Religious Hateraide

I'm constantly amazed at the state of people.

The views of life are so diverse as to be confusing sometimes. We must all use our own personal experiences in order to shape our world view, and seeing some worldviews makes me wonder exactly what kind of world we live in.

Take, for example, the man who is against religion. Not against fundamentalists, not against the harmful aspects of religion (of which there are many), but simply religion and people who subscribe to a belief system to begin with. He has a hatred for these people, or at best a clear disdain for them.

Why does he feel this way? Is it because he has been hurt in the past by someone portraying themselves as a worker for the Lord? Is it because he has been hurt in general, and blames it all on God? Has he been wronged in the past, and the only way to explain that wrong is that a higher power is out to get him? Or does he just not like religion because it is what it is?

There are so many wrongs done by people in the past purporting to be Christian, or doing what they do in the name of God. The Crusades is only the most recognizable of these. There are so many injustices against humanity all in the name of religion.

But does this make God the kid on the anthill with a magnifying glass? Is He some sort of malevolent creature who is only out to get us, and is using us as a social experiment, only to throw us into the fiery pits of Hell when it's all over? The problem with this view is that it is only harmful to those who have it. You certainly don't have to believe in God, but believing that there is a God who is only out to get us is just putting a damper on what could be an otherwise happy life. If you're always expecting the hammer to fall, what is the point? If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has pre-ordained where you will end up simply because He knows it to begin with, what is the point of your life?

The answer to the 'mean kid on the anthill waiting to send us to Hell' is that foreknowledge does not equal fore ordination. Just because you KNOW something is going to happen doesn't mean that you caused it. For example: If you KNOW that your teenager is going to steal your keys and wreck your car, did you cause it to happen simply by the knowledge? If the police KNOW that a robbery is going to occur at a certain time in a certain place, does that knowledge cause the event to happen? Of course not! They are caused by man exercising his free will. Sure, the police can step in and stop the robbery before it happens, but then they will miss out on catching the major criminal behind the robbery. Sure, the parent can step in and stop the teenager from stealing the keys and wrecking the car, but how will the teen learn that what he has done is bad? Especially if that teenager is to the point of just not listening? God can step in at any time and 'fix' everything. But that in itself has consequences. When you mess with Free Will, you throw a cog into the works that will shut the entire operation down.

God did not make us automatons. He cannot force Himself on us. He WILL NOT force Himself on us. That is not why we were created. And, it is up to US to bring the lost to Him and save them from Hell, not up to Him. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, as any police officer will tell you when he pulls you over for speeding. God is not being the mean kid on the anthill waiting to send us all into a fiery death. If anything, we are holding the magnifying glass. God is simply watching us and shaking His head, wondering why we aren't doing a better job.

So how do we answer the man from before, the bitter, damaged man who can't seem to give religion a fair shake? The answer is, we don't. We allow him to make up his own mind, having placed all of what we know in front of him. You can't force Biblical teachings on someone who won't hear it any more than you can force a thirsty man to drink. You hand him the cup of water, and you let HIM make the decision to drink it. If you have done everything you can, i.e. used historical context, religious and secular histories, outside sources, and personal revelations that God is indeed real and watching over us as a benevolent parent and not a malevolent creature of violence, if He exists at all, then you've used up your options. It is then up to you to be an example of why The Way is The Way. You cannot explain away the apparent 'contradictions' in the Bible to his satisfaction, so you have to just allow him to go his own way. You cannot explain to him why your way is better than the myriad other religions that are out there, some of which predate Christianity. He will not listen. It's now between him and whatever god he ascribes to as to where he ends up. It will all come out in the end, and the only thing we can do is hope that our lost man will see the Light before it is too late.