Religiosity:

"Tell me all your thoughts on God�" That is what this page is for, for me to share with you my thoughts on God, Religion, Spirituality and above all else, the TRUTH - ok, my brand of the truth - there are many and I could spend a few pages expounding on that.

I will up load miscellaneous stuff about the subject, include a few links.

Later, of course.

Updates 30 June 2004

excessively, obtrusively, or sentimentally religious

Billions of People Equals Billions of Interpretations

To understand why there are billions of interpretations of the word (As many interpretations as there are humans - in fact - We first must understand that no two human beings are exactly alike.

We are composed of experiences and events and situations. No two people see the same thing from the same angle. What we get is many similarities, but the details get muddled and everyone thinks the other is wrong because they saw something slightly different. (Detectives understand this when it comes to witnesses of a crime - different people focus on different aspects of the crime. It is the detectives job to find the base line event, the common thread and to tease out the actual chain of events. The witnesses are rarely wrong, they just relate what they saw from their angle of perspective)

God is a personal God. That means that God manifests Himself to the individual in a way that the individual understands.

Since we are all not alien to one another, sharing similarities, we will find that we can agree upon many of the details. This is why Catholics are happy with their faith, it speaks to them as truth. This is why Baptists are comfortable with their doctrine, it speaks to them, it rings true in their heart.

There has been this mass confusion over the Nature of God for thousands of years. We have been told that God is a Group Experience - little has been stated about the personal nature of God. Christ is a Personal Savior and the Savior of the World. We find that much of the God Experience is both Humanity as a whole, and humans as individuals.

The Holy Spirit (a manifestation of God) Works on the individual - works on a Personal Level. It talks to us in our personal language, it uses our personal experiences and unique perspective to give us our Personal Relationship with God.

EXAMPLE. If I said "Mushroom Soup" You would think I was talking about a bowl of soup made from mushrooms. However, in my circle of friends 'mushroom soup' denotes an event which took place where a person started out talking about mushroom soup, going through a whole bunch of different subjects ending in mushroom soup - This long circular approach to a subject is describe as 'mushroom soup' in my circle.

My friends understand the term, we interpret "Mushroom Soup" to mean one thing - while others interpret it to mean another. Both interpretations are correct - according to the individual who one speaks of Mushroom Soup too.

We find the same differences of interpretation of the bible, based upon the understanding of the individual. The Holy Spirit talks to us in the language we understand.

We can agree that most of Christianity agrees upon the General Principles of Scripture and Faith (One God, Christ the Savior, a Return of Christ, Ten commandments, etc) It is the details that we tend to get hung up about. Compare this to humanity.

We can all agree that most of humanity comes in a similar shape, (One head, Two Arms, Two Legs, two eyes, etc) However the details are uncommon enough to where we can see each other as individuals.

Both provide us with the Group and Personal Aspects. For our species we can tell we are Humans by our general shape, for our individual selves we look at the details. Same thing with God. There are General Truths about God that are recognized by the Group, while there are the details which are recognized by the individuals making God a Personal Experience.

We can take this a step higher and look at all religions. Isn't it odd that Buddhism is located in the region of Earth were people understand it? Don't you think it odd that Jews understand Judaism? Isn't it Kind of strange that the Aztecs had their unique religions too. Why? Well Different Cultures perceive Deity (God) in different ways. We do not share the same tastes in Music, Art, Language, Social graces, style of dress, etc. Why on Earth would we share the same understanding of God?

We can see the General outlines of God in all Religions. Even the Pagans have similar held beliefs when it comes to God - the details are far apart, but the same principles of Love are there staring us in the face.

The trouble of Religion is that we tend to force our details on others, failing to see that the Details are unique to the perspective of the individual - they are tailored to bring the person closer to God in the way that is best for them.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam share the same roots, we believe in the Same God - it is the details that have sent us to kill one another time and time again. So closely related, but seemingly so far apart that we feel that only through making war can we make our point. Can only one be correct and the other two false? Did God make a mistake and give us too many options? Or did God, seeing that there were three kinds of human understanding Speak to the persons in the language that their culture understand?

I hold with the last idea - it is logical, and also gives respect to the greater intelligence and understanding of the Creator of His Creation. It also validates the individual and takes into account the cultural differences that humans have. It also makes a hell a much smaller place, and paints God in the Loving Roll that we are suppose to understand. How can 2/3 of the world be so wrong that they will burn for eternity - Not very loving is it?

David