A Moral Compass. click to view source
The rapture didn’t happen as Harold Camping predicted, but this does not change the fact that numerous Christians donated all their money, forfeited their children’s college savings, traveled the United States to preach the word, and quit their jobs.
One Christian, Keith Bauer, took his family to California, over 3,000 miles away from his home, to witness the rapture.
In an interview with the Mercury News he said, “I had some skepticism but I was trying to push the skepticism away because I believe in God. I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth.”
This is where I step in and offer my strong opinion on the matter.
I grew up as a Catholic, but denounced my faith during high school when I started questioning
the Christian religion, as well as every other religion – western or eastern.
This allowed my mind to venture. This allowed me to seek truth, and in doing so, I researched and educated myself on many different cultures, beliefs, and knowledge. I realized that God has a universal meaning. God is love, and that compassion is the path to God.
It is disheartening to me that many Christians were happy to leave this earth and be with God on Saturday the 21st.
This is not because I don’t believe in heaven, or that heaven is profoundly and unfathomably wonderful, but people were so eager to leave this earth, instead of being eager to make earth become as close to being like heaven as we humanly can. I’ve always believed that one of our duties as conscious beings is to leave a positive mark on this planet, to strive to become a better global community.
As Keith Bauer said, “I was hoping for [the rapture] because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth.”
It probably is, but being desperate to abandon humanity can also hinder your ability to change humanity for the better.
The pastor of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church of Oakland, Gregory Chisholm, in an interview on MercuryNews.com, said, ”… [if] one were really trying to help people prepare for the end times, one would counsel people to minister to the sick and feed the hungry and visit those who are in prison, because that’s exactly what the Lord says to do.”
With or without end times, this is what everyone should be doing for the sole sake of doing the right thing. With due respect, I believe that religion is a great thing. I also believe that being a good person should come from your inner most desire to love, to give, and to help – because people deserve it.
Do your part in making the world a better place, and you’ve done your duty as a fellow human being, religious or not. Make your consciousness count.
On March 23, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama tweeted: “Every individual is responsible to help guide our global family in the right direction.”
Related articles
- Bay Area rocks, Rapture fails to roll – San Jose Mercury News (news.google.com)
- It’s the End of the World As We Know It (lbcommuter.com)
“…but this does not change the fact that numerous Christians donated all their money, forfeited their children’s college savings, traveled the United States to preach the word, and quit their jobs.”
Camping caused so many awful things with his garbage. Families split up, parents disowning their kids and telling them they were going to Hell, people euthanizing their pets so they wouldn’t suffer after the Raputre… jeez, I hope this guy gets sued or prosecuted or something. >:(
These people were very devout to their faith and were doing what they thought was best for themselves, their families, and the afterlife.
BUT when these choices harm other people, then it’s something entirely different! No faith or religion should ever take away other people’s rights, just as somone else’s lack of faith or religion should not take away their rights. It infuriates me that, as mere humans, we are condemning people to hell, or throwing them out of town, or kicking them out of their families because of a difference of faith/religion.
That might be another story, but again, these people who gave up everything still have to live in this world… and so do those who were and still are negatively affected by these people’s decisions.
I, too, was raised Catholic, left that faith for many years, and recently “reverted” back to it. I teach conversion classes and attend Mass regularly. I think my faith is strong but certainly not strong enough to abandon everything for this rapture because I think heaven would be better than earth.
I feel truly bad for the people who’ve done that because they missed the bigger point. Heaven is a reward for those who saw life as their opportunity to serve, to model their lives as faith (mine and all the other faiths in this world) taught us. Instead, many of these people hoped they could exchange that gift for a better one – life in heaven instead of life on earth. It was hubris, pure and simple.
I believe strongly in treating all life with respect, right down to the ant on his chemical trail. I believe that we should treat people as we would like to be treated. (That’s my grandmother’s philosophy.) I believe that we each must find a path, but never destroy the path of another. (That’s my live and let live philosophy.) I believe in living every moment to the fullest and in loving those moments. (That’s my Zen philosophy.) I refuse to allow the myths that people create to control others to be a part of my philosophy. At the root of all organized religion, I believe there’s a desire for power and money–neither of which is a part of my philosophy.
