How to make your own God - a Beginner's Guide to Creation
73"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them".
That God your parents gave you, the God you learned about at school and in Church, the One that's been kicking around all your life - He's looking a bit dog-eared these days, much like the bible you left Him in.
A little shabby, worn out, frayed around the edges. And even if you dust Him down and patch Him up, He doesn't really measure up to your expectations. All this smiting and judging, it's just not you any more. All your friend's Gods seem equally clapped out and none of the standard off-the-shelf Deities comes even close to what you're looking for. No, there's only one thing for it - you'd better buckle down and make your own God, before it's too late.
Don't be put off by the enormity of the task - it's actually less difficult than you might think. People just like you are doing it every day. And there's evidence to suggest they've been doing it for thousands of years.
Making your own God is a Design Project
And like any other project, it has to be properly planned. A project begins with a Design Specification, in which the end user sets out exactly what is expected of the provider. In this case, you are playing both roles, end user and provider, but that should not be allowed to short circuit the process. Unless you start out by defining your ideal God, you might find the result far from your liking, and that would be a waste of all your hard work.
Building the God Design Specification
The first thing to understand is that you are designing a God for you, not for anyone else. So, you should take the opportunity to give your God all your own favourite characteristics and attributes. For example - are you a strong patriot? Then make sure your God has a soft spot for your country above all others. Do you approve of same sex marriage? That's no problem. You can easily programme your God to feel the same way. See the idea? Perform an honest analysis of your own personality and simply project it onto your God Design. Some people do this unconsciously, but far better results can be achieved with a little focused effort.
Developing the God Design Specification
Once you have designed a God in your image, the next stage is to decide what S/He is to do and what S/He has already done. Here are a few ideas that many God Designers employ:
- Providing Answers - it's uncomfortable not to feel certain about things, but with the right God design, you can banish doubt forever. What is the origin of life? God. How did the Universe come into being? God. No more thinking required. Job done!
- Eternal Life - of course you don't want to die. Who does? But mortality is all around you. This is an obvious job for God. Here, you can make it a bit easier for Him/Her. No need to save everybody since eternity would be much nicer with just your own kind for company. S/He can do what S/He likes with the rest.
- Winning Arguments - sometimes you've found it hard to hold your own in an argument. You've even had to admit, grudgingly, that the other fellow has a point. But no more! A well designed God will support your every whim. And God, of course is infallible and infinitely wise. Aren't you lucky S/He agrees with you?
Realising the Design
You might be wondering how you make the final leap from Design to Creation. Your shiny new God is just so much theory? Mere wishful thinking? But do not despair. It's actually very simple. You bring your new God to life by Faith. Your God exists because you know S/He does. And because S/He speaks to you - in your own voice! Miracle of miracles. You have created God. Enjoy!
Why did I write this?
Personally, I do not believe in God. But I am fascinated by the whole God phenomenon and the way different people manifest and justify their various beliefs. I think it's fairly widely accepted that there can be no absolute proof or disproof of God's existence. Mere existence is therefore not worth arguing either way. But the actions and characteristics that believers attribute to their Gods are well worth discussing, especially when these beliefs are used to justify indoctrination of children or acts of oppression.
We had a lively forum discussion recently on the idea that we create God in our own image. I think it is clear that societies and individuals have been doing this for centuries. But even if you are certain I am wrong, perhaps you will agree that many believers pick and choose among scriptures for the version of God that makes them most comfortable. This to me seems less than honest.
Thanks for reading!
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Comments
Nice one Paraglider -though it's amusing to see so many God- related adverts on your article!
My guru says "which God - the one you created or the one who created you?"
He, he, he, Paraglider, I simply adore your Hub. People do create the God,or their vision of God, always. While healing the people I tested that theory many times, you just reminded me on few funny stories about that topic.
Self-created Gods have so often very funny rules in human heds.
Creation of image of God certainly starts in the childhood - parents and adults are first ones who give us "God´s rules and attrubutes" and their own examples, so often vision of God is actually only "vision of parental influence".
According to Quantum physics, we CAN create our new universe with very specific rules and laws which exist there, on that way, we can creat God or many Gods (according to our wishes) as well.
Hi Jewels - this one grew out of that forum topic. I thought I'd give the idea a more permanent home in a hub. Thanks for the visit, always welcome :)
Jon - Google is great at matching to words, but not to arguments!
Tatjana - sometimes I think that the people who carry their simple childhood God in the sky image through life do rather better than the ones who replace him with their adult personality!
