Reflections

Where Is God In Our Current Political Crisis?

Posted by on Aug 8, 2007 | 4 Comments

According to AARP magazine (October 2007), 77% of us are not frightened by thoughts of what happens after death. Surprisingly, however, an even larger number 94% believe that there is a God which makes me wonder why 17% of those who believe in God are afraid of what happens after death. I was brought up to believe that one of the reasons you believed in God was to give you reassurance about what occurs after death.

It also appears that  23% of us believe in some form of reincarnation which again means that there is an overlap between those that believe in God and those that believe in reincarnation. Is that possible that God allows reincarnation and a resurgence of energy to keep the Earth populated? Let’s think about it. If Jesus fulfills prophecy and returns to the earth all of the faithful are expecting to be resurrected from the dead to meet him in the sky. Then they are to repopulate a new Heaven and a new Earth. What is this if it isn’t reincarnation?

The article then goes on to state that out of the 94% that believe in God only 86% believe in a pie in the sky type of heaven and out of those only 40% believe that heaven is an actual place. Additionally, out of believers only 70% believe in a literal hell. So with this wide variance in beliefs surrounding the topic of life after death, one must determine what they find to be truth in their own hearts. My thoughts tend to lead to believe that it is the individual translations that are possibly in error not just how we read the text. If you think about it the original scripture was supposedly written over a course of thousands of years. Each of these original (God inspired) texts were then translated by man who was responsible for inserting punctuation and language variances in the text. Another issue is man’s vanity which could have entered into the equation as can be seen by which books were incorporated into a multitude of different volumes of the Bible. Example some include the apocrypha (a set of books in the Catholic Bible) while others do not.  

My belief has evolved over the years from one of programmed belief to one of what ifs beginning with why couldn’t God be some Great Being from a planet far from here that has evolved into what we would consider a super being. That doesn’t take anything away from his greatness but rather just explains some of the Bible’s mysteries. Also, if one looks at it logically one can compare the Bible to Western History. History was written by white middle class to wealthy males and took into consideration no other outlooks like those of poor whites, women, or any other ethical group. If that same concept is looked at, with the Bible at its core and knowing that the Bible texts included in modern scripture were selected by the rich and Powerful Catholics in Rome, how do we know that their inclusion of certain texts was not especially used to keep the masses down and to increase their own power.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that God did not attempt to give the human race some direction on how they should live their lives but only that man’s general nature is one of greed. I believe that that greed is their basis for their desire to rule the masses and obtain all the power that they can. It would certainly explain why past rulers have used it to control women, blacks, and/or Jews and to control a country’s wealth. I have only to look at the present Bush Administration to see the absolute abuse of power that a man can display while using the Christian masses to support his effrontery to justice. It is definitely not his humanity that caused the invasion of Iraq or his desire for justice but rather it was definitely his greed. Just suppose all of the money that Bush has spent in a fruitless war that is reminiscent of Viet Nam had been used to prop up our nation’s infrastructure and educational system. Can you see how the recent tragedy in Minnesota may have been avoided and/or how the victims of Hurricane Katrina could have been better served.

So, rather you believe in life after death, reincarnation, or that death is the end one must wonder why the masses follow leaders who seek their own best interests. Why do we allow the rich, however evil they are and prove themselves to be, continue in power? Isn’t there a viable candidate out there for either political party to present us with that is not owned by corporate interests and ruled by their own obsession with power?

Perhaps, if someone can show us that they are not one of the wealthy elite, who are owned by corporate big business, we can take another look at our personal beliefs. However, I find it difficult to believe that the nation has much hope of ever toppling the selfish rich males, who perceive themselves as America’s Lords, from their throne in Washington.

