ABOUT
DEATH, HEAVEN,
SOUL & SELF
THE UNIVERSE & EVOLUTION
BIBLE, CHRIST,
QURAN, ISLAM, BUDDHISM & KARMA
RELIGION
& SCIENCE
SPIRIT-ENERGY &
DECODING INTELLIGENT
DESIGN
The content and subject matter of
these two e-books is underpinned by the culmination of twenty+ years of study
and research
- at four universities in two
countries -
from objective and rational analysis of
information from the disciplines of
RELIGION, SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY,
PSYCHOLOGY AND THEOLOGY
For Inquisitors, Believers, Skeptics,
Agnostics and Atheists
Knowledge is Power - Informing Beliefs,
Values, Attitudes & Behaviours
“Don’t worry about those who concern themselves with predicting the
date for the end of the world, but be conscious of and prepared for your own
personal imminent physical death and passing from this world”
·
“How can something, anything, everything, like the big bang, atoms,
the universe, and life, etc be created without source from absolute nothing.
·
“There is more chance of a Jumbo Jet being built by a tornado
crossing a Junk Yard than there is of complex universe and life being created
by random chance.
·
“Decoding Intelligent
Design as being a function of spirit-energy that sparked and initiated
evolution of both the atom-energy of matter and the spirit-energy of life,
self, spirit, soul and person.
·
“The cruel trick of
(atom-energy) physical death as one’s personal individual end-of-time on this
earth. But the continuation of a person
and their spirit and soul in relation to their self, consciousness, mind and
person (spirit-energy) and eternal existence.
·
“The definitions and
differences between the atom-energy of matter and the spirit-energy of self,
spirit, soul and person are clearly described. The meaning of love, living life to the full, the fear of
death, and the meaning of spirit, soul and mind as being essential parts of the
essence of self are thoroughly identified and canvassed in these e-books.
· “Describes the world’s religions as being essentially more similar than
different in terms of end goals. To achieve heaven and eternal existence as the
ultimate purpose. But with differing beliefs, dogmas and mechanisms towards
reaching this desired state.
·
“Comparative religion research where both the Bible and Koran
(Qur’an) articulate contradicting and confusing verses where such verses are
historically and potentially presently, misinterpreted and misconstrued
adversely.
·
“How can and do religions, traditions,
rituals and cultures affect peoples’ faith and beliefs and the way they
perceive and understand themselves, the world and others.
·
“Evolution is explained as being more a creation and product of
intelligent design where evolution is predetermined and pre-programmed by
intelligence of a Creator (spirit-energy).
Where the atoms of both the inorganic (non-living matter) like rocks
etc, and the organic (living matter) like cells and DNA, have been pre-designed
from the very beginning to evolve to slowly but ultimately reach their
presupposed destination, function and predetermined purpose. This is the same for the spirit-energy of the
person, self, mind and soul but which has also been designed to be an
independent, sovereign and unique thinking being with free-will and
choice.
·
This intelligent predetermined design and plan is a model – based
on rationale philosophy and science - for the creation and existence of matter,
life, spirit and person/self. As opposed
to the universe, life and self, being products created solely from nothing, or
the creation and evolution of universe, life and self/person believed to be the
derivative outcomes of random and chance processes – from nothing - proposed by
anti-creation and anti-intelligent design theorists like names such as Stephen
Hawking and Richard Dawkins.
·
These anti-creation and anti-intelligent design theorists have individually
and personally abandoned and dismissed the academic ‘scientific’ and
‘philosophical’ thought processes and framed principles of questioning when
related to that all time enduring question; Does God Exist?
·
Unfortunately, because those controversial – anti-creation, anti-intelligent
design – ‘academics’ are often egotistically centrically motivated, they’re often
reduced intellectually to making incredulous, frivolous single-minded and
one-dimensional assertions about the beginnings of the universe, life and human
existence. These assertions obtain the
attention of enquirers under the guise of the respectability methodological and
the reputable processes of the academic discipline of science. But such shallow
cliché pronunciations show these assertions are no more scientifically or
philosophically founded than arbitrary outcomes from a pseudo-science that
suggests the creation of the building blocks of universe and life - subatomic
particles, quantum/nano physics etc - appeared/happened magically and incredulously,
from absolute-nothing.
·
Such attitudes of belief, reduces and denigrates the science
process to nothing more than a non cause-and-affect, chaotic, and set of
random-chance interactions that cannot claim to be a credible academic
discipline with regard to validation of the spirit and atom energy components
of this symbiotic and interactive reality etc.
The question is Does God
Exist? The answer lies herein explained as the proof, reasons, evidence and
logic from the academic disciplines
of RELIGION, SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY, PSYCHOLOGY
Herein these e-books discusses
and reflects upon God in relation to the meaning of life, spirit, death, heaven,
soul, mind, self and consciousness, including the existence of spirit-energy
and atom-energy as a major part in human existence
Does God Exist -
Proof for God - About Life, Death, Soul & Self
هل الله
موجود -- البرهان
في سبيل
الله -- عن الحياة ، والروح
، والموت
والذات
神的存在 - 对上帝的证明 - 关于生命，死亡，灵魂和自我
भगवान
के लिए प्रमाण
- जीवन, मृत्यु, आत्मा, और सेल्फ के बारे में
भगवान का
अस्तित्व
है
Существует
ли Бог -
Доказательство
для Бога - о жизни,
смерти, Душа
и Я
1. EVIDENCE FOR GOD:
AND THE COMPLEXITY OF LIFE, BELIEFS, DEATH AND SELF
· Aquinas’ Five Logic, Proofs for
God’s Existence
·
Bible – The Contradicting and Misinterpreted Verses
·
Qur’an – The Contradicting
and Misinterpreted Verses
·
The Cruel Trick of
Physical Death
·
Why Pain, Grief and Suffering
2. GOD AND DECODING INTELLIGENT DESIGN: EVOLUTION, SPIRIT,
SOUL AND SELF
·
Meaning of the words ‘The Word’, ‘Self’, ‘Spirit’ and
‘Soul’
·
Proof of a God/Creator from Subatomic, Quantum &
Nano Physics
·
Person as Soul, Spirit,
Mind and Self
· Self, Mind, Soul and Spirit as an Outcome and Function of
Atom and Spirit-Energy on this Earth
READ ABOUT IT
The contents of these e-books counter these
frivolous unfounded pseudo-science anti-creation and anti-intelligent design claims
through the rational philosophical processes juxtaposition with genuine facts
and hypothesis underpinned by objective, rational and ‘spirit-reflective’
analysis of information from all theological, philosophical, historical and
scientific research/evidence”.
The information within these two free e-books provide
answers to enduring questions relevant in today’s global, cultural, religious,
educational, economic, and personal changing living environments.
1. EVIDENCE FOR GOD:
AND THE COMPLEXITY OF LIFE, BELIEFS, DEATH AND SELF
1. EVIDENCE FOR GOD:
View Full CONTENT
· Science and philosophy as proof of the existence of a God/‘Creator’
· The philosophers’ five logical
proofs for the Creator’s existence
· Humans as sovereign independent beings
· Contradicting verses in both the Bible and Koran (Quran)
· How can the Bible and Koran (Quran) promote violence, punishment and hell
· How do cultures, traditions and faiths affect what and how people believe
· Different religions more similar than different having the same end goal
· What is the new idea of relational love
· What are the dynamics and consequences of believing in karma and
reincarnation
· Are hell and satan real or metaphorical leverage
·
How can a ‘good’ ‘Creator’ allow human suffering
· How can intellect and ‘free will’
manipulate ‘base
instincts’?
· Why are verses about violence,
punishment and hell in the
Bible
and Quran erroneous?
· Who is Jesus Christ – God or Fraud -
and why different
from all other spiritual leaders and teachers?
2. GOD AND DECODING INTELLIGENT DESIGN: EVOLUTION, SPIRIT,
SOUL AND SELF
2. GOD
View Full CONTENT
· The
meaning of life, self, consciousness, personality, spirit and
soul
· The power of human belief systems
that affect thought and behaviour
· Was the creation of the universe
through design or chance
· How can evolution be reconciled with
both intelligent design and scripture
· How could a ‘Creator’ have always
existed
· Why is the world temporary and
planet earth can’t exist forever
· What is the difference between atom
energy and spirit and soul energy
· How are humans composed of these
different energies
· How can the two worlds of the
‘physical’/visible and the spiritual/invisible be explained
· The Science world of subatomic,
quantum and nano physics as evidence of a Creator/God
· What is Self, Consciousness,
Personality, Spirit and Soul?
· What problems relate to human faiths
and beliefs regarding
religions, traditions and
cultures?
· What are the human energies of
atoms, soul and spirit
·
The
human interface of these different energies
The Milky
Way
The Milky Way is only one galaxy of about 100 billion galaxies in the
universe. The Milky Way is the galaxy
within which human beings reside. There
are over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, the Sun being one of those
stars. The Milky Way is so vast that
light, traveling at the speed of light, takes not 10 years, not 100 years, not
1,000 years, but 100,000 light years to traverse it!
The Star Betlegeux
and the Sun
This
picture demonstrates the enormous and immense size of some of the stars in the
Galaxy of the Milky Way and Universe.
This star is a super-giant called “Betlegeux” situated in the Orion
Sword. Betlegeux has a diameter of 220 million miles and its size is seen here in
relation to the Sun’s diameter of 1 million miles. The Sun has a diameter of 1 million miles and
the Earth has a diameter of just 8 thousand miles.
Planet Earth
The
American astronaut James Erwin, said after viewing the Earth, the Moon, and the
Galaxy simultaneously, as his spacecraft traveled back to Earth between the
depths of outer space and the Moon, that he had just seen the world as ‘God’
sees it, and that ‘God’ must love humans very much.
Snow Geese
Here is
an example of one of the Creator’s beautiful living creations. See how they use the snow as a blanket to
keep themselves warm. The swans (Snow
Geese) of
The
Rainbow
The Rainbow is an
amazing reality exemplifying the wonderful and complex creations in the
universe. The Rainbow, throughout time,
has been regarded as magical and capturing the imagination of all peoples. We have the saying synonymous with the
paradoxical enigma of such existence, “The pot of gold at the end of the
Rainbow”. Perhaps the colours of the
rainbow are symbolic and analogous to the beauty, strength and synergy of human
diversity, illustrated by the electromagnetic spectrum, which creates light
from its many diverse colours.
If you are pressed for
time to fully read musing in total reflection, please browse individual
chapters for subject matter that interests you in the moment.
