Origin of Deities

     Every identifiable culture since the beginning of time has created a multiplicity of gods to forge history and traditions in molding races and languages of people.  Gods that possessed the same characteristics of the cultures they were associated with.  Gods married (sometimes several wives) and had families; the Gods fought among themselves for superior positions;  the Gods even committed murder of other deities and humans to enhance their powers.  Gods mirrored the culture of their creators.  There have been thousands of gods to guide and control the fate of their adherents, many of which continue to exist even today, too many to enumerate in a page.

     The earliest gods had only single focused powers of interest for which they were summoned by humans for aid or influence.  These multiple gods were called upon for their specialties concerning men, women, children, families, fertility, domestic animals, wild animals, seas, war, peace, earth, sun, rain, seasons, crops, under-world, etc.   Later, many of these deity specialties were combined into single gods as their powers of influence tended to overlap.  Today, some single gods have inherited the powers of all previous multiple gods.  Although most Western cultures use the same texts to define a single god, they continue to pursue the aid of multiple gods.  There are multiple Baptist Gods, there are multiple Methodist Gods, there are multiple Jewish Gods, there are multiple Muslim Gods, there are multiple Catholic Gods, etc.   Many of these gods share a common history but have become separated by political, cultural, and ritual practices.

     Today, there is a new god and her name is “Science”.  She has become the whipping-dog of all traditional gods, not by her aggressive nature, but by the presentation of a new knowledge and reality of the universe.  Science has provided verifiable answers to natural cataclysmic phenomena, superstitious curses, threatening plagues, miraculous healing, seasons, historical creation, and the eventual destiny of our solar system.  This new god has provided mankind with an alternate philosophy to traditional ignorance, making ritual prayers to powerless demagogues of ancient texts obsolete, which is upsetting to the traditional religious community.

     Science has opened “Pandora’s Box” to verifiable information.  She has answered the age-old question, “where did we come from, and why are we here – now.”  Answers which conflict with traditional information produced in the vapor of superstitions and ignorance.  Cultures and traditions are experiencing an impending sense of finality and terminal anxiety.

     The knowledge-bank produced by Science is growing by leaps and bounds.  Her High-Priests are forging answers about the universe from the sub-atomic world, and using it to enable a vision into the past 13.8 billion years. 

     Just as fish are condemned to live their lives in the confinement of water, so are we condemned to live our lives in the confines of this planet.  We are products of this planets characteristics, its gravity, its seasons, its chemistry, its atmosphere, its protective Ozone layer, and are condemned to remain prisoners of this realm for as long as we shall live.  Although we dream of establishing biological life on a Planet B, we are unable to make the necessary transition required to do so in only single generations.  To say this transition is impossible is to deny that we (humans) have made a similar transition from single cell origins.  It can be done, but will take many generations of biological adjustments.

     Until then, I wish you to, “Live long, and prosper”.

Here's what I Think !

     One day, several years ago, a man named Gronk said, “Ugh grok wiiny,” and he picked up his club and spear, and set off from the shelter of his cave to slay a beast for dinner.

     Since that day, man’s language, tools, occupation, skills, neuroses, and gods have become increasingly modern.  These, as well as many other accoutrements, have evolved to enable Gronk to exchange his cave, for a 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath, 3-car garage (which will probably never see a car), and a 20 year mortgage, to become the sophisticated, debonair, dandies we are today.  Even though all of mankind has not yet reached a uniform communication, i.e. “the red house,” “la casa roja,” “La maison rouge,” “cave, red,” we can still get the picture in some rudimentary form.

     

     When we examine the trappings man has brought with him through the past 3 million years, we find the level of refinement has evolved with man’s growth from a Gronk to an Einstein.  The language, tools, occupation, skills, neuroses, and gods have become refined in each culture through their confrontation with the environment in which they live.    

    

     Just as the earliest tools were quite crude by today’s standards, so too were their gods.  Deitomical names given unseen forces to explain the mysteries of nature (volcanoes, earthquakes, storms, etc.), in the same way the word, “wiiny” was used to identify the “beast” usual served for dinner.  As natural threatening forces became better understood and predictable, deities became refined and re-associated with other mysterious events that continue to threaten, such as debilitating illnesses, misfortunes, the unknown, etc.    

    

     The sophistication level of gods has continued to grow within cultural limits.  Greek gods were worshiped and legitimized by Grecians;  Roman gods worshiped by Romans; the Buda adorated by Buddhists; Yahweh claimed by Jews; Allah created by Muslims; and the multiple configuration of a Trinity by Christians; and so on, and so on, ad infinitum – and, never the twain shall meet.  Each deity seems to reflect the traits of the culture by which they are embraced.    

    

     Gronk’s gods had a far simpler task in meeting Gronk’s daily survival requests than the gods of the 21^st century.  We have become increasingly neurotic and absorbed with multiple events that threaten our perceived daily survival, and have developed coping habits with ornate buildings, complex and organized social structures, prayer warriors, beads, incense, candles, etc., for things our deities can, or must do, for us.    