I do believe though that God would be ashamed to put his stamp of approval on the actions of our current leaders and would agree with me that it is time to stop blaming Him for their actions. Those running for political positions in government need to run on their training and experience, as well as, on their own morality and stop taking advantage of those who are only seeking an answer to their own spiritual beliefs. So, where is God in our political mess, I am sure that He is not really considered in any depth at all by most of the candidates who are running. On the Contrary, I believe that they only use God to convince a segment of our society that they will honor a certain moral code which they immediately abandon once elected. Remember Bill Clinton, what can America be thinking if they are seriously considering voting for Hillary? Give me a break we are looking at putting Bill and his morals back in power under the auspices of his wife.

tags]Political Crisis, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, afterlife, death, reincarnation, New Heaven, New Earth, AARP magazine, Minnesota tragedy, Iraq Invasion, Bible, Bush Administration, [/tags]

  • marc klink

    Jackie, your 4th paragraph pretty much sums up most of the Mormon belief of creation. Are you leaning that way? Just wondering.

    I don’t have anything against a woman as president, but I do think the opposite of what you do in regards to having Hillary in the Whitehouse. My personal belief is that she will move far away from anything that Bill has done, simply to assert herself as an independent person. This would be bad. I won’t debate morality, however, economically, the Clinton years were good one for everyone I know, after a long stretch of bad ones under Reagan/Bush.

    I often wonder why the Christian right doesn’t denounce what George Bush does. It would certainly give them more credibility with those who think for themselves. As a Christian, I find it sickening every time George Bush talks about his faith – his faith is in the almighty dollar, and whoever puts more of them in his and his supporter’s pockets.

    There is not one of the candidates that I agree even 80% with, so I’ve decided that 70% will have to do. It’s the best compromise for now. What is needed is the combined will of a lazy people who don’t vote as long is everything is somewhat ok. That must change.

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  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/reflections/ reflections

    Dear Marc

    It is good to hear from you. I had no idea that the Mormons thought that way. It just makes logical sense to me. I know that there are many things that the early Mormons taught that I can’t grab ahold of. They seem way to far out and appear to be on the same level as other sects in that they are controlled by rich white men who tend to want to keep others under their thumb.

    As far as the Christian right goes they continue to put all their eggs in the basket with the Republican party with the mislead belief that those running really adhere to what they tout just before election. It is this same mentality that has allowed the masses to beaten down for all of these years. One can only hope that someday a truly honest politician will come into power.

    I also cannot throw my support behind any one candidate since none of them meet my beliefs to the different issues that we as a nation are being forced to address at this time.

    Have a good evening
    Jackie

  • Bill @ Racine

    “how do we know that their inclusion of certain texts was not especially used to keep the masses down and to increase their own power”

    I’m not certain if the author has actually ever read the Bible or not. Considering that the main focus of the New Testament (and what the Old Testament was leading up to) is to care for those less fortunate than ourselves.

    Jesus said – that come judgement day (our death and/or the end of the world) – we would be separated like sheep and goats. Those who cared for others would be allowed into the Kingdom of Heaven – those who didn’t would be cast into the fire. Everything in Jesus’ message and His actions said that we should treat each other as we would have ourselves treated.

    So as far as thinking that the books in the Bible were put together to keep the man down – really doesn’t make much sense to me. If anything it’s the exact opposite.

    I think trying to fit God into the “he’s an alien that has “evolved” beyond our constraints” rather limits God and in turn, diminishes us. Why is it so hard to believe that God exists outside of time and space? He is, was and always shall be. Time came into being because He willed it, not the other way around. To me, it seems more of a stretch to believe He came from Mars or some other galaxy “far, far away”.

    Think about what He said to Moses when asked “whom shall I say sent me?” God said, tell them “I AM” sent you. Think about that concept – “I AM” – how suscinct a description for the nature of God. Considering all of the gods/godesses that man worshipped at the time, how unique this was?

    If it was all a fake, why not just make God be one more god in the list of gods that already existed? The chief god if you will? I don’t even think Egypt would have complained at the time. Instead – God chose to reveal Himself as THE God. The ONLY God. The creator of the universe and everything in it (including time).

    To me, that lends creadence to His existence. The concept of “I AM” I think was way more advanced than could have been invented by someone in that day and age. Heck – I think we still have trouble wrapping our minds around it, several thousand years later. :-)