Share
knowledge and save trees - take the liberty to forward these e-books
E-Books are a
portable format you can read on your computer, print, or via portable device or
e-book reader. Adobe Reader is required to read PDF format
Stephen Clark
2011
|
Contact for any Questions, Comments sclarkp@bigpond.com Free
Translate English to Any Language http://www.translate.google.com Free Dictionary and Thesaurus http://freedictionary.org/ Free Adobe Reader to read PDF
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Read the Two Full Texts Below and/or Download &
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FOR
GOD
COMPLEXITY OF
LIFE, BELIEFS,
DEATH AND SELF
Stephen Clark
ISBN 0-473-03715-7
Copyright © Stephen
Clark 2009
Across Publishng
Second Revised
Edition 2011
Brisbane,
Australia
Any comments about the
contents of this book please direct to:
Prefaces
The Meaning of Life
The Insult of Blasphemy
The Six Dimensions, Steps, and Degrees
to Explain
a Creator’s Infinity and Human
Immortality
Passion of the Christ
Have You Ever Asked These Questions
Introduction
CHAPTER
1 In Search of the Creator
We Do Not Believe
Jesus Calls His Apostle Peter, Satan (Devil)
Pope John Paul II Apologises to the World
Separation of Church and State
Many Religions, Churches
Faiths and Beliefs
We Want To Believe
2 Evidence of God From
Human Reason, Science and Philosophy
Natural and Super Natural Knowledge
The World is Not as it Appears
Proof of a Creator’s Existence through
Reason and Science
Philosophers and Theologians
Aristotle, Plato and Socrates
Thomas Aquinas’ Five Rational Proofs for God’s Existence
First Proof – Motion
Second Proof- Cause and Effect
Third Proof – Contingent and Necessary Beings
Fourth Proof – A Finite Subordinate Series
Fifth Proof, Proof from Order, Descartes, Locke
Atom-Energy Different from Spirit-Energy
The Soul and Spirit of Self
3 Human Pain and Suffering from
Intellectual and Spiritual Confusion
Brief History of Scripture
Language
Misinterpretation of
Scripture in the Bible
Spiritual Abuse
Human Destruction from Base
Instincts, Faiths, Beliefs, Cultures, Politics and Religions
4 Intellectual and Spiritual Confusion
Revisited
Principle Factors for Interpretation
Lucifer and, the King James Version of the Bible
Other Holy Scriptures and the Quran (Koran)
More Similarities than Differences between Religions
5 Truth is Stranger than Fantasy
Did the Creator
become Human?
American Astronaut James Erwin
Was Christ’s Coming Foretold?
Who Is Jesus of
Is Jesus Christ Also ‘God’?
Jesus’ Claims of Being the Son
of ‘God’
Jesus Christ Rising from the Dead
The Logical, Psychological and Philosophical Strategy
6 Why Did The Creator Become Human?
Humans Are Imperfect
The Incarnation
The Conscious Voice of Self
Atheism
Personal Integrity and Choice
Christ’s Teachings
The Original Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments Relevant but Inadequate
The New Law of Relational Love
Live Life with
Relational Love for Self and Others
Judging and
Self-righteousness
Philosophy of Love
8 The Creator’s
Infinite Mystical
Relational Love/ Compassion
The Creator’s Acceptance
The Affects of Transgressions
The Creator’s Mystical Relational Love
The
Creator’s Infinite Compassion and the
Cruel Trick of Death
Christ’s Compassion and Forgiveness
The Metaphor of Hell and Satan
Mystery of Suffering and Pain
Insight to ‘God’ the Creator
Design, Order and Plan, Cause and Effect
Scripture and Suffering
Puppets on a String
Meaning from Pain
Pain and Relationships
10 Prayer
Dynamics of Prayer
The Meaning of Life in Short
We give meaning to our life
because people already exist as we enter the world, and interacting with people
and the environment if we can leave this world – when we ‘die’ - a slightly
better place than when we entered it, we will have given positive meaning to
our life.
Meaning to life -
intentionally treating people with goodwill and a generosity of spirit. Interactions with others as being civil,
friendly and compassionate as opposed to being unkind and mean spirited.
Ultimately, the meaning of
the meaning of the fullness of life can be as simple as or as complex as we will
it to be in relation to what we are capable of.
Question:
Is it more meaningful to
leave one person happier in the world when we die (pass-over), and no one
unhappy, or to leave a hundred people unhappier and a thousand people happier?
Reflect on the above:
Then consider the following:
Ideal
behavioural, thoughtful and empathetic intercommunication aspires to
intentionally converse and interact with all people we meet in a spirit of
good-faith and good-will. Leaving no one
worse-off, but many better-off in their personal sense of well-being.
The Universe > From Something or Nothing?
Life > From Creation or Chance?
Christ > Is ‘God’ or Prophet?
The ‘Creator’ > Is ‘God’?
Will We Meet Again
The Insult of Blasphemy
When one person, or a billion people, swear by
blaspheming by using the name of 'their' 'God' in
private, then that’s their prerogative and their personal 'healthy'
relationship with their spiritual 'God'.
And their ‘God’ can no doubt understand all that involves the
personal relationship between the two of them, and accordingly, deals, accepts
and handles such communication as being part of their private and intimate
relationship.
But when someone blasphemes in public by using the
name of one or a billion peoples’ ‘God’ as a swear word, such as, "Jesus
Christ”, “Christ”, “Oh My God” "God", “For God’s Sake”, and indeed
the words should they ever be used of “Buddha”, “Yahweh”, “Allah”, “Krishna”
including “Muhammad” etc, then the line has been crossed. Whether we believe, or not, in a ‘God’,
blaspheming is offensive in snubbing, with disregard to others’ spiritual
beliefs and sensitivities.
In this instance,
the blasphemer intentionally or unintentionally portrays and executes
the attitudes and characteristics of bigotry, ignorance and arrogance
relating to others' feelings and as such, be interpreted as contemptuous and
disrespectful.
These insults and affronts are ‘discrimination’ on
religious, cultural and spiritual grounds, and thus should be decreed as
illegal.
Please mind your language in front of others.
Blaspheming against someone’s ‘God’ in the public
arena is evidence of the orators and author’s bigotry, ignorance, arrogance,
and illiteracy.
The Six Dimensions, Steps, and Degrees to Explain a Creator’s Infinity
and Humans’ Immortality
It is important to remember that Spirit Energy
exists without the dimensions of Time, Space and Movement. Because spirit-energy can exist without the
dimensions and characteristics of time, space and movement, the question, “How
can the Creator have always existed?” is not a relevant question to ask when it
is asked within in human context in relation to the world.
This is because the meaning of the word ‘always’,
can by definition, only be referred to in the context of Time, Space and
Movement, which in turn are only related within the context of a universe.
So the question “How can anything have always
existed”, can realistically only be asked in the realms of structured
atom-energy of the universe – including Black Matter and Dark Energy - with
which the world is made, and within the realms and dimensions of Spirit-Energy
where time, space and movement is non-existent.
The 6 Steps, Degrees
and Dimensions of Life, Existence and Immortality
Step 1 - The two dimensions of
Length and Width
Step 2 - The three dimensions of
Length, Width and Breadth
Step 3 and 4 - The four dimensions of
Time which must include Atom Energy, Space and Movement.
The phenomena of ‘time’ is essentially a culmination of movement of
structures of atom-energies in relation to other structures of atom-energies in
the medium of space.
Step 5 - The five dimensions of
the human senses which include Touch, Smell, Sound, Sight and Taste.
Step 6 - The six dimension of Spirit
- being Self, Consciousness, Awareness, Thoughts and Feelings. The spirit is the essence of a person and
pivot of consciousness, self-awareness, emotion and thought defined not by
atom-energy structures but by the energy of spirit.
The 6th Step and Dimension of Spirit is
the only dimension that can stand alone on its own without the necessary input
and interactions of the other 5 Steps and Dimensions.
In reality these six dimensions are designed and
planned intelligently to interact and interface with one another.
But if we reduce the above equation of the six
dimensions by one dimension, that one being the fourth dimension of time we
immediately exclude structures of atom energies, movement and space.
If we remove these dimensions that define the
essence of time and therefore the world as we know it one dimension is retained
and that is the dimension of spirit.
And if the dimension of spirit, which by its very
essence and characteristics, stands alone and apart from time, space and
movement, then we can not ask questions about any Creator or Self that includes
within its terms and meaning anything to do with the dimensions and realms of
the first 3 dimensions that in part, define structured atom-energies.
Taking these factors into account irrelevant
questions to ask would include:
“How could a Creator have always existed”? And, “Who made the ‘Creator”?
All these questions are asked from the point of
reference prefaced on the assumption that ‘time’ is an incumbent necessary part
of this world of structured atom-energies, space and movement and not an
essential ingredient of spirit-energy.
The dimension and essence of spirit exits alone in
timeless sovereign integrity, and explains and answers the question, “How can
humans exist eternally or be immortal”?
Without the dimension of ‘time’ involved in the
essence of the dimension of ‘spirit’
there can only exit the ‘now’, the ‘presence’, the ‘just being’, and the
‘just is’.
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
If Christ is ‘God’/ Creator
and the Creator exists, then ‘God’ must Will Unconditional Mystical Relational
Love towards all Peoples
Perhaps the
most decisive and poignant message derived from the “Passion Of The Christ” is
that the Creator potentially wills to unconditionally love all peoples,
notwithstanding their personal transgressions, or their political, cultural,
ethnic and religious persuasions and affiliations, as explicitly exemplified by
Christ’s outcry, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:
34-35). This was an outcry by Jesus Christ on His death cross to the
Creator, having been shamed, humiliated, and grievously, mortally and fatally
assaulted and wounded. A sublime
supplication to the Creator from the Son, after being jeered, insulted, spat
upon, punched, beaten, scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross and
speared, such that He was killed by Roman soldiers, Gentiles, Jews, Pagans,
Elders, Teachers of the law and the Chief Priest. The crime of torturous ‘physical’ and
psychological brutality leading to a person’s suffering and death, no human
being deserves, let alone the innocent Christ.
Yet, regardless of their behaviour, Christ pleads to the Creator to
forgive these perpetrators for their actions that precipitated and procured His
death. And if they were not practical
partakers in His death, forgiveness for their vicarious and voyeuristic
complicity, and their individual and collective transgressions as an outcome of
their destructive, obsessive and irrational cultural, political, ethnic and
religious beliefs. No, they did not ask
their ‘God’, or anyone else to forgive them for their abominably barbaric
intentional murderous behaviour. And no,
they did not believe in the sacred integrity and dignity of humanity. And no, they did not believe in Christ,
either as an innocent human being or as the Son of the Creator. Yet if
Christ is the Creator, then ‘God’ forgave them all, if scripture verse is
legitimately accurate. Yes, it is credible that the Creator forgave all these
people. Killers and accomplices of
Christ’s death all forgiven, despite them not believing or seeking forgiveness. If
forgiven, it was through the
unconditional mystical relational love of Christ, if Christ was/is in fact
‘God’ and if ‘God’ does in fact, exist. “Forgive them
Father for they know not what they do”.(Luke
EVIDENCE
FOR GOD:
.