    

     In short – we, like the Gronks, continue to struggle against the perceived powers of darkness which we believe have been intentionally placed before us to threaten and interfere with our desires and destiny.  We want our path cleared of any impedance, and straightened for ease, and seek the gods who can do this for us - if we only believe in them.    

    

     The Gronks have succeeded in their created task, either in spite of, or due to, their belief in unknown powers they feared, by the evidence of our existence today.  Our created purpose is to continue to support the wave of life surging through time, and has been so successful that it is now pressing the limits of this planet to sustain us.  Will we resort to beseeching the gods to save us from ourselves and our imagined fears, as demonstrated by the swollen numbers attending church services the Sunday after 9/11?  Or will we, like lemmings, continue our rush into the sea.    

    

     After 80+ years of actively participating in religious life, all of which has been plagued with unsatisfactory answers to a myriad of questions, I can no longer accept the philosophy of a god who manipulates lives or answers prayers.   The ancient texts upon which religions are based were written hundreds or even thousands of years after the subjects of their texts (all of which were located in one teeny tiny corner of the planet), by men who fitted pieces of oral traditions together to answer Gronk’s questions – not the questions of an enlightened scientific generation who has measured, weighed, and defined the universe in which we find ourselves.    

    

     Where was Yahweh when unanswered prayers of millions of people were marched into Holocaust ovens?  Where was the Christian Trinity when thousands of prayers were unanswered when Allah inspired terrorists attacked on 9/11?  Where are the gods of the millions of unanswered prayers offered from hospitals, hospice facilities, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and 100 other countries of abused humanity around the world?  Apparently, modern deities prefer to dwell in comfortable ornate and gold-laminated temples and enjoy incense, communion wine, candle light, and offerings (cash or sacrifices only).

I think - an unknowable Creator made the universe which began in an instant of unimaginable conflagration, commonly referred to as the “Big Bang,” 13.7 billion years ago. 

I think – there is no possible way a created entity, such as we are, has, or will ever have, the capacity to understand, know, or even imagine the essence of a Creator capable of initiating a universe.

I think – all life forms of this planet are the products of evolutionary development by influences of the physical characteristics of this island in the Milky Way galaxy, its gravity, temperature, atmosphere, daily cycles, annual cycles, and orbit.

I think – the closest thing to eternity, or an eternal existence we can imagine, are the elements (atoms) of which everything is made – organic, inorganic, biologic, flora and fauna, the cosmos.  The essence of atoms is eternal, unchanging, and the building blocks of the universe.

I think – gods were created and characterized by mankind to relieve our fear and anxiety of the unknown.

I think – our minds and bodies are capable of more natural healing than we know, compliments of our evolutionary development, and that dietetic abuse is a detriment not only to a healthy existence, but to the temples in which we dwell.

I think – the sense of taste is a defense mechanism to warn us of nutritional harm, not a habit to be continually satiated.

I think – I shall never see, a verse as lovely as a tree.

Questions

­­­­­Questions to ponder . . .

     Throughout history, every culture has eventually developed a tradition of deities out of fear, superstitions, and ignorance.  Plural deities because ancient traditions bestowed each with special, but differing powers.  The Sumerians, Greeks, Romans, etc. maintained many deities for centuries. Today, there continues to be many deities, although some religious sects would claim, “there is only one God who is known by many names,” but is this true, or just a claim to bolster a position of dominance.

     Aboriginal beliefs of all continents are supported by plural deities.  Shintoism, Buddhism, and even Catholicism include many deities called upon to grant differing attendant services, Mary, St Christopher, St Francis, St Patrick, etc.  Although Christianity is a sect that claims their Trinity is the one and only true god, and all others are only colloquial variations, I doubt you would find much agreement of this claim among other religious groups.  Yahweh, or Allah would not be considered the same deity by their cultural traditions, as the Christian Trinity.  Although all three religions consider their deity to have creative powers sufficient to do, or create, anything, Jews and Muslims do not adhere to a deity that produced a noble son by human sexual concepts with a young Jewish virgin, in the same manner claimed by Kings and Pharaohs of the period.

How do religions respond to the proposition of one god, with many names?

     My personal position, (at this time because positions are influenced by gained knowledge) is that gods were created by superstitious and fearful mankind to answer the unknown and the unknowable.  As man’s knowledge of his environment increased, his early fears of gods of the natural world, i.e.. earthquakes, volcanoes, violent storms, etc., diminished while other gods of agriculture, rain, sun, fertility, war, etc. became more sophisticated in relation with man’s growing knowledge and cultural traditions.  Deities that reflect an evolutionary development to parallel the cultures from which they have emanated.

     Today, our knowledge of the natural world extends beyond the comprehension of our early ancestors.  We now know more about what lies beyond the distant mountains, borders, kingdoms, or oceans.  We have a knowledge of not only our world, but of the planets, galaxies and universe in which we live.  Now, we have an idea about how and when the universe came into being, and, I am inclined to believe the current scientific evidence of a universe created by an unimaginable conflagration of a ‘big bang’ which created the atoms of which the whole universe and everything in it, is constructed.

