Christianity Doesn’t Make Sense! …Or Does It?
We approach a new topic today, which I find to be both controversial, and misunderstood. Religions of all varieties have had much in which to contend throughout all of history. I recognize the fight of the Muslims and the Jews, in particular. I hope that while reading this post, my readers will kindly try to remind themselves that I’m offering a Christian perspective, and not an anti-all-other-religion perspective. My speech about Christianity is not at all a dismissal of the plight of any other religious sect. Thank you.
Stigma of God
There are a lot of misunderstandings about the Christian God, that create a wrong image of what your average Christian actually believes. God may be a King, that we worship, but to those with a close, personal relationship, God is a parent. When saying God is a parent, certain things can be put more into a understandable perspective (even if it lacks condonation by some). We believe in one God, whom is also Jesus that died on the cross, and also the Holy Spirit. This part can be very confusing. I always figured that it was a matter of cosmic understanding that we just don’t have until we meet Him on the other side.
It is important to distinguish that many do not believe him merely a king or even a God, but a parent. This is because there is a lackluster appearance of many a monarchy of our past. Human monarchies surely can’t be compared directly to the Kingdom of God, can it? I couldn’t actually say, but it is the basic belief of a Christian, that the human mistakes of a human monarchy is not mimicked by the monarchy in Heaven.
Hellfire…
An example of this is the idea of God casting people into Hell, right? Let’s take a different perspective. Let’s imagine you live in your home with your son. Your son is grown, but eats your food, takes/destroys your things, disobeys the rules of your house, and is downright disrespectful. Now you’re providing for your grown son to live, and yet he is very ungrateful, telling everyone that he gets his own food, makes his own way in life, and owns all your things. So you try telling him, “Son, i’m providing for you. Could you please just be a little more respectful, at least?” To which he responds that you kill his brothers and sisters, are the cause of everything bad in the world, and have never done a nice thing in his life. He even tells people, “I have no father.”
Um…
If you’ve ever watched a basic episode of Dr. Phil, you’ll know that the way to handle this is to cut off what you provide so he must earn it himself. One way or the other, are you required to simply allow him to stay under your roof, take all your things, and also talk so abusively to and about you? No. He can be abusive from someone else’s house. It just so happens that the only other house is one with someone that isn’t so nice. You have warned him that you can’t condone his behavior and might have to ask him to leave. You’ve warned him that the only other option is Mr. X’s house, a horrible disciplinarian that is hateful and mean. Your son hasn’t changed. Ergo, it is your son’s choice (with knowledge of the consequence) to leave your home.
God’s House, God’s Rules
God isn’t asking much for us to be able to live in his house. There is this idea out there that we have to not sin to avoid Hell. This isn’t true to most Christians. It’s not a license to sin, certainly. But it is a true fact. God will forgive your sins, so long as you don’t dismiss him, and are grateful for what He provides.
Imagine a different son, living in your home: He is respectful, usually, and gives you the gratitude you deserve. However, he was just brought home by the cops, for publicly making a scene in the town square. Does God throw him out? No. God is disappointed, as a father would be. He wants to help His son find his feet again, and learn from his mistakes. He helps him.
God doesn’t want bad things for His children. He wants us all to be good, and not lie, or cheat. He wants us not to kill his other children, or cause harm in his house. God helps his children find their own way, instead of forcing “the way” onto him. He does this, because that is what is better for the son. It’s better for the son to learn his own way instead of simply being told what his way should be. Think about it: when was the last time you heard of teens heeding their parents warnings about bad behavior? It happens everyday, in one way or another.
But What About The Trees, Man?
Another argument against God is that He creates natural disaster and death, when he could prevent such things. I, personally, believe God is capable of anything. However, I don’t believe God sits and creates every hurricane individually, or generates every tornado, directly. I believe God created a universe (or many for all I know), and that universe operates a certain way. Similar to how God does not step in to change free-will of man, He does not step in to prevent every storm. I don’t claim to know everything about this, but I do think that there is a cosmic reason for some things that we may not understand, yet.
