The unidentifiable beauty of a flexible God
I do respect everybody’s freedom of religion but it won’t be a surprise that my sympathy goes out to the most forgiven ones and especially those who adjust their interpretation, of books once written down, when gained knowledge and wisdom required them to do so. The bible is moderated thru times by religious leaders according to their views even up until the ultimate censorship of deciding which book they thought would fit the bible and which did not because of the inconvenience of having contradictional manuscripts. Especially in times when women still were seen as property, there’s no doubt that if it had been a conclave with partly women, the bible would have had a complete other appearance that it has now. That’s just a problem I personally have with putting together a bunch of historic manuscripts and not being open for debate when other equally important manuscripts are found. Besides the tremendous wealth of some religious “leading churches” while their flog is starving in some parts of the world (who would have never been converted to Catholicism or Protestantism or Islam for that matter if violent wars weren’t fought and countries weren't concurred. This above is just to explain the troubled mind I have whenever the subject of God comes up.
I do live in a mainly Catholic country, where religion became a secondary “help-line” when humanity isn’t having another answer than just the facts. We have 1000-year-old churches and chapels which the main function nowadays is to accommodate sightseeing tourists. Our town hosts the oldest synagogue in the country, restored after 500 years of being a stable, warehouse, prison and public toilet. It’s a confrontational meeting with one of the dark sides of Catholic history and suppression. We have this beautiful “Convento do Cristo” (if you have never heard of it, use google) once headquarters of the Templar Knights. Still worshipped as local heroes with parades and nightly rituals. The fact that it was one of the world’s first terrorist organisations isn’t of any concern, the past heels all wounds and history is always written by the winners.
A Facebook friend, a woodworking priest, asked the question; “Why must everything be viewed through the lens of political discourse? God is not a Democrat nor a Republican, not a Conservative nor a Liberal”. Now that may be the truth but I guess God (or Jaweh or Allah or whatever name is used according to the religion) isn’t Christian, Jewish, Islamic or Hindu either. He is a republican though according to Trump and his administration. Why do you ask? Well God suits them in the appearance of a Republican and a large group of Christians believe in a conservative God who condemns gay’s, women's’ rights etc. In the eyes of the community of evangelicals and more humane forms of Christianity, God certainly is a social democrat and would always help the poor and would never condemn anybody. So God has many reputations it just depends on the Church leaders’ way of communicating. The American God of the TV-preachers seems to be a totally different God than the one keeping an eye out here on the village flog and whose chaplain is going to bless the crops, the tractors, the cars, the front door of every house and the village fire truck during a 4 day village festa (where religion and all the things forbidden are forgotten for a few nights). It’s not God that created his own image, it’s the people that lead the church, they made him a conservative Republican in the USA, while in a country where the church doesn’t seem to have that much influence on politics, it’s the kind “being” who’s part of ceremonies in the name of one of these Saints we have so much around.
Mankind always created something to believe in, but for some mysterious reason, that was always exactly in line with their own needs. It goes as far back as human history. A Catholic Maria or Saint or Jezus or even someone declared “holy” is no exception to that rule. Nor are all the modern inventions like “father Christmas or Santa Klaus or even the Spaghetti monster. They all fulfil a need, they are a tool. Sometimes for a good cause, sometimes with evil or just commercial intentions. You could say that (and I know this is an odd dangerous thought) Trump is just another disciple. He fills the needs of a big conservative Christian community who lost faith in the reasonable acting churches where black and white became sometimes a welcoming humane grey area. A lot of people can’t handle that. They need to have their own Mozes who leads them, they found one in Donald Trump. So, I wish we all would have enough strength to create our own idol to worship. I wish people could think and feel and have compassion, but reality shows they don’t. They need a leader to follow and if that leader is backed up by some quotes from the bible, well....
People seem to believe exactly what leaders want them to believe. It is the easiest way not to be challenged and try to be more than what they are now.” And yes, that’s where the problem lies in “conservative” religions. Why just take all words and interpretations from ages ago as the truth, and nothing but the truth, instead of trying to learn from mistakes, wrongly translated or safely hidden manuscripts and take that challenge to be a better person. Question remains which heavenly Father do we pretend to be the right one? I guess your own “heavenly Father” as in your conscious and your ability to love and respect, is a better guide than that ever changing God because he can be forgiving and understanding in one religion and the opposite in the other. He can be the one telling you, thru one of his TV preachers to murder convicted criminals and Democrats, kill all nurses and doctors working in an abortion clinic or as happened way back in our country kill all Jews if they don't want to convert to Catholicism, but on the other hand he could be the one who says the death penalty is wrong by one of his most important spokespersons on earth.
