized that it was easier to rule an occupied land by making concessions than it was to attempt rigidly enforced allegiance and worship of Roman Gods. That is, as long as they continued to pay a monetary tribute to the Roman Empire and did not threaten a rebellion. Most of the major cultural groups and religions had central authorities which were responsible for supervising activities of their own people or members and were accountable to the Roman Empire for any violations against Rome. The Sanhedrin was the central authority for the Jewish culture, who’s Chief Priest, like the leaders of all other central authorities, had to be approved by Rome before they were allowed to sit in the highest seat of Jewish authority.

     The Churches which had sprung up throughout the Roman Empire under the banner of Jesus disciples were independent in nature and had no central authority for supervision or control. For 300 years they had guarded their letters and texts with a spirited devotion which led to many disputes between the various groups. Some disputes had turned into violent clashes over disagreements of true accounts of Jesus teachings. These uncontrolled eruptions threatened to upset the tranquility of the Emperor, Constantine, and threatened to create rebellions among the Christians.

     In the year 325 CE, Constantine ordered the 300 plus, independent groups of Jesus disciples to send representatives to a meeting in Nicaea for the purpose of establishing a central authority and to determine which texts and documents would be selected for a final canonized collection. The result of these series of councils was that the church of Rome was voted to become the central authority for Christianity, and the selection from the collected documents for the single canonized material was begun. Documents that did not make the “cut” were immediately ordered to be destroyed so as not to compete or be confused with the canonized documents, as it was hoped the newly canonized texts would help unify the diverse beliefs and practices of the many groups involved.

     These Council meetings not only settled for Constantine his goal of establishing a central authority and the selection of common doctrinal materials, but they were also used to decide questions of whether or not Jesus was actually the son of God; born of a virgin; the definition of the Trinity; established a universal Creed; and determined the appointed dates for which Christian festivals and celebrations would be observed, etc. In short, they began making all of the decisions concerning the future practices of Christianity, 327 years after the death of Jesus.

     If the God who created the universe had a message he wanted mankind to know and understand I sincerely believe he would have been able to deliver it in such a way there would be NO misunderstandings. The message would not have resulted in 3000 different Christian sects and cults, and as many non-Christian denominations and religions in the world today. Mankind would not be left to guess what truth is. Controversies over religious differences have been responsible for more wars and human abuse than any secular ideological or political controversy in the history of mankind.

     The Bible has been the sole source of religious events and personalities for Christianity. There has not been any corroborating evidence of the existence of any of the Biblical characters or stories, only the names of some familiar geographical locations. Almost all fictional novels ever written have used fictional characters to spin a story, and often use non-fictional geographical locations that are commonly familiar with readers in order to add a spirit of reality and interest.

      There is no evidence of a garden of Eden; there is no evidence of fallen walls around Jericho; there is no evidence of the thousands of chariots at the bottom of the Red Sea which had been in pursuit of Moses; there is no evidence of a large population of people living or wandering the Sinai Peninsula between Egypt and Israel for 40 years; there is no evidence of Noah’s ark, or an Ark of the Covenant.

     The Bible is a collection of stories written to convey understanding of specific cultural persuasions, by humans. When the councils of Bishops established a central religious authority for the Roman Empire, they also performed an editing agenda in the selection of documents for canonization which supported their decisions.  The Bible, along with many other good books, is a great resource for social guidelines and moral lessons. Churches today are more about social gathering places of common interests than about expressions of a belief in questionable supernatural events. They are places where people seek corporate support for their own physical and mental well being because we are by nature “herd animals.”

     The creed most people in the world aspire to live by, excluding the 1% who are not satisfied with incomes of billions of dollars and possess more disposable income than they could use in several life times, is to treat everyone the way we want to be treated. This is basic to the human survival instincts of nature and contributes to the moral and physical wellbeing of mankind and our environment for the benefit of our progeny.

     We all continue to have questions and a desire for truth. The sky will not fall and God will not be offended for asking questions as he has given us the tools of reason. So I invite you to pursue answers to your questions and seek truths. It is improbable that we will be able to find all of the answers we seek, but in the pursuit we will find a new knowledge of what truth is.

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