Once upon a time, we as humans, stepped in to attempt to prevent every forest fire. We tried to prevent any fire from occurring that was not specific to a human purpose. Even as we sit now, we see can see some of the damage of such suppression. As we speak, wildfires are causing more damage than ever before. Why is this? One theory says that it is a matter of suppressed fires. Natural occuring wildfires have an ability to burn away already dead areas. Not having so many fires, leaves more dead trees in the woods than normal. Dead are more susceptible to fire, and having more of them means that fires burn more area than they would have.
Secondly, nature is fascinating in it’s ability to self-regulate. There are many plants and trees that actually require fire to germinate. This means that some trees and plants cannot even begin to grow without there being a kind of fire. This means that nature’s fires were meant to destroy some dead growth, and naturally regrow a new generation in their place. Pretty amazing, no? This is why we have learned to do “controlled burns” of areas, on occasion.
2+2=…
This knowledge of trees and plants seems useless in relation to the idea of God vs natural disaster. For me, though, it brings about this idea that there may be more I don’t know, regarding natural disasters and how they regulate the world around me. It’s heartless, in a way, that so many people die in natural disasters. Why those people and not others? Why no one? Doesn’t God love his children? Well, yes, He does. I believe He knows something that I don’t. I suppose one might argue that he then values Earth more than His people, but I have to wonder how many more people survive, sometimes even better, because of these disasters. Perhaps it’s the only way to keep the planet spinning for the future generation.
No one knows what good comes out of a tornado or a hurricane. What we have learned, though, is what good can come from wild fires, and that information is data that it took more than a century to realize. I don’t know how ecosystems are set up. Is God saving the fish by instigating tsunamis? I’m not sure. I guess I just believe that God set up a system, and letting that system play itself out. He isn’t playing with us like a dollhouse, creating all the drama. So I wouldn’t say that God individually is saving all the trees or the fish, anymore than I’d say he’s murdering all the people with each disaster.
What About Murder?
Sorry folks. I can’t say I believe God has any hand in murders. He gave us humans free will and with that comes natural consequences. There is a section of people that go into spiels about miracles, and i can buy into that, generally speaking. However, I don’t directly attribute that to God either, but to His angels. God may be a God, but angels don’t carry the power of God. They can’t save everyone either. I can understand, though, how it might be insulting to the family of a murdered individual, when one that was saved, speaks of how they were saved by God. Wouldn’t that make you question why God saved the other person and not this one? For that, I’d say ask the angels, not God. Although there is theory that perhaps God intercepts that which would be harmful in a more earthly sense, than just an individual.
As I said, I don’t know why God has things running the way He has them running. In an indirect way, one could definitely say that He created evil because he created Man. One could say that He created death because He created life. But isn’t death just a lack of life? Similar to how darkness is just a lack of light? Darkness itself, does not exist. It is merely a description of the absence of light. Could one have been made without the other? Theoretically, yes. God is capable of everything, right? I don’t know why it was created the way that it was, I just believe that it’s God’s house, and His will. Interpret what you want out of that.
No Punishment! Yay!
Whoa there, now. I didn’t say that. There is this assumption that the only punishment God offers His people, is Hell. I don’t believe that it is. The other assumption is that since Jesus died for our sins, we’re free and clear. There will be no punishment! But…no. It just means we were saved from the worst punishment, not that we won’t be punished at all. There are arguments about Karmic retribution, which I can definitely buy into. Personally, though, I wonder sometimes, if my punishment waits for me beyond that ridge. Perhaps it’ll just be a stern lecture from my Father. Perhaps it’ll be more like the Catholic “Limbo” where I have to wait to come home. Either way, I believe if we aren’t punished through a form of Karma, we will be punished when we reach Heaven. It still doesn’t pay to sin.
God Hates (Insert Bad Word Here)
Yes, I understand this part is incredibly controversial. There is a large sect of Christians that believe in certain parts of the Bible very literally about God disapproving of homosexual relations. I can’t say that I personally care if someone is gay. To me, there are two types of sin: a personal/private sin, that is between you and God, and a public sin, that causes distress among your fellow man. Homosexuality, if disapproved of, is not my business. It’s between you and God. But I always wonder, anyway, about how the terminology of “sin” evolved over the First and Second Testaments.