God is whoever we want him to be. In that perspective, Catholics are no different from any other Christian splinter group despite the claim of being the “mother” church of all. Religous leadership is just a form of politics. Some moments in time one wins, at other moments new “Gods” are invented and get more followers. It’s the need of mankind to believe in something that is worth believing in. Especially for the poor, it’s one of the few ways to gain hope, hope for a better life somewhere else after this one is over. That’s why the poor and uneducated are so easy to convince that the God of golden statues, massive cathedrals, marble carved Maria and child, 2000 souvenir shops selling plastic Jezus at Lourdes and Fatima, is the right one.
I do believe humanity needs it’s Gods, it needs something to look forward to because the concept of death and nothing beyond is a hard thought to handle. But the political stamps on the religious messages are the effect of centuries of religious interference in political issues. Until the day of today, the religious lobby is much more successful than any commercial one. The Church and its leaders used God as leverage to gain power. The tremendous dangerous consequences are now becoming a reality in the USA of Trump. Religious freedom only for the ones who believe in the same Republican God as the people pulling the strings of puppet Trump. No, these people are not politicians. They are representing a religion. A religion of spreading hate and so easily followed by the masses who hear the same message every Sunday when they go to Church...
I am one of the lucky ones. I live in a country where the Church as a building (not an institution) is a place where people gather. In my village of 500 people there’s a big church dating back to 1200, a chapel just a century younger and both are kept “alive” by volunteers who are not asking about your religion, your sexuality, your background or country of origin. If you need help, you will get help. If you want to pray the doors are open, always, for anybody. God is just God and the 700-year-old carved Maria and Jezus a statue of historical value. The only time Maria is a bit naughty is when she’s carried around the village on streets paved with flowers. The parade was today and tonight the last festa day, known for the biggest beer consumption in the province, is starting at midnight with a Portuguese “folk” band presenting itself with a laser show, smoke cannons and very, very loud music until 7 AM in the morning. There’s no tax to be paid on the beer and wine, we thank Maria for that. Because when she’s carried around and our chaplain is giving his blessings and preaches thru the same speakers, as the next band will express their musical talent later on at night, our festa becomes a religious festa and no way the taxman is going to send a bill to the representatives of the Vatican. God is certainly not politically marked here, just the protector of a festa, where young and old, natives and immigrants, Catholics, Protestants and Islamic Syrian refugees, straight, gays and whatever all celebrate living together in a village and hope that the bushfires won’t kill anyone this year, because even “our” all people loving God doesn’t seem to have any influence on that.
I do live in a mainly Catholic country, where religion became a secondary “help-line” when humanity isn’t having another answer than just the facts. We have 1000-year-old churches and chapels which the main function nowadays is to accommodate sightseeing tourists. Our town hosts the oldest synagogue in the country, restored after 500 years of being a stable, warehouse, prison and public toilet. It’s a confrontational meeting with one of the dark sides of Catholic history and suppression. We have this beautiful “Convento do Cristo” (if you have never heard of it, use google) once headquarters of the Templar Knights. Still worshipped as local heroes with parades and nightly rituals. The fact that it was one of the world’s first terrorist organisations isn’t of any concern, the past heels all wounds and history is always written by the winners.
A Facebook friend, a woodworking priest, asked the question; “Why must everything be viewed through the lens of political discourse? God is not a Democrat nor a Republican, not a Conservative nor a Liberal”. Now that may be the truth but I guess God (or Jaweh or Allah or whatever name is used according to the religion) isn’t Christian, Jewish, Islamic or Hindu either. He is a republican though according to Trump and his administration. Why do you ask? Well God suits them in the appearance of a Republican and a large group of Christians believe in a conservative God who condemns gay’s, women's’ rights etc. In the eyes of the community of evangelicals and more humane forms of Christianity, God certainly is a social democrat and would always help the poor and would never condemn anybody. So God has many reputations it just depends on the Church leaders’ way of communicating. The American God of the TV-preachers seems to be a totally different God than the one keeping an eye out here on the village flog and whose chaplain is going to bless the crops, the tractors, the cars, the front door of every house and the village fire truck during a 4 day village festa (where religion and all the things forbidden are forgotten for a few nights). It’s not God that created his own image, it’s the people that lead the church, they made him a conservative Republican in the USA, while in a country where the church doesn’t seem to have that much influence on politics, it’s the kind “being” who’s part of ceremonies in the name of one of these Saints we have so much around.
