I’m pretty sure that this is not what God looks like, but the picture is cool and is a decent representation of how many people think of God. Yes, as an old man in the clouds looking down on his flock. The great beard symbolizes his unparalleled wisdom, the bald head his never ending age, and the furrowed brow of one in great contemplation of how he might change things for the better or destroy them. His position as master of creation and Lord of all, is one of great responsibility. Viewing this picture further, God is likely looking down upon Jesus Christ, as he dies in place of all men and women so that they might receive every lasting life.
That is the primary story of the Holy Bible, according to the King James Version (KJV), and many other holy books of the multitude of religions that call themselves Christians. Funny though that so many religions have the same God, but yet have fundamentally different perspectives on what is truth. And further, there are religions that claim the same god of the KJV of the Holy Bible, but not Jesus Christ as a deity. Some believe he existed, but is not God, the Son of God and simply a prophet. While others think that the true Christ is yet to come. The primary two are Judaism and Islam, but there are a vast array of others that would turn this into a Ph.D level dissertation, and that is not my intention.
Since man began to record his history, thousands of religions and faiths have existed. The pagan beliefs of the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Mayans. Those who believe in Buddha, the Tao, and a score of things that have existed before and after the great religions of our age. With little respect, we call what these people believe in mythology. Yet, in their own time these people prayed as feverishly to these gods as people do to The Almighty. Was all of their prayer, spirituality, faith, and belief all in vain. Were their Gods not real, and if not, where do these people go. To Limbo? Or Purgatory? And if what they believed was myth…will what we call “truth” be laughed at and call mythology a thousand years from now if people and earth endure until the 31st century?
In my quest for peace, answers, to find solace within myself, I have asked myself that question and a hundred others like it. Can everyone be right of their religion, their faith, and their god? Because all who believe in what they believe, believe that they are right, safe to go to paradise or Heaven and the rest of the world shall be damned to Hell. How grim would that be? Would you think God mean, if all your life you were taught to believe something that was wrong and be cast into fiery damnation for it. Even if you had never hurt a fly, passed judgment, or been so perfect as to never have committed a sin. Yet, you did not believe in Christ or on the flip side, refused to take your Shahada. Which interpretation is fact? Which truth is the unadulterated God-given truth that cannot be broken or contradicted regardless of how confusing it is? Who should you follow and are you sure you are following the correct guidelines.
I’ve read the KJV Holy Bible, The Holy Quran, The Torah, The Nag Hammadi Library; books on the Tao, Zen Buddhism, and a score of the religions we call mythologies. The central theme I get from them all is that you are to submit to God, do as he, or as some people believe, she says, and rise above your humanity for a greater future. Yet, on the flip side, you are to live in a world full of beauty, intrigue, lust, temptation, love, hatred, greed, famine and war; all the while looking to something you can’t see with your own eyes. Add on the accuracy and inaccuracy of science, and you have a pot of stew where it is hard to figure exactly what the ingredients are that will lead to perfection.
In looking at the world that I live in today, a particular scripture from the KJV of the Holy Bible rings true if I take the passages quite literally. It can be found in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 10, verse 34 – 36 with Jesus saying; “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Without any deep thought or attempt at interpretation, the purpose seems to be confusion and war. That we have much of today. Everyone is right and everyone else is wrong. From the shores of North America and to the coast of Asia, we seem to be sitting on the precipice of a great war, the first nuclear winter. For man oft is against both his brother and his enemies, jockeying for position of dominance.
Truly, I can only speculate of what is and what is to come, but think very much that I’ll be dead long before the Earth becomes a dark ball in the wide expanse of space. I can only hope that if God exists as I believe Him to, that I will find favor to be a member of his great house. I have no denomination because I don’t know which story is correct, I only know what I believe. That is all I can do. I am not here to convince you, or disprove you. Have your truth and have comfort in that.
Until next write…
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