So that's how it happened! I've often wondered how the God I learned about at Sunday school so many years ago evolved into the being I read about here on HubPages. The two always appear to have so little in common, and now I understand why. Not only is there a 'Make Your Own God' kit, but there's also a (much more commonly found) 'Adapt an Existing Religion' kit for those with a little less imagination, but a whole lot more ego!
Thanks for the great hub, PG. Certainly made me smile!
Amanda - yes indeed, adapt an existing religion. and the real power of that one is you can pretend you haven't done it and that God really wants you to do his smiting for him here on Earth. Fun fun fun :)
Good work. After all my ponderings I ended up in the same place as the pantheists - that the universe is god - omnipresent, all powerful, created us, provides our daily bread, where we go when we die, loves us (yes this may seem far out, but the universe does indeed nurture our mental/spiritual development - love). we can get there (to god) if we dispell our delusions and follow the truth. anyway its the only version of a god which holds water to my mind, but the difference with pantheism is that the god is not created at the whim of a human mind, but the universe reveals itself through truth - it exists outside of the mind - ie not a created god as you are describing in your piece.
Yeah, why don't you write an article about how to make your own parents; I'm sure they'd be amused.
Alex - That makes more sense to me than any of the personal gods of the traditional religions (which isn't the same as saying I fully agree of course ;)
Audacious Shelley - I doubt it. They died many years ago. But thanks for sneering.
In the final analysis your pernicious and rather arrogant put-down of those that hold certain religious beliefs, is no more certain or " prove-able " than those you ridicule...
The absurdity of life itself is more than enough for me to deny the supernatural, the solace of faith, the comfort of belief...but that is my choice, and for which I would not fault ( or sneer ) another for their choice...live and let live...Larry
Larry - existence or non-existence is unprovable. For that reason alone, children should not be taught that God exists, because they are too young to form a valid opinion. People are welcome to hold any beliefs they choose. But the first person to make a snide comment here was a born again Christian. I find that interesting.
I also find it interesting that in a modern individualistic society more and more people are effectively designing their own God, rather than accepting the traditional teachings of the churches.
Hi, Paraglider. I'm old enough to still believe in the Bible (and the Book of Mormon) and in the God of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yes, I am a devout follower of Jesus Christ who I believe is a separate person from his father, God the Father. It was Jesus Christ, given the assignment by his father, who created the universe and all therein. He is also the god of the Old Testament, always doing that which he has seen his father do. The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead and when someone with priesthood baptizes another, who has declared faith in Jesus Christ, that person comes out of the water clean and pure. Yes, that person will make mistakes and will sin from time to time, but what Jesus offers each of us is a clean slate if we will but repent of our sins and promise to never do it again. He loves each of us dearly. We can repent as many times as it takes. He does not downgrade us or our efforts, despite the many times we fall. But the fact is that we do fall - and since we are human, we fall too often, perhaps - but at least those who have this faith in Christ are on the road to creating a better life, even a place on the right hand of God if they continue in their faith throughout their life and always acknowledge the divinity of the Godhead and the reality of the Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ who suffered in Gethsemane and died on the Hill Golgatha that all men, regardless of their personal righteousness, will be resurrected and that all men can be forgiven of their sins and be judged according to how well they lived. That's my belief. And it is the belief of millions of people throughout the world. No, we can't create our own God. What if everyone did that? You would have billions of different moral codes and utter chaos in the world. You can't become your own God - Adolph Hitler tried that and where did it get him? In saying the above, I have tolerance for all people, be they Christians, Jews,Hindus, Buddhists, believers in the Islamic faith, agnostics, or atheists. God blesses all of you. One more thing, Paraglider, your talented way with words and your style of writing is excellent. You are extremely creative and I like the way you take a controversial subject and make a marvelous Hub out of it. I don't have to know your beliefs to know you care deeply about things and have utterly outstanding abilities. That much is clear. Good luck,
Don White
Don - as you probably gleaned, I have far more time for the traditional bodies of knowledge handed down through the major churches than for the pick and mix hotchpotch we have today. You said "What if everyone did that? You would have billions of different moral codes and utter chaos in the world." One of my reasons for writing this is that I think we are close to the chaos you describe.
Thank you, too, for the complimentary closing of your response. Much appreciated.
Who are God's parents - and how did they create Him/Her?
I'll let a believer answer that one, amillar :)
Hello Paraglider.
If a person has adapted "god" to fit his/her personal character and beliefs, "god" then becomes connected to that person's ego I think.