     My god, if I claimed one, would be the unknown creator that produced this universe and set it into evolutionary motion.  An entity which is beyond any comprehension of man or our gods.  How is man able to imagine, comprehend, communicate, etc., with an entity capable of creating a universe, when we cannot communicate with each other, and has resulted in 60,000+ versions of gods, religious sects and cults around the world?

Does any created entity, which includes mankind, possess an ability to know, comprehend or communicate with its creator?  How great is the span of ignorance between life on this planet and a creator of the universe?

     I have a niece who recently acquired an automatic floor sweeper.  It is a round robotic instrument about the diameter of a large dinner plate, and approximately 3 inches thick.  It came with a recharging station that is mounted against the base-board in a remote area of the room where it will dwell.  When it begins its duties, it will detach from its charging station and begin to scour the floor in straight lines, changing its course whenever it encounters an obstacle.  When its battery is almost depleted, it will make its way back to its Charging Station by consulting an internal map and attach itself for replenishing its battery.

     If the door to an adjacent room is opened, the sweeper will include it in its sweeping duties and proceed to include the new area in its mapping data storage.  If more robotic sweepers are installed in other rooms of the house, they too will sweep the areas open to them before returning to their respective charging stations. If all of the sweepers are given access to the whole house, they will each contain internal maps of the house, but they will be different with respect to the location of their charging station. 

     These diligent cleaning instruments were all made by the same designer and manufacturer, of which they have no concept or knowledge.  And, they will only have information about the rooms they are given access to, from their charging station; only in one house; only on one block; only in one community; only in one city; only in one state, etc., etc., etc.

Does this sound familiar?

An Interfaith Dialogue

Keith Crowe

     One of my nieces acquired a “robot” floor sweeper for her house. It is a disc about the size of a large platter and about 3 inches thick. It’s only purpose is to sweep her hard-surfaced floors. It came with a “charging station” which is mounted on the floor, against the baseboard in some remote part of a room. At a programed schedule the sweeper will detach from the charging station and begin sweeping in straight lines until it encounters stationary objects (furniture), at which time it will randomly change directions and continue until it encounters another stationary object, etc., all the while, recording its movements and location. When its battery becomes almost depleted of energy, it consults its memory data to locate and return to its charging station until such time it is programed to begin its appointed cleaning cycle again.

     When a door is opened to an adjacent room from which the sweeper is located, it will also include the additional room in its duties and add it to its memory, the new room size and location of stationary objects, as well as the route necessary for its return to its charging station.

     If, second and third sweepers are installed in other rooms of the house, they will map out the description of their environments as well.  If all 3 sweepers are given access to the whole house, the 3 sweepers will undertake to clean and map all of the rooms they are permitted to access, before returning to their respective charging stations.  If, and when, the sweepers encounter each other, but do not engage a second time at that location, the meeting will be classified in their memory banks as a “temporary” barrier, such as a pet, someone’s foot, etc.  When the memory data of all 3 sweepers is compared, there will be a different descriptive map of the house by each sweeper. Each will be correct, but from the perspective of different charging station locations, in the same way an elephant is described by several blind persons touching different parts of its body. Each description may be accurate, but does not describe an accurate picture of the whole. As efficient and intelligent as the robotic sweepers are in their given tasks, they can have no knowledge of other sweeper’s perspectives or the essence of their designers or creators.

     For billions of years, life forms, both flora and fauna, have been evolving and expanding to occupy every niche of this planet. Humans, like the organisms, molecules, and atoms which have combined to construct our bodies, have become cultural organisms. We, like all life forms, are herd animals living and thriving in fields, groves, flocks, pods, herds, villages, tribes, and nations, experiencing and learning the ways of the valleys, deserts, forests and jungles, we live in. Our experiences have been recorded in a common knowledge bank that contains a history and tradition of our story. None of these histories tell the whole story, nor are they a full description of the whole house, or an accurate description of an elephant.

     Hominid man has existed on this planet for over 3 million years (i.e.: Lucy – AL 288-1). There were approximately 200 to 400 million people living in tribes and cultures all around the planet during the period when the religious canons of three major cultures were compiled. The sources of these canons occurred in a very small corner of the planet, during a very brief period in the history of mankind, addressing traditions peculiar to Middle-Eastern cultures in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Roman, and Arabic languages. These canons used the deities, Yahweh, God, and Allah as their “authority,” in vague interpretive languages to address rules and laws of social relations and human behavior. The obvious question then is; why would any deity(s) elect to converse with mankind, so late in the history if mankind, and to only a handful of Semitic people, while 200 to 400 million people lived all around the world?

     Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad (the Big Four), were certainly not the first, nor the only persons throughout the history of man, who have invoked disciplines of tolerance, peace, humane treatment, health or hygiene. The Torah, New Testament, and Koran were not written or compiled by the “Big Four” who have been traditionally credited with their origins. Information contained in these books was collected, edited and compiled by hundreds of likeminded, but fallible humans, primarily from oral traditions. Within the cultures, for which the books were compiled, people have found comfort and support in their creation stories, but beyond their culture of origin these books have become weapons to be used against other cultural legends. The will to live, traditions of survival skills, an impetus to be treated fairly, are all far more ancient than any cultural concept of deital invocation.

     Although our knowledge of forests, jungles and plains from which we originated and where we were preoccupied in a primitive daily survival, has expanded into a sophisticated universe, we still do not have a knowledge or words to describe a Creator of it all. The definitions and words used by religions, suggest their Gods are little more than jealous genies, and disagree on a definitive concept. How is it possible for any created entity to ever know or even define its Creator? That we are aware of a Creator beyond our Mother’s womb is miracle enough. To imagine anything beyond that is speculation based on myths and legends of cultural experiences.  The robotic floor sweeper couldn’t begin to imagine its maker; the animal kingdom cannot imagine a creation of 13.7 billion years; neither can we ever know a definitive creator. Are the deities of different cultures, Yahweh, God, and Allah, the same or equal to, the Creator of the Universe? The words used to describe these Deities by the various canons do not aspire to a Creator of the Universe. They sound more like a distant friend or relative in whom we are to confide, and make our requests for things we have no power to provide for ourselves - or else there may be consequences.

     All life forms exist only briefly in the spectrum of time and space, from the few frenzy minutes of the Mayfly, to the thousand years of Giant Sequoias, all for the sole purpose of supporting the wave of life rolling through a universe of time. All multicellular life is composed of only the same few types of atoms, configured by a common DNA Spiral produced by two parentally donated chromosomes, and exists for only a brief spectrum of time before all the building blocks are returned to the environment, waiting to be used again, and again. Everything in the universe is subject to the same fate, planets, stars, galaxies, all live finite existences. The only thing that even remotely endures to resemble an eternity are the elements of which the universe and all life forms are made, from dust and gas produced in the death of ancient stars.

     The largest man-made tool in history, the Large Hadron Collider (CERN), is buried underground near Geneva Switzerland, and has been created in part as an attempt to a peek behind the curtain that veils the initial cataclysmic event that occurred 13.7 billion years ago when energy was transformed into matter, in the remotest possibility of seeing the Face of our Creator.

     Cultural perspectives can never describe the “whole” picture, or purpose of creation.  For humans to continue to quarrel about the existence of which we know so little, is the epitome of illogical logic. So, let us begin a new culture.

Afterlife Concepts

          At almost every Funeral I’ve attended, the most common condolence expressed is, “He/she is now in a better place.” I have often wondered what this expression is meant to convey. Does it express relief that the departed is now immune to whatever pain and suffering this life has to offer? Or, does the expression imply that the spirit of the departed has gone to a heavenly reward?

     The following text expresses a time when the departed will enter into a heavenly realm:

By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.… 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

     Life after death is a concept that has evolved from legends, myths and folk lore, through oral traditions of many cultures. Early humans had no concept of a heaven described by today’s Western Religions. One early concept of life after death consisted of the spirit of a departed tribal member entering into an animal that reflected the departed’s personality in life. The bravest human spirits would enter the fiercest animals such as lions, bears, bulls, eagles, etc., whereas lesser human spirits would join less threatening animals such as small mammals, birds, butterflies, etc. The occupation of human spirits in animals would last only as long as the animal lived. When the animal occupied by a human spirit died, the human spirit was released to become trees, stars, rains, storms, or any of the many natural environmental objects and conditions that humans revered.

     The Jewish culture, from which Christianity has originated, had no canonical tradition of a reward based afterlife. The incentive to live a righteous life was motivated by the desire to remain obedient to the God they honored and worshiped in return for his protection. Altar sacrifices were practiced for a wide range of purposes, such as gifts to God as a blessing, or atonement for the transgression of disobedience. The type of sacrifice to be offered was specified for each purpose ranging from grains of wheat, baked goods, animal entrails, birds, or flock animals (cattle, sheep, goats, etc.)

     Christians developed their concept of an afterlife during the 1^st century CE, and was based on legends surrounding the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth, alleged to be the Son of God. When the “Jesus Followers” broke away from their Jewish roots, they made a transition from making sacrifices on an altar in “THE” Temple for atonement of transgressions, to the sacrifice of a human, Jesus, on a cross to atone for the “sin” of being human which was allegedly inherited from Adam. The incentive for believing this story was the philosophy of a reward in an afterlife. With the “Belief Key” you would enter an idyllic paradise in an afterlife, without this “Key” your spirit would be banished to the punishment of an eternal Hades.

