Dispelling "God"

Here I focus on the Christian and Hebrew god, as adapted from his original image in the Zoroastrian (Abrahamic) religion of prehistory.  I do not do so in an attempt to single out this god for dissolution, but rather because he is the one with which I am most familiar.  The statements below apply to all idolatry, whether Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Taoist, or any other religion that appeals to an outside deity.  Although the Hindu system of belief originally held the fact that all the deities they worshiped (including Jesus Christ) were manifestations of the All-One being, Brahman, I don't know whether or not it is still widely understood.  As Jayne put it, "Let's not go excluding people.  That would be rude."

There is a common conception that God is a man that lives in the sky (Heaven), passing judgement and meting out punishment.  He sits in a big gold throne listening to people's concerns.  He knows everything, he's everywhere, and he can do anything.  He has a plan.  His word- The Bible- is infallible.

This image is perpetuated through channels of learning that use and abuse people's fear of death and the resultant state thereof.  It was cultivated and solidified throughout the middle ages as a means of controlling the population, conquering and unifying nations, and amassing wealth.  To this day, the image is still used for all of these means, although the prevalence of counterpoised people have challenged its effectiveness.

This image of God is mutable.  He cannot stand up to time and change.  He is presently besieged by science and reason.  His infallible word is challenged by logical contradictions and historical evidence.  One may choose to ignore these things and pursue the blind hope that this man is The One True God.  Often those who turn a blind eye are claiming that, despite all opposition, they have faith.  I hope that one would look at my thoughts on faith, here, and give serious consideration as to whether or not one has been misled through such enchanting terms.

The Bible, which translates from Latin to "The Book", is said, in its entirety, to be the absolute and irrefutable word of God.  One is encouraged by members, and especially leaders, of the church to study The Bible and meditate on its passages.  Since I was a member of the church, I did so.  I studied multiple versions of that book:  The King James, The NIV, The Journey (adapted from NIV), and ESV.   I've also studied the English language and history.  Doing so, one will find that The Bible was written by men.  Genesis is thought to have been written by Adam, Noah, and Shem.  The book Isaiah was written by Isaiah.  The Gospel of Peace was written by Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Corinthians I and II were written by the Apostle Paul in response to troubles that a temple in Corinth (Greece) was having.

Many will say that although these books were written by man, they were inspired by God.  Yet, they will also claim that every word within The Bible is directly from God's mouth, despite the fact that many passages are the direct quotes of a person who was not God.  For example, in the passage Luke 22:58 (NIV), it reads, "A little later someone else saw him and said, 'You are also one of them.' 'Man, I am not!' Peter replied."  Basic English informs us that these are not the words of God, but the words of some man and Peter.  It's not that people lack an understanding of English that causes them to ignore these revelations.  We are deliberately misled.  

If people claiming that The Bible was the absolute word of God actually believed it, they would be walking around with only one arm, for it is written:  "And if your hand- even your stronger one- causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Hell."  (Mathew 5:30, NLT)  The original version of the text read "if your right hand..."  but it had to be changed.  When the original was written, it was thought that most people were right handed and left handed people were evil.  This difference in versions further illustrates my point.  

The Bible, as it is now, was created by men in power.  The New Testament was assembled into a book by the same people that killed Jesus.  It's said that The Bible was written by man, but inspired by God.  It's fair to say that, but man is fallible.  If man is fallible, so is his work.  Once written, it's easily abused.  A hammer fashioned may be used to build anything.  The "word of god" is used to move people to do horrible things.

I do not aim to destroy faith or hope.  It's not my goal to cause harm.  It's as Jesus said, "The truth will set you free."  I aim to free as many people as I can.  We don't need this idol (God or The Bible) to tell us how to live good lives.  In fact, more often than not, it's led people to be mean to each other.  I offer a new understanding.  The thing which was supplanted by this false image is far greater.  It's not limited by the confines of religion.  It's not as still as a book or as graven as this "God" idea.

I offer The Truth which has been spoken of by all the great teachers:  Buddha, Jesus,  Krishna, Lao Tzu, Mohammed, Moses,  and many many more.  There is a thing with a plan that created us all.  There is a thing that is beginning and end.  There is an ever present force guiding us.  In order to find it, though, we must have faith enough to step away from the confines of our understanding.  We don't need blind faith.  We need the faith of a child:  an unknowing, ever-mindful way.



*I wanted to refer to God as "god" at first, and found that too offensive.  After dropping the quotations, I wanted to leave "God" as god, but I realized that this is referring to a proper noun and is, thus, grammatically incorrect.
**Image: God The Father by Ludovico Mazzolino