Maybe this is the reason people become offended so easily.
Is an attack against your personal belief actually a personal attack against you? I guess it could seem that way if you have customized your deity to mirror your own self.
Thanks for this hub... there is much to think about here.
Peace
Jen
Hello Paraglider and Jen. I'm truly sorry for the sneering. However, it was not out of ego, it was out of an adamant belief in the first scripture that Paraglider quoted on his hub. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." Does that mean humans can't make mistakes? No, because a big one was made in Eden by willful choice. Just as a human child often looks much like his parents in the flesh, so humanity was created to resemble(not to be, but to resemble) God in the Spirit. One of the modes of operation in the spirit realm is believing in what is not physically apparent. In order to remain in complete communion with the Creator, Eve would have to have continually trusted God. He created all of their food, everything they would ever need. The weather was perfect because all of creation was in harmony with God. Adam and Eve were God appointed governors of the Earth. When Eve and Adam declared independence from God by disobeying, then the whole earth also suffered because it was under their governorship. I suppose this hub should not have surprised me because it is merely a continuation of the declaration of independence that Adam and Eve began. By declaring independence from the Creator, then the branch has declared independence from the tree roots. And what happens when the branch declares independence from the tree roots?
well said paraglider...
I disagree with you in that there is no God. I personally believe in a creator but I also see how religions form themselves by bringing forth a living God. Like you say they create a perception of God and sell it to the masses.
I see it this way. When humans didn't know how to make fire they looked to the sun as the giver of life. When a human learned how to make fire he was perceived as a living God for as long as he kept the secret of making fire a secret.
For example if he entered a community that was ignorant of the skills of harnessing fire and he went up to a mountain and came back with a fire then he likely would have been praised as a living God capable of great magic.
Job done....on to the next community until the word carries itself further and further without the magician even having to show up.
This would make this living God a charlatan since his secret is no more than the science of making fire.
If someone could walk on water or heal the sick by scientific methods and kept those methods a secret while the masses kept pushing the word that "there is a living God who walks amongst us" then that person would be a charlatan and a false prophet.
That is why I believe in a Creator god but not in religion.
Religions hold to many secrets IMO and eventually they get exposed for being false prophets.
Wyanjen - I think that is true in many cases, but I'm more interested in understanding the projection phenomenon than in stepping around it so as not to offend. What I do notice is that wholly different people can always manage to have their God justify their opinions. That makes no sense.
Audacious Shelley - thank you for the olive branch. My response was also sharper than necessary :) In regard to Eden, personally, I am more convinced by the enormous weight of archaeological evidence for human life way before Eden and plant and animal life way before that, than by the Biblical creation story. But my purpose here was more to question the phenomenon of personal Gods that conveniently agree with their advocates.
Ibtrader - that is a very perceptive insight. In a way, you could say that the frontier between God (inexplicable) and scientific understanding is always retreating. It is a choice to believe in a God behind the frontier. It is denial to insist the frontier does not exist and to hang on to irrationality.
I did go a little sideways on you my friend, I have been mulling over one of my hubs that didn't have a good ending. So my mind was in that direction as I read this one.
I went over to that hub, and rewrote the ending based on the idea I took from your hub. It has improved now.
thanks!
Jen
Jen - glad to have been of service. Bouncing ideas off each other is one of the best things about HubPages. Speaking of ideas, your avatar has just sent me for a coffee...
Paraglider, I found this quote on the internet recently when I was looking for jokes. ( I’ll be on the lookout for more of his footage etc.)
George Carlin:
“Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man… living in the sky, who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer and burn and scream until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you and he needs money.”
But I notice he used the word “religion”, not God. Now I’m wondering - did Jesus ever threaten us with Hell?
Well, in Mark 9:43-48, Jesus is reported as saying:
"43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
That reads like the threat of hell, repeated three times. But it is certainly possible that Mark made it up in order to make his Jesus fulfill OT prophesies. Who knows?
Well, I don’t know. When I was supposed to be listening to my Sunday school teacher, I was probably looking at her legs.
Ah, an early starter...
These days I’m an early finisher. That’s if I ever get started.
Ah, such a can of venomous worms. The subject of religion is so contentious.
The simple fact of the matter is, it requires nothing more than a little common sense to realize that the concept of "god" is the creation of the human mind, desperate to explain the inexplicable.
Nearly every deity, god or savior is based on the worship of the Sun and its cycle.
The life-giving power of the Sun was obvious even to the most ancient of our predecessors. Until we gained understanding of that power, what it is and how it actually works, we held it in complete awe.
