I am one of those people who struggle mightily in this area.
Religion has been too important, to too many people, for too long, to simply cast aside without evaluation.
But I confront the same questions as people have for centuries: If God, why this, why that?
I simply do not believe in any way in some subterranean fire-pit where souls who never got the chance to recite some credo or get dunked in a pond somewhere, are roasting for eternity. If there is a God, and a beyond, then He judges by character, not denomination. Sure, if there is a God, then chaos and confusion and contradiction, must end and there must be one divine truth -- basic logic supports that -- but this God would be big enough, in such an afterlife, to correct our errors in perception, not damn us for them.
I can't let go the feeling that there is something behind it all, something to this Divine Creator thing.
I am fascinated by science and all that it has taught us, and the mysteries that it has yet to resolve. But science cannot give life meaning.
If there is no God somewhere, no Divine Plan, no life beyond the grave, then life itself is absolutely meaningless. Bach is gone forever, and Einstein, Jenny Lind, Plato, Mother Theresa and Lucretius -- everything beautiful and wonderful that has ever existed in the past.
And eventually, unless we escape to some other globe in another galaxy, our Earth will be sucked into the sun and every living thing upon it will vaporize. Into absolute oblivion will go the chambered nautilus, the Taj Mahal, the redwoods of California and the poetry of Emily Dickenson.
And that, to me, is a horror beyond calculation.
Monday, May 21, 2007
On religion
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5 comments:
How will God existing stop the sun eventually running out of fuel to burn (leaving the Earth frozen over), or stop the degradation of the Taj Mahal by tourists...or preserve Bach's memory better than my hard drive can?
Can't science give life meaning? Maybe not the meaning that many people are looking for, but I think science does give life meaning.
Why is life only meaningful for you if there's a creator?
Many people find purpose, a reason to do things, without believing in this or that, or any God..Myself included.
The idea that most believers have is that though this world/galaxy/universe will end, there is some region beyond it where life continues.
Far as I can see, science can define life, can talk about life, can even explain how life came to be from the first microbes on our planet, but no, it can't give life any meaning. Strictly by science, we're born, we grow, we reproduce if we're lucky, then we die, we rot and that's the end, whether you were a hero or a pyschopath.
We have the same purpose, the same value, the same cosmic importance as a dandelion or a sheep louse.
I agree, science is not charged with giving human lives meaning. That is for humans to do. Although many humans find meaning in discovering the mechanisms by which the world works, and beauty in the fascinating results as an end in itself.
I have to say, science does NOT imply that we have the same importance as a dandelion or a sheep louse. Scientific investigation would show that (and proves that) we are capable of a lot more than that, don't you think?
BUT, BUT...
Why does religion claim that it alone, through a belief in some God or something else, can give life meaning? What about all the other ways, beyond science (and usually less dangerous than religion), of attaching value to things?
And isn't it true that a belief in an afterlife, for example, reduces the imperative to do things when one is alive (whatever that may be!)?
I also seriously doubt that religion actually does fill any of the gaps that people feel in their lives....that striving, search, or restlessness seems to be a part of the human condition, and science is just as easily seen as a more intelligent way of satisfied that urge than religion.
Also, it would seem that the kind of meaning that religion supposedly gives to people seems extremely shallow. Even the deeply devout struggle with this.
Seems eastcoastdweller, you have pondered this question before in a former post of yours, Thoughts about worship (http://eastcoastdweller.blogspot.com/2007/05/thoughts-about-worship.html). My opinion is foremost, that Religion is of Man (human beings). One Person or People believe the Bible means this, hence there amasses the Catholic Religion. Others believe the Bible means that, hence there assemble the Baptist Religion. And so on across the World. Strip all opinions away and what seems to remain is Faith and Truth. Faith is easily explained every time one gets behind a wheel of a car. A Person exercises Faith that their automatic conscious will continue to drive according to almost natural inborn ability. I can only explain Truth as it was explained to me, my Friend in his younger years use to bar hop a lot. One day sitting on a bar stool the moment of Truth hit him. He could have either ignored the moment and became an alcoholic. Or as he did, got up from the bar stool and never ventured to the bars as often again. Faith and Truth, when you have them – no amount of Religion can take them from you. Meanwhile; I to wonder if there is a Hell to burn in for Eternity as suggested in the Bible and a Heaven to Walk among forever in bliss in. In my quest, I have begun to read the book, “The Complete Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsch. Still uncertain if I may find any clue among the pages there, I often can’t help but wonder - what if perhaps the Bible is merely meant as symbolisms? Much like many a great Poem or Literary work. As for you and Lance, “Can we come together with our differing religious and scientific viewpoints to ensure our continued survival as a planet”? This is a question from an old Post of mine http://bindingink.blogspot.com/2006/09/appeal-to-save-life-on-earth.html based on E. O. Wilson’s latest book is tilted, “The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth’. (Bridging Science and Religion). Meanwhile, eastcoastdweller, in your journey on this subject about God, Heaven, Hell… may I suggest perhaps guard the traps Religion seems to have brain washed many in Society with. I say this because in your Post, Thoughts about worship – your Enlightment seemed almost there whence Religion crept in once again, “The monster god flies into a rage, proclaiming his power and sending other people to slay me.”
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