“Fear neither the uncharted
waters of life, nor the uncharted waters of death; so you fear neither life nor
death, as you fear neither death nor life”
“Fear not Self living in this world, and fear not
Self’s inevitable anatomical death, for Self is not only of anatomical
existence but invisible Spirit that exists on forever.”
“Self ought try to never behave in this life - that if
anatomical death should unexpectedly visit upon Self tomorrow, or next week
etcetera – Self would, on post anatomical death-reflection, remorsefully
regret”
“Despite all Self’s human
flaws and imperfections, Self ought to completely, totally and deeply accept
Self as being OK, but be honestly open to constructive change”
“Self’s life here on earth
will be seen as having been far too short upon Self’s post-earth life
reflection, to have lived life selfishly”
INTRODUCTION
If you have an
aversion to, and limited time to spend reading introductions, the above Content
pages of information, will, per Chapter and per Subsection, provide you with
all the subjects in this book that have been extensively researched, discussed
and grappled with.
The title of this book EVIDENCE FOR
GOD:
This book emphasizes the fact that what
seemingly appears to be fact, is a perceived illusion. However, this perception of illusion is
because we are still to change our mindset and shift it to what we now know it
to exist of – and that is energy - from scientific research. When we look
around us there is predetermined order, design and purpose everywhere. The Will and Soul of a ‘Creator’ is manifest
in subatomic particles, atoms or atom-energy, that not only make up the pages
and print of this book but everything in the universe, including inanimate
objects (non-life) e.g., stars, galaxies, water, rocks, etcetera, and animate
living life, for example, plants, animals, birds, insects and humans etcetera.
Only 0.4% of the universe is made of structures with functions made of atom-energy
we can observe, with 3.6% made of gases.
The other 96 % of the universe is made from an energy that is atom-less,
and perhaps more akin to the spirit-energy of the Creator. Physicists call this unknown ‘matter’, ‘dark
matter and energy’. The world is not
made of what it appears to be made of as it is made of atoms, which are in
essence energies without mass. Atoms are
defined as electrical and electromagnetic charges, and are measured as
electrical volts (eV). Atoms have no
weight but feel heavy because of the electromagnetic energy between the larger
planet earth attracting smaller parcels of electromagnetic energy.
This tension is what we call gravity,
which constructs our perception and experience of weight. Atoms are in essence invisible, but we see
because our eye, brain and interpretation are based on the reflection of light
wavelengths into our central nervous system via our eyes. If we think about how hydrogen and oxygen
make up ice, water and steam-gases, we can understand how everything in the
universe possesses different structures and functions even when made with the
same atoms, but with different atom configurations.
As the functions of atoms changes e.g.,
as in the different structures and functions of ice, water, and steam, although
made from the same atoms, are but structured differently, as in tightly packed
atoms of ice, as opposed to the less-tightly packed atoms of steam-gases. Atoms interact with other atoms of the same
(elements), and different atoms (compounds), that make up the universe.
There are only 118 different atoms that
together, or combined, make up all that exists in this world. The exception is the Self, which by
definition is spirit-energy of consciousness, thoughts, emotions, self-awareness,
personality and will, etcetera.
References in this book to the word ‘physical’ are defined as
atom-energy, referring to all that exists, including the body (anatomy) or the
‘physical’ environment, food and shelter, and all that we observe around us,
other than Self and others, which are spirit-energies and include
consciousness, thoughts, emotions, self-awareness, personality and will
etcetera .
Volume 2 of this
series explores these matters in more depth.
This book also explores credible evidence that
individual human existence is about living one’s life to its fullest potential
whatever that may mean for each individual.
Whilst the death – the change in structure and function of atom-energy
we all eventually encounter, but often ignore and deny, should not be feared,
but celebrated as the natural progression of Self and Self’s intangible, and
therefore, invisible consciousness.
Self’s invisible consciousness being a part of Self’s spirit, and thus,
by definition, immortal living eternally forever.
The
information herein is a product of the knowledge ascertained from the mix of
perceptions and facts interwoven and interpreted from dedicated and peripheral
components and elements of the academic disciplines of Science, Philosophy,
Theology and Psychology.
The art of Science consists
of the study of subatomic particles that
make up atoms, and molecules or atom-energy.
This is quantum physics that studies atoms that make up the different
structures and functions of the ‘physical’ world, in essence essentially made
of atom-energy. The methodology used for
scientific work uses systematic and methodical observation and experiment.
Philosophy is about asking and answering questions
from a rational and logical point of view about anything and everything that
may mean something valuable to someone or everyone.
Theology is
the study of different religions, rituals and scripture with their
interpretation of ‘God’ and then ‘God’s” relationship with and to Self, others,
and the world.
Psychology is the scientific
study of the human brain and human behaviour in relation to different mental
states of thought and emotion arising from diverse and individual personal
experiences. Psychology may also include the study of human awareness and meta-cognition,
where Self thinks about what Self is thinking about.
Through the objective and
rational analysis of peripheral, vicarious and insightful intrinsic information
sourced from the academic disciplines of Science, Philosophy, Theology and
Psychology come together to explore unsubstantiated and mythical beliefs, such
as the literal interpretation of every word in every verse in all
scriptures. This includes the
interpretations of ‘Hell’, ‘Satan’, Karma, and Reincarnation, and others,
including questionable religious, political and cultural faiths, rules,
traditions and practices which are identified, explored and explained as
potentially psychologically and spiritually aversive to the human spirit and
soul.
The human embracement of
such inaccurate and illogical ideologies and beliefs can be seen to the result,
which originates from the complex mix of human characteristics. These characteristics have evolved from both human base instincts
that influence and vice-versa with the higher quality constructs of
consciousness, intellect, cognition, emotion and freewill, which are
interactive with the individual’s personal experiences and choices.
The innate human need to arbitrary adhere obediently to
particular religious, cultural and/ or political ‘beliefs’ and ‘faiths’ in relation to their laws,
rules and practices, is seen in part, to be driven by the need for the
individual’s sense of personal security, psychological comfort and personal
acceptance. Including the subconscious
and conscious crave and desire to manipulate in some way the experienced
existence of Self’s anticipated and ‘hoped for’ immortality and therefore the
perceived prerequisite and requirement to ‘be right’ and ‘good’ with ‘God’. The above premise can then be exacerbated by
innocent ignorance, the quest for what is true and real, personal fear, and
individual arrogance and pride. These
related thoughts, attitudes, emotions
and behaviours can then be subconsciously mixed with the misinterpretation and
misapplication of particular secular, cultural and religious policies, laws,
rituals and traditions, which are required by Self to be perceived as
infallible and ‘true’, and ultimately expressed through thoughts, emotions,
values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and contents of speech.
The selective human adoption of particular religious,
political and cultural beliefs and practices may also manifest because of the
synergistic power created by the human psych.
A psych created and operated through the higher constructs of personal
spiritual, intellectual, cognitive and emotional forces, both consciously and
subconsciously, can be manipulated and influenced by base human instincts of
greed, power, survival and aggression.
Self’s higher constructs of spiritual and psychological abilities and
needs then interact with self’s innate primate base instinctive desires
potentially resulting in personal spiritual and psychological discomfort and
vulnerability. This spiritual and
psychological discomfort and vulnerability can lead Self ‘open’ to the possible
exposure of irrational and inaccurate beliefs and faiths of particular
religious, and political and cultural persuasions with their exclusive rules
and practices, procuring an outcome of individual and collective spiritual,
psychological, intellectual, emotional and behavioural confusion and abuse.
As a partial defense against the irrational and inaccurate
beliefs and faiths of particular religious, political and/ or cultural laws and
practices that can precipitate individual and collective human suffering,
destruction, turmoil and indecision, the investigative analyse of spiritual
literatures is undertaken. The
identification and interpretation of contradicting verses in religious
scriptures are explored, in particular those verses that have the potential
‘power’ to impact destructively upon human cognitions, emotion, values,
attitudes and beliefs, and their subsequent expression through mindsets,
behaviours and contents of speech.
Principles for the reinterpretation of religious scriptures
are described, which can be applied to other sacred scriptures. How could a loving Creator allow such human
suffering? The general theme and message
prescribed by the New Testament writings are identified as emphasising the
integrity and sacredness of human sovereignty and independence manifest in the
invisible and intangible – which therefore can be described as Spirit –
constructs of Self. Self in turn is
described and defined in part as containing the attributes of human consciousness, personality,
freewill, intellect, cognition and emotion, which can be expressed in
particular personal beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours and contents of
speech.
The identified general theme and message prescribed by the
New Testament scriptures is about practicing the human-to-human expression of
compassion and reconciliation. This is
essentially about valuing and accepting Self and others ‘where you and they are
at’ at a particular moment in time.
Particularly with respect to personal imperfections, and others with
different and diverse beliefs, values and experiences as ones self. A belief in Christ’s death and resurrection
could be potential evidence identified as being credible for the consideration
of the reality of human immortality.
Traditional biblical beliefs about creation and the creation
of human beings are reconciled with the scientific evidence of evolution, but
evolution as an outcome of pre-programmed DNA as opposed to
The
rationale and logical proofs of Theist-Philosopher’s in relation to rational
and logical ‘cognitive’ evidence for the existence of a ‘God’ are
discoursed. The ‘miracles’ of creation
as discovered and identified by technologies of
modern science and articulated as is the wisdom, both spoken and
unspoken, emanating from the general theme prescribed and articulated
throughout scripture specifically regarding Creator-to-human and human-to-human
relational love.
Combining all the above
information together may provide the reader with enough resources to
contemplate and consider the possibility of the existence of a Creator. An explanation regarding the difficult
concept of comprehending that a ‘Creator’ must have always existed if a
‘Creator’ does indeed exist, is also offered.
The reality of Parapsychology is exposed by science as being, at best,
magical beliefs based on myth, potentially exploiting the spiritually
vulnerable and, at worst, encouraging the occurrence of cognitive, emotional
and behavioural self-fulfilling prophecies.