Once upon a time, God wanted sacrifices of this and that, and God said to stone your daughter, and God said….Wait a minute. Didn’t a lot of that change when we got into the Second Testament? It did. It did because Jesus died for us. I don’t know what that means for specific kinds of sin, but it did change what we need to do for those sins. God doesn’t demand stoning anymore, I guess. Why isn’t it mentioned again, though?
Who Wrote the Bible and Why it Matters
There is this idea that God wrote the Bible. The answer to this is yes and no. In the sense that we don’t know who wrote certain areas of the Bible, and one could say God spoke through his disciples…etc. The Bible was written, officially, was a lot of men. Moses is said to have written the first five books of the Bible (and all of the Torah, but that’s not Christianity). Joshua, Samuel, Job, and Ezekial are just another few authors.
So here’s the thing: if we know that the Bible was written by a bunch of men, why do we not also take it with a grain of salt because it was written by men? I believe the majority of what was written in the Bible, don’t get me wrong. I also, though, believe that it is very hard for an average man, to let go of some of his beliefs. As much as we try to be objective (even me, as you’ll see through much of my political writing), it is very difficult to not defend that which we believe strongly.
Small anecdotes about how God disapproves of homosexuality, or how the mere idea was thrown in among a long list of sinning that was occurring, makes me question, slightly, if such a sin was not just thrown in because the author was a homophobe. It’s not a direct accusation, but I do wonder sometimes about such things. In the end, we can take some ideas in the Bible literally, or we can take them figuratively, as if it was meant to instill a kind of greater good. Sometimes, I have found that the figurative is better.
More Biblical Allegories
Obviously, there has been scientific data about objects that are more than a few thousand years old. These objects are millions of years old. Which is why so many people believe that Christianity and Science are opposed. I submit that they are not opposed at all.
We can either say that the idea of the Bible and the whole 6000 years, thing is just metaphorical, or we can look at a different planet for reference: The days on planet Venus are drastically different on Earth. In fact, a Venus day is approximately 20 Earth days. So if we take the idea that all the planets have different time frames, we can also say that wherever it is that God lives, probably doesn’t go by Earth time, either. When God said he made the world in 6 days, did He mean 6 Earth days or 6 Jupiter days?
We also know that 1 hour in space is different than 1 hour on Earth. This is because the further you are away from a gravitational source, the faster time goes by. 1 hour to someone on Earth is 1+ hours to someone orbiting Earth. Is the measurement of time even the same in Heaven Hours? How long is 6 days to a God?
In short, 6000 years may measure the Bible if taken literally and in Earthly time, but why would you do that?
God Made Evolution and More Scientific Theory
God made evolution. You heard that right. Evolution may be a theory and not officially proven. However, if evolution is a reality, then I must insist that God created it. Again, there is a difference in taking things literally or figuratively. To be quite frank, the Bible doesn’t specifically say that God twitched his nose or snapped his fingers, and things just appeared. It doesn’t give the methodology or recipes that God used to manufacture creation. It merely says that God did generate the universe. Whatever method He used to create all this, I’m fine with it.
Applying this idea to another generally accepted scientific theory, God created the Big Bang. Are we really going to say that this small bit of singularity existed (for no reason), expanded (also for no reason), and exploded to create massive amounts of life (again…no reason), and truly give God no credit? What causes such things to happen, then? Where did the singularity come from? Why did it start to inflate at all, instead of staying forever motionless?
There isn’t a way to actually exclude God from science, or science from God. There is no way for science to disprove God, and no way for the existence of God to disprove science. All these things must be taken on faith until we meet our maker, whether scientific theory or theological ones.
I truly hope this has given a better idea about Christianity in regards to making sense. Some of us (Christians) don’t want to push others to be Christian, but would rather if people stopped spouting off at the mouth about things they don’t understand. I mean, seriously, stop telling me my God isn’t loving because he damns sinners to Hell. Don’t tell me I hate entire sects of people because I am a Christian: we all have to judge our own information, and do it as justly as possible!
In truth, I just hope this small bit of information was educational enough to discourage some hateful mudslinging. For the record, I also discourage mudslinging towards Atheists, Budhists, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Tauists, and every other religiously (or not) affiliated sects of people. This was just my effort to dissuade it towards Christians.