Since the dawn of humanity we have struggled to define the spiritual meaning of our existence. Now, in the 21st Century we are aware of several things:
1. We do exist and live in a wonderful and complex earth in a solar system that is part of a universe filled with uncountable numbers of galaxies.
2. We are self-aware. We have memory and are capable of rational thought, recall, and foresight.
3. Despite our capabilities everything we understand still seems to us to be related to something even higher than ourselves. We feel this because here we are, aware that we exist in a universe of spectacular structure, function, and life, somehow created, but not by us. The name Christians give to the prime creator of all reality is “God.”
The human mind rejects uncertainty, so there has been no lack of effort by humans to define God and God’s purpose for mankind despite our inherent inability to do precisely that. Religion is a creation of the human mind as our effort to eliminate uncertainty about life and God. Religious dogma, however, appears to reveal more about human anxiety than it does about God. Still, religion can and does help many of us discover our personal awareness of God, but the final truth is that God resides above and beyond religion.
Interestingly enough, if we bring to each moment unconditional love toward all who are with us in that moment, God is present, and any need to define God further, disappears. Positive solutions emerge and life improves. This is the practical truth Jesus taught about how God touches and influences human life.
Other concepts of God are presented in the Bible. It is filled with many different human imaginings of God. Consider the following:
God As A Human Being: Genesis 3:8-9 “And they heard the sound of Lord God walking in the garden in the wind of the day, and the human and his woman hid from Lord God among the garden’s trees. And Lord God called the human and said to him, “Where are you?”
In this case God “walks” around Eden and then doesn’t know where Adam and Eve are when they hide and God must call out. This is a portrayal of God as a human being, and clearly not omniscient.
God Speaking Through Angels In Dreams: Genesis 31:11 “And an angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘I’m here.’ Matthew 2:20 “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying…”
Dreams can be so vivid and real, it is understandable that dreams would be one of the means by which Gospel writers expressed spiritual communication from God to humans. They’re probably right.
God As A Voice From Heaven: Mark 1:10-11 “…he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ ”
In the 1st Century, it was believed that the universe consisted of three tiers, the underworld, the earth surface with all its features and inhabitants, and heaven or the realm of God (or gods) in the sky just above a dome that covered all the earth. Some even believed that stars were really windows in that dome through which the gods looked down on earth to keep watch on humans.
The author of Mark was suggesting that the baptism of Jesus symbolically tore apart this wall that separated heaven from earth. This was an effective way of expressing the idea that Jesus lived in conscious oneness with God during his life on earth. By following Jesus’ teachings and example we can tear down the barrier separating us from God. This is a powerful spiritual lesson and its meaning is lost if the text is interpreted as merely a record of a historical event.
There Is A True God…but for the most part we humans cannot begin to understand the boundaries of God’s reality. However, thanks to the Age of Enlightenment (1600’s-1800’s) and all the scientific discoveries since then, we understand our universe, our world, our bodies, our lives, and our environment so much better than did the ancient writers of scripture.
Science and Spirituality Are The Same Truth: It is popular to suggest that spiritual truth and scientific truth are different and that spiritual truth has dominion over the scientific. However, there is only one reality and science and spirituality are two aspects of this singular truth.
It does seem, however, that spirituality provides the inspiration for all possibilities (real and unreal) and that science provides objective confirmation of which of all possibilities are real. Inwardly we live in a personal reality constructed by the thoughts we choose. Outwardly, as a society, we live in a reality confirmed by experience and experimentation.
The less conflict there is between your inner thoughts and what your outer experiences confirm, the less you experience fear and the stronger is your sense of faith.
It does seem, however, that spirituality provides the inspiration for all possibilities (real and unreal) and that science provides objective confirmation of which of all possibilities are real. Inwardly we live in a personal reality constructed by the thoughts we choose. Outwardly, as a society, we live in a reality confirmed by experience and experimentation.
The less conflict there is between your inner thoughts and what your outer experiences confirm, the less you experience fear and the stronger is your sense of faith.
There can be only one ultimate truth and we all basically understand that. Insights into significant scientific theories have come from experiences that were highly spiritual.
For example, Einstein’s theory of relativity was not a rational extension of the scientific knowledge of his time. He came up with something new and unexpected. He described his insights as occurring during moments of “reverie.” They occurred when he was apart from the work-a-day world, thinking and meditating.
When you are exploring the limits of human knowledge, it frequently leads to spiritual insights. Science and religious faith are not mutually exclusive. They are related expressions of the same reality…life.
Once hypotheses (explanations of events) are proposed, the role of the scientific method is to help determine which one of all the proposed hypotheses best explains the events under observation. That’s it, and that’s true for rocket science, too. Rigorous science reveals truth (what we accept as theories) because it is human bias free. That is why it is so powerful and useful.
