The problem with the examination of the God-Man relationship is that only one side of the relationship is available to us for study. Everything we think we know about God and our relationship to Him is based on underlying assumptions, speculations, history, belief, faith, hope, and fear. Man(kind) cannot ever “know” God except in terms that are understandable to us as human beings. Part 1 ended with a brief discussion of the problem of human worship directed toward God. Does God want worship, need it, demand it? If so, why? I continue on now by saying that I do not believe that God requires any form of worship, prayer, or sacrifice. God does not need a constant flow of adoration from humans to feel good about Himself. If He did, would He Be God? God does not have a low blood adoration count. This is obviously a human idea powered by our own knowledge of ourselves. If He did need adoration, it wouldn’t be very God-like. Importantly, if God did, or does, in fact, have this intrinsic need of adoration, it does not make sense for God to use His Plan of Evolution and wait billions of years for Man to arrive on the planet to supply the flow of an essential dietary requirement. That would be a good argument for a Creation Plan which required God to use only seven days to Create the Universe. “The contract says, Young God, that you have seven days to complete this job. Not eight days, not nine days, S-E-V-E-N days.” Since, all available evidence suggests rather strongly (unless God has a very wry sense of humor) that it did in fact take billions of years after the initial formation of the Earth for Man to arrive, the next step of logic also suggests rather strongly that God does in fact not need much adoration. This makes God more God-like. Otherwise He would be here on Earth, moving around, and being visible so that the masses of people of the Earth could adore Him. He isn’t, so, He doesn’t. If, on the other hand, Man (at least an especially shrewd minority thereof) made up the idea of the requirement that their Man-made God needed and continues to need a constant supply of adoration and sacrifices to remain healthy and “on the job”, then it makes more sense for God to not dilly-dalley around in Creating the Universe, Earth, and Man. For one thing it suggests rather strongly that a workman not waste time on his job. This, just by itself is an idea that is an integral part of, result of “civilization“. Pre-farming cultures took pride in taking all the time necessary to create tools and weapons correctly. Time was not an issue. Correctness was the issue. In an ordered “civilization” timetables and finishing “on time” are important. “If God could create the whole Universe in seven days, you lazy louts should be able to dig this ditch is a week.” A great propaganda ploy and a great work rules environment for the leader-overseers. That way, Man could more quickly get with the program of providing the adoration in the specified manner to make it acceptable to God. Sort of like putting especially refined catsup on your French-fries. Or, taking five hundred years to build a proper cathedral to house the intermediaries of God. If the above confuses you, just remember that logic can twist like the strands in a rope until you get to the knot at the end. Besides, it is more fun to write in this style. Here’s the third strand of the rope. As an oppositional idea, if God wants (Assuming that God(s) want?) something else that can only come as a result of the development of Intelligence Combined with Free Will, then a slower evolutionary climb to achieve the desired process and state makes more sense. Nobody, and no species gets that smart overnight. It takes time to have enough experiences (hard knocks) to develop a high level of smarts. I hasten to note that should God have desired an instant Creation of Intelligence, that may very well be possible to Him. I do not feel especially confident in placing limitations on God. That He did not do so is an indicator to me that going slow has an important value to God. I do want to add, however, that God is not likely to place all of His bets on one roll of the dice (Man). It is fairly obvious that, unless Man manages to destroy all life on the planet by thoroughly fowling this nest, there are other intelligences already waiting in the wings for their chance on the stage: whales, dolphins, other primates, other higher order warm blooded species, and the social insects. Off Earth, among the billions of billions of other galaxies, the possibilities are only limited by imagination and God’s Laws of Physics, Chemistry, and Thermo-Dynamics. The great thing about the size of the Universe is that there is plenty of space, and that, together with the apparent limitation to the speed of light, God has plenty of room to isolate His experiments from each other to avoid cross-contamination, transmission of disease, and spoilage. Given the correctness of the assumption that God’s Plan for Man is for Man to be something more than a squishy doormat, or an ever lasting ice-cream soda fountain of adoration (essential food source), what might Man’s possible Role be? (As related to God?) If Man’s Task and Role is to be the good shepherd for this planet, our religious leaders are utter failures because we, as a species, are failing that intelligence test. Maybe Religion should stop fighting Science and each other, and see that Science gives us the best tools to learn how to shepherd the biosphere of Earth. If Man’s Task and Role is to overcome our genetic heritage and learn how to care for all the members of our species so that we are working to develop higher Intelligence, again we are failing miserably. As a species, we are curiously unwilling, often because of religious reasons, to control our own numbers. We are stressing the carrying capacity of the planet. We will soon pass the energy window of opportunity to extend our genome beyond the planet’s gravity well. If there is a final test for Intelligence, that, in my humble opinion, is it. Very soon, it appears, we will have failed. If I am correct, as I posited in Part 1, that war is a natural state for human beings, then failing to overcome that biological limitation may well be the final grade in our species’ report card. God has a Plan for species that fail His tests. He has used it millions of times. It is extinction.
(c) Copyright 2006: George Wallace recently published a book on religion which lashes out at nearly all of the comfortable ideas about God, the trappings of organized religion, and the priesthood. His pithy comments and suggestions for a return to a God-centered personal religion will interest everyone. This article may be freely reprinted so long as all copyright attributions, and the full content of this resource box are included. www.OhGodIsThatYou.com
Article Source: http://www.writerspenarticledirectory.com
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
Powered by Article Dashboard
Sign Up
