As rational beings, we have the unique ability to investigate and know the whys and wherefores of many events in our lives. Much of that understanding comes from learned experiences and, for the most part, we don’t remember when, where, or how we learned them — we were too young and immature to record the exact circumstance or event involved. For instance, can any one of you say for certain when you learned from first-hand experience to avoid touching hot objects? Likely not, but I’ll bet you do have memory of a specific event where you accidentally got burned by one— I certainly do and likely will never forget.
It involved a quarter-sized third degree burn on my rear. I was five years old and rolled out of a frigid bedroom with my long handles on. Making haste to the red-hot wood burning heater stove in the family room, I accidentally backed up a little too close to it — took six months of fat meat and kerosene treatment before I completely healed.
My loving dad, as was his usual wont, had arisen at four AM and had the fire roaring in our heater stove. So, because of another learned experience which I do not remember when I learned it, I ran to the stove which I knew would be warm (hot). My mother, five brothers, and I certainly appreciated dad’s dedication to his family.
Experiences such as those I just mentioned are very specific and personal to each of us — ours and ours alone. Those personal experiences, coupled with billions of others, combined with our own individual interpretation of those experiences gradually and unceasingly shape our specifically individual personality — no two of us can possibly be identical because no two of us have identical experiences.
Even our formal education is interpreted by each of us differently. All of us have a slightly different personal relationship to known scientific and mathematical facts and, true to the system, that relationship helps shape our individual personalities. That, of course, does not preclude the legitimacy or factuality of any known entity — it simply means that each of us has a slightly different reaction to the relevancy of those facts.
Now, let’s apply that same principle to religion. Most of us have been indoctrinated in the basic concepts of some religion or religious sect, be it Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any one of a myriad of native cultural understandings about God and the universe. As best I can determine, the formation of each of those religions was based purely on mythology, superstition, imagination, astrology, and self-interpretation without the benefit of any scientific facts. They each were based on the recognition of a ‘higher power’ than themselves and each assigned special attributes to that god or gods/goddesses.
Quite obviously, before the days of any literacy, those individual traditions were handed down verbally from adults to children. Now, just try to imagine the extreme diversity of understanding and personal interpretation of those ‘hand-me-downs’. Regardless of which sect one belonged to, absolutely no two of any group had identical understandings and interpretations. The bottom line is this, there were as many gods as there were people because none of them could define the ‘essence’ of their god. It has remained that way for billions and billions of people for thousands of years until 2016 when I finally defined God’s essence in my little philosophy book, Wilderness Cry – God is A Perfect Rational Being. Those six little words say exactly who God is – nothing can be added or deleted.
The implications of that definition of God’s essence are staggering. One major implication is the total invalidation of all religions, past or present, because none knows the god they purport to worship – they all are worshiping a false god and furthermore, there are as many false gods as there are worshipers.
The Israelites were the first to recognize a singular God who not only was in charge of the entire universe but also created it in the first instance. Again, with no factual knowledge about the universe except what they could observe, someone or maybe many dreamed up a legend about how the universe came to be and more importantly, how homo sapiens appeared and progressed into the troublesome, toiling life of starving nomads in a desert.
WE all know the story leading up to the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth. The embellishment of his life’s story led to the creation of a new, heretofore unheard-of religion, Christianity, 300 years after his death.
Those who purported to write and rewrite and rewrite ad nauseum Jesus’ life’s history, were very careful to avoid telling us exactly what Jesus was teaching that got him killed. That divulgence would have instantly killed their newfound religion which put them in charge of everyone’s life vis-a’-vis the Inquisitions, the Crusades, the perpetual torment of impaling guilt for being normal humans, and most of all, the visible hypocrisy of saying one thing and doing the exact opposite. As an example, if anyone of us Roman Catholics had openly espoused abortion as have Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, we would have been condemned to hell immediately. Furthermore, we would have been excommunicated from the Church post haste. However, both of them ‘trotted over to Rome’, where they, not only receive the blessing of the Pope, but were given Holy Communion by him – hypocrisy of the highest degree?