It is also possible to scientifically study the results of one’s faith or spiritual beliefs. It is already known that prayer and meditation lower stress in humans which leads to healthier, happier lives.
Changes in disease states can, also, be monitored before and after spiritual treatments and their effectiveness verified. Of course it is difficult to set up such studies because most religious groups are not interested in the scientific analysis of matters of faith, but, the fact remains, it can be done.
If human knowledge and life events are not consistent with predictions based on one’s religious faith, then it is the faith system that is in error, not life.
The Bible Did Not Exist Until The 5th Century CE: We must remember that all the manuscripts that ended up being in the Bible were written for reasons that had nothing to do with specifically creating the Bible. In fact, there were many additional early gospels and documents written, which, for various reasons of theology, didn’t make the final cut.
The books to become the Bible were known as a collection by the 3rd century, but they were not canonized by church leaders until the 5th century of the Common Era (CE). They held a conference, had contentious debates and voted on which ancient writings were to be sacred and which were not. Human minds created the concept of "the sacred Bible." Even then, many decades of bitter political debate followed, as Christian assemblies considered heretical were attacked. and scattered. The books that won the "orthodox" label were the favorites of the men with the most power at the time.
The Book Of Revelation Was Not Popular: Not all the writings included in the Bible were considered equal in value. Many early church leaders considered the book of Revelation unworthy of the status of sacred scripture. Its ultimate inclusion was probably more a result of compromise than of wide spread respect.
It is an odd book in the New Testament. It is a sample of carefully encrypted apocalyptic literature, but the specific community and situations and characters to which its symbols apply are unknown, making precisely accurate interpretation impossible. Suggesting that passages from the book of Revelation contain predictions of modern historical events is beyond meaningless; it is bizarre.
The Bible Is The Word Of Men: The ideas that the Bible is without error and was dictated by God are not supported by anything we know or experience, except hearsay, when we are told what we must believe. Many do act as if the Bible were the word of God and combine passages of scripture from here and there to bolster their own feelings of fear, hate, or prejudice. In this way they pretend to avoid responsibility for their own actions.
Such pious, self-centered behavior is the very attitude exhibited by the priests and Pharisees of Jesus’ time. It is precisely what Jesus taught against (see Matthew 23:22-24) and his opposition resulted in his crucifixion.
There was no Christianity during Jesus’ lifetime; he and his disciples were devout Jews. But, after his death, his followers found strength in the memory of his loving example and dedicated themselves to living as Jesus had demonstrated as members of the Jewish sect known as The Way.
So, rejecting legalistic conformity to Jewish law and living with unconditional love in their hearts and actions towards anyone and everyone was the goal of the proto-Christian assemblies (followers of The Way) emerging a few decades after Jesus died.
In contrast to that, present day Christian fundamentalists are devoted to strict conformity to church doctrine that does not conform to the actual teachings of Jesus. Fundamentalist dogma arises from the teachings of religious institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church and from individuals such as John Nelson Darby, a 19th century proponent of "dispensational premillennialism."
Darby's teachings were reinforced by the pseudo-scholarly Scofield Reference Bible completely based on premillennialism to the exclusion of any references to the findings of prominent Biblical scholars. There is nothing in life that supports the validity of dispensational premillennialism beyond personal opinion. It is an idea with no demonstrated substance.
Still, the certainty that fundamentalism asserts resonates with many rural populations made anxious by the rapid growth of scientific knowledge and changes in urban culture. As a result, Christianity, as defined by fundamentalists and evangelicals from late in the 19th Century, represents a radical departure from what was considered traditional Christian spirituality prior to the 19th Century.
Sacred Teachings: The Bible is a human document, created, manipulated, changed, and canonized by political and religious leaders. However, this does not diminish its role as a book of significant spiritual importance over the millennia.
Can anyone read the Great Commandment and the parable of The Good Samaritan, which Jesus used to interpret its universal meaning (Luke 10: 25-37), and not realize the Bible contains important instructions for human living and spiritual completeness?
No miracles are required by anyone to understand Jesus’ parables and sayings. They strike us as fundamentally true. Jesus’ teachings are remarkable for their simplicity and profundity. Love was his only message…with no exceptions.
The Purpose Of Life: As Jesus taught it, learning to live with unconditional love in your heart toward everyone, just as he demonstrated, is all that is required for one to enter the Kingdom of God. Doing so creates a perfect balance of God, mind, and action. It is as easy to say as it is difficult to do, but that is our goal as children of God. This is the only fundamental belief required of anyone professing to be a Christian, or, for that matter, a spiritually enlightened member of any religious tradition.
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