MY GOD ! ! !
I am making an issue of the term, “GOD.” There was a time when I didn’t question this term – when I accepted the dogma fed to me by the FAITHFUL. I listened to spiritual advisors relate how they knew the “will of God.”
I had to examine what the word GOD meant? I had always taken for granted that GOD was GOD. No further explanation needed. GOD was, in one form or another, as old as humanity. Researching a reasonable definition for the word GOD was not easy.
I looked up the word GOD in the New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and found that GOD was defined as the SUPREME DIVINITY.
I was satisfied with this definition for quite a while, as it sounded suitably lofty to me; but wait, what does SUPREME DIVINITY mean? Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary defines DIVINITY as the condition or quality of being divine. DIVINE means of or relating to a deity, and DEITY is defined as GOD. Now the definition had come full circle, and I still had no concrete concept of what a SUPREME DIVINITY was.
I went back to the New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to find the original meaning of DIVINE. The word DIVINE appears several times in various parts of the New Testament and leads to two definitions. One means godlike and the other means to do service or worship of God. That certainly clears things up, wouldn’t you say?
The Old Testament also has two definitions for GOD that finally leads to a more accurate picture. In Genesis 44:15, the word GOD means to whisper a magic spell. In I Samuel 28:8 and Proverbs 16:10, the word means to determine by lot or magic. Hence, I could now define DIVINITY as magician – a more recognizable term for me.
Since GOD cannot be seen or heard, GOD is said to be SUPERNATURAL, meaning, from the Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary, beyond the explanation of natural events. I now had a properly defined term for GOD as the SUPREME SUPERNATURAL MAGICIAN. That was a good beginning, but I wasn’t through yet.
To fully redefine my belief system, I had to set other facts straight. Religion calls MAGIC sinful, the work of the DEVIL, and yet the very nature of the word GOD denotes practicing MAGIC. MAGIC is defined as the art that purports to control or forecast natural events or forces by invoking the supernatural. SUPERNATURAL leads people into SUPERSTITION that is defined as a belief that is maintained despite evidence that it is unfounded or irrational or a belief, practice, or rite resulting from faith in chance, magic, or dogma.
Not unlike the definition for MAGIC, MIRACLE (an accepted term by the FAITHFUL), is defined as an event that seems impossible to explain by natural laws and so it is regarded as supernatural in origin or as an act of GOD. Believing in MIRACLES is nothing more that the Faithful’s way of practicing a sociably acceptable form of MAGIC. And MAGIC is fantasy, pure and simple. That which I worshipped could not exist by its own definition.
By my belief in GOD, I had lost my self-identity. It provided me with a scapegoat for thoughtless actions, a wishing well for unearned pleasures and riches, and guilt trips for breaking moral laws. It was an excuse to punish and control others. It enabled me to pursue power over others that far exceeded the reality of life situations.
The term HIGHER POWER has become popular in today’s society. It is a much more realistic term than GOD. Among the definitions of the word POWER, I found that those that come closest to the meaning as intended in this context are: the authority or ability to control others, and/or one having great authority or influence. Below I have broken HIGHER POWER into five sets of LAWS. I feel these laws are the only laws that have power over my life. I once considered these laws inferior to and/or under the control of the SUPREME SUPERNATURAL MAGICIAN, AKA GOD.
1. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAWS of the municipal, county, state and the country have enforceable power to maintain environmental and social control and are found best regulated by a free society . They were born from human trial and error. Although millions of people today believe that the only law is written in the Word of their Religion, it is obvious that the laws changed with each succeeding generation and began long before the 1 AD. Older than the Bible or the Koran is the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi was King of Babylon in 2000 BC. The laws contained in any civilization have been modified as need arose to maintain control over it’s citizens through the ages. Uprisings of cultural groups keep reshaping the need to write new laws.
2. NATURAL LAWS set in motion the consequences of our actions (good or bad). The Supernatural Magician has nothing to do with the outcome. If you fall down the steps, it hurts, period.
3. LAWS OF SCIENCE have confronted superstition and won the fantasy battle with fact. They account for natural disasters and wonders of the universe. Religious writings include, in part, an early science book that reflects a simple understanding of life and the universe in its day, but it cannot hold up to today’s educational insights. It has no place in today’s advanced society.
4. LAWS OF MORALITY (SIN, more properly defined as an act against a moral code of conduct, which is different in every society): Laws of Morality were set in place by the majority of a given civilization. They involve proper etiquette and personal behavior. If violated, shunning or even annihilation by society is often the result. They are not mandatory or controlled by a Supernatural Magician, as the FAITHFUL would have us believe. They change from community to community, and year to year, and are based on ethnic and cultural traditions of each geographical area in the world.
5. LAWS OF HUMANITY are intangible laws – the POWER OF HATE and the POWER OF LOVE. I like the use of the word intangible rather than the word spiritual as the spiritual word raises the magic question once again. They are related to feelings. Feelings come from chemical brain interactions. It can be equated to the child within each of us. Feelings begin and birth and are structured by our parents, environment, culture and diet. Again, GOD has nothing to do with this.