We would be wise to recapture some of that sense of reverence in our present circumstances.
Virtually every "religion", since ancient egypt at the very least, has "customized" the original Sun god to suit its own agenda.
What is most amazing is that now, with much of the inexplicable having been explained, "educated", modern and presumably rational people can still cling to belief in such primitive, unsupportable fantasy.
Your premise is completely correct Paraglider.
Man created god in his own image. In the image of man created he him.
CWB - are you familiar with Jethro Tull's albums? Aqualung side 2 explored all of this, around 1971.
Great hub Paraglider. You make it sound so ridiculous but I think many people really do mould their own God in that way. Christians etc read the Bible and then just interpret it in a way that suits their way of life. There's an interpretation for everyone. Go figure!
Nice hub Paraglider, even if I do disagree with you!
One of Lucifer's best moves was to persuade 'free will humanity' to invent 'Churchianity' to replace belief and obedience to Christ.
A wise man once showed me that EVERYONE belonged to one of two groups... either the Church of Christ and therefore was under His authority and obeyed His commands, (No not the Mormons, or any of the 33,000 other denominations) or the Church of Man (all the rest)who do what THEY want to do.
Relationship with Christ and God is in conjunction with the infilling of the Holy Spirit and governed by the Word of God written in His bible. Nobody who has been in filled with the Holy Spirit can deny God's existence and participation in their lives - Equally nobody who has NOT been in filled with the Holy Spirit can truly live with the concept that God has any real authority in their lives.
So whether one is an unbeliever, atheist or a token (pew warming) -------------(insert religion or denomination of your choice)unless they have had that Holy Spirit encounter and subsequent relationship, they are unable to make their lives conform to the word of God, and (here I agree with you) they seek to make their own god conform to their opinions and desires.
Placing yourself under Gods authority is about SERVING God as His bond slave (i.e. you have chosen to be submitted to Him AFTER He has set you FREE from the clutches of Lucifer)and once anyone has entered His service, the only task left is to try and reach those who may be saved.
Most folk are more content arguing about God than arguing with Him.
But make no mistake, everyone will serve either Christ or Lucifer, all the rest are just window dressing to deceive those who will not accept the TRUTH.
jen - an interpretation for everyone, indeed. But so far no-one among commentators admits to doing it themselves - only other people do it???
Aguasilver - you start off very mildly, albeit invoking an argument that assumes the unquestioned existence of Lucifer. But by the end, you've excluded the vast body of christianity and all other religions, and you're into lecture mode "make no mistake, etc", and claiming to hold the TRUTH. That's mild :)
wonerful hub
I think a long time ago I realised that this is exactly what I was doing. I had a God that suited me. But then I realised that this couldn't be right. God couldn't be different for everyone. And it was thoughts like this that made me realise that God couldn't possibly exist!
Jen - thanks for recognising (publicly) that this projection is something you used to do. So far, no current believer has admitted to doing it, though many have joined me in saying others do it ;)
I don't think people create God in their own image. I think they create God)or Gods to serve their needs. Generally speaking the Gods people have created have served human needs pretty successfully.
A few features of the Christian God-
A Holy family. Everyone longs for family. The holy family does not age or die as our own do to our immense grief.
There is a Holy Father and Mother who at least listen- usually this helps enough.
There is a conviction that there is a better place when this world is just too much to bear.
There is an eternity of bliss awaiting good people- instead of cold earth for the good and the wicked alike.
There is justice and truth somewhere in the universe (and how people long for those things).
Each individual is special recognized and known. Theres a turn up for the books.
There are a few thousand other ways the Christian God satisfies the adherents needs and just as many in every other successful religion.
Like the man said. If God did not exist, man would have to invent Him.
Will - I agree with a lot of that. I think the process for many people is first to choose the most suitable God then to tailor Him/Her to one's own requirements.
"...you start off very mildly, albeit invoking an argument that assumes the unquestioned existence of Lucifer. But by the end, you've excluded the vast body of christianity and all other religions, and you're into lecture mode "make no mistake, etc", and claiming to hold the TRUTH. That's mild :)"
Yep, I do exclude the vast majority of 'professing' Christians because most of them HAVE created their own god, let's face it 33,000 denominations all of whom presume to hold the truth and dismiss the others as heretics is a bizarre situation, but IN those 33,000 denominations are HIDDEN the REMNANT that God always retains on earth.
Lucifer I know exists for the same reason that I know Christ exists, I have had personal experience of them both.