Mankind always created something to believe in, but for some mysterious reason, that was always exactly in line with their own needs. It goes as far back as human history. A Catholic Maria or Saint or Jezus or even someone declared “holy” is no exception to that rule. Nor are all the modern inventions like “father Christmas or Santa Klaus or even the Spaghetti monster. They all fulfil a need, they are a tool. Sometimes for a good cause, sometimes with evil or just commercial intentions. You could say that (and I know this is an odd dangerous thought) Trump is just another disciple. He fills the needs of a big conservative Christian community who lost faith in the reasonable acting churches where black and white became sometimes a welcoming humane grey area. A lot of people can’t handle that. They need to have their own Mozes who leads them, they found one in Donald Trump. So, I wish we all would have enough strength to create our own idol to worship. I wish people could think and feel and have compassion, but reality shows they don’t. They need a leader to follow and if that leader is backed up by some quotes from the bible, well....
People seem to believe exactly what leaders want them to believe. It is the easiest way not to be challenged and try to be more than what they are now.” And yes, that’s where the problem lies in “conservative” religions. Why just take all words and interpretations from ages ago as the truth, and nothing but the truth, instead of trying to learn from mistakes, wrongly translated or safely hidden manuscripts and take that challenge to be a better person. Question remains which heavenly Father do we pretend to be the right one? I guess your own “heavenly Father” as in your conscious and your ability to love and respect, is a better guide than that ever changing God because he can be forgiving and understanding in one religion and the opposite in the other. He can be the one telling you, thru one of his TV preachers to murder convicted criminals and Democrats, kill all nurses and doctors working in an abortion clinic or as happened way back in our country kill all Jews if they don't want to convert to Catholicism, but on the other hand he could be the one who says the death penalty is wrong by one of his most important spokespersons on earth.
God is whoever we want him to be. In that perspective, Catholics are no different from any other Christian splinter group despite the claim of being the “mother” church of all. Religous leadership is just a form of politics. Some moments in time one wins, at other moments new “Gods” are invented and get more followers. It’s the need of mankind to believe in something that is worth believing in. Especially for the poor, it’s one of the few ways to gain hope, hope for a better life somewhere else after this one is over. That’s why the poor and uneducated are so easy to convince that the God of golden statues, massive cathedrals, marble carved Maria and child, 2000 souvenir shops selling plastic Jezus at Lourdes and Fatima, is the right one.
I do believe humanity needs it’s Gods, it needs something to look forward to because the concept of death and nothing beyond is a hard thought to handle. But the political stamps on the religious messages are the effect of centuries of religious interference in political issues. Until the day of today, the religious lobby is much more successful than any commercial one. The Church and its leaders used God as leverage to gain power. The tremendous dangerous consequences are now becoming a reality in the USA of Trump. Religious freedom only for the ones who believe in the same Republican God as the people pulling the strings of puppet Trump. No, these people are not politicians. They are representing a religion. A religion of spreading hate and so easily followed by the masses who hear the same message every Sunday when they go to Church...
I am one of the lucky ones. I live in a country where the Church as a building (not an institution) is a place where people gather. In my village of 500 people there’s a big church dating back to 1200, a chapel just a century younger and both are kept “alive” by volunteers who are not asking about your religion, your sexuality, your background or country of origin. If you need help, you will get help. If you want to pray the doors are open, always, for anybody. God is just God and the 700-year-old carved Maria and Jezus a statue of historical value. The only time Maria is a bit naughty is when she’s carried around the village on streets paved with flowers. The parade was today and tonight the last festa day, known for the biggest beer consumption in the province, is starting at midnight with a Portuguese “folk” band presenting itself with a laser show, smoke cannons and very, very loud music until 7 AM in the morning. There’s no tax to be paid on the beer and wine, we thank Maria for that. Because when she’s carried around and our chaplain is giving his blessings and preaches thru the same speakers, as the next band will express their musical talent later on at night, our festa becomes a religious festa and no way the taxman is going to send a bill to the representatives of the Vatican. God is certainly not politically marked here, just the protector of a festa, where young and old, natives and immigrants, Catholics, Protestants and Islamic Syrian refugees, straight, gays and whatever all celebrate living together in a village and hope that the bushfires won’t kill anyone this year, because even “our” all people loving God doesn’t seem to have any influence on that.
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