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| The evolution of religion; or lack thereof. |
It's been a while since I've made a post so I'll throw this one out there.
So, today I would like to talk about the prophetic religions of the world (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and the lack of evolution of concepts and ideas within them. I realize that many people get very emotional when someone speaks critically of any Religion, so I will try not to offend.
The concept of what God is has been evolving for thousands of years. One prophet or philosopher (or even an everyday person) can have an idea that may conflict with the beliefs at the time; that idea then may or may not expand our concept of the Divine; Polytheism to Monotheism, for example. This is a good thing. I believe that life is just as much about figuring out who we are, as it is figuring out where we came from and/or where we are going after this life.
The process of changing our beliefs in the Divine, however is a very very slow one; and often met with violent resistance. I can completely understand why there is resistance, however, as we are (mostly) taught from childhood that the universe works in a certain way and anyone who believes differently is wrong, or even evil. It is not easy to change a belief that we have held as the steadfast truth our entire lives.
Therein lies the problem; we seem to think that we've got it all figured out. That what we are taught in Church, or wherever is the set-in-stone facts about who God is and our relationship with God.
I cannot accept this.
We take our beliefs (mostly) from a book written over a thousand years ago (Koran, Bible, Torah), at a time when the world and our view of it was vastly different than it is now. That is not to say that there is no truth or wisdom in these writings, only that they were the best ideas that we had at that time. Do you really think that we had it all figured out by then? If so, why are we still lost as a species?
We take the concept of God far too lightly, I think. If you really sit and contemplate on what the word God represents, I think you will come to the conclusion that God is far more complicated than an old man with a white beard, a booming voice from the heavens, or what-have-you.
I really don't think that we will ever fully understand this concept we call God. However, I think that's the point. We aren't meant to, but what we are meant to do is try; to discuss and expand out ideas. As we understand more about God, we learn about ourselves and our purpose in the Universe.
If the religious people of the world (and yes, even the Atheists) opened up to each other and accepted that maybe we all have a piece of this puzzle, maybe we would be better off. Maybe we need to realize that we do not have it all figured out, that there is room for our concepts to be updated. I was raised a Christian but I have studied all of the world's major religions and found many answers in them all. There are concepts in Christianity that I love, as well as some I completely disagree with.
Religions have and do change over the course of history; dogma is altered, or completely new Religions branch off. This is all good; variety is wonderful. However, I fear it is happening too slowly as people cling to their religion, while condemning others, using their religion as their identity, rather than the path that they have chosen to find a greater meaning...
No religion has got it all figured out yet; but the effort is where evolution happens. We can become closer to each other as we become closer to the true meaning of the Ultimate Reality.
People will always resist change (I do so myself), however I think that with the current state of affairs on our little planet shows us that we (as a species) have a lot of growing up to do.
Note: I welcome discussion in the comments but please keep the hate to yourself.
Also, I throw these little blogs together quite quickly, so please understand that I know that there may be holes in my arguments, or lack of examples. My concepts and ideas on this subject change daily (as I think they should).
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Posted by AnotherFool on 2009-09-28 11:14:03 | Rating: | Views: 43
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