My difference is that I have recognised that these spiritual entities are both REAL and one or the other DOES have authority over all humans on earth, if I am emphatic in that it is because I am objective driven rather than subjective driven.
I cannot deny that which I have experience of.
Aguasilver - that's all very well, but you'll have to admit that God and Lucifer are doing a very bad job of self promotion if only you and a few like-minded souls know the TRUTH of their existence. Or just maybe, you like the idea of belonging to a very exclusive club? Are you one of the 144,000?
Wind Up.
"In your pomp and all your glory you’re a poorer man than me, as you lick the boots of death born out of fear.
I don’t believe you:
you had the whole damn thing all wrong –
He’s not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays."
You poor old sod, you see, it's only me.
Yes - that's the one! And:
If Jesus saves, then he'd better save himself
From the gory glory seekers who use his name in death.
Smart guy, Ian Anderson.
it's only me.
Entertaining hub. What if we do create our own God and are just doing a crappy job of it? What if it's a failure of human imagination? I always wondered, why is it that God always is portrayed as having the personality of a man I'd avoid encountering if I saw him in the supermarket? Why is God always made out to be such a dick? What would the world be like if we (were capable of) imaging a creative, kind, happy God with a great sense of humor? I don't know the answers--it just always strikes me that people fall down in this area. Why aren't we making a better God? What's our problem anyway?
I don't mean these questions as sarcasm--I'm not being flip. I really don't get it.
Also, I am not attracted to eternal life. In mythic lore, creatures that live forever become depraved--vampires, zombies, even angels get up to mischief. It's good to have boundaries, even (especially) on our time here.
I have a feeling you have created your own mythology just as the hub suggests pg. You believe in supernatural forces- ghosts etc but not God or Gods. That is pretty picky.
As I've been reading through the comments, wondering when the non-judeo-christian, non-personified concept of god is going to surface.
Where are the voices of the Buddhists, Sikhs, and other followers of faiths who do not personify god, but describe the essence of existence as, for lack of better terms, a force which is both external and internal to the human understanding? Where are the voices of those who intuit or believe that humans must forsake their egos in the quest for enlightenment?
I admire your responding to each and every comment here.
Hi Pam - I think that creative happy people have better things to do than invent gods. Being happy and creative is mission enough.
Search the Bible for 'God laughed'. It's not there. Because He was invented by boring old men with no sense of humour.
Will - No. I do not believe in "supernatural forces- ghosts etc" I might use imagery from such beliefs, to make a point, but that's all about art, not belief. However, I'm interested to hear whence you gleaned that impression?
Sally - I think the Eastern philosophy of 'unity of all things' (my paraphrase) is far more grown-up than the Middle East 'personal god' religions. I am in awe of the Universe - there is so much we don't understand - but I see no reason to deify our ignorance and still less (if that's possible) to deify our knowledge.
It's a fine paraphrase, Paraglider.
Agreed, "...there is so much we don't understand - but I see no reason to deify our ignorance and still less (if that's possible) to deify our knowledge."
But I still wonder where these like voices are?
I think Will may have been directing that comment towards me--we both have pg initials but I'm the one who writes about paranormal stuff.
At any rate, the comment totally misses both your point and mine so it makes no real difference.
Oh thank "god". I thought you were serious at first, and planned on arguing. :P
Sally - I think these like voices are often content not to swim in troubled waters. Quite sensible, really!
Pam - you could well be right. Mayne he'll come back and elucidate.
L M A - serious message, lightweight delivery ;)
Salmon farmer, last I heard. But that was a while ago.
He still has the fish farm and still lives on the island, most of the year.
sometimes I have moments too, out of all the things I have learned at school, I couldnt believe that there is God, but my inner feelings said so, i dont know if this is a product of my family (social) upbringing. Until now., I am still confused...my heart tells me there is GOD (confused aslo about the definiton of GOD) whether it is just my construction of a GOD....
Prettydarkhorse - there is beauty and wonder in the natural Universe and in the best of our human creations, like art and music, but also in mathematics and science. And all of these things are just as beautiful to the unbeliever as to the believer. Perhaps more so, because we understand they are all that we have. And that we have them for the finite period of our lifetimes. In this hub, I'm not arguing against God's existence; I'm simply raising the possibility of 'projection'.
yes I understand that also (about projection), I have the inclination to believe that religion thus far is a social construction, maybe as I read more, i could be enlightened.
Kudos to Ian then. May he live out his days in Peace.