Self-fulfilling prophecies can prohibit the necessary intellectual and
emotional processes of Self’s decision making, that in part, drive Self’s
desire to seek informed knowledge, and ultimately, understanding of Self, and
the desire for personal change. This
mindset relating to ‘predestined fate’ inevitably affects Self’s ability for
self-acceptance, procurement of informed knowledge, and the ability to
personally choose to voluntary change particular aspects that Self believes
needs changing.
The powerful influence
generated by personal beliefs and faiths in a particular religion, culture and/
or politics must be considered such that they cannot afford to be beliefs and
faiths based on a blind and hysterical mindset and mentality. But beliefs are required to be predicated on
an informed, considered, and educated premise so that choices are underpinned
by the interaction between Self’s objective informed knowledge mixing and
interacting with the reflective introspection of Self’s innate spiritual
intuition.
Christ’s examples and teachings
relating to living life on earth, His miraculous, resurrection from the dead,
together with the miracles of creation, including the intangible components of
Self - consciousness, meta-cognition, thoughts, feelings, attitudes and beliefs
- may be viewed as events that
provide a source of hope for the real possibility for the eternal and immortal
existence of Self. So together and
addition to the scientific complexity of creation, and the scientific and
logical premise that you can’t get ‘something’ (the universe and life) from
‘nothing’, and the existence of the intangible components that make up Self,
and the considered belief in Christ’s resurrection, together, have the
potential to set the precedence, and be the evidence, for human
immortality.
The continuation of Self being the
eternal continuation of Self’s experiences of consciousness; the eternal
continuation of Self’s intimate thoughts, memories and emotions; the eternal
continuation of Self’s relational experiences with others, and the eternal
continuation of Self’s individual personality.
CHAPTER 1
Jesus
Calls His Apostle Peter, Satan (‘the devil’)
Pope
John Paul II Apologises to the World
Separation of Church
and State
Many
Religions, Churches, Faiths and Beliefs
We Want To Believe
We Do Not Believe
We are lying in bed, in the late hours of the night and
early hours of the morning. It is pitch
black - dead quiet. We can see the stars
twinkling at us between the curtains through the window. We may not be on our own, yet we are feeling
alone and lonely and somewhat anxious.
This is a time when we may feel most vulnerable and fragile, a time when
we are most reflective. During a
thunderous and wet and windy night when the stillness of the night is
shattered, or in the dead quiet of darkness where nothing moves and when we
feel we could easily exist alone, then we might imagine the end of the world is
near and our personal existence insignificant.
Or indeed, it may be during the daytime as the Sun shines down upon us
and the breeze blows on our face, or the rain drops fall on our head, whichever
the environmental situation may be, our cognitions and emotions could engage
into overdrive as we start thinking, contemplating and wondering;
What are we doing
here?
Where have we come
from?
Where are we going?
Is there a Supreme
Being?
Is there an
afterlife?
Is there
immortality?
It is not the first time we've
thought these thoughts and it won't be the last, we know that! For these questions are very significant to
us. Upon reflection, from time to time these thoughts and questions seem to obsess
our mind and appear to constitute the inner most essence, core, spirit, and
personality of our being. These
irritating thoughts continue to nag at us from within until we learn to either
deny or ignore them, or achieve some semblance of cognitive rationality and
sense of cognitive equilibrium towards these incessantly hounding questions we
might feel need to be answered.
We may have heard about other people’s
belief and faith in a particular ‘God’, which we may or may not believe in or
understand. We may be atheist or we may
be agnostic and we may believe that the person they call Jesus Christ being the
Son of the Creator is but a figment of someone else’s overzealous and fanciful
imagination. We might also compromise
our existential inquisitiveness by entertaining the idea of there being some
sort of ‘power’ out there, or some kind of Super Natural Supreme Being. Or we may even be enthusiastically spiritual
or keenly religious. But we may still,
albeit subconsciously or consciously, continue to question the unknown, the
unseen, the invisible, especially when our defense mechanisms (fanaticism or
denial) slip and our intellectual and emotional coping mechanisms self-destruct
letting our guard down and, the thoughts of the super natural, and spiritual,
in.
Jesus Calls His
Apostle Peter, Satan (‘the devil’)
We cannot help
question the purpose and meaning of life here on Earth, and the possibility of
Self’s personal mortality (eternal death), or Self’s personal immortality
(infinite life). We know others think
these same intrusive thoughts. Our
friends and acquaintances seem to be asking these same questions when they can
no longer hide their thoughts and feelings about their interest in this “deep
and meaningful” subject. There is no
doubt that there are many different people in many different churches, in many
different denominations, in many different religions, and in many different
cultures and politics doing many good things, but people, by definition, are
both imperfect and intellectual, and thus, open to the choice of manipulating
human base instincts. People are the
ministers, administrators and actors of their particular churches, religions
and cultures/ ideologies. Human indiscretions and infallibility is evident
within religions, churches and political ideologies, in the depths and breadths
of their bureaucracy, administration and ministry. An excellent example of human imperfection in
relation to the authority, management and administration of organized religions
is evident when Christ speaks to His
followers and His apostle Simon who He renamed Peter:
”And I tell you that you are Peter (Peter meaning
rock) and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades (or hell)
will not overcome it (or not prove stronger than it)”.
(Matthew 16:18)
Perhaps
Christ was not promising this ‘church’ would be infallible or perfect, but
rather that it would not succumb totally and eternally to absolute evil beliefs
and behaviours. Jesus Christ chose an
imperfect human being to be the foundation upon which to build His ‘church’
here on Earth. Jesus Christ chose, His
apostle Peter, to be the rock on which to build His church. Christ chose His apostle Peter, Peter a
person who seriously betrayed Him, and denying any knowledge of Him whilst
running for His life.
In the gospels of Mark and Matthew we read:
“Immediately a
rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered
the word Jesus had spoken, “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three
times.” And he went outside and wept
bitterly.”
(Mark
Indeed,
Jesus chose the imperfect apostle Peter to be the foundation of his
church. Indeed, Christ chose Peter, a
person who Jesus Himself had publicly rebuked and called ‘Satan’. The word Satan has the meaning today which is
akin to the meaning of the words Devil and Prince of Darkness.
As we read in Mark 8:31-33; and Matthew 16:23:
“And when Jesus predicted His death He then began to
teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the
elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and
after three days rise again. He spoke
plainly about this, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when Jesus turned and looked at His
disciples, He rebuked Peter. “Get behind
me, Satan!” He said. “You do not have in
mind the things of God, but the things of men”.
This unique and fascinating story about the apostle
Peter (the rock) being called Satan by Jesus is potentially symbolic and
analogous to human individual imperfections per se, and institutionalised
religions’ and churches’ sometimes questionable maladaptive, incompetent and
corrupt practices and administrations betraying, denying and ignoring Christ’s
teachings, examples and messages. Ideas
relating to the meaning of the word ‘Satan’ used by Christ toward Peter, and
the meaning of the word ‘Hell’, are discussed in a later Chapter.
Before we continue our discussion and exploration of
human and human-to-human imperfections I would like to share with the
reader a true story of an extraordinary
example of a heart warming and hope producing act of across cultural and
religious altruism within ‘across’ cultural and religious belligerence,
indifference and hatred. In Jenin, on
the
This unique and incredible story about the apostle
Peter (‘the rock’) being called Satan by Christ may represent the reality of
human imperfection in relation to the sometimes, questionable practices of
organised religion. It is credibly
symbolic of the recognition of human imperfection that Peter was chosen as
leader of Christ’s church, notwithstanding Peter’s personal gross misjudgements
and indiscretions of betrayal and denial, and Jesus’ rebuking him for these
indiscretions by calling him ‘Satan’.
This story about this particular part of Peter’s relationship with
Christ is a good example of the potential abundance of Christ’s infinite
compassion and mystical relational love notwithstanding personal human
imperfections and transgressions.
A poignant example of the culture of
inherent human imperfection and subsequent spiritual abuse within churches has
been highlighted by Pope John Paul II 1920-2005, who on the 14th of March 2000
courageously honestly apologised to the world for the past ‘sins’ of the 2000 year old Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II 2005 head of
the Catholic Church for 26 years 1978-2005, justly recognised and acknowledged the
past wrongs committed by the Catholic Church over the centuries against, Jews,
Muslims, Women, Indigenous People and
Heretics. Pope John Paul II in this brave apologetic address to the world, dare it be
said should we be struck down by God’s wrath, has in essence admitted to
transgressions that in reality equate to cheating, stealing,
discrimination, torture and murder, administered and authorised by various
imperfect Popes over the centuries. This
candid admittance by Pope John Paul II to these authorised ‘church abuses’
pontificated from the Vatican provide evidence of the potentiality for enormous
diabolical behaviours and their subsequent destructive outcomes, initiating and
occurring within the kernel of organized religions.
These have been reprehensible
behaviours with disastrous outcomes propagated by spiritual and psychological
abuse directed by certain people in authoritative ‘spiritual’ positions, in
often, powerful organised religious institutions as a manifestation of human
pride, obsessed self-ego, personal arrogance and spiritual ignorance. But it should also be noted that the
spiritual motto of Pope John Paul II was, “equality of humankind, brothers and
sisters in the One God, together redeemed in the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ”. The universal importance of
these words spoken by John Paul II begin with, “the equality of humankind as
brothers and sisters” which surely no one can deny as being true. The words “in the One God” may strike a
strong cord with most believers. The
words “together redeemed in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ”, are believed by
most Christians, and if in fact a reality will undoubtedly apply to all people
whether they are believers or not.
Of course, the best predictor of future
human behaviour is relevant past human behaviour, so unfortunately there is no
guarantee that spiritual abuses will not reoccur in the future. But personal and institutional
acknowledgement and awareness of such orchestrated damaging behaviour stemming
from both religious and spiritual ignorance and arrogance by the spiritually
powerful (those in positions of religious authority) towards the spiritually
vulnerable (those searching and seeking spiritual guidance and direction). Is the first step in preventing the
repetition of such catastrophic and destructive beliefs, behaviours and
contents of speech, that have been given ‘power’, ‘life’ and ‘justification’ in
through ‘God’s’ name.
Separation of Church
and State
Pope John Paul II, because of the traumatic
experiences he suffered as a young man in Nazi occupied
The
impact on people from ideologies that promote the non-separation of religions
and faiths and Government and State political agendas impacts destructively on
the psych of the people who are by
virtue of ‘corrupt’ and biased enforced laws, required to adhere to religious theologies,
beliefs and faiths as important components of political ideologies. This is because, particular religious beliefs
imposed on a people is as personally damaging as particular political
ideologies imposed on a people. The
imposition of religions and non-democratic political ideologies on communities,
nations and countries through the centuries has often been practiced, and
indeed, been the norm rather than the exception. Without the separation of Church and State
(democratic) there is the potential for both religious dogma and practices and
non-democratic political regimes, as part of their political or religious
agendas, to enforce and impose particular ideologies, philosophies and
religious beliefs and practices on their people. So necessarily, there is an imperative need
and requirement for the separation of Religions and Governments. Governments through their democratic
representative administrators and legislators - who must be genuinely
representative of the people expressed through the political system of
democracy - philosophically, theologically, spiritually and ideologically
dignify human existence through the expression of self-determination. Human beings possess the higher transcendent
qualities manifest in the characteristics of personal sovereignty, independence
and freewill, and as such, by definition, have the right to
self-determination.
