Friday, July 2, 2010

My take on religion

The ultimate answer to the ultimate question is, "Where did God come from?" The correct answer is that he just is. You aren't supposed to ask. You're just supposed to accept it. And if you don't you'll be burned at the stake.

But that is like saying that this super computer, with its software, it circuits, its power supply, simply exist. Nobody built it, nobody programmed it. It just is. Or even more. It is like saying that a being with high intelligence, capable of abstract thought just simply is. Has knowledge that doesn't come from learning or experience. Has an energy source.

This being one day decided to create a universe. It somehow had the resources to do so. I seem to be the only one who ever lived who even contemplates this.

I believe it was in Carl Sagan's book, "Cosmos," that I read where mariners from different lands met and discussed and thought. Isn't it easier just to say that the Universe always existed. But how can atoms that clump together to form stars, planets, quasars and black holes just simply exist? Even if it wasn't always in the form it is now.

But in fact it does. Which leads to a rephrasing of the original question, "Why is there something instead of nothing?" And if physics is accurate, "Why is it so complicated?"

I have no problem with a god being part of the universe maybe even the universe being god. Which means that God is much more complex than we realize.

Of course there are the people who have his cell phone number and tell us that evaluation isn't true, and the world is only 6,000 years old and you are going to Hell if you don't think so. And you just have to accept things on faith.

People who say that word written four thousand years ago passed on from oral tradition, and filled with inconsistencies is literally true, and you must not question it or else. I remember a bible I had that had footnotes that said, "Meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain," That meant that scholars had to use educated guesses to interpret the passage. Plus some of it is distorted in translation, yet it is the LITERAL truth.

While the word of God is written in the rocks, and the stars and in DNA but one is sinful if he reads and interprets that.

I find church boring. It is amusing to me how people think that if you go to a particular building at a particular time and sit through a service that somehow transforms you. At best you can get a good speech surrounded by boring ritual. And I don;t like the modern music, and in traditional services the hymns have been simplified so that old ladies can play them.

I went to a service with a lady friend and tried to discuss it with her afterward, but she didn't remember anything. Then she yelled at the slow car in front of her.

I find religion fascinating and study it. I find Hinduism and Buddhism appealing because of the belief that god resides in you. You just have to work to bring it out. Here is an excerpt from a book I'm writing. “I think the gods speak to us who don’t believe because we are the only ones who will listen. Everyone else thinks they already know what the gods have to say.”
“And the gods always seem to tell them what they want to hear.”