God's religion
Year Delivered or Published: 2007
Author: Tom Hart
Author's Faith: A little of this and a little of that
Date Submitted to Inspiration and Issues: November 1, 2007
Topic: Personal Religion
Citation: none:1-10
"Do not blame God for man's mistakes": These simple words add up to one of the most profound statements I've ever read. It was scrawled on the bathroom wall of the university I attended. For some reason this statement has stayed in my memory all these years. Gradually, over time, it has made me ask questions that I have spent years attempting to get answers for. What ARE man's mistakes that we blame God for? You can decide for yourself and follow your own path to see what it means to you, but it has lead me to seek answers about my religious beliefs. I have come to the conclusion that organized religion may very well be the biggest mistake that man has ever made. I will present arguments in an attempt to show you why I feel that way.
Religion only exists because man created it. That's why there are so many organized religions today. Each founder of a particular religion looked within themselves and saw God, and interpreted what they saw as a revelation as to how they should live and worship him. They were then able to convince others into believing that THEY alone had God's undivided attention and that everyone should believe as they do. BUT just because someone says, "God told me how to worship him", doesn't make it so. It doesn't make these founders right, or Divinely inspired, it just makes them a great salesmen. Each religion has had a great salesman (except for yours, of course, which is the only "truly Divinely inspired" religion).
God may be the biggest jokester of all time. He must be laughing at the stupidity of man and the multitude of ways we have found to worship him. He has allowed us to form religions as we see fit, never interfering with what or how it was being taught. All religion claim to be inspired by the same God. Each religion saying, "my religion is the only TRUE religion" and others saying, "God will punish you if you don't believe in what I believe in". I do not see how anyone who knows there is a God could truly believe that he would automatically damn the majority of the population of the world to automatic purgatory. Therefore, it is impossible for me to believe that there is only one true religion. If so, then most of us are going straight to Hell (except for those who believe in your religion, of course).
My God is tolerant of all religions. Only those flawed individuals who, having all the answers, organized religions in God's name, and accept no other truth than their own, are that intolerant. Those are man's creations, not God's.
We all desperately want to believe in something, even if that something is to believe in nothing. Even Atheists have organizations which, to their chagrin, could be called religions. As a species, we constantly try to find something, anything that will explain human existence, why we are here, and our place in it. But it must be tangible for us to accept it. We are social beings and must be able to see it, touch it, and be a part of it in order to believe in it. Organized religion fills that need. Just believing in God does not. It's lonely when it’s just you and God. He doesn't say a lot and requires you to do all the talking. He exists only as an metaphysical being. God requires absolute belief in him without ever having a chance to scientifically prove or disprove his existence. That's hard to do without the support and fellowship of others who have basically the same beliefs. Thus we organize ourselves into religions.
The majority of mankind has never actually chosen their religion. It was chosen for them by birth. I have no doubt that if I was born in a Israel, I would probably be Jewish and believe that Christ was a nice guy, but not God's son OR If I was born in Utah I would be a Mormon and maybe believe that 3 wives is the only way to go OR If I was born in Middle East I would be a Muslim and maybe believe that if I blow myself up and I'll get a bunch of virgins in heaven. For the majority of mankind, religion is not a choice it is a birthright. I apologize to that small percentage of you who have chosen an established religion because it fits their beliefs. That works for me too, but unfortunately, we are in the minority.
Please don't get me wrong. I respect all religions and those people who believe in them. I truly believe that all religions have something worthwhile to teach, but each of us ultimately decides what we will believe in and what we will not. It doesn't matter what religion you are a part of, I guarantee there are certain tenants of that religion that you disagree with. That's because YOUR beliefs are subjective and are actually only between you and God, and no one else. In the end, you will answer to him, not your religion, for your beliefs. It just makes us all feel better to know that everyone who honestly adheres to most of the beliefs of our religion will have the same ultimate fate.