Well done and mirrors my own sentiments!
Thanks Christoph!
Appreciate your piece. Wonderfully written. I've known far too many professed Christians, whose prayers seem to me nothing more than meditation and conversation with themselves to rationalize their bad behavior.
Thanks rmcrayne - we live in pick-and-mix times, and religion has gone the same way.
Hi nhkatz - thanks for commenting, though you leave me slightly in the dark as to whether you agree or disagree with either thesis, mine or Kipling's.
What a smart and incisive article, Paraglider :-) Only you would think of such a take on the image of God, muy bien done, I bow to your skills and smarts!
Elena - thank you, and always welcome :)
Para,
I am more in Kipling's camp but don't really want to pick a fight. (Just provide a pointer.)
nhkatz - no fight required! I like a lot of Kipling's work. I see him as a fantastic poetic technician (like E A Poe) and a product of his times, who also had a lot to say. His 'Tomlinson' is a favourite here.
Para,
Your IF is amazing, by the way.
Thanks mate!
Hi Paraglider I was interested in you designing a God since you say you do not believe in one.I wonder if there is a little believer in you trying to get out perhaps? It would be hard to respond to all your points and I think many of them have some substance.I think to mention but one I would questionis the idea of projection ,I could have chosen other points but sinceI am already writing a book I would prefer to finish this one before I start another. However the idea of projection is interesting and I will limit myself to that for now at least..That would seem to indicate that the writer (on the presumption that there is no God) had so psychological problems that he should have or could have been locked up long ago.In fact the ideas are expressed in this projection if that is what it is are so preposterous as to be laughable,bushes not being consumed by fire as in the burning bush in the story of Moses and oops I forgot about making the world ex nihilo out of nothing when every sensible person knows indubitably that the world came about by time-plus chance plus nothing and the stellar dust has always been around and the big bang put the planets almost mathematically in place and we can even make calculations on observable data and that science is objective and is not and does not have prior presuppositions attached to it and that scientists never never never have personal opinions about their scientific endeavours(See Michael Polanyi Personal Knowledge) and that only time plus chance plus nothing is the ONLY way the Earth could have come into being and no other idea by law should be or is allowed to be taught especially in America who never relied upon that God being present in the Founding Fathers staement and that natural selection as Darwin outlined it is an explanation and not an explanatory theory.Some of course would say that the presence of the possibility of natural selction itself is unverifiable, unknowable and unproveable.Of course it happened that way as Darwin said and after all it is not his fault no one thought of it before him except Huxley of course and what will we say of these millions who believed otherwise and were prepared to pay the ultimate price for their beliefs and often did.Most of the gospel writers were crucified. The very idea of Babel accounting for language difference and language structure is of course totally improbable and wildly erratic.Everyone knows that mankind first appeared in one place and they just decided it would be better if everyone spoke differently and that would aid peaceful living for they found themselves continully fighting and generally wreaking havoc amonst themselves even though the Amoeba down the road was a fellow traveller on this road that leads nowhere and has no guides to lead only to a big cliff that we must all fall off one day except of course Enoch who walked with God,Lazarus who was raised from the dead and the Christ,the son of the living God who after three days was resurrected and appeared to over fivehhundred people with even his digestive organs intact for He ate some fish.Also that about donkeys speaking, Balaaam's ass, give me a break. As for the Israelites escaping from Pharaoh and the pursuing Egyptians getting drowned in the Red sea with their chariots and then sometime this tyear finding Chariots in the Dead Sea well that' is just the long arm of coincidence.Why there would have to be a God who could do that and of course anyway God does not love us as anyone who knows of Jesus Christ,the king of the Jews, as the Romans named him dying on the cross for sinners like ourselves. well what a load of nonsense for everyone knows God is not like that,He is a far off God who does not give one hoot about human life.
