Musings
Published Thu, Oct 11 2007 12:33 AM
Angel has a really interesting post up "Hmm..Do we need God?" It's an interesting question, but I'd like to look at it from a slightly different point of view.
We're engaged in a global war on terror. Some people refer to it as a war against Islamo-fascists or Islamo-nazis. What's certain is that the terrorists are using Islam as an excuse for lashing out against western civilization, and against anything that doesn't fit with their idea of morality.
Some on the left have argued that Christian fundamentalists are just as dangerous as Islamic fundamentalists. Others on the left will at least admit that the Christian fundamentalists aren't cutting off the heads of infidels with dull machetes. Still the argument is that an irrational adherence to an outdated set of values is dangerous to civilization in general.
Whether that viewpoint is right or not, or even whether the left really believes in the "moral equivalency" argument isn't really important. What is important is that the terrorists appear to sincerely believe that they are doing God's (excuse me, Allah's) will when they slaughter innocents.
They apparently need God (or at least Allah). A lot of their supporters in the west don't seem to think that God is necessary though.
Some on the right have asked the question… If the Islamic terrorists do manage to overrun the west, who will their first victims be?
I'll ask the same question, and venture to guess that it won't be the Christian fundamentalists or even the Jews. It'll be the godless ones.
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in New York a few weeks ago he was asked about how Iran dealt with homosexuals. He denied that the problem even existed in his country. We all know better. What makes the homosexuals in the west think that they'll have it any easier when Islam takes over?
That's one side trip.
I wrote about "Crooks and Liars" a little while back, remarking on how politicians have a penchant for lying, and observing that, at least in political campaigns, lying is protected speech. Have you ever wondered about lying politicians? How will they answer to God?
Maybe they should be thankful that the supreme court managed to erect a wall of separation between church and state, even though there isn't one found in our Constitution. Interestingly enough, I've been told, but I can't verify it, that the Soviet Constitution actually defined such a wall, but again, I digress.
So, do we need God?
Maybe that's the wrong question.
Perhaps we should really be asking the question "What if God really does exist?" Or maybe, the question should be "What if God really doesn't exist?" Think about that for a bit. Much of our modern society and popular culture appears to be based on the assumption that God doesn't exist.
Assume for the moment that God exists. If that's the case, then it might just be possible that at least one religion in the world has actually got it right. It's also a fair bet that quite a few have got it wrong. After all even though they all purport to teach us God's will, quite a few of them are mutually exclusive in what they teach.
That is probably the best rational I can think of for the first amendment. Since ultimately we are each personally responsible for our own relationship with God, then each of us has a personal choice to make regarding our religion. The founders understood this when they forbade the Congress from making any law that prohibited the free exercise of religion.
Speaking of the free exercise of religion, it's awfully difficult to have the free choice of what religion to follow and how to follow that religion if the state has established a mandatory, official church for you to follow. The Church of England is an example. Islamic states are other more repressive examples. When the state dictates the religion you may follow, you aren't free to make your own choices, and you aren't free to develop your own personal relationship with God. Instead the state gets in the way.
Perhaps that's why the founders forbade the Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion. Religion and our relationship to God are ultimately personal, and ultimately our personal responsibility. If the state dictates our religion we are slaves.
That's a far cry from the so-called "wall of separation". If God truly exists, then the justices on our courts have a lot to answer for, as have the vast majority of us all.
Of course, if God does not exist, then none of this matters at all. If God does not exist, then it really doesn't matter if Islam takes over the west. We should all just submit and prostrate ourselves toward Mecca five times a day. Sure, we'll all be miserable, but it's only for a little while and then we're dead and free. Or rather, then we're simply dead and extinct.
If there is no God, then there is no supreme moral authority. If there is no God, then of course, all religions are equal, and all cultures are equally valid. If there is no God, then the only consequences to so-called "evil" actions are the ones that society imposes upon us.
Do you want to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh? Want to have free sex (not free love, free sex has nothing whatsoever to do with love)? Go for it. Want it without consequences? Excise the resulting mass of unwanted tissues. You won't ever have to answer for murdering an unborn child after all.
Do you want to get wasted? Maybe burn out on marijuana? Go for it. You're not hurting anyone anyway right? There's no moral consequence to your dissipation.