I have been to the services in many places of worship. In each, I try to come away with the same thing: some new thought or idea that will make me understand God better and be a better person toward others. I understand that I do not have all the answers and never will, but I also understand that neither does anyone else. And while I may disagree with various religions on a number of points they adamantly believe in, they may have an answer to one of the questions that I have been searching for, or either raise a question that I have never thought of . That makes every religion relevant. But ultimately, regardless of what is said, it is ME who internalizes what is being taught during the sermon. I will subjectively believe what is taught, and add that knowledge to MY belief system, or I will reject it. My religion is between me and God and concerns no one else. The answers I find are only relevant to me and helps me along the path to a better understanding of God.
I personally believe that religion has nothing to do with books, or prophets, or religious leaders, or houses of worship. It's just between me and God. In the end, I will answer to him not because of what church I went to, but because of the type of person I was during my life and how I treated others while I was here. It is what resides within me and makes me who I am that will determine whether God will look at me favorably or not. It is the search for answers to the moral questions I have, and how I use the answers that I find that is important. I refuse to limit myself to the answers that only one religion can supply. I am the ultimate owner of my own beliefs and God will be the judge of whether I am right or wrong.
Organized religion does not unite us, it keeps us apart. It segregates one group from another. You can argue the truthfulness of your religion all you want, but you'll only alienate others who honestly believe in the truthfulness of theirs. Organized religions, regardless of their good intentions, have caused hate, mistrust and in extreme cases death and destruction. "Believe in what I believe in, because if you don't God will not love you and you will go straight to Hell". Think about it, God can not want that. That can not be God's plan for us to worship him. No one religion or person has ever had an absolute control over right and wrong or absolute knowledge of the REAL truth.
The good news is that all of us are already part of the same, uniting, religion. We just don't accept it and use it as a tool to unite us. It doesn’t have a name. It shouldn’t. To give it a name would just throw it in the pot with all the others. It’s personal and concerns no one else but you and God. It is a religion of actions and not just words. It demands no place of worship, religious texts, or men who claim to know about it more than you do. It is within you and you alone. You know more about it than anyone else ever could. If you pray to God, you don’t pray for Baptist things, or Jewish things, or Muslin things, or Catholic things. We ALL pray to our God for the exact same things regardless of our organized religious differences. We pray for God to protect our families, our friends, our neighbors, our country, peace on earth, an end to the pain and suffering of others, for food to feed the starving, that God may grant us peace within ourselves, and to give us an understanding of exactly what kind of person he wants us to be. These are the important things and the things that should unite us. These things can not be made into an organized religion, but non-the-less unite us. If you define a religion as a group of people who share a common set of religious beliefs, then this qualifies as a religion that we are all apart of. It is OUR conversations with God that unite us ALL. Even though it is a personal conversation between each of us and God, it is the same conversation.
In most Blogs and articles on religion, many people will argue religion by quoting scripture from their own religion as absolute proof of a point or will quote history as defined by their particular religious texts. These arguments are meaningless to those of other religions and will never settle an issue or unite anyone. The only true religion will resonate as truth to everyone. It will be one that's inclusive to all. Each of us has within ourselves the ultimate religion, and it is the same. It should unite us, but doesn’t because we’d rather give it a name, write books about it, build places to go to worship it, and create deities of those men who say they know more about it than we do. How can anyone say that the very things that keep us apart will ever unite us. The goal of a true religion should be to work toward peace within ourselves and harmony with others. It should consist of the things that unite us all, not tear us apart. Only when we recognize this, will there ever be a true religion. All organized religions keep us separated and, by their differences, will always keep us apart. There is only one God and he will judge each of us using the exact same criteria. Until everyone recognizes that each of us contains the true religion within ourselves, because it unites us all as one with God, we will never have peace within ourselves or each other. These are the things that God will ultimately judge us by. So worship as you think appropriate, but please "Do not blame God for man's mistakes".
TKH
