The Devil Has His Christs Essay, Research Paper
The Devil has his Christs
“Krishina”, which is actually Sanskrit for “Dark God”, predated Jesus the Christ in the works of two Greek historians, Arrian and Strabo (Daleiden 105). Then there is Buddha, who predates Jesus by more than five centuries (Daleiden 105). There are many other religions, cults and superstitions after Jesus walked among chosen sinners. If so why has Christianity become such a big issue over the years in moral and political aspects in the world? Is God a “woman” or an “African American?” Should prayers and crucifixes be allowed in public elementary schools? Do Aliens follow God? There are hundreds of questions that could be asked from everyday life to futuristic premonitions. The question that really needs to be clarified is, “Should we believe in a God whose nonexistence can be proven?”
If you are to say, as theologians do, that God is good, you must then say that right and wrong have some meaning which is independent of God s fiat, because God s fiat are good and bad independently of the mere fact that he made them. If you are going to say that, you will then have to say that it is not only through God that right and wrong came into being, but that they are in their essence logically anterior to God (Russell 19).
“Seeing is believing.” To this old saying one could argue that human emotions such as love, fear, and joy are vaguely visible but still do exist. These emotions are acknowledged by senses other than vision. The only evidence of the existence of God is through “”blind” faith. William K. Clifford, in his famous essay ” The Ethics of Belief,” argued that “it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything on insufficient evidence (Martin 19).” Clifford maintains that believing on insufficient evidence has a variety of harmful consequences; it corrupts our character, undermines public confidence, leads to irresponsible action, and fosters self-deception (Martin 19). Then why do people rely on a God that is more of a make-believe character?
The many really religious and do not regard religion simply as “moral values” but use religious discourse seriously to make distinctively religious claims they commit themselves to what believers take to be a certain general view about “the ultimate basis of the universe.” This could backed up by the very use of certain religious utterances: (1) God is my Creator to whom everything is owed, and (2) God is the God of mercy of whose forgiveness I stand in need (Nielsen 77). On the other hand, the many other churchgoers seek some different kind of redemption; Socialization of a certain stability symbolizing clique or in seek of a false comfort from some sort of grief, sorrow, and pain. Whatever the reason for the reliance of God, God cannot give us comfort or be the ultimate answers to this imperfect world.
By definition, God s love is the essence of perfect love. It is pretty easy to prove something false on the basis of being “perfect,” for humans created the concept. So trying to be perfect in all or many ways has only made God into an omni-incompetent God. J. L. Schellenberg, in his book titled “Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason,” makes a summation of the case: (1) If there is a God, he is perfectly loving. (2) If a perfectly loving God exists, reasonable nonbelief does not occur. Some examples of reasonable nonbeliefs are evolution, some animal activists (people who regard animal life just as much as their own) beliefs, and atheism. But (3) Reasonable nonbelief occurs. For that (4) No perfectly loving God exists. Therefore (5) There is no God (83). Why believe in a hypothesis that is proven wrong?
People have an inexplicable craving to come up with answers for almost everything in every aspect of life. Limitation of science encouraged people to find other alternatives to answer unexplainable phenomena or philosophical questions. Once when people thought of sky to be the limit of our world, they believed the heaven to be up in the clouds. We now have video footage of what Mars looks like. There were times when surgery could not be performed on the sick, for incisions with a scalpel to a human body was an act of sacrilege. Christianity hindered the progress of science and medicine. When masks are removed and illusions are dispelled, when people learn to know each other both individually and in groups, they are better served (Marty 6).
How was the fool able to “say in his heart” what he was unable to conceive?
St. Anselm, Proslogion
Times have changed and God is on trial. There was a time when God s divine presence in our society comforted and protected us from moral corruption. Nowadays, God is no longer welcomed in cafeterias of public schools, The word “God” is used more in vain than in holy terms. Christianity is no longer a religious monopoly. In 1964, more than two-thirds (and rising) of the people of the world did not share Christian beliefs (Marty 6). Recently, the number of atheists and anti-Christ activists all around the world have increased extremely to the extent where they are no longer considered as a minority (Poidevin 107). Still many people in the United States are afraid of giving up on God, for they are afraid that they will lose everything it represents: Immortality, love, and faith (Poidevin 108). It is time to rid of our doubts in ourselves, and reliance to this nonexistent God. It is time for us to believe in ourselves and only in ourselves. The inscriptions written on the back of the one dollar bills, “In God We Trust”, should read “We Stand Alone.”
Bibliography
Daleiden, Joseph L. The Final Superstition. New York: Prometheus Books, 1994
Martin, Michael. The Case Against Christianity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991
Nielsen, Kai. Philosophy & Atheism. New York: Prometheus Books, 1985.
Schellenberg, J. L. Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason. New York: Cornell University Press, 1993
Marty, Martin E. Varieties of Unbelief. Canada: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1964.
Poidevin, Robin Le. Arguing for Atheism. New York: Routledge, 1996.