     The theories of an afterlife and its description have taken many forms over the centuries, from no concept of an afterlife, to the concept of an eternal place where only Christians may enter, with streets paved with gold where residents live in mansions sized by the measure of the departed’s obedience and devotion during their life on earth. The Islamic description of an afterlife reward is similar. The difference being, only Muslim Believers may enter a paradise that is an eternal garden of physical pleasures and spiritual delights.  Suffering will be absent and bodily desires will be satisfied.  All wishes will be met.  Palaces, servants, riches, streams of wine, milk and honey, pleasant fragrances, soothing voices, pure partners for intimacy; a person will never get bored or have enough!

     These philosophies provoke a question concerning animal’s knowledge or thoughts about an afterlife. Do Chimpanzees, Wolves, Elephants, Whales, domestic pets, etc. have any concept of an afterlife? Or do they live in the moment by instinct and opportunity? There doesn’t seem to be an overwhelming evidence that animals have a concept of an afterlife, although some pet burials might indicate otherwise.

     According to the history of mankind, the earliest break with our animal ancestors branch of the evolutionary tree occurred approximately 8 million years ago. There is further evidence of bi-pedal Hominid existence and tool making as recent as 2.8 million years ago. Assuming animals do not have a concept of an afterlife, it would be appropriate to surmise that our earliest Human ancestors had no concept of an afterlife either. These concepts seemed to develop as early humans began to develop an increase in social interaction and coalesced into the seeds of early cultures.

     As man’s knowledge of his world increased, he began to overcome his primal fears of “natural events”, i.e.; earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis, lighting storms, etc. by reasoning these super-natural events were somehow being controlled by invisible forces which were given names such as, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Fire, Volcano, etc. Gods that could be useful or destructive to humans, who lived in elevated realms in the sky, on top of mountains, or deep in the sea or earth.

     A proscribed behavior became a standard as humans attempted to appease the Gods which often threatened human existence. If humans behaved in ways proscribed by Medicine Men, Witch Doctors, or Shaman, it was supposed to please the Gods. If any proscribed behavior was violated, the Gods became displeased and punished the humans with some natural event. When this happened, the guilty party(s) had to ferreted out and made to pay for their transgression, sometimes with their life, or the life of someone else if the guilty party was not identified.

          Today, our knowledge of the universe and its properties present us with a new set of concepts of how eternity is defined. This is based on the common building material throughout the cosmos – Atoms. The entire universe is made up of approximately 118 types of atoms. These atoms behave and are controlled by a common set of physical laws. All atoms were produced in the Big Bang or in subsequent explosions of mega giant-stars. Consequently, these atoms have existed for billions of years. Every galaxy, solar system, and planet is made up of atoms that are billions of years old. The characteristics of atoms never change and are as near to an eternal state by any definition or concept can describe.

      Atoms that compose inorganic compounds such as rocks, granite, crystals, sand, minerals, etc., if not disturbed, are locked into place until the planet is destroyed. Atoms which compose all organic compounds of biology, flora and fauna, are locked in only as long as the biological component lives. At its death, the atoms are eventually released by deterioration and decay, back into the environment to become free atoms again and available to be recaptured and used as building material to form another biological life form of flora or fauna. The atoms used to compose your body have previously been used to compose some part of an insect, a tree, another human being, a flower, an animal, and will continue to be used to compose other biological life forms after your demise. The recycling of atoms will continue until the end of time.

     Another example of physical recycling of atoms in multi-use situations is a very familiar process because of today’s knowledge of the universal cycle of atoms. Billions of years ago, ancient ferns and palm like plants soaked up millions of gallons of water (H2O) through their roots, and absorbed tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) through their leaves to use the atoms of these two molecules to construct plant material. Today we harvest these long dead plants in the form of “fossil fuel” and burn it to release and use their long stored energy. In the process of burning, hydrogen and carbon atoms are released back into the atmosphere in their original form as water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2, while contributing to the depletion of today’s oxygen (O2). Unfortunately, the increase of these two compounds in today’s environment is contributing to the detrimental side of the environmental equation, one to our global warming, and the second to increases in ocean levels.

     We now know that all biological forms use the same types of atoms (approximately 8 to 12 kinds) as building material for both flora and fauna. The chromosomes which contain the DNA blueprints to form both plants and animals are nearly identical. The reproduction of all species requires two chromosomes to initiate a new organism. A supply of atoms to construct the determined life form is supplied in the nourishment consumed, and in the air we breathe. At the end of life, the organism deteriorates and the atoms are released into the environment to become available for another cycle of life. Our lives exist as long as we can maintain a viable organism to use the available supply of building materials. When the supply of raw material is diminished, or the blueprints (DNA) is corrupted by time, life ceases to exist.

     All life forms exist as an interim entity whose sole purpose is to procreate or support the species progressing, evolving, and adapting. We are nothing more than a wave of life traveling through time. We are made of eternal material which we acquired and will release again. All things come to an end, galaxies, stars, solar systems, planets and biological life forms. Their properties (atoms) will be released back into the cosmos to be recycled into new galaxies, stars, solar systems, planets, and biological life forms.

