Teachings of the Prophets Should Be The Focus
Was Jesus a Christian? I don’t think so. That was a religion begun after his death, to celebrate the life of God’s son preaching good things. Was Mohammed a Muslim? I don’t think so. He, as God’s son, was explaining to people, during his lifetime on Earth, how to live better lives. His followers established the Muslim faith. Was Buddha a Buddhist? I don’t think so. He, as God’s son, was here, explaining to us humans, how to live good lives and do good things. It was the followers of Buddha who came later, after his death, that established the rituals of Buddishm, without the direct, physical involvement of the man around which that faith in based.
Non-Denominational Faith and Prayer. How to Reconcile Faith in Every Good Religion’s Inspirational Teachers and to Expand That to Encompass Them All
Are we starting to see a pattern here? Every faith has followers who believe that their faith is the one and only and that every one else is going to perdition in a handbasket if you don’t believe exactly as they do and participate in their human-created rituals, established to celebrate and memorialize each of these great leaders. Some might say, “But I have to believe in Something!” Okay, why not believe in them all? Not necessarily in the rituals created by men and women after their deaths, but in the actual teachings, duly recorded by faithful disciples while they lived and were trying to teach us how to have better lives and eternal blessings.
What is God’s Name… Does it Matter? Big Foot?
What did God say when Moses asked him his name? God probably laughed to him/her/itself, understanding how important this was to one of his/her/its faithful, but Knowing that the use of such names can result in dogmas and all sorts of unintended misuses, dismissed the request and simply said: I AM, THAT I AM. In other words, a name for the almighty is not important. Neither are the names of any particular set of rituals used to encapsulate and define any particular religious faith. True spiritual faiths have at their roots, positive, constructive, lovingness and help to every man, woman and child on our planet and in the Universe. Names and sects only seem to serve to create divisiveness, because everyone believes that they have the One and Only True path to enlightenment and salvation. Let’s try to better understand God’s reasons for Not giving one of his most faithful disciples an actual name, like: Rama or Big Foot, or Sahooosepeddedlyingsky. It simply wasn’t important then and isn’t now. Names seem to only separate Man from his fellow Man, unfortunately in something (religion) whose purpose would more properly seem to be: bringing humankind together to help one another and this planet constructively and sustainably move forward to evolve our species to an ever purer enlightenment about the true nature of the Universe and and place and purpose in it.
Oh No! My Religion is THE Religion. You Have to Believe What I Believe, Or You Are Not Saved!
I believe that the Pope recently apologized for The Roman Catholic faith’s war on humanity (those who didn’t believe as the Catholics did several hundred years ago, during the Middle Ages in Europe): one of the most horrible travestys of relgious persecution our planet has ever known: The Inquisition. While it was nice that the Pope recognized the unholy aspects of his faith’s brutality upon other people several hundred years ago, that does not dismiss the sinfulness of those long-ago acts of outright terrorism and animalistic cruelty, for which, the perpetrators should have been immediately recyled (both physically and spiritually, because they used up any good graces they may have had in their particular lifetime then). During this beastly assault on people who didn’t happen to agree with the this particular religion, those in power used force over the weak, committing all manner of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. Where, by God, if you don’t believe as I do, I will hurt you, killing you, if I have to, to Compell you to believe as I do, “for your own spiritual good”. The futility of coercing someone to say what you want them to say under duress is obvious. And its horror to us now here several centuries removed, in supposedly more civilized times (although there are many examples of our unhumaness still surround us) still is appalling.
What we might try to learn from this, is that in every Age, throughout Mankind’s rise to enlightenment, there are those currently in power during various decades, who believe that they are God’s Chosen few and that everyone else must be converted “for their own good.” This spiritual arrogance nearly always comes back to haunt those who perpetrated their own particular jihads, if they live long enough, or those of their followers, years or centuries later. One of God’s main precepts is Free Will in each of us, to choose our own path. We each bear responsibility for our choices and our lot in life is largely determined by our choices to do or not do millions of things during our lives, which is what makes each of us so unique.
While you are making history, it is sometimes hard to understand that you need to make compassionate decisions regarding your fellow humans and never allow blind faith in human-created dogmas to compell you to mistreat innocent people who simply believe something different than you, or look a little different than you or talk differently or who happen to live somewhere else. Your personal judgments about who is innocent and who is not may eventually result in your own condemnation. Beware of judging others and of religious zealotry.
The religious teachers, around whom all major faiths have sprung forth, have common sayings and meanings about being peaceful and loving understanding of your fellow humans and other living things. War is not the answer and no one should initiate that organized violence on this planet and against other humans. That only provokes more bloodshed.
If we can only tolerate each other and respect each other enough to not irritate each other and not invade each other’s privacy (or lands or personal space). That would be a good start. Realizing the value of each other’s goods and services is the basis for a solid economy, worldwide. Establishing fair prices for these goods and services allows more people to enjoy the benefits of them and to reward each other with the fruits of our labors. Everyone is entitled to decent food, shelter and clothing and lives for themselves and loved ones and they should have to do something of value to earn those things. Industriousness is a virtue, especially in the creation of positive things that help other people have better lives.
We need to help each other succeed. I remember an outstanding engineer telling me once, “We will not allow anyone to fail.” What a great guy, and while he would deny it, spiritual teacher. During some of our own lifetimes, an empassioned plea of one abused person echoes through our memories: “Can’t we all just get along?”
All Great Historic Religious Teachers Have Something of Value and We Can Learn From Them All
The point of all of this is that there will always be those powerful faiths that happen to have more people in their numbers, given the particular century. That does not mean, in the fullness of time, that their manmade rituals built around any particular historic religious teacher is the one and only faith, without which you and I and our entire planet will be cast into the pit by a hateful and vengeful higher power. God is love. God is positive creation and organization and constructive evolution of enlightened understanding. We tiny humans in this great big Universe desparately need each other to help figure it all out.