Monday, January 24, 2011

MIQ #2: Religions

"Be a clone and kiss conviction Good Night! Cloneliness is next to Godliness, Right?"

I promise, this is the last one, but it's time to talk about the God based worldviews. I really should avoid the word religion, so that I avoid the connotation of blindly following a set of rules, rituals, creeds and liturgies while turning the brain off except to condemn anyone who does not do likewise. This is badly implemented religion widely practiced all over the world, in all kinds of cultures and belief systems. This is NOT what I'm talking about.

In addition, I should point out that all worldviews except the default answer have a God. For the materialist, money is God. For the scientist, nature is God. For the humanist, humanity is God, etc.

In religious worldviews, God is presumed to be a higher power that controls human destiny, and is presumed to have a personality, a will, a purpose in and of Himself and for humanity and each human. When a God based worldview says, "God is good", the contention is not that God passes the good vs. evil test and is found to be good. Rather the contention is that God defines what Good is. God IS Good.

Certain God based worldviews like Agnosticism and Theism deviate from the previous paragraph in that they believe that it is either impossible to know God or that God created then moved on, leaving us to do as we please with His creation. Pragmatically speaking, these worldviews are not too different from the abyss. Other God based worldviews assume that God wants man to find Him, know Him and connect with Him.

The character of God varies within the God based worldviews and factions thereof. Some characterize God as absolute, holy, uncompromising and judgmental. They are afraid of Him, and their world revolves around obedience. Others see God as weak, helpless and incompetent which is why they are so zealous to do His job of judging and condemning everyone else. Some see God as Father, Shepherd, Teacher, Helper or Friend, and tend to emphasize trust and faith in any circumstance.

From what I can see, each of the groups mentioned above can be found in any of the major religions. Christianity, Islam and Judaism all contain groups of people who fit into each category above. This is what differentiates a religion from from a worldview.

If I have a certain worldview and choose a religion that lines up with my worldview, I haven't really accomplished anything. I just learn to say the right things, do the right things and feel good about my worldview. Religion becomes my expression of my worldview, and as such serves no purpose at all. I'm just a wind up toy soldier marching blindly forward. From what I can see, this is the vast majority of church members, even church leaders. And it's a real shame.

But finding an expression of God in which I have confidence, and binding myself to that point of view as a wife binds herself to her husband, opening myself to the fullness of that expression and yeilding my own perspective to its presumed higher wisdom, intentionally and with all of my heart is a different thing. This is the context in which a religion qualifies as a worldview.

An expression of God that is a worldview in and of itself, with a more meaningful outcome than the Divide By Zero answer, that is more tangible than the Abyss, more reliable (credible) than science and reaches higher than the pragmatic...Now we're getting closer to 'that than which nothing greater can be conceived.'