Can't afford your drugs? Steal them. Or steal the money to pay for them. The only moral consequence is jail time, and hey, you get three square meals a day at taxpayer expense there, and shelter, and medical care. Heck, if you know the right people, you can even get your drugs there.
Is that too tame for you? Do you want to kill people? Or just maim them? You don't have to worry about your soul. The fires of Hell aren't waiting for you, so what's stopping you.
…but…
if you're wrong…
If there's no God, then there is no supreme moral authority. If there's no supreme moral authority, then corruption in politics or the notion of "evil" is just a point of view.
On the other hand, if God really does exist then the things that we do in this world actually matter. For me at least, I believe that God does exist, and so my choices have to mean something.
If God really exists, I suppose it's better to turn to Him in fear than to deny Him altogether, but not by much. If God really exists, it's better to serve him in hope of a reward than to fail to serve him altogether, but not by much. The best thing for us would be to turn to God with sorrow for how we've failed to meet His expectations and hope that we could please Him in the future.
Best of all would be to develop a relationship with Him. But that's not as easy as it sounds, because for most people, I imagine, faith comes hard.
Maybe the real question shouldn't be "Do we need God?"
Maybe the real question should be "Does God need us?" …or even… "Does God want us?" As I understand it, there's a way to learn the answer.
As for me, I know that I'm a horrible moral failure, but I hope that God still wants me. I believe, based upon what I've been taught that He does, and it's my hope that despite my failures that He continues to want me.
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Angel responded with:
 | what a stunning post....the questions u pose Perri are timeless..reminds me of Pascals wager~!:) |
David responded with:
 | Well said, Perri.
"Since ultimately we are each personally responsible for our own relationship with God, then each of us has a personal choice to make regarding our religion."
Exactly the view Roger Williams was run out of Massachusetts for espousing... and which his spiritual progeny managed to have enacted in the Bill of Rights.
"Best of all would be to develop a relationship with Him. But that's not as easy as it sounds, because for most people, I imagine, faith comes hard."
Especially since the crux of faith is trusting obedience to God. Not blind obedience. Trust born out of experience with God's faithfulness. Seem circular? It's the critical element in the New Testament idea of "sanctification"--God working to "perfect" (mature) those who commit to relationship with Him.
But obediance to anything--parents, the law, God--seem to come hard to our society, doesn't it? |
Muriel Yankelovich responded with: Amusing oddities
 | My first time reading a post on your blog.
I find it remarkable (and to me, highly amusing) to even think of the possibility of Islamic radicals overrunning the West.
In the short-term, it's laughable because the West has produced the mightiest powers (military, social, economic) that the world has ever known. God himself will not allow this to change.
In the long-term, it won't be radicals (of any stripe) who bring down the West, much as it wasn't the barbarians who brought down Rome. They were merely the jackals at the camp boundary that slunk in when those within the camp became to feeble to defend themselves.
Now I write this as an atheist Jew in response to your original topic.
God does not exist. But that does not mean that I will allow any foreign power to destroy that glorious patrimony of the West which many millions have given their very lives to defend and deliver to each new generation--for whatever reasons they chose to do so.
God [by all names we choose to call: Allah, Yahweh] does not exist, but that makes no claim for capitulation.
The West must remain strong in self-defence against the backward and miscreant races of the world--for whom the fruits of liberty have not been provided, and in whose hearts lie the seed of corruption which threatens the soul of the West. |
Perri Nelson responded with:
 | Western civilization is sowing the seeds of its own downfall in myriad ways. From our failure to breed and sustain our numbers to our willing support and capitulation to those that would do us evil.
Ultimately, the barbarians within our midst will join with the barbarians at the gate to bring us down. Only by fighting for that which we believe in can we hold back the tide. I'm happy that you, as an atheist Jew understand this.
Europe, even now is already beginning to totter. We can see it in the rioting in the streets when the Islamista are offended by cartoons. We can see it when highly educated doctors decide that Jihad is preferable to serving their fellows. We can see it when we realize that the native European populations are reproducing at far less than replacement levels while Islamic immigrants far outpace their rate of reproduction.
It's just a matter of time unless we wake up to what's happening around us. |