Religious institutions by
definition, are religions’ churches, mosques and temples etcetera, being the
wooden and concrete structures and frameworks within and from which worshippers
learn, practice and apply their beliefs and faiths are organised institutions
that promote, teach and administer the doctrines and dogma of particular faiths
and beliefs for ‘believing’ individuals and communities. We can also surmise optimism that a person’s
particular ‘spiritual beliefs’ are personally very personal, intimate and
private experiences, which are necessarily, ‘spiritual beliefs’ that have been
voluntarily adopted, chosen and accepted by a particular individual without
undue duress or coercion. So a person’s
belief in a particular religion, can be considered to be necessarily expressed
as a personal, private and spiritually intimate relational experience between
themselves and their ‘God’. However, and
on the other hand, communities, cities and countries are inhabited with people
who are unique, independent, and sovereign human individuals with
freewill. Thus, communities, cities, and countries are inhabited with people who,
by their intrinsic right of being human, have diverse spiritual beliefs, faiths
and religions. We can
anticipate the problematic implications arising if communities, cities and countries are not
democratically governed, but administered by political ideological systems that
endorse the imposition of particular religions and ‘spiritual’ beliefs and
faiths. Indeed, the right to express
personal and individual sovereignty, independence and freewill in relation to
one’s spiritual philosophy and political philosophy would be oppressed from the
imposition and enforcement of alternative political and spiritual ideologies
and beliefs. We have all historically,
or in real time, experienced or witnessed the negative damaging outcomes, where
for example, Communism, Marxism, Socialism, Fascism, Protestantism,
Catholicism, Judaism and Islam etcetera, are both the political and religious
criteria that become arbitrary and inflexible powerful non-democratic machines
used to govern a particular population with coercion
So something as intimately personal
and important to humans as their individual and diverse beliefs and faiths in
relation to their spirituality, ideology, religion and politics can never be
denied or oppressed if the successful administering and acceptance of policies
and legislation to a particular community, city, state, country and nation is
to be achieved. But there will never be
a perfect political system where everyone is totally satisfied, obtaining all
they want in terms of their personal religious, spiritual and political beliefs
because everyone is different. However,
the political system described as Democracy, if administered fairly and justly,
will ensure that everyone gets a vote in who governs a country, and in how it
is run. And on planet Earth the
political practice of democracy allows all to vote and be represented to some
degree. As the potential representatives
who receive the majority of votes represent and administer the ideological,
religious, cultural philosophical and political policies of each individual. But democracy also represents the expression
for political responsibility and accountability, which is assessed at the end
of a government’s term and which assessment results the outcome of new
representative incumbents resulting from the next democratic election.
The other given about the separation
of religion and state politics is that governments and their policies do not
interfere in the intimate, private and personal spiritual beliefs of
individuals. However, it is possible
that the existence, or non-existence of a candidate’s personal spiritual and/
or religious beliefs, and those of other elected politicians may affect their
persona, values and attitudes and thus perceived to contribute to legislation,
policies and interpersonal diplomacy thus influencing who will vote for them. This is unless of course the representatives’ personal existence or
non-existence of spiritual and/ or religious beliefs and persona, attitudes and
values are cast aside to appease any detractors to ensure longevity of their
political encumbrance.
Many Religions,
Churches, Faiths and Beliefs
If we explore the
question of God’s existence from the perspective of a non-believer’s advocate,
then we have no choice other than to reflect on the following. That those who believe, genuinely proclaim
their undying faith and belief in a ‘Saviour’ and a ‘God,’ but when asked for
evidence of God’s existence they rattle off Scripture verses that support their
particular belief system as their considered but spontaneous response to such
questions, as if well trained parrots or computer programs. We have listened to their personal stories of
faith, how they may frequent church once a week, how their prayers were
answered, how they were ‘slain’ in the spirit, and how they pay a tithe every
week towards the promotion of ‘God’s’ work.
We do understand the spiritual need for humans to understand themselves
in relation to the world and creation.
This is a personal need, which may be, alleviated, from the sense of
belonging to a particular religious organization. We understand such a personal need driving
personal fervour, and we admire such dedication. But we have sometimes experienced, and thus
perceive, such personal religious activities as involuntary compliances to
sometimes misguided authoritative directives that are perhaps genuine, but
which can be based on innocent ignorance, or tainted with covert agendas. Not least, some spiritual activities may be
influenced by the need and desire for the commercial and financial development
of a ‘corner assembly’ at the expense of the followers’ expected and sincere
guidance for spiritual, intellectual and emotional stimulation from the
education through informed knowledge encompassed with the embodiment of a sense
of unconditional relational charity and compassion.
No one has ever
proposed to ever having seen ‘God’. And
often there has never been offered any tangible proof, evidence or experience
of such an existence. These statements
may be over-generalizations reminiscing sentiments of cynicism, but these can
be the sensitised thoughts of people brought about by personal feelings derived from their
experiences of the past. This is how we
sometimes think and feel about what we have experienced in our search for
answers from those who believe and preach to us ‘with faith’, in their
‘God’. Others who are searching for
answers have articulated similar thoughts and share similar feelings because of
their ‘spiritual’ experiences.
However, we believe thus far that we
are reasonably realistic and objective in our observations, especially where
the human temporal interacts with transcendence as these observations are based
on personal experience and subsequent intra-personal and retrospective
reflections. We have also seen the
destruction, the damage, the pain, the carnage and the suffering caused by
those who claim ‘God’ and ‘Allah’ etcetera, as their King, who claim Jesus as
their Saviour, and who claim Mohammed as their Prophet.
We have seen the wars, the fights, the
greed, the killings, the judgments, the self-righteousness, the abuse, and the
hypocrisy perpetrated by those who proclaim a belief, faith and love for
‘their’ ‘God’. How can we then
contradict with such incongruence our rational sensibilities, by believing in
the existence of a ‘God’, the existence of a loving ‘God’, when the living
proof radiating from many of our believing and preaching fellow humans
manifests as contaminating fear, arrogance, violence and hypocrisy. Why then, should we believe in a ‘God’ that
we cannot prove to be real, that we cannot personally see, hear, or physically
touch and whose worshipers, through the centuries, have been shown to have
contradicting, distorted and corrupt spiritual agendas and motives? Or the destruction of other human beings has
been explained away and excused as necessary for the preservation of the ‘right
and true’ Religion, the ‘right and true’ Faith, and the ‘right and true’ ‘God’. We do not believe in a ‘God’ because we
cannot see ‘Him’ or experience any proof of ‘Him’ or the goodness emanating
from many of those who believe in ‘Him’. So we ask them, "Where's the
proof"? “Where’s the Evidence”?
We
have been told by ‘zealots’ and fanatics, stories of prophets and ‘holy’
teachers, who purport to hold the answers to our inner most private questions
about the meaning and reason for our birth and life here on Earth. We have read in magazines and newspaper
articles. We have studied literature in
the Bible. We have viewed on television
documentaries and the news, we have listened to Mullahs in Mosques, and Rabbis
in Synagogues, and Buddhist monks in
We have also heard from priests and
ministers about the historical, crucified, and risen Christ, the Son of God who
was born 2,000 years ago. But we have
heard these proclamations from church and religious leaders, the people who
hold spiritual authority over the spiritually vulnerable, the people who
themselves have been seen in the past to be sometimes blasphemous, abusive and
hypocritical. We do not have a problem
with humans being imperfect because imperfection is a part of the human condition. But what does upset us is the fact that these
religious teachers and leaders, with the power of spiritual authority, may tell
their ‘flock’ to do one thing while they themselves do another with an air of
spiritual superiority. They preach to
their congregation that this is God’s word and subtly signal the message, “woe
betide those who stray from God’s word.”
Church and religious leaders have told
us to have faith, to have faith in God, as God’s words are written in the
Bible, or in the Qu’ran, etcetera, for all to see and read. And God’s words are true. God’s word is unchanging, and God’s word is
timeless and infallible. But we are
intelligent beings and the term ‘faith in God’s word’ in this context represents
a blind and hysterical acceptance of something/anything transcendent without
being tempered by the measures of rational knowledge, innate spiritual
intuition and/or intellectual understanding.
We are a conscious, unique, independent and sovereign people with the
ability to learn and reason, think and choose, and this human request to have
the utmost faith in “God’s written words”, written and espoused by those who
are human and thus imperfect, can be offensive to our sensibilities. We have seen over the centuries the
obsession with human destruction and damage perpetrated by those humans against
other humans, and who, either have an unquestioning and emphatic ‘faith’, or
who have no faith. So we want to know
the reality of the truth about God’s existence and if God exists, we want to ask,
“Who is ‘God’ and what are God’s words for humankind”?
People who adhere to different
denominations based on the religious faith of Christianity, including Baptists,
Anglicans, Catholics, Lutherans, Greek and Russian Orthodox, Mormons,
Presbyterians, Methodists, Uniting, Episcopalians and Jehovah Witnesses,
etcetera, have informed us that God’s word is in the Bible. They have told us that God’s word is ‘The
Bible’, both in the Old and New Testaments.
But these words or scripture of ‘God’ in the bible are often invariably
all interpreted differently by them.
People who adhere to the religious faith of Islam, including the Shi’ite
and Sunni factions have informed us, that God’s words, are written in the
Qu’ran. People who adhere to the
religious faith of Judaism have informed us that God’s word is written in the
‘laws’ of the Hebrew Bible, or the Torah (Pentateuch) being the first five
books of the Old Testament. People of
the Buddhist faith inform us that karma is the way and Nirvana is the destination.
People of the Hindu faith tell us to
follow the cast system and lay our allegiance to the spirits and chief gods of
Brahma, Vishnu (
There is enough historical and
contemporary evidence to believe in the suggestion that all the different Holy
Books of Scripture, most likely without a question of doubt, do not contain the
absolute words of the divine Creator/God.
Although these scriptures have been eloquently written, they have in
reality, been penned by humans. But many
people believe that the words in these ‘holy’ books are the actual and absolute
words of God. But although penned by
humans, it is not absolutely inconceivable that some of these words have not
been in some way inspired by the transcendent spirit of the Creator.
