I've been doing a lot of reading lately and several of the ideas and concepts have stuck with me. One thought has spent some time running through my mind and it sort of congealed this evening. If there is some type of God or supreme being, why would she/he/it select a specific group of people to be the chosen ones?
Almost all the religions and philosophies that I know of postulate that this unknown something created or caused everything in existence. So, this thing is the mother of all life forms, air, earth, thought and anything else. It simply doesn't compute in me wee noggin that this unknown entity would designate a small subset of humanity and say, "You -- and no one else -- are MY special people."
But this is precisely what most religions posit. They run around telling anyone who will listen (and even those of us who aren't interested) that via special revelations or a personal relationship with the unknown thing that THEIR group is the designated one. They possess an extra special corner on truth.
As stated above, this whole line of reasoning seems absolutely ludicrous to me. However, if I set aside my incredulity for a moment and accept that this notion is possible, I'm still left with the question of why anyone would think this special designation would apply only to humans? Since, numerically speaking, we represent a very small fraction of all the life forms in this vast world, wouldn't it be more likely that cockroaches, trees or viruses would be chosen for this special distinction?
These types of beings and entities live lives within their nature. As far as we know, unlike humans, they wouldn't have the tendency to botch the divine message because of overinflated egos and I think it is highly unlikely that they would run around proselytizing anyone within earshot. They would simply bask in the glow of the heavenly whatever.
Hmm. Sort of like they do now anyway. Maybe all of creation EXCEPT HUMANS are the chosen ones!?
Almost all the religions and philosophies that I know of postulate that this unknown something created or caused everything in existence. So, this thing is the mother of all life forms, air, earth, thought and anything else. It simply doesn't compute in me wee noggin that this unknown entity would designate a small subset of humanity and say, "You -- and no one else -- are MY special people."
But this is precisely what most religions posit. They run around telling anyone who will listen (and even those of us who aren't interested) that via special revelations or a personal relationship with the unknown thing that THEIR group is the designated one. They possess an extra special corner on truth.
As stated above, this whole line of reasoning seems absolutely ludicrous to me. However, if I set aside my incredulity for a moment and accept that this notion is possible, I'm still left with the question of why anyone would think this special designation would apply only to humans? Since, numerically speaking, we represent a very small fraction of all the life forms in this vast world, wouldn't it be more likely that cockroaches, trees or viruses would be chosen for this special distinction?
These types of beings and entities live lives within their nature. As far as we know, unlike humans, they wouldn't have the tendency to botch the divine message because of overinflated egos and I think it is highly unlikely that they would run around proselytizing anyone within earshot. They would simply bask in the glow of the heavenly whatever.
Hmm. Sort of like they do now anyway. Maybe all of creation EXCEPT HUMANS are the chosen ones!?
It seems to me, that whoever is waiting to bask in the glow of the heavenly whatever, is missing it.
ReplyDeleteThis is the grandest example of always thinking the grass is greener on the other side, which leads to this .....who has the tallest fences?
HI R T -
ReplyDeleteOh this is really hard to discern. My Mom believes that she will be with me Dad in the after-life, in heaven. I think it helps her accept his death to believe that. I like to think it iss true, too. sigh....
R T? I was surprised to see that Val's blog, Matters Of Integrity" is gone. :-(
Do you have an email for Val - it was posted on her blog, I believe.
I hope so.
THanks.
Love Gail
peace.....
Yep, they do it because it works to gain them power. The us against them is always powerful and gets people to forget what is actually going on.
ReplyDeletee,
ReplyDeleteOoh, yeh. I like the greener grass analogy!
Gail,
What about a person who has been married more than once and both marriages have were very loving? Who do you spend eternity with?
As to Val's blog, I just sent her an email and cc:ed you. As long as it doesn't bounce, I hope Val will tell us she's ok and simply too busy with motherhood and law school to blog.
Rain,
I agree that it's all about earthly, not divine, power.
This is a good point. It's all special pleading. The old Israelite nation had to claim they were special, the chosen nation, in order to gain credence.
ReplyDeleteIn the same way, modern day pastors and priests claim that they are the chosen person, to get people to listen to them and to pay them money.
It may give some credibility to Christians, only because they (Gentile Christians) don't claim that they are the chosen ones. The bible says that the Jews were chosen, and the Gentiles only got in because the Jews rejected God's choice of them as his chosen people.
ReplyDelete