Up@dawn 2.0

Friday, April 26, 2019


God vs. Man: A Simple Approach to Religion and Materialism

The world we live in is split in terms of how we possibly got here. Those on the side of spirit and dogmatic morality suggest that the God above created the world and its contents with love. The opposing side would argue the lack of evidence to prove or disprove such a being and offer a more logical point of view. Existentialism is one topic that cannot be agreed on since so many different gods exist, so which one preludes thought to win our devotion?

On the side of religions such as Judaism and Christianity, everything significant that has, is, and will happen, is written for all to study and commit to in order to earn a spot in the sky with our loving father. Despite such a simple approach, the two have their various differences from one another.

Firstly, Christianity does not have one interpretation in and of itself. The evangelist Billy Graham comes to mind when thinking about the most prominent values of modern Christianity; sermons to connect with God and sins to stay away from. Christianity today would have believers fully confident in the concrete fact that God will prevail regardless, but we will all suffer before that happens. This is all wonderful in prospect, but good does not always win. Sometimes the greatest people deserving of love and gratitude earn the worst fates for making a choice in the name of good. In contrast, the dualistic perspective offers a more comprehensible, and in my opinion, believable view on why Christians should devote to God. Dualism, in summary, is the same as Christianity, except for the flaring dejection that is good and evil are equal and are at an unending war with one another. The God that dualists so worship and the demon they blame seem to conspire as one in this barbaric view (seemingly due to the fact this belief was all the rage in medieval times in primordial Europe). I believe this version of Christianity has become archaic reading material now because of the softening of the world. Christians today have gone so far from truly confronting the evil that they merely contend with it and live around it. From what I have read on the subject, this was far different in the times of dualism; devotees would rather die than perish their faith, and evil was not left to breed in the alleys of the poor they watched over or the halls of the kings that ruled them.

Judaism, in contrast to Christianity, has a more structured agenda when it comes to active worship. Special hats, called Kippahs, are worn to show devotion and holidays are vastly different, and I argue more celebrated with passion instead of advertisement like the Christians (which is not entirely their fault). Further, the endgame of Judaism, from what I have distinguished, is that evil will be extinguished over time. There would be a massive battle, similar to Christianity's armageddon, but it will not end in tribulation and a final repentance. Despite this, it is curious how so many different faiths exist to prove the same God exists. Why have so many different points of view if we all live under the same God? Why worship him in such different ways? Does God care about such fickle concerns?

The flip side of the world is dominated by logic and skepticism. Atheism, or in some cases, materialism, suggests a mundane and human approach to the answers in the universe. Science used to be hand in hand with religion, in a time where there was no understanding of anything beyond the boundaries of the atmosphere. In recent developments, men have formulated their own answers to the creation of all through science without the help of a god. Similarly to all of the religions demanding our worship to the same being, science offers a multitude of explanations as to how and when we may have arrived in this realm. My only quarrel with this is that it is equally impossible to prove or disprove if an explosion in the stars is any more or less true to creation as a god could be.

Lastly, there are those who would intertwine the two beliefs, unbelievably. Men such as William Hamilton and Thomas J. J. Altizer pioneered Christian Atheism. This would seem impossible at the face of it. Christians take a theological position in which God is rejected or supernatural aspects of the Holy Spirit are refuted, but belief in the Gospel resumes. A quote from Paul van Buren may offer food for thought when considering the depth of this philosophical system, "we cannot identify anything which will count for or against the truth of our statements concerning 'God'." If only modern radical Christians would take this into consideration instead of breathing down the necks of those who are skeptical simply because they have unanswered questions.

It goes without saying that people throughout history have strong minds that have offered great truths and fantasies about the world. If only it were as simple as we were put here to build good looking buildings and tame the wild beasts of the world.


Posts I commented on:

https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-land-of-free-colton-williams.html?showComment=1556330191427#c242274959181866419

https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/04/game-of-thrones-and-philosophy.html

4 comments:

  1. "Those on the side of spirit and dogmatic morality suggest that the God above created the world"-not necessarily, see comment below on natural spirituality... and dogmatists are capable of intransigence without divine assistance.

    "Existentialism is one topic that cannot be agreed on since so many different gods exist"-not according to Existentialists like Sartre and Camus.

    "Atheism...suggests a mundane and human approach to the answers in the universe" - human and humane, sure; but "mundane"? How so?

    "Science used to be hand in hand with religion" - when? how?

    "Christian Atheism" - huh?

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  2. I was dumbfounded when I found the Christian Atheism, but it is an actual concept. I found it last minute before I started my report. And on the subject on Atheism, you are more correct on the humane versus mundane aspect of it. I have understood mundane to mean earthly in a Christian perspective, not at all boring.

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  3. Many religions have many different viewpoints and ideas. Religion is very fluid in the sense that different aspects of certain parts of religion or religions as a whole mean different things to different people. Also, I like where you said that sometimes good people end up with bad fate, or in bad situations. It is very thought provoking. According to Christianity why does this happen? Do different religions have different explanations for this?

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  4. Whitley Allen12:00 AM CDT

    Nice post! I love how you pointed out that good people tend to get the bad end of the stick in life.

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