We Want to Believe
As we will investigate and
discuss in the next chapter, the Bible although expressing literary elegance,
has literature often permeated with contradictions, paradoxes, irony,
variations and sentiments expressed through stories that are intermingled with
the messages of love and forgiveness and the messages of violence and
aggression. In reality, the Bible is not
a literary work described as an expression of consistency and uniformity. The words and literature of the Bible, have
been constructed from the real and imaginative stories experienced by many
different peoples influenced by their beliefs and faiths from many different
cultures over time. So these
authoritative instructions from church leaders to follow God’s word is not good
enough for us, it is not good enough for our intellect and our
sensibilities. We need more information,
much more.
These postulated beliefs about the
meaning of God’s words are too abstract, too invisible, too open to hearsay,
too open to abuse and too open to grandstanding. This is because the policies, laws and
regulations of the institutions of the world, including all religious
institutions, are designed, decided, and implemented by humans, who are in
essence, inherently imperfect and fallible.
But of
course, we want to believe in a Supreme Being, in an afterlife, we want to
believe in immortality. Who would not
want to believe in their own eternally infinite immortality? But we want to believe in the truth and not
man made writings and interpretations of the truth. We want to know the truth, we want to know
and understand the essence and reason behind any belief in a Supreme Being who
supposedly personifies the Truth, Transcendence and Immortality. We want to see this God! We want to meet this God! We want to touch this God! We may have never personally experienced
God’s presence, God’s grace and God’s touch in our lives and until we do
experience this we would be naive and foolish to invest and immerse all our
vulnerability, all our emotions, all our spirituality, all our consciousness
into such an entity. We want to know God
personally. We want proof and evidence
of the Creator’s existence! We want
evidence based information about the Creator, because if the Creator exists
then Self and Self’s family, relatives and friends have a potential chance of
immortality and thus the potential chance to exist eternally forever.
CHAPTER 2
Natural and Super
Natural Knowledge
The
World is Not as it Appears
Proof
of a Creator’s Existence through Reason and Science
Philosophers and
Theologians
Aristotle, Plato
and Socrates
Thomas Aquinas’s
Five Rational Proofs for God’s Existence
First Proof –
Motion
Second Proof- Cause
and Effect
Third Proof –
Contingent and Necessary Beings
Fourth Proof – A
Finite Subordinate Series
Fifth Proof -
Perfection
Proof from Order,
Descartes, Locke
Atom-Energy Different from
Spirit-Energy
The Soul and Spirit of
Self
It’s now
appropriate we begin the next chapter by making a distinction between the
disciplines of scientific astronomy that describe and give access to the
‘miracles’ of the universe rather than the popular and fashionable cult of the
unscientific disciplines of astrology and parapsychology. We now explore the evidence of the existence
of a ‘Creator’ from rational and logical philosophical thought
The
following chapters will explore the misinterpretation of Scripture, the
magnitude and intricacies of the universe and creation and the blind beliefs
based wholly on faith and myth, but we will first explore what theist
philosophers have said, and how they have used intellectual rationale to
provide evidence, from creation, that some form of Supernatural Being must most
likely exist.
In this chapter, we will explore the
evidence that helps to prove the possibility of God’s existence through the
miracles of creation and natural revelation, which relates to, and is provided
by humankind’s power and ability to reason by way of their intellectual
mind. The conscious intellect provides
humans with the ability to contemplate and reflect upon information received
and process this information in a rational and logical manner, potentially
manifest in productive insight and understanding.
We are all aware of the
concept that an infant does not possess the ‘brain-power’ and the maturity of
emotion and cognition from experience to discern and put language to much of
anything that goes on in their lives, being dependant on the parent(s) teaching
and direction to behave and think in adaptive ways. But as we mature into adolescence and onto
adulthood there are two particular ways or processes in which humans can
discover and acquire the necessary information regarding existential questions
such as the questions this book wishes to explore answers to. To revise, the word ‘existential’ herein
means, one’s sense of psychological and spiritual well-being as an outcome of
self-reflection and introspection with regard to one’s sense of identity. Which encompasses consciousness, thoughts,
feelings and emotions in relation to Self’s personality, values, beliefs and
attitudes including Self’s sense of personal value and esteem as a product of
Self’s sense of intrinsic existence and inherent purpose in relation to Self’s
existence in this world and potentially beyond.
Notwithstanding the presupposition
imposed by many, including ministers, pastors, priests, and imams, etcetera,
different faiths and beliefs that assume the understanding of such existential
mysteries coming as a of prayer and the conscious fostering of the development
of a personal faith, it is suggested that the two imperative vehicles required
regarding the acquisition of existential knowledge, includes, firstly, natural
revelation. That is, the existential
information revealed through the miracles of the Universe and Creation
processed by human intellect and reason.
And secondly, the existential information revealed through super natural
revelation, that is, the information revealed through careful interpretation of
Scripture and the potential reality of the story in Scripture about the
examples and teachings of the person Jesus, who said He was the incarnation of
‘God’.
As it has been said through the
centuries by politicians, poets and philosophers, “knowledge is power”. In existential terms, this ‘power’ is
acquired from the acquisition of personal knowledge from information, which
includes a sophisticated sense of personal understanding through the gift of reason. This newly found personal understanding and
awareness from information gathered can invoke a personal and intimate sense of
existential belief experienced as emphatic and irrefutable, and which, could
overshadow the concept of an arbitrary belief conceived from that construct,
faith. This inner belief and knowledge that can supersede belief from the
construct called faith becomes a real personal experience from which emanates
an intimate awareness of the power of Self’s Spirit and Soul. This experience of a personal and intimate
spiritual knowledge can ultimately protect and immune one against arbitrary and
intended spiritual abuse caused by the belief of the vulnerable relating to
myths, fallacies and untruths told by the ‘powerful’. This inner spiritual awareness from knowledge can also
strengthen individuals from the pain of the battle wounds of life, to rise
above this pain, allowing the gift of life to be lived more fully.
We will now discuss information
revealed and expressed to us through the minds of wise philosophers. Through
the gift of human reason and intellect manifest in the reasoning of these
philosophers, we may discover a new perspective for thinking about natural
evidence that can rationalise the possibility of a Creator as the source of
creation and builder of the universe.
In later chapters, we will discuss in
detail information that may help to give answers to existential questions based
on Super Natural revelation sourced primarily through the contemporary
interpretation of ancient Scripture. But
for now, we will concentrate on the answers that the greatest philosophers of
ancient time, and some would say all time, have revealed to us. Whilst keeping
in mind however, that we will better succeed in the task of answering these
existential questions when we are able to, through intellect and innate
intuitive and discerning wisdom, combine, assimilate and integrate all of the
information revealed in all its different disciplines and forms and from all
its diverse sources.
The World is Not as it Appears
The world is not made of what it
appears to be made of as it is made of atoms, which are in essence energies
without mass. Atoms are defined as
electrical and electromagnetic charges, and are measured as electrical volts
(eV). Atoms have no weight but feel
heavy because of the electromagnetic energy between the larger planet earth
attracting smaller parcels of electromagnetic energy.
This tension is what we call gravity,
which constructs our perception and experience of weight. Atoms are in essence invisible, but we see
because our eye, brain and interpretation are based on the reflection of light
wave–lengths into our central nervous system via our eyes. If we think about how hydrogen and oxygen
make up ice, water and steam-gases, we can understand how everything in the
universe possesses different structures and functions even when made with the
same atoms, but with different atom configurations.
As the functions of atoms changes e.g.,
as in the different structures and functions of ice, water, and steam, although
made from the same atoms, are but structured differently, as in tightly packed
atoms of ice, as opposed to the less-tightly packed atoms of steam-gases. Atoms interact with other atoms of the same
(elements), and different atoms (compounds), that make up the universe.
There are only 118 different atoms that
together, or combined, make up all that exists in this world. The exception is the Self, which by
definition is spirit-energy of consciousness, thoughts, emotions,
self-awareness, personality and will, etcetera.
References in this book to the word ‘physical’ are defined as
atom-energy, referring to all that exists, including the body (anatomy) or the
‘physical’ environment, food and shelter, and all that we observe around us,
other than Self and others, which are spirit-energies and include
consciousness, thoughts, emotions, self-awareness, personality and will
etcetera .
Proof of a Creator’s Existence through Reason
and Science
In terms of science, science
has brought us along way in understanding the world as we observe and know it
today. But science still can't
deconstruct, define or describe the unique essence of energy making up 96 per
cent of the universe that scientists term as dark energy and black matter. The other 4 per cent of the world and
universe is that part of the universe and world we observe and see and consists
of atoms, and wave-lengths of energies categorised by scientists as being
within what has been called the electromagnetic spectrum.
So 4 per cent of the world
and universe exits of atoms and electromagnetic wave-lengths emanating into the
universe as a result of the complex interactions of atom-energies. Both atoms and electromagnetic wave-lengths,
essentially and in essence, have been scientifically deconstructed to be shown
as consisting of different forms of interacting energies. This energy is different determined by their
unique strengths, motions, positive, negative or neutral charges, their ability
to interact with other forms of atoms, their structure and functions and their
visibility and weight. Furthermore, it
must be emphasised that when scientists talk about atoms being in essence,
energy, they are defining and measuring energy in electrical voltage (eV). Atoms and their energies are electrical
charges.
I believe we have rational
thought and we have science to help us understand the world. Rational
thought suggests something cannot come, or be made, or exist from
nothing. Science also suggests something cannot come from nothing. Something cannot come, or be made, or exist
from nothing, no?
Science suggests what we
observe in the world, including all that makes up the world such as the
environment, buildings and flora and fauna etcetera, is made of atoms, and
atoms are made of complex interacting forms of electrical energy. Science
suggests that before the existence of what we term the Big Bang, there was
nothing. But there needed to exist as a
requirement of such energy that constitutes the Big Bang not only energy but
energy with intelligence that initiated the design, plan and order for energy
to pre-determinedly evolve into the world as we understand and experience it
today.
Indeed before the Big Bang
there was nothing except and other than cannot be scientifically defined or
reconstructed, or even for some, rationally thought. But there had to exist a mysterious, an other
form of unique energy that always was without the need for something to create
it and which possesses intelligence.
Intelligence is required of
this unique energy for the existence of the organised universe and world as we
know and experience it today. That
without intelligence the universe and world could not mathematically statistically
exist. Indeed, this is the measure of
intelligence required over and above that of random chance, to design and plan,
as could the capability of a tornado restructuring the material and contents of
a junkyard into a high-rise building, or Jumbo jet, not to mention the complex
existence of flora and fauna.