There are three allusions of bad magical power in the Word of many religions. They control the POWER OF HATE. They are: DEVIL, SATAN and EVIL SPIRITS. From the following information, I discovered that even these SPIRITS OF HATE are figments of our imaginations, born from the ignorance of our descendants, and used to manipulate behavior to someone’s benefit.
From New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the NIV Bible, I learned that around 1400 BC, the DEVIL was devils. The singular use of the word probably came from the Egyptian influence from the Late Canaanite Period. The term DEVIL meant goat idols or satyr; which was a Greek (not Hebrew) mythical character from the woodland. It often had pointed ears, legs and short horns of a goat (Lev. 17:7; 32:17; 2 Chr. 11:15; Ps. 106:37). All other references to the DEVIL are singular and appear in the New Testament, and they are numerous. New Testament entries generally carry the definition of SEDUCER, a definition that appears in the Temptation of Christ. If the translators had used the word SEDUCER instead of DEVIL when translating, the reading of the passages would not necessarily lead to a supernatural connotation. The Gospel writers used the words DEVIL and SATAN quite a bit, and there is a vast difference in meaning. While DEVIL means seducer, SATAN means adversary or accuser. There is nothing supernatural about the meaning of either of the words. It was the comic-book characterization presented by the FAITHFUL that made them scary. The mythology prevalent of the times is similar to the science fiction and horror movies that come out of Hollywood today.
The book of Job has SATAN taking an active role in the story. The NIV Bible has the following footnote: “Lit. ‘THE ACCUSER.’ …In Job, the Hebrew of 1 Chronicles 21:1 the article is not used, because by then ‘SATAN’ had become a proper name.” Isn’t it surprising to find out that SATAN was not always a proper name?
SATAN appears to originate from the Persians, specifically from Zoroaster, the famous Persian (not Hebrew) prophet. He spent ten years wondering before he had a VISION FROM THE LORD, and six more visions in the following ten-year period. As a result of these visions, Zoroaster founded a religion in the area about the same time as the words DEVIL and SATAN took on their proper names and supernatural meaning. He declared that the heavens and earth were created so that GOD whom he called AHURA MAZDA, together with the SPIRIT OF LIGHT (MITHRAS), could defeat the SPIRIT OF EVIL, whom he called ANGRA MAINYU. The Persian Empire reigned in the Mesopotamia, Egyptian, and Syria-Palestine area from about 550 BC to about 300 BC and greatly fueled the imaginations of those around them, especially the Hebrew writers.
The term EVIL SPIRIT translates directly as UNCLEAN BREATH. It appears numerously in both Testaments and equates with the supernatural. Who knows why? In Judges 9:23, “GOD sent an EVIL SPIRIT between Abimeleck and the citizens of Shechem, who acted treacherously against Abimelech.” (Italics mine.) The NIV Bible footnote says, “Perhaps a SPIRIT OF DISTRUST AND BITTERNESS. The Hebrew for ‘SPIRIT’ is often used to describe an attitude or disposition.” (Italics mine.)
Nothing in this term suggests supernatural possession. Bad attitude and temperament are human characteristics, and are created by our chemical makeup, environment, mental attitude, and the happenings of the day.
Fear of the unseeable had now left me. All the ghosts and goblins were put to rest. The POWER OF HATE was a man-made power and led to or was the result of the abuse of MAN-MADE, NATURAL, MORAL, and SCIENTIFIC LAWS and LAWS OF HUMANITY.
On the positive side of all of this we have the word ANGEL. The word ANGEL means MESSENGER. ANGELS portrayed the visible expression of GOD to humanity. They appeared in dreams and sometimes in person (many times after a period of fasting). Fasting will bring on extravagant hallucinations that I believe are actually a product of malfunction of brain waves. Fever can produce the same result, as can drugs and food poisoning.
The only thing left for me to define was the POWER OF LOVE. According to Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary, LOVE means to feel love for. The first definition for the word FEEL is to perceive through the sense of touch. In order to TOUCH something or someone, you have to get close to it. If you hang around someone, even for a brief period, you develop a relationship with that person, which often leads to INTIMACY. INTIMACY is shared feelings that brings one to equal footing with another in understanding and compassion.
From all of this, I have determined that:
HATE need not exist, but does. It is usually based on cultural and/or personality differences; but this, too, can be overcome with re-education and practice.
LOVE does not always know what is right. It is not instinctive. It is taught from our human history of dealing with each other. There is no MAGIC in the POWER OF LOVE. The POWER OF LOVE is, and should be, based in total reality. LOVE is hard work. Once pursued, LOVE is sometimes rewarded with Galations 5:22 -- LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF-CONTROL. Other times it is not only not rewarded, but trampled upon.
Yet, the HIGHER POWER OF LOVE is the SALVATION OF THE UNIVERSE, not man playing GOD, or the worship of a SUPREME SUPERNATURAL MAGICIAN, however it is taught. And in Love we will find the correct relationship with our souls and what may be beyond this Earth.