Go to God as The Universe as an Organism
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I had many years of Christian education...
...and I was never taught that God is separate from the universe. If the universe is everything that exists, and God exists, then God must be part of the universe.
And the God I know is not so narrowly focused as the one you describe. The God I know cares about all his creation, especially all living things. It's true that church teachings have given humans a special place, and this may be based on the notion that God made human beings more intelligent and uniquely able to make moral decisions. Stronger creatures do have superior standing in the animal kingdom, and to the extent that we are part of that, we accordingly dominate as the biggest (or rather, smartest and therefore most effective) predators.
Skeptics of religion often over-simplify the images, making the images seem ridiculous. God and heaven, Satan and hell, are not necessarily "out there" somewhere, separate from the universe. They live within us. The idea of the Holy Spirit makes this easier to understand -- a spirit that lives in us and guides us, that is part of the same divine person. Some of the religious ideas that were probably intended to be symbolic and spiritual are instead taken to be literal. I think the literal depictions were made to be understandable to people, and therefore acceptable to people. Kind of like the fair-skinned Jesus portrayed as such in order to appeal to Europeans, though the real Jesus probably had a darker complexion. Some of what we know as religion is not handed down by God, but manufactured myth.
posted by
Dyl_Pickle
on December 9, 2005 at 6:26 PM
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ody
kooka may surprise you
he just might like it.
posted by
Xeno-x
on December 9, 2005 at 10:49 AM
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Xeno – Keep this up and you, Kooka, and gome
can gear up as a super dooper triple team phenomena. I hope the Kooka family has a very Merry Christmas. Just be sure not to talk about religion and politics (like at Thanksgiving) and all will go well, I’m sure. The new Narnia movie opens today and I hope you and Kooka will take occasion to attend together (he said you very much liked analyzing movies together). I expect he may have some vicious things to say about my favorite writer C.S. Lewis, that I’d rather not hear, anyway. Keep the Spirit, my friend.
posted by
telemachus
on December 9, 2005 at 9:33 AM
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Xeno -
I agree with Archie somewhat. I don't think religions are made by man, but I definitely think they are defiled by man.
posted by
sannhet
on December 9, 2005 at 8:56 AM
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The problem with Christianity
and many other religions is that they are man-made and often devoid of any sort of spirituality.
posted by
archiew
on December 9, 2005 at 8:52 AM
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