If we rationally follow this
line of thought through to its inevitable end then reason and science suggest
some other form of energy with intelligence created these first forms
of energy that make up the atoms that make up the universe no? What would
you call this unique other form of energy that must have intelligence and must
have always existed?
For further information
about subatomic and atom energies, and how the spirit and soul exist in
symbiosis, can be read in, GOD
Philosophers and Theologians
The great
philosophers Aristotle, Plato and Socrates and the famous theologians Augustine
and Anselm employed their acutely developed faculties of reason and logic to
try to understand cognitively and intellectually the possibility of the
existence of a Creator and Supreme Being from the evidence of natural
revelation. Indeed, a rationale from the
evidence of creation created by the mystical relational love of a ‘God’ that
human and their hearts, minds and soul so desired to believe, predicated on
human innate spirituality.
The Greek philosopher
Aristotle (300 BC) held God to be the supreme intelligence, supreme mind and
subsistent thought who is eternally engaged in the contemplation of His own
reality. Aristotle said that the proper object of God’s being is that of
truth. And because God is supreme
intelligence, the proper object of His supreme intelligence can only be
truth. Therefore, God is the proper
object of his own intellect.
Plato (350 BC) thought of God as the
supreme good. He was able to reflect in the terms of; “I see ‘good’
about me”. He was not speaking of moral
good but just good: Trees for example
are good in terms of providing wood for burning and building. Fruit trees are good for producing food,
etcetera..
The Greek philosopher Socrates (400
BC), reflecting on the visible universe, inferred that God exists as a
providence, that is, as a provider, responsible for all those things in the
world that cater for human needs.
Now that we have
had a little taste of the thoughts of philosophers and before we go further
let's listen to the Acts of the Apostles (100 AD) regarding this matter of
providence:
"Since the God
who made the world and everything in it is Himself Lord of Heaven and earth, He
does not make His home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is He dependent on anything that human
hands can do for Him. Since He can never be in need of anything, on the
contrary, it is He who gives everything, including life and breath to
everyone". (Acts of the Apostles 17:24)
Therefore, ‘God’ may be identified and
described as a provider. God may have
made everything for human kind! It has been said that God is responsible for
all those things in the world that cater for human needs, for example; Oxygen
for our lungs - the Earth has four layers of decreasing amounts of air to the
height of 500 miles, a digestive tract for our food, a blood circulation system
to remove and replenish wastes. It is
conceivable the Universe exists as a means to an end. The Universe’s creation and existence a means
to an end, being that for living life, and for human’s to live. For instance, had the planet Earth been 1.5
per cent (i.e. approx 130,000 miles or half the distance from the Earth to the
Moon) closer to the Sun its atmosphere would have a greenhouse effect with a
surface temperature of 400C night and day where absolutely nothing could grow
or survive this extreme heat. On the
other hand, had Earth been 1.5 per cent further away from the Sun it would
be frozen in a permanent ice age like Mars where again nothing could grow or
survive this extreme cold. A graphic
example to illustrate this principle is that of the North and South poles which
are essentially uninhabitable because of their intense cold from inadequate
exposure to the Sun’s rays. Further, in the distance of a few thousand
kilometers, we can experience heat of 45 degrees Celsius in the Australian
desert, it being close to the equator the closest point on Earth to the Sun,
and minus 30 degrees Celsius in the South Pole, the Earth’s longest distance
from the Sun.
Moreover, if the original explosion of the universe had
not occurred with exactly the right balance of expansive force and gravitation,
but instead had been weaker, the expanding universe would have fallen back on
itself almost immediately, before the miracle of predetermined evolution could
weave its web of magic. Had this initial
expansion force been a fraction stronger, cosmic atom-energy would have blown
apart so rapidly that galaxies could not have formed. So, there had to be Some Substance, or
Something, or Someone, or Some-Super Natural Being which could provide such
substance to exist with such preciseness to enable creation to form, develop
and evolve as it has. And that
Substance, Something, Someone, Super Natural Being, we may decide to call the
Creator, or ‘God’, or ‘that which nothing greater can be thought’, for what
else, for who else could create something from
nothing, or create something from its Self.
Astrophysicists
have now ascertained, by calculating the velocity of radio waves and colour of
the light spectrum i.e., red = moving away and blue = moving towards (called
the Doppler affect) transmitted from the furthest galaxies and received by
satellite dishes that the ‘big bang’ occurred about 13.7 billion years
ago. Further, they are also able to
determine that the galaxies and universe continue to expand at an accelerating
rate. By calculating the measurement of gravity required for this accelerating
expansion there does not seem to exist enough atom-energy, such as the atoms of
gases, dust, planets and stars, etcetera. Only 4% of the universe is made from
atom-energy that we observe. From the measurements of gravitational forces
there must also exist energy, which scientists cannot detect and has been
called ‘dark matter’ spread between atom-energy like stars and ‘dark energy’,
which consists of 23% of the universe.
The other 73% of the universe that exists between that which we observe
as atom-energy and drives the accelerating expansion of the universe, is
explained by the existence of what has been called ‘dark energy’. This is the
existence of massive amounts of energy created at the time of the ‘big bang’
and which might better be described as the Creator’s spirit-energy of the
‘Word’.
First Proof - Motion
We are certain,
because it is evident to our senses, that in the world some things are in
motion. It is equally clear to us that
whatever is in motion was moved by something else. If a thing is at rest, it will never move
until something else moves it. When a
thing is at rest, it is only potentially in motion. Motion occurs when something potentially in
motion is moved and is then actually in motion; motion is the transformation of
potentiality into actuality.
Imagine a series of dominoes standing next to each other. When they are set up in a row, it can be said
they are all potentially in motion, though actually at rest. Consider a particular domino. Its potentiality is that it will not move
until it is knocked over by the one next to it.
It will move only if it is moved by something actually moving.
From this fact, Aquinas drew the
general conclusion that nothing can be transformed from a state of potentiality
by something that is also in a mere state of potentiality. A domino can not be knocked over by another
domino that is standing still.
Potentiality means the absence of something and is therefore nothing;
for this reason, potential motion in the neighbouring domino cannot move the
next one because it is nothing, and you cannot derive motion from
non-motion.
As Aquinas says, "nothing can be
transformed from potentiality to actuality, except by something in the state of
actuality." What is actually at
rest cannot be simultaneously in motion.
This means that the particular domino cannot be simultaneously the thing
that is moved and also the mover. Something potentially in motion cannot move
itself. Whatever is moved must be moved
by another. Each domino could become a mover,
only after it had been moved by the one prior to it.
Here we come to Aquinas' decisive
point: if we are to account for motion, we cannot do so by going back in an
infinite regress. If we must say about
each mover in this series, that it in turn was moved by a prior mover, we would
never discover the source of motion.
Even if such a series went back infinitely, each one would still be only
potential, and from that, no actual motion could ever emerge. The fact is, however, that there is
motion. There must be a Mover, which is
able to move things but which does not itself have to be moved, and this, says
Aquinas, "everyone understands to be God".
We experience
various kinds of effects, and in every case we assign a cause to each effect. The cause of the statue is the work of the
sculptor. If we took away the activity
of the sculptor, we should not have the effect, the statue. But there is an order of causes; the parents
of the sculptor are his cause. Workers
in the quarry are the cause of this particular piece of marble’s availability
to the sculptor. There is, in short, an
intricate order of causes traceable in a series. Such a series of causes is demanded because
no event can be its own cause; the sculptor does not cause himself, and the
statue does not cause itself. A cause is
prior to an effect. Nothing, then, can
be prior to itself; hence, events demand a prior cause. Each prior cause must itself have its own
cause, as parents must have their own parents.
But it is impossible to go backward to infinity, because all the causes
in the series depend upon a first cause that has made all the other causes to
be actual causes. There must then be a
first cause "to which everyone gives the name of God".
The material
universe he says is made up of contingent beings. All the trees, birds, water in the sea,
clouds scudding across the sky and humans, are all contingent beings. That means they could exist, or could not
exist. The trees out there need not have
grown until someone planted them. They
did not appear of their own volition. If
our Mother and Father had not met, we would not be. Once upon a time, we were not.
We did not will Self to be. The whole material universe is contingent. They exist now but their non-existence is a
possibility. Say you have a litter of
newly born kittens. There was once upon
a time when they were not, then they were; and one day they will not be and
they will not exist. If all that exists
is contingent, then in fact nothing can now exist because there is a principle
that states; anything that can not be, must necessarily once not have been and
must necessarily cease to be, unless there is something out there that keeps
them going. A 'contingent being' in
existence is contingent upon certain things, happenings, for its existence, so
that being need not have been there.
But if there was a time when
nothing existed then nothing could start to be and even now, there would be
nothing in existence, "because that which does not exist begins to exist
only through something already existing".
But since our experience clearly shows that things do exist, this must
mean that not all beings are contingent.
So we have to get out of the visible system, to come to a being, which
is necessary as opposed to contingent, a necessary being who supports the
contingent beings, and maintains them in existence. If every single unit, every speck of sand and
dust is contingent, and they didn't just appear of their own volition, by their
own native power, then nowhere in this visible universe is there an adequate
explanation of this activity, which we call existing. So we have to come ultimately to a necessary
being that requires no other being to account for His existence. A power that possesses existence of its very
own Self, a supreme being we may call God!
The Philosopher, Saint Anselm of
Reason tells us
that it must be impossible to have an infinite 'subordinate series' of
units. For example, a parrot on a hat,
the hat on someone's head, the head on a person, the person on a deck, the deck
on a boat which is on the sea, which is on the planet Earth, which is in the
solar system, which is in the Milky Way, which is moving in space among other
galaxies etcetera. Each unit is
immediately dependent on the unit before it.
Take the hat away and the parrot falls.
The parrot is there because of the hat.
Take the boat away and the man sinks, take the galaxy away and the solar
system is disordered. But as long as all
is maintained, we have a series called subordinate.
A unit depends on the thing before it,
before it, and before it, etcetera. Knock out any one of these and everything
after it fails, falls, shifts or changes.
It is impossible
to have an infinite 'subordinate series' because the whole series is dependent
on the unit before it. Take the whole
series; imagine if you can, that it is infinitive. This whole series is made up of units, which
are dependent upon the unit before it, which means that the whole series is
dependent. Because the whole series is dependent,
there has to be some being somewhere who itself is independent and maintains
the whole series. That being we call
God.
Thomas Aquinas saw that the visible universe was
composed of beings that are limited in perfection. There are more and less beautiful roses; more
and less good fast drivers; more and less, good pole-vaulters, etcetera. These are certain degrees, more and less of
perfection. If there is limited
perfection anywhere, it has to be ascribed to something that has perfection in
an unlimited way. And that perfection we
may call God.
