From a site visitor in New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.: “I found your blog recently and thank you for the insights you offer. Now, my question: the mayor of our city has announced that the storms which hit the region last year were sent by God out of anger. I find that hard to believe. I only returned recently but I'm already making arrangements to leave permanently. Your thoughts?”
F.: Thanks for the e-mail. Rather than thoughts, how about some considerations that invite persons to be free of the delusions of their magical thinking?
1. Religious people like your mayor claim they turn to their “God” for peace, so how is it that the one they turn to for peace is so often angry himself? (“Himself” is used since your mayor joins the majority in this nation and the world who believe in a god of male gender.)
2. Were all of those in your city (and those along the coast and many miles inland) who lost their homes, their family members, or their own lives the ones who were “the bad ones”? Were the ones who did not lose homes, family members, or their lives “the good ones”? Or when that god’s wrath is provoked by earthings, are “the innocent” as well as “the guilty” all punished or killed equally without discrimination? Consider the duality involved with all those beliefs.
3. This is the same God that for thousands of years has reportedly killed 6000 here, 120,000 there, and finally everyone on earth except one family. By even the most liberal definitions, are the followers of that god not worshipping a mass murderer and an organizer of genocide who killed on a grander scale than Columbus, Hitler and the Europeans who invaded the “Americas,” all combined?
Here’s how that God of Abraham, and the actions of those dedicated to the three religions that are outgrowths of his writings, were addressed in Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost) http://floydhenderson.com/spiritualsobriety.htm :
On 9/11/2001, a group of Islamic fundamentalists commandeered two commerical airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, explaining that Allah had told them to attack the Jewish and Christian infidels influencing the world economy from those buildings. SO THE GOD OF ISLAM WAS FOR ATTACKING THE TOWERS. Fundamentalist Judaeo-Christian minister Jerry Falwell disagreed, explaining that the towers were knocked down as God’s punishment for the proliferation of non-Christians, gays, and feminists in the U.S. SO THE GOD OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY WAS FOR ATTACKING THE TOWERS. A Fundamentalist Muslim minister, on the anniversary of the 9/11 attack said that God approved the attack since “if Allah had not wanted the Towers knocked down, they could not have been knocked down.” SO THE GOD OF ISLAM OK’D THE ATTACK ON THE TOWERS THAT KILLED 2800 PEOPLE. A reporter asked the Fundamentalist, Born-Again President George Bush if he had talked with his father (a former president) before attacking Iraq and dropping U.S. bombs on Baghdad. Bush pointed upward and said that he had talked to “The Father.” During that talk between Bush and God, God evidently gave the president the go-ahead to drop bombs on a city and kill thousands of women, children, and men in Iraq. In announcing the beginning of the attack on Iraq to the people of the U.S., Bush invoked God’s blessing on U.S. soldiers and their war effort. SO THE JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN GOD OK’D KILLING IRAQIS.
Is it any wonder that Judaism, Christianity and Islam talk more about their prophets—Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed—than about their god? That is understandable, considering their beliefs about their god’s vengeful behavior. That leads to another consideration for today: “If such a male-god actually exists, and if his followers are right (that he is driven by his anger to kill thousands of people, to anniliate homes and communities, and to destroy families), who would seek to depend on that entity, to be close to that entity, or to believe that he is a source of peace?” WHO has what to gain by suggesting that love and worship that result from threat and intimidation is the way to go? And what kind of god could be so involved in self-deception that he would believe that love and worship offered as a result of threat and intimidation is "true love"? An upcoming post will address why persons are prisoners who actually have no desire at all for independence, but the key pointer for today is that the “journey” to sanity—to being in touch with reality—begins by questioning it all. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
F.: Thanks for the e-mail. Rather than thoughts, how about some considerations that invite persons to be free of the delusions of their magical thinking?
1. Religious people like your mayor claim they turn to their “God” for peace, so how is it that the one they turn to for peace is so often angry himself? (“Himself” is used since your mayor joins the majority in this nation and the world who believe in a god of male gender.)
2. Were all of those in your city (and those along the coast and many miles inland) who lost their homes, their family members, or their own lives the ones who were “the bad ones”? Were the ones who did not lose homes, family members, or their lives “the good ones”? Or when that god’s wrath is provoked by earthings, are “the innocent” as well as “the guilty” all punished or killed equally without discrimination? Consider the duality involved with all those beliefs.
3. This is the same God that for thousands of years has reportedly killed 6000 here, 120,000 there, and finally everyone on earth except one family. By even the most liberal definitions, are the followers of that god not worshipping a mass murderer and an organizer of genocide who killed on a grander scale than Columbus, Hitler and the Europeans who invaded the “Americas,” all combined?
Here’s how that God of Abraham, and the actions of those dedicated to the three religions that are outgrowths of his writings, were addressed in Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost) http://floydhenderson.com/spiritualsobriety.htm :
On 9/11/2001, a group of Islamic fundamentalists commandeered two commerical airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, explaining that Allah had told them to attack the Jewish and Christian infidels influencing the world economy from those buildings. SO THE GOD OF ISLAM WAS FOR ATTACKING THE TOWERS. Fundamentalist Judaeo-Christian minister Jerry Falwell disagreed, explaining that the towers were knocked down as God’s punishment for the proliferation of non-Christians, gays, and feminists in the U.S. SO THE GOD OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY WAS FOR ATTACKING THE TOWERS. A Fundamentalist Muslim minister, on the anniversary of the 9/11 attack said that God approved the attack since “if Allah had not wanted the Towers knocked down, they could not have been knocked down.” SO THE GOD OF ISLAM OK’D THE ATTACK ON THE TOWERS THAT KILLED 2800 PEOPLE. A reporter asked the Fundamentalist, Born-Again President George Bush if he had talked with his father (a former president) before attacking Iraq and dropping U.S. bombs on Baghdad. Bush pointed upward and said that he had talked to “The Father.” During that talk between Bush and God, God evidently gave the president the go-ahead to drop bombs on a city and kill thousands of women, children, and men in Iraq. In announcing the beginning of the attack on Iraq to the people of the U.S., Bush invoked God’s blessing on U.S. soldiers and their war effort. SO THE JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN GOD OK’D KILLING IRAQIS.
Is it any wonder that Judaism, Christianity and Islam talk more about their prophets—Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed—than about their god? That is understandable, considering their beliefs about their god’s vengeful behavior. That leads to another consideration for today: “If such a male-god actually exists, and if his followers are right (that he is driven by his anger to kill thousands of people, to anniliate homes and communities, and to destroy families), who would seek to depend on that entity, to be close to that entity, or to believe that he is a source of peace?” WHO has what to gain by suggesting that love and worship that result from threat and intimidation is the way to go? And what kind of god could be so involved in self-deception that he would believe that love and worship offered as a result of threat and intimidation is "true love"? An upcoming post will address why persons are prisoners who actually have no desire at all for independence, but the key pointer for today is that the “journey” to sanity—to being in touch with reality—begins by questioning it all. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