I have noted those events before and have pointed out what seems to be an obvious collusion taking place – ‘just turn a blind eye to all those Catholic immigrants from South America, and I’ll let you do as you please – we need the Catholic numbers upped in the USA – my eternal Papal blessing is yours unimpeded.’
What got Jesus killed was his teaching of Love –love of God and neighbor. That teaching was a total contradiction of the guilt-driven money machine of the Jewish sacrificial religion – we must seek God’s mercy, never his unbridled love as taught by Jesus. The Church formed at Nicaea in 325 AD and later commissioned as the official religion of the entire Roman Empire, totally ignored Jesus’ teaching of love, but conveniently used his name in support of their exact duplication of the Jewish sacrificial religion.
Whatever one may think of Jesus of Nazareth, one thing is certain. He was a genius who understood that God was in all his creation, not lording over it. He recognized that God could not possibly dislike himself – therefore his edict of love.
Jesus new nothing about chemistry, classical physics, or particle physics. Had he known, his task would likely have been easier. But I have the advantage of being exposed to all three. While I am no expert in any one of them, my understanding of each is clear. At the risk of redundancy, I will repeat for you and your understanding. Everything in this universe is made of identical perfect particles of energy –no exceptions. Each particle of its own variety is perfect in both form and function, is indistinguishable from its counterparts, cannot change or be changed, cannot be created or destroyed by man, and cannot be further subdivided. Study those attributes and you will see they are the same as those attributable to our God. So, me must concede that they were envisioned by a Perfect Intellect, God The Father, and were accepted, commissioned, loved, chosen, willed by a Perfect Will, which maintains them as perfect. That Perfect Will is The Will of God, The Holy Spirit. Obviously then, all creation is the Son of God, a mirror reflection of our God the Father. Jesus was the first human to recognize that and, furthermore, he was willing to die that we, his brothers and sisters, might be liberated from the oppressive blanket of guilt imposed by the Jewish religion generated from Mosaic law. It should be noted that Mosaic law was a near-perfect set of rules for the good ‘civil living’ of loving God and neighbor. It should ‘go without saying then’ that the Holy Spirit resides in every existence. That is the definition of Spirituality – the understanding and acceptance that the Holy Spirit resides in every entity. Accordingly, four years ago I called for ‘The Worldwide Communion Of Spirituality’ as the only pathway for peace. That recognition allows us to realize that we are ‘in communion’ with every entity in existence.
That brings me to another major ‘beef’ which I have with the Catholic Church. During the last few years, I have attended many funerals and weddings in Catholic Churches where many non-Catholic friends and relative were in attendance. Invariably, at Communion time, the priest announced to the non-Catholics that they are not allowed to receive Communion. One must be a baptized Catholic, indoctrinated in the catholic faith, and in good standing before receiving the host is allowed.
Without exception, that announcement made me cringe – what would Jesus have said? Jesus welcomed all-comers, sinners and all. That exclusionary reminder from the priest to non-Catholics represents the most modern-day show of hypocrisy yet. It shows me clearly that we are being directed by the most ancient, ignorant, and possessive understanding of a dualist god yet. What a shame.
Maybe Pope Francis was correct and Jesus-like after all in giving Holy Communion to Joe and Nancy – all sinners are welcome–what do you think?
My philosophy is spelled out clearly in my publications of Wilderness Cry, Peace In Spirituality, and Provocative Catholic. For the fun of it you might be interested in my Growing Up In Fancy Farm Kentucky – all available Amazon- Kindle and autographed from me.
handg@comcast.net
Buddhaism Christianity Eternity Faith Future of Christianity God God's Will gods Hilary L Hunt MD Hinduism HolyGhost Holy Spirit Islam Islam Christianity Jesus Judaism Judaism Buddhism Money Philosophy Power Religion religions salvation Science The Trinity
WILDERNESS CRY by Hilary L Hunt MD 