It occurs to me that everyone's God is only a little smarter than they are.
The Old Testament God was only slightly less cruel and capricious as the people who believed in Him. The Israelites, just like everyone else back then, wiped out men in order to take their women and children and property, but wiped out women and children only as a warning to others about what would happen if they didn't surrender right away--very materialistic. Their God, however, when he told them to commit genocide, did so with a higher moral purpose: to make people fear, and therefore, believe in and convert to Him (and to make more room for the true believers).
The Pope's God can only be understood through (canon) lawyers, but never perfectly, because they're only human. For them, God is simply the best canon lawyer of all time (though you'd better do what those lawyers say or else! Man, the heads of corporations all think alike.)
My sister, a right-wing fundamentalist, believes in a God who is just out of her intellectual reach. She thinks she sees Him doing things in the world through the weather or through people--things that I know as a scientist are obviously random or stupid, easily explainable (and awfully repetitive) destructive behavior. For her, God is making things happen--when he judges it necessary--and His reasons are just beyond her grasp.
By that definition, I, her brother, qualify as God. I can do things that she does not have the intellectual power or technical capacity to do, and my ways are absolutely mysterious to her (Why would I vote for Obama?!).
My God, on the other hand, is essentially me on steroids. I think I can see what He's doing--which certainly does not include acting purposefully to change events in people's lives (because what would be the point of having free will?) I think He drops hints though, by means of synchronicity--in the evolution of life, in the nature of physics and reality, and in the nature of consciousness itself; only I do not possess the intellectual capacity to understand exactly how he does it, though I think I can mostly grasp why he does it (He's lonely and needs the intellectual stimulation. Ironic, huh?) But rather than thinking of it as a matter of His spiritual power, I think of it simply as "He's a quite a "bit" smarter than me, knows a lot more math, and has infinitely better technology than I do."
The Pope's God can only be understood through (canon) lawyers, but never perfectly, because they're only human. For them, God is simply the best canon lawyer of all time (though you'd better do what those lawyers say or else! Man, the heads of corporations all think alike.)
My sister, a right-wing fundamentalist, believes in a God who is just out of her intellectual reach. She thinks she sees Him doing things in the world through the weather or through people--things that I know as a scientist are obviously random or stupid, easily explainable (and awfully repetitive) destructive behavior. For her, God is making things happen--when he judges it necessary--and His reasons are just beyond her grasp.
By that definition, I, her brother, qualify as God. I can do things that she does not have the intellectual power or technical capacity to do, and my ways are absolutely mysterious to her (Why would I vote for Obama?!).
My God, on the other hand, is essentially me on steroids. I think I can see what He's doing--which certainly does not include acting purposefully to change events in people's lives (because what would be the point of having free will?) I think He drops hints though, by means of synchronicity--in the evolution of life, in the nature of physics and reality, and in the nature of consciousness itself; only I do not possess the intellectual capacity to understand exactly how he does it, though I think I can mostly grasp why he does it (He's lonely and needs the intellectual stimulation. Ironic, huh?) But rather than thinking of it as a matter of His spiritual power, I think of it simply as "He's a quite a "bit" smarter than me, knows a lot more math, and has infinitely better technology than I do."
So who's religion is the right one? And before you all stick with your own, consider this: Do you want a God who's dumber than me?
