Is God Perfect?

[TomOfSweden]

I wonder if what hoi polloi believe in is a vague and general "goodness" perhaps personified by a man or an elephant. No dogma, no real preconceptions. Then along come people who crave power and hijack this general concept as a tool or a weapon, saying, "You must believe this way, or observe these rites (and pay these dues or tithes to me) if you ever hope to attain salvation."

I've never believed this to be the case. I think it's the other way around. People have used their education, observations and intelligence to piece together a model of the world that looks coherent. We have up until quite recently had quite good reasons to believe in some sort of supernatural power.

Why God is such a popular theory still today I think is because it requires the least amount of work. A bit like biological organisms are very complex, therefore God must have done it. By claiming it is too complex to have come about spontaneously, we make it unnecessary for our selves to study it. Since we already know the answer. It's a method of doing away with the unknown and explaining it. I think the God theory is for people who don't like not knowing and don't have the patience of finding out. Today with the body of scientific work being the way it is, the only way to "know" it all, is to be religious. But that's just my own private theory.

People often want leaders, people who take charge, and who have done their homework. That's why I'm against direct democracy. I vote because I don't have the time and energy to devote myself to politics. I trust my doctor, estate agent and so on. This isn't a sign of weakness, but necessity. If we believe in God, we'll want somebody who's studied it more than us to inform us.

It's about who you trust. If you're a Catholic, you trust the pope more than scientists. Nobody hijacked anything. The popes power is enforced from the bottom up. Nobody today is forced to believe in God. They might be forced to go to Church, but faith is an intensely private matter. It's only in the head. Also religion changes. The Christian church's most important foundation used to be the "great chain of being". Nobody believes in that any more. Nobody. Christianity from just a few hundred years ago is dead. Nothing remains except it's name. Not even the Bible. It's simply interpreted completely differently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chain_of_Being

The problem of religion isn't that it can be hijacked by spiritually corrupt men. It's the religion itself. What if you do get 72 virgins if you blow yourself up? The problem is it's followers who make far too low demands on evidence and logical consistency. People who have opinions on things they haven't studied. The various moral messages are of no consequence. They aren't the reason anybody uses to support their faith. But that's just my highly personal opinion.