Every other god does not come down and be born of a virgin be a man and live an innocent life and make the lame walk, the blind see,the thirsty with better wine made from water at Canaan,save a woman from stoning for adultery, forgive her her sins,turn the rich man away because he would rather trust in riches than in God,raise lazarus his friend from the dead,claim Divinity with His Father,be judged by a kangaroo court,illegally meeting in the night, with not enough present at the meeting,be turned over to the Romans, the occupying powers for sentence and Him being declared innocent and the Judge washing his hands of the case saying "what is truth" and being betrayed by all His followers, betrayed by His own people who bayed for His blood to be shed, who would rather free a criminal than have an innocent man not suffer,to want Him to be scourged illegally,mocked unmercifully,with a crown of thorns forced on His head,to be crucified,a cursed death, to hang in agony for hours and then freely give up the Ghost.If He was God He could not be killed.And then rising again appearing to people, eating some fish and rising to Heaven in the transfiguration .And not to mention coming again.talk about icing on the cake.That is a real stunner.That was a nice touch,very skilful. For a fiction the Bible is remarkably crafted no wonder it is the most popular book in the world.Easy Booker Prize winner, an Oscar winner made into a film. Outright winner of the Cannes Foreign Language film in New Testament Greek and to say that He wanted all this and so did His Father in order to take the sins of the world on Himself and make man free.What kind of love is this.Who would or could concieve such a plan,die on the only evidence provided by His life and works and words of being good and performing miracles,so be judged innocent and handed over to a mob to be killed.it's obviously nonsense isn't it.Non- sense.Why why the whole population of the Earth all die and be replaced entirely in 130 years or less allowing that they live near that long with good health, no war, famine ,disease,thirst or bad management of resources.What would be thepoint of sacrifice anyway.Death is always the end of course there can be no doubt of it, we arrive in pain and the first thing we get is a smack and we are innocent then so we say.Everyone knows that trees evolved,why you only need to look at them to see that, to produce oxygen and algae to eat up carbon dioxide.Evolution the great white black, yellow ,red ,pink and points in between made it that way. And man's identity,personality and creativity,coming from God :of course not, for everyone knows that man's identity and longing for significance comes from single celled orgaisms that somehow appeared on the land and grew wings from legs,oops of course they grew legs first and perhaps then they developed eyes and hollow bones so they could fly and scientists tried to prove aeronautically that what we know here as bumble bees cannot fly but the trouble is that the silly bumble bee does not listen to scientific opinion and flies anyway.BumbleBees obviously do not listen to evidence and continue to fly. Of Course everyone knows that all laws are man made and that the Bible-oops I nearly said inspired came up with some good ones (good-what is that-don't ask me- I might be tempted to tell you.)and of course all laws are man made and do not reflect inalienable rights because of course they can be taken away by statistical averages, the fiftyone percent vote,or by oppressors or ruling intellectual elites.Why even now it is the West's reliance on population control by natural selection that keeps the African continent lagging behind.The so called third world, when if you ask them they want the same things that we want, housing food, clean water,good government,peacea and tranquilty, good medical services,good law, no military or other coups,protection for the sick and poverty eradicated,an end to unclean water carrying killer diseases like cholera etc,better protection for women,better flood control, better management of natural resources in cluding animals and plants.better drug control.All that sounds like us.What if one day they compete,no better let them be called third world and then we are absolved of responsibility for them .Let's scrap the second commandment, we should never have written that down.People might take it seriously.All the above be
David - I'm pretty sure you didn't understand the hub very well, if you even bothered to read it. You might be surprised to hear that I read every word of your 'response'.
Wouldn't it have been better to frame a couple of sentences to make your point, instead of trying to drown me in a sea of verbiage?
As for "a little believer in me, trying to get out", no.
i agree with you within parameters, paraglider. American religiosity especially has proclaimed self as God and expected the form of God they loosely hold to be chill with that. this has been going on since America began: Jefferson picked out the parts of the Bible he didn't like and made his own version of God. i think what you're satire ultimately points to is that we've set up God as a justification to do whatever we want to do. Our main goal is to please ourselves, and we can't have God judging us for it so we'll put him in a box and make him ok with it.
i know that the point of this hub is not necessarily to disprove God, but rather operates on the assumption that there is no God. still i don't believe that the actions of selfish people inventing a god that functions as they would desire him, discredits the existence of God. it would be like me proclaiming my neighbor as the president of the united states and paying him taxes. that wouldn't discredit the existence of the president.
food for thought. i enjoyed your tongue in cheek satire. very thoughtful, creative, and relevant.
Hi Elliot. You've read me well. Though I do not believe in God, I know that logically there can be no absolute proof of nonexistence, so I don't bother going there. But while believers and non-believers agree that 'people' design or at least modify their own Gods, no-one ever admits to being one of these people!. The closest you get is someone saying, yes, I did that. No-one says yes, I do that. Why might that be?
if they admit to it then the illusion has to be shattered. where's the fun in that?
exactly :)
I have been pondering lately the idea that God is energy. Now, of course God is energy. But, somehow lately I have begun to see this fact in a new way. I think all matter is a creation of God. So, why wouldn't I see God as an energy? Well, lately it seems there is a secret bit of God that is inside of me-and you-just waiting for us to explore.