     The story of a man who was commanded by a deity to build a boat in order to save all species of animals from an impending flood 7000 years ago;  the story of a man and a deity who decided to begin a new and “favored” race of people 6000 years ago; the 3000 year old story of a man and a deity who liberated the favored race of people who had been enslaved for 400 years; the 2000 year old story of a deity who sired a son with a human virgin to become a human sacrifice for an afterlife of a heaven where only Christians may go; the story of a man who became a prophet and father of the Islamic culture and a story of an afterlife where only “Muslim believers” may go;  these are all stories created by mankind to define and promote a culture, not a deity.

     The concept of an afterlife that is described in human terms as a heaven or a hell, is the result of fears and superstitions of humans. All forms of flora and fauna have embraced life to its fullest and resist death by an innate will to live. Until recently, humans believed that: stars were lanterns that were turned on at night by the Gods; Gods used natural disasters to punish the disobedience of man; the world was flat and floating on the back of a giant turtle; the world was the center of the universe; we were the only life form in the universe. Now, we know what we are made of and how the Universe works. The only thing about us that is eternal are the atoms, dust from ancient dying stars, of which we are made. And our death contributes to recycling the supply of atomic material available to continue the wave of life rolling through time.

     The personality or character of each human can be defined as their “spirit,” and continues to exist after our demise only in the minds and memories of everyone who knew us, good, bad, or indifferent. The “spirit of our lives” continues to exist only as long as everyone who knew us, lives. The tradition of placing a headstone over a grave is an act to perpetuate the remembrance of a “spirit” of the departed, when all who knew them have passed away. The desire to be remembered is almost as strong as the will-to-live. Biographies and Memoirs are other ways in which humans attempt to perpetuate their memory and “spirit.” As long as a person can be remembered, even by strangers, there is a feeling that their “spirit” will continue to exist.

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A Fork In the Road

     My religious upbringing was based on the one and only, Christian Bible. My Southern Baptist, and later my Methodist experiences, were similar by the use of the same Bible as the basic handbook and curriculum guide. As my community exposure and horizons expanded, I was to learn that many of the Faiths around me also used the same book, but with differing results. Thus began the origin of my quest.

     Eventually, questions regarding conflicting information and supernatural events contained in the Bible, moved me to my own study of who, how and when these stories were written, collected and compiled to produce a book the entire Christian world is based upon.

     During the period of history when the Bible was supposed to have been written, most of the population in the world was illiterate. Many of Jesus’ Apostles and Disciples probably could not read or write well enough to record information and stories attributed to them. Scribes were an honorable and a much needed profession in performing tasks of reading and writing for 95 percent of the population in all of the cultures living around the Mediterranean, and beyond.

     Old Testament stories existed in an oral tradition for hundreds of years before they were ever recorded by people who were literate enough to do so.  Most of the Old Testament, the Torah, as we know it today, was not written by Moses, but by Jewish Captives after the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonian invasion.

     The New Testament books and stories were not written until 50 to 100 years after Jesus died, and, for the most part, not written by the people whose names were used as their titles.  Almost all of these stories were written by unknown persons who were not first-hand witnesses to events recorded. Paul, one of the most prolific writers of New Testament literature, did not witness any of Jesus’ life.  Luke collected all of his material for the two books credited to his authorship, through the oral tradition. He too, was not a witness to the Life and times of Jesus. This alone should raise enough questions
concerning the traditional orthodoxy and practice of placing all of your religious eggs in one basket.

     The second condition that existed which raises questions concerning the legitimacy of information contained in the Single Christian Handbook, is the method and when it was compiled.

     The United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Constitution (1787) upon which this country was founded were written before we became a new country. Since then we have expanded from a young country located along the Atlantic seaboard with a population of approximately 2.3 million, to a current population of 319 million which has spread across the continent.

     At the time of Jesus’ death, there were very few devoted followers or disciples forming what has been described as “churches” (a secular Greek term Paul used to describe groups of Christ Followers).  Before this period in history there were no religious “churches,” there were only grand edifices with towering granite pillars, Monoliths, Temples, Tabernacles, etc., erected to a myriad of Gods.  Three hundred years later, a longer period than the United States has even existed, there were numerous underground groups of Christ Followers gathering in homes, stables, caves, throughout the Roman Empire.  Each group possessed their own oral stories and scraps of letters and documents from questionable sources, which contained information that was presumed to be about the legendary Jesus.

     Not all of these “churches” were religious, many were groups of zealots believing that Jesus had been encouraging a secret revolutionary movement that was always seething just beneath the social surface, a reincarnated King David to overthrow the occupying Roman Empire to restore Israel to its former glory.  Many of the people who lined roadside when Jesus road into Jerusalem on a donkey were zealots hoping for a sign that would lead them in the overthrow of the Roman occupation of Israel. Consequently, there was a great deal of friction and quarreling between these many groups, not only over the intentions of the man Jesus, but over the authenticity of the letters and documents each group possessed.  Paul, in his numerous letters to the gentile groups he had establish, continually warned of interfering and meddling “groups” Jews and other sects who would attempt to change the instructions and practices he had taught them.

