Not to suggest that there is no such thing as god, nor to support the common (mis)perception of what it may be.
When I was a child, I read a lot of Greek mythology. In one book, the author concluded with something like 'all things must come to an end, and so it was with the Greek pantheon..'
It may sound like cheap poetry, but really quite thought inspiring. When the Greek civilization decayed, their dieties fell into disregard. Is it not altogether possible that before the rise of the Greeks that Zeus wasn't much to speak of either?
A god, like love, is an abstract. In itself it is intangible, but you can see how it effects the world around you. Seeing somthing have an effect on the world might lead one to think it actually exsists...but in what way is the true question.
I think no one can deny that a lot of energy (human energy) is focused on god. Hell, just look at this board. I don't believe that God created all things, but I do believe that he exsists and has power insofar that people continuously expend energy and act because of him. I think many of the qualities in which god is expressed in the world are equatable to emotions like anger, love, guilt and appreciation of beauty.
example: I kill two goats. One out of anger, and one for my god. The result- two dead goats. It would be hard to deny that the energy of my anger did not have a direct effect on the physical world, and it should be equally hard to deny that the energy of my god did not the same.
To the point, once the greeks stopped doing things in the name of their gods, the gods lost power. When christians started doing things in the name of their god, he gained power. When our society crumbles, the christian god too will come to an end.
In this respect the doctrines of the church become true. As they work to preserve the society in which they exist, in fact they are performing acts of self-maintenance (or self preservation). As far as the church is concerned in regards to its own existance, when people cease to believe in god, the church would lose power (seeing that the church draws its power from god, who in turn draws his power from the faithful)
Afterall, a god is naught but for those who would believe.
When I was a child, I read a lot of Greek mythology. In one book, the author concluded with something like 'all things must come to an end, and so it was with the Greek pantheon..'
It may sound like cheap poetry, but really quite thought inspiring. When the Greek civilization decayed, their dieties fell into disregard. Is it not altogether possible that before the rise of the Greeks that Zeus wasn't much to speak of either?
A god, like love, is an abstract. In itself it is intangible, but you can see how it effects the world around you. Seeing somthing have an effect on the world might lead one to think it actually exsists...but in what way is the true question.
I think no one can deny that a lot of energy (human energy) is focused on god. Hell, just look at this board. I don't believe that God created all things, but I do believe that he exsists and has power insofar that people continuously expend energy and act because of him. I think many of the qualities in which god is expressed in the world are equatable to emotions like anger, love, guilt and appreciation of beauty.
example: I kill two goats. One out of anger, and one for my god. The result- two dead goats. It would be hard to deny that the energy of my anger did not have a direct effect on the physical world, and it should be equally hard to deny that the energy of my god did not the same.
To the point, once the greeks stopped doing things in the name of their gods, the gods lost power. When christians started doing things in the name of their god, he gained power. When our society crumbles, the christian god too will come to an end.
In this respect the doctrines of the church become true. As they work to preserve the society in which they exist, in fact they are performing acts of self-maintenance (or self preservation). As far as the church is concerned in regards to its own existance, when people cease to believe in god, the church would lose power (seeing that the church draws its power from god, who in turn draws his power from the faithful)
Afterall, a god is naught but for those who would believe.
Need I say more? heheh.