So, what I have been pondering is-why would spirit be within us but not just freely flowing in a manner that we can easily access it. Why would God exist as a spiral of energy at the base of your root chakra just waiting to be released. I think my real question is-why not have this bundle of energy so talkative and loud that everyone feels it, knows it and works to achieve it? So many just walk around blindly not realizing their full potential. Why?
While I appreciate your opinion I find it quite interesting that for a religion such as Christianity to not seem to be true to so many, there are so many trying to disprove it. I am sorry for any snide comments you may have recieved, but I believe that a lot of nonbelievers have lumped us all into one pile. You see as hard as it can be for you to believe there is one God who created everythink, including you, it is hard for a true believer to imagine life without that one true God. It is a neverending disagreement. You either believe for whatever reason or you choose not too. I am a Christian and nothing will ever change my mind about that. I do not pick and choose what I choose to believe about the bible. As heartbreaking as it can be at times the things that are revealed through His word, I still believe it. My parents let me choose whether to attend church or not once I reached a certain age (12) so I was not brainwashed or forced into believing. Believing has to come in your own unique revelation that God has prepared for you. I am completely sold out. It is not my God that does not always live up to my standards, it is me who fails and does not always live up to His standards. I do not believe in the ridicule or persecution of nonbelievers, nor that God has been kicking me around my whole life. It is not a voice in my own head that answers my prayers that no one else hears. What an ego we have developed when we believe that humans are so smart that we can create our own God? Contrary to our own pride filled minds we cannot control everything.
I encourage you to check out my hub http://hubpages.com/hub/Why-do-you-believe-what-yo We all have a view, I appreciate the debate over this issue, even though I strongly have to disagree with this point of view.
Smarleygri7 - you are welcome to disagree. Less welcome to attribute my views to 'pride filled minds', but that's a price I expect to pay for going public with independent thoughts. Thanks for the visit.
ohhh, sarcasm, how original. and "going public with independent thoughts" are you kidding? its not 1932 you idiot! you can find independent thoughts on the corner of every street. and by the way, your not hard to read at all dude really, people like you are a dime a dozen. let me guess, your dad didn't hug you when you were a kid. do you need a hug? I think your really angry too because you look for God but cant find and don't understand it. and no you are not as intelligent as you would like to think or like others to think for that matter, you proved that with the comment you made about how you found it interesting that the first snide comment was from a born again christian. who are trying to fool? you baited the topic hoping to get a bit. careful what you ask for.
Ilene2878 - I said 'independent', not 'original'. I'm not claiming to have said anything new. Calling me (or anyone) 'idiot' is uncalled for. Your attempted 'analysis' of me is so far off the mark as to merit no further response. And your closing veiled threat is very weak. Now, do you have anything constructive to add?
I don't think I'm off the mark at all. Isn't that why your so upset? I bet your one of those people that just can't stand to be summed up or stereotyped, huh? every human came with their own brain which by the way would lead to independent thought unless some one has micro chipped our brains and we are really fleshy robots!!! ohhh NO! so, see you are an idiot and thats not uncalled for its obvious. =)
I thought as much - nothing constructive to add. I'm not remotely upset, by the way; in fact I'm perfectly content, though saddened at our endless capacity to hurt one and other. I strongly suggest you stop trying to analyse me because you're failing every time. If you want to know more, read a few more of my articles. And one more thing - I've now approved two comments in which you've called me an idiot. Do you think you are worthy of such consideration?
Shealy Healy - sorry, I missed your comment until now. You raise an interesting question. Your view of God appears more Eastern/mystical than Western. You also question why a spirit 'within us' shouldn't make its presence more obvious. Not seeing convincing evidence of any such spirit, I'm not going to offer an answer to that, except to observe, again, that there seems to be nearly as many versions of God as there are believers, which is the seed thought of this hub. Thanks for commenting.
brilliant writing~ I'll return soon to read all of the comments.
Thanks Rebekah - welcome any time
I don't know. If I created my god in my own image, then indeed I am a fabulous person. But I'm afraid I created him in the image of someone I'd like to become.
Thanks, Paraglider.
Pacal - I'd be the first to agree that that's a better way of doing it. You should spread the word. If it catches on we'd have a kinder world :)
Jewels says:
3 months ago
Great read Paraglider, liked the angle. Seems so easy to use God as the crux of all things unanswerable. And the comfort element - best I not go there.