     Many of the Christ-Follower groups were involved in physical confrontations not only with each other, but with the occupying Roman Legions, which made the reigning emperor nervous that these conflicts could easily get out of hand and result in another uprising.  All other religious or secular groups tolerated by the Roman Empire were controlled by central governing bodies, (i.e., for the Jews there was the Sanhedrin) who was held responsible for keeping the peace among its members or culture. These trouble making and bourgeoning Christian sects had no controlling hierarchy which was answerable to the Empire for taking responsibility for the friction breaking out between the growing number of “churches.”

     During most of this 300-year period, Christians had been on the “okay-to-persecute-list” by the Roman Empire which kept most of the Christ Followers activities underground, except for occasions when physical conflicts erupted.  Constantine made an attempt to bring peace to the scene by co-enacting the Edict of Toleration in 311CE, in the hope that this would reduce the friction between the religious and zealot groups of Christians and bring them out into the open. Obviously, this did not have the effect he had hoped for.

     Fourteen years later, in 325CE, Constantine ordered representatives of each of the Christ Followers groups to meet in an ecumenical Council in Nicaea for the purpose of organizing a common leadership and governing body, and to reconcile all of the letters and documents being used by the 300+ “churches” as their authority and literature. The result of this mandated meeting was to establish a quasi-political/religious headquarters of the Christ-Followers, not in Jerusalem or Israel, but in Rome.  That was like establishing the headquarters of an organization dedicated to the perpetual memory of Dr. Martin Luther King and locating it in Canada.  How much sense would that make?

     After spending several years filtering through and editing all of the many letters and documents used by each of the 300+ “churches” in attendance at the Council of Nicaea, they settled on 27 documents which were canonized as the authentic history for all of Christ Following groups.  All of this was constructed 300 years after the death of a legend, by people who had for the past 300 years, been arguing and conflicted about the truth of a history that existed only in fragments. There were to be several more succeeding Council get-togethers for the purpose of “fine tuning” the story of who Jesus was. Questions were discussed and decided upon subjects such as: “Was Jesus human or divine?”; “Are any of the Miracles reported over the past hundreds of years real?”; “Was Mary a Virgin after Jesus’ birth?”; “Were the brothers and sisters of Jesus born of the Virgin Mary, or were they half-siblings from Joseph’s first marriage?” “The selection of dates for celebrating events.” Etc.

After the Council of Nicaea, Constantine had a central agency responsible for the control and behavior of the Christ-followers. And, with them out in the open instead of underground, they would be easier to monitor and control.

     The United States has existed a mere 240 years and was founded on distinctive documents and letters from the very beginning. Yet, we still experience a diversity of opinion concerning the intention and translation of these documents.  The Council convened in Nicaea in 325CE by the Roman Emperor, 300 years after events that purportedly was the reason for their existence, had no first hand witnesses to testify. All they had were exaggerated oral stories and pieces of letters and documents from questionable sources, fragments from which to compile a common guiding edict, 300 years after the fact, which was then arbitrarily declared inerrant.

     Two forces have controlled mankind since we became a life form, Chiefs, and Shaman. One became a decision maker and ruler by popularity or brute force for purposes of dispute arbitration, hunting and defense.  The other became a mystic and sorcerer founded upon human ignorance and superstitions by creating stories about supernatural forces responsible for natural disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes, destructive storms, etc.  Rules, Laws and Gods have increased in number with clan size, populations, and generations.

     Supernatural explanations of events were an easy sell thousands of years ago. With today’s expansion of our knowledge bank concerning our past, present, and future of the galaxy we share with the universe, supernatural explanations don’t carry the same weight they once did. We have come to a century when supernatural hypothesis of ancient manifestos that teach its adherents to accept them unquestionably is colliding with hard facts and reality.

     A reality that everything in the universe is interconnected having a beginning and an end, Galaxies, Solar systems, Stars, Planets, flora and fauna, Y2K, the 2012 Mayan Calendar, etc. The only things that even come close to an eternal existence are the building blocks of which we and all things are made, atoms. Atoms are born in the crucible fires of stars and composed of an eternal triad which never expires or dies.

     The clearest graphic I can imagine of a Creating Power of the Universe is the Periodic Table of Elements, natural laws that have influenced and shaped every aspect of the evolutionary course of events throughout the cosmos. Our existence is not based on a supernatural events or fairy tales, it is based on definable and measureable facts discovered as our growing knowledge bank increases.

     At this point in my life, I have transcended the orthodoxy of the biblical stories of my youth. I accept these in the same literary vein as folk tales, myths and legends as in all other cultures. I recognize the purpose and corporate promotion of today’s congregations and religions as a stabilizing traditional function of social interaction for the common good of communities in which they exist. I do not accept the concept of original sin, or a necessity for a spiritual atonement. Neither do I accept the concept of an existence beyond this life. I do recognize the extremes of human behavior to be either beneficial or destructive, supportive or dividing.