Proof from ‘Order’
Let's now look at
the proof of 'order' first developed by the Greek philosopher, Anaxagoras (5th
Century BC). So God created order. All natural beings whether living or non-living
have to be ordered and programmed. They
have the characteristic of an ordered means to a certain determined end. They have to depend on an intelligent cause
for their program. If we plant a bean it
will grow into a beanstalk. A quail with
chicks runs away from a hunter. It doesn't intelligently assess a hunter and
say this is a hunter with good aim with a loaded gun whose bullets will kill
quails. No. The quail reacts exactly as if it's been
programmed. It does an intelligent thing.
It eludes the hunter. It has not
got intelligence, so somewhere there is an intelligence that programmed the
quail. Likewise, our lungs don't say
“let's breathe,” or our ears “let's hear”.
The human eye and all that is behind it, all the way to the brain, is
made up of various components, all of which are organized to this end; that the
possessor see. They are not inserted in
the skull as a counter-weight for the back of the head or to make the face
agreeable. They are there to make the
face and the person who owns it, see.
All these things; these innumerable parts and elements that go to make
the eye and all that is associated with it, like the optic nerve etcetera, and
that part of the brain that is involved in the activity; all of these diverse
elements come together to one end: to permit the seer to see. This indicates
that somewhere around there is an intelligence that organized all these diverse
elements to this one end - to make the sense of sight possible.
Here is another example of order: There is so
much information in the DNA within one living cell, if you wrote it all out, it
would fill 1,700 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica or fill 10,000 miles of
computer printout. What's more, the
nucleus of every cell in a person’s body contains the same unique DNA for that
individual being, that is, the same information. Yet the cell knows somehow that it has to
reproduce a cell that will become part of an eye or a toe, a gut or a muscle,
etcetera. How does it know which page to
read out of all the information? It has
been ordered, and programmed by some intelligence.
This ordering of means to an end is
characteristic of all natural bodies whether living or non-living. Those trees out there, they suck up water
from the ground, they take various nutrients from the ground and turn it all
into a tree. Here we have a program so
organized to produce a certain end that in another few hundred years there will
be a completely different generation of trees doing exactly the same
thing. This reveals intelligence. Intelligence isn't in the tree so it's got to
be in someone who is organizing the means to the end. The existence of order around us and in us
requires an intelligent cause to account for it because it is still striving
towards its goal, its end! All of this
indicates that we are not alone in the universe. Our intelligence is not the only intelligence
around nor is our intelligence of a particularly high order in comparison, that
is, with the intelligence we see organized things around us. We are the subject of organization to and for
a particular end. In our case, the
supreme end is eternal life with that intelligence, that is, eternal life with
the Creator.
The ancient prophet
Isaiah in 750 BC (Isaiah 45:18) said:
"Yes, thus say
Yahweh,
Creator of the
heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the
earth and made it,
Who set it firm,
Created in it no
chaos,
But a place to be
lived in."
Descartes (17th
Century AD) says, "Our reason tells us that something cannot be derived
from nothing and also that the more
perfect cannot be a consequence of the less perfect. Our ideas possess different degrees of
reality. It is manifest by natural light
that there must be at least as much reality in the cause as in the effect. By the name God, I understand a substance which is infinite, independent, all-knowing,
all-powerful and by which I myself and everything else have been created. How can I, a finite substance, produce the
idea of an infinite substance? Indeed
how could I know that I am finite unless I could compare myself with the idea of
a perfect being." For these reasons Descartes concludes that, since ideas
have causes, and since the cause must have at least as much reality as the
effect and since he is finite and imperfect, it must be that the cause of his
idea of a perfect and infinite being comes from outside himself from a perfect
being who exists, and that is God!
Locke (17th Century). His proof begins with an
intuition of one's own existence. Since ‘nothing’ cannot produce something, and
since man is aware that he had a beginning, he must have been produced by
something else. If there is not some
external being, the problem simply regresses indefinitely. Therefore, something external must exist, and
this is God. Furthermore, not only does
God produce that which has a beginning, but He also produces it as the kind of
being that it is. Again, there are
created beings that have intelligence and the capacity to love.
Hence, God must be intelligent and loving and, therefore a
personal being. So through the events of
Providence, Motion, Cause and Effect, Contingent and Necessary Beings,
Subordinate Series, Perfection, Order and Something from Nothing, we may have
formulated from this evidence through personal reason and logic a strengthened
consideration to there possibly being in existence some Super Natural Being for
creation to exist itself.
Atom-Energy
Different from Spirit-Energy
The Soul and Spirit of Self
A Caterpillar Transforms
into a Butterfly – But with a Different Brain and Same Memory. New research has identified that the
caterpillar’s brain dissolves when it transforms into a butterfly, but the
transformed butterfly retains the laboratory-conditioned behaviours of the
caterpillar in terms of being aversive to the memory of a particular scent.
When humans create or build
non-living atom-energy structures such as artefacts, artwork, or a culinary
dish etcetera, we use not only the non-living structures of atom-energies in
the form of building materials, paint brushes, paint, and cooking utensils,
harvest food and cutlery etcetera, but also living structures of atom-energies
in the form of human hands, body/anatomy
and brain etcetera. When humans create,
we also use the non-atom spirit-energies of thought, will, belief, ideas,
images and design, order, plan and then the execution of these as the
goals. These processes are encapsulated
within Self and expressed as a manifestation of Self’s soul and spirit.
Self, being the creator of
these creations must by definition then leave part of their Self, being the
will, design and creation of the artefact etcetera, and thus Self as and in
part of the creation, but with an independent and sovereign standing. Thus the Self’s creation is a part of the
likeness and image of Self’, as a function of Self’s soul and spirit. The soul and spirit now residing within the
creation is a part of Self and retained as soul and spirit-energy, being the
blue-prints and ‘finger-prints’ of the designer, planner and doer of the
artefact and creation.
This multi-dimensional
process of creation is perhaps a simple analogy of that described as ‘being
made in the likeness and image of the Creator’.
The artist’s creations of structures of atom-energy (paintings, houses,
etcetera) did not come into being by themselves. But required essentially as a major
contribution for production, both the structural atom-energy of body, hands and
brain etcetera, but also the spirit-energy of the characteristics of Self in
thought, will, design, plan and execution, which must be the spirit and soul
energy of Self.
Now if someone else
recreates what we have created, then that person too, will use both the
atom-energy of their body and the spirit-energy of themselves. But in recreating what has already been
created there will need to used similar structures of atom-energy as in body
parts, and use of spirit-energy as in the unique thought, design, order, plan
and will to execute that which has been previously created and brought forth
from consciousness.
Self’s creations of
artefacts from soul and spirit energy, and thus in a sense being part of Self,
can perhaps be a reverse analogy of the existence of atom-energy structures
created from the existence of subatomic particles brought forth by a Creator’s
thought, design and will, manifesting in the Big Bang, including the existence
of other forms of energies.
These energies include the
energies of atom-energy, electromagnetic energy, dark-energy, dark-matter and
spirit-energy, all designed and planned with thought, design and will of a
Creator and thus have within them a part of their Creator as does Self’s
creation has a part of Self, but with an independent and sovereign
standing.
As the chemical formations
and interactions that initiated the beginnings of life through complex
interactions of particular atom-energy structures developed over time, so the
evolved atom-energies of life increased from one cell to trillions of cells and
with them, so the spirit and soul as a manifestation of the signature of the
designer.
The human brain has
developed larger and more complex in humans than in any other species. This development of the human brain gives
humans the ability to think, plan and do all the intellectual, emotional and
behavioural things humans can do.
Thinking and emotions are
part of the spirit-energy of consciousness being part-and-parcel of Self. Spirit-energy cannot be objectively measured,
and captured as atom-energy can. We may
consider the essence and existence of Self to be a divinely inspired outcome
from predetermined design and order of the Spirit/Word.
So we may be able to say,
that through the energy of ‘The Word’, was brought forth and embedded the Soul
and Spirit in the different energies within the universe including the soul and
spirit of life and Self.
Humans’ Spirit and Soul may
be inherited and passed on from species to species, from generation to
generation, through the soul and spirit-energies dwelling particularly within
all living existence, as the defining divine signature of the ‘word’ of
creation.
The energies of Soul and
Spirit may also exist within, yet on a unique dimension or plane, or exist
parallel to, or in symbiosis to the atom-energy structure of DNA. Atom-energy makes up the structure and
function of the brain, which is the vehicle for the interactions and existence
of the spirit-energies of Self.
Brief History of Scripture’s Language
Misinterpretation of Scripture in the Bible
Spiritual Abuse
Human Destruction from Base
Instincts, Faiths, Beliefs, Cultures, Politics and Religions
Now
that we have read from some of the greatest philosophers and theologians of all
time we will now look at the importance of language and the spoken word and how
it affects our understanding of the world we live in and accordingly our
beliefs.
Language is a human verbal
tool developed and evolved over many centuries for the use of human
communication. For over three millennia, Hebrew has been both the literary
religious and secular language of the Jewish people. Hebrew is a Semitic tongue, and was spoken
during the period of the migration of the Patriarchs into
Most
of the Old Testament texts were originally, written in Hebrew, and were derived
from oral traditions as far back as 1000 BC.
But the younger books of Ezra and Daniel were written in 165 BC in
Aramaic. The language of the people of
Over the centuries, the perceived
messages of Christ spread throughout
As we continue the
search for life’s meaning, and evidence of a Creator’s existence, we may
understand that whether we like it or not, rightly and wrongly, warts and all,
the values, beliefs, perceptions, perspectives, laws and policies, to some
extent, adopted by Western Civilisation have been framed, shaped and driven by
Christian philosophy. A Christian
philosophy being the thoughts, ideas and beliefs evolved over the last 2000
years and based primarily on the New Testament of the Bible. Christian influence in the world started with
the measure of universal Time reinvented, with the splitting of Time into two,
becoming “Before Christ” BC and “After Christ” AD. Furthermore, Western Civilisation has over
the last 2000 years, been on a roller coaster of both constructive development
and destruction. It is therefore
important that we deconstruct and reinvestigate the misinterpretation of
scripture in relation to its construction and interpretation. The Bible being the primary premise of
Christian thought, beliefs and philosophy.
We discover that the many different meanings given to Biblical scripture
can be, attributed to the many biblical verses, which are differently
interpreted by both religious institutions and individuals. So a more conservative and ‘safer’ way to
read any Holy Scripture is to read it with an informed spirit and rational and
open mind and heart.