Yahweh. Jehovah. Buddha. Mohammad. God. The world’s mix of cultures and beliefs have each decided on a name for their version of a “Higher Power.” But, is God real? Or better yet, does God exist in the way we think??
Spirituality
For centuries, the mental image of “God” has been an old white man with a long white beard, sitting on a throne in the sky, granting and denying wishes while keeping a scorecard of if we’ve been naughty or nice — so as to determine if we are worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven on the TBD day he judges us. However, is an old white man on a throne in the sky really an accurate depiction, or a bushel of bullshit?
No matter the religious doctrine, most who believe in a higher power adhere to one central theme: God is love. So, if God is real and is truly love, how does that correlate with God sitting on a throne judging and condemning certain souls to the damnation of hell on judgment day? If God is real, is truly love, and is filled with compassion and forgiveness, then how does this Hell thing work?
Additionally, if God is real, then God is neither human, male, nor female. So, the concept of referring to God as “He” or “Father” is a man-made gimmick. Creating a tangible image of God as a man on a throne makes more sense to our limited human brains and emotional hearts than (for example) an image of God as an invisible poof of smoke. Humans often need something they can easily comprehend and make rational sense of. God as a man fulfills that need. So, if God is not human, male, or female, then what is God?
Some say God is the love that lives inside all of us. Others believe God and the angels are what we think of as “aliens” and that heaven is life on some other planet or in some other galaxy. Still, another school of thought suggests that God is an invisible energy force that we can all call upon at will via the mystical powers of the universe. For example, no one can see electricity, yet we all know we can plug a lamp into the wall and electricity will empower the lamp to work. So then can we put a positive thought into the universe and “God” will provide it. As Carl Sagan once said, although the concept of God as a universal energy force is a lot more realistic, it is emotionally unsatisfying.
Detractors of Christianity laugh by suggesting that God was replaced with a new and improved “God” named Jesus, who was born to a virgin impregnated through divine order. The theory is that God of the Old Testament was vengeful and full of wrath, insisting on an eye for an eye while killing animals and people in sacrifice to him. However, God of the New Testament (Jesus) was a more peaceful and loving image who couldn’t actually replace the original God, but was considered to be one and the same as God. Although this makes perfect sense to Christians, others have laughed at the belief that Jesus and God magically morphed into one and that anyone who actually believes such a concept is gullible and naive. Could it be possible that despite our years of Catholic school, God and Jesus are actually 2 separate entities??
We’ve all been taught various theories of God. Some have convinced themselves that God wanted them to marry or divorce someone, to kill, to hate other races, to reject homosexuals or the homeless, or to look down on other faiths and religions as false. Most everyone has been conditioned to believe one theory of God and to NEVER EVER question or rationalize it. But, is this genuine or mere mind control designed to maintain order?
What is God? Is God Jesus or is Jesus a “replacement” of the Old Testament God? Does God really exist but not at ALL in the way we’ve been conditioned to believe? Has everything we’ve read and been told about God been totally 100% accurate, or could our stories of God be the myth of “Santa Claus” all over again?
Is God real?
What makes a tree a tree or the sky the sky? Is it by definition that these things have their essence or is it that their natural state of being is observed and perceived by something other than itself trying to understand it? Why couldn't "the sky" be named "the tree" or vise versa? So what's in a name? Rose by any other name… Is there really power in a name or is the real power our ability to be activated into great levels of ourselves based upon saying certain words. It would seem that in the human experience words and their definitions cause reflection and action. Whether we receive this information thru conditioning or self-awareness remains a topic of conversation. Suffice to say that, the reality of God and viewed conventions of God's connection with humanity offers a plethora of conversation. Within the human psyche exists the need to… Read more »