     The quest has not ended, nor will it ever. We have not solved the ultimate equation, but have begun to view propositions with clearer eyes and objective minds. The curiosity of human nature will continually propel mankind in an adventure where no one has gone before, to explore that which lies beyond our current knowledge or reach. Religion, like art, is subjective in the eye of the beholder and exempt from facts or reality. The clarity of truth is continually emerging by the enlightenment of discovery and knowledge.

     Any hope we may have for ourselves and our future is to live each day as if it will be our last, as one day, it will be. When that day arrives, the atoms of our bodies will begin a process of release whereby they become free to join other atoms in the formation of molecules for continuing biological life on this planet. This force of truth will continue forever.

o

Where Faith Went

I was born and raised in a King James, Southern Baptist brotherhood. Saturday night was prep time for Sunday, and Sunday mornings and evenings were spent in church; also, Wednesday evenings and all other unscheduled times the church was open, i.e., visiting Missionaries, Revivals, etc.

Today, I could be described by several tags, but would prefer Possibilian or Skeptnostic. How did I arrive here? There was no “One thing or event” that brought me into this arena, it was a series of many questions and experiences.

At an early age I began to wonder about stories contained in the “Christian User Manual,” (the Inerrant, King James Version of the Word of God). One of my first questions pertained to the Bible itself. It seemed to be a collection of ancient stories compiled during a short period of the geological time period during which Modern Man has existed in a traceable history. The chronology of the main events seemed to be separated by hundreds of years; Noah (2500BC), Abraham (2100BC), Jacob (2000BC), Exodus (1300BC), David (1010BC), Jesus (35 CE), etc., none of which were recorded into a final written form for hundreds or thousands of years. The Old Testament was not canonized (adopted and closed to the addition any other material) until 550BC. The New Testament did not begin to take shape in its current form until three centuries after the crucifixion of Jesus. Again, none of these stories were written by the “first” person, they were all authored by people who were not present at the events and usually many decades and centuries after they occurred.

When you purchase a set of encyclopedias, you normally subscribe to an Annual Edition, an updated single volume in an effort to keep the reference information as current as possible, and to correct any discrepancies made in the original editions of the encyclopedias. Sometimes these discrepancies consist of new information or discoveries that supersedes the original edited texts of the encyclopedias, others were to correct errors that were overlooked in the original proofing process. Although the Bible was canonized with numerous discrepancies and contradictions it has never been significantly changed or updated for thousands of years. New translations from various sources are reborn every few years, however, most of these translations are produced by groups or persons who desire a translation that fits their particular theology. Its original stories, admonitions, commandments, etc. of ancient cultures has not been altered, consequently, it has been interpreted in as many differing ways as there are religions who use it as their basic information guide.

Many of the stories contained in the Old Testament have been found to exist in many much older writings by earlier cultures. The Biblical account of Noah and his Ark filled with animals, exists in an earlier account of the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, composed about 2500BC, contains a flood story almost exactly the same as the Noah story in the Pentateuch; in Greek Mythology, Deucalion, like Noah, is warned of a flood by Zeus and Poseidon, and builds an ark to save a multitude of creatures; the Hindu Lord Vishnu orderd King Manu to construct a huge boat filled with animal and plant specimens of all forms, to escape the Great Deluge. Many cultures possess stories to address the natural curiosity that children have about where everything came from when sea shells can be found on hill and mountain tops, coupled with stories of great floods.

Today, countless stories such as these continue to abound. Images of Mary, Jesus, and many Saints found on bagels, potato chips, biscuits, tree trunks, windows, cloud formations; tears and drops of blood from statues, persons who claim they have seen or talked to heavenly hosts of some sort or another, etc. Many of these are very old and have developed complicated stories of miracles related to them. Even in these modern sophisticated societies, supernatural stories grow and grow, and most of this has happened during the past 50 to 100 years. When you have 2 to 4 thousand years to develop a story its aura will take on more and more of the unexplainable and supernatural qualities.

The nucleus of all ancient stories begins with an event that is unexplainable, but requires some sort of answer, reasonable or not. Superstitions were the order of the day and imagination had little or no bounds when it came to providing answers to questions by early cultures. Without the ability to produce an accurate or written record for these events, stories existed first in an oral tradition for hundreds of years before they were ever written in a form that could be codified. During these hundreds of years the stories were retold and passed on by several generations and cultures who modified the stories to meet their contemporary need for that particular information. Stories that were begun to describe an event did not end with the same accuracy of that original event.

Just as in today's game of “Secrets” where the first person tells a secret or story to a second person, who in turn passes the story on to another person, and is repeated several times with several people. The last person in line then reveals what he understood to be the initial story. Very seldom does the final version even resemble the initial story generated in the beginning.

Oral traditions possess the same inherent flaw, they have a way of producing a new life for the original story that may or may not resemble any truth of the original story. This is especially true when 2 or more languages are involved and the story is very long and detailed.

An evolution of truth.