I believe that at the root of all religions, we’re all trying to get closer to God. However, religious bigotry produces a negative opinion of those who believe differently than them. Even atheists, who claim that religion creates hate, are sometimes hateful by thinking religion is “wrong,” who then may call religious people unintelligent. If we were to stop claiming we know everything, take a step back and say, “This is my belief, that is your belief, and we can remain friends and open to understanding one another,” then segregation would cease to exist. We would no longer feel inferior or pitiful for different faiths. Everyone is on the same journey.
To me it’s rather sad. If they had taken the time to read their Bible themselves, (there is no where in the written bible that states the time, place, or moment of the Rapture) then they would have been sharing the word correctly. But I know from experience, that God does replenish things lost.
“I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth.”
“Heaven is a reward for those who saw life as their opportunity to serve, to model their lives as faith.”
Religion is Suicide. Religion is life denying life. When one attempts to “seek truth” one is only confronted with the void, the utter silence of the world. One finds himself not in a world built upon order and reason, but in a desert devoid of meaning and definition; to choose to remain here will test the very limits of one’s strength. Most who face the absurd(conscious or not) tremble in terror and flee from life, religion is precisely this. Religion is the denial of life; to hope for meaning in a meaningless world. It is answering the unanswerable. But from ambiguity freedom is made manifest.
If God exists, then man is a slave.
If man is free, then God is dead.
If I’ve correctly understood your opinion, there is a quote by Richard Dawkins that I think you might find has some truth:
“Atheism is not a recipe for despair; I think the opposite. By disclaiming the idea of a next life, we can take more excitement in this one. The here and now is not something to be “endured,” before eternal bliss or damnation; the here and now is all we have, an inspiration to make the most of it. So atheism is life-affirming in a way religion can never be.
“Look around you, nature demands our attention – begs us to explore, to question. Religion can provide only facile, ultimately unsatisfying, answers. Science, in constantly seeking real explanations, reveals the true majesty of our world in all its complexity. People sometimes say, “There must be more than just this world, than just this life.” But how much more do you want?
“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die, because they are never going to be born. The number of people who could be here, in my place, outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. If you think about all the different ways in which our genes could be permuted, you and I are quite grotesquely lucky to be here – the number of events that had to happen in order for you to exist, in order for me to exist. We are privileged to be alive, and we should make the most of our time on this world.”
I believe in ultimate truth. I always have. However, I do agree that as a mere human being, my search will only be confronted with the silence of the world—if I’m more interested in finding ultimate truth than what I learn along the journey of trying to find it. As you said: the world lacks order and reason—but I believe order and reason can be found, and that doing the best one can to practice tolerance, understanding and compassion will bring oneself closer to understanding the ways of life. To choose to remain here will test the very limits of one’s strength, yes—but to choose to INFLUENCE and SEEK INFORMATION is a greater test. If the world is a desert devoid of meaning and definition, then make it have meaning. A good one. To help a life, to leave your mark, to better this world with or without the help of a god (a conscious one, or not) is your responsibility. You are a conscious being; therefore you have the ability of choice. Choice is power, and if you give up this power and become a vacant mass who wanders through a vacant life, then you’ve thrown away your power to change the world.
Every religion is different, my friend, and not ever religion takes away from this physical life. Through meditation, you learn to control your own body. You become enlightened, and you find peace within yourself which you then teach to others. This is ultimate control over your reality, and this is as close to confronting life—not fleeing and not denying it—as you can get.
I am fully aware that I may never stumble upon the ultimate truth of life—how could I?—however my quest for understanding is not me fleeing from life, nor undervaluing it. I choose to research philosophy, biology, quantum mechanics, and other fields of knowledge so that I may have a broad range of understanding what humans perceive life to mean. I will still be met with uncertainly, but as long as I move closer to understanding ultimate truth, this is all I can do.
If religion is what helps some people be better, than that is good. If religion is what helps some people hurt others, that is bad. Same with anything: abuse, drugs, sex, lifestyle, or recreation. It can all benefit, it can all ruin a life. You choose what to do with what works for you. Make it mean something positive.
If you’re truly interested in this topic, I would suggest reading my novel Battleground once it’s published. I would love to further discuss my journey with you.
“If God exists, then man is a slave.
If man is free, then God is dead.”
This depends on what you believe to be God.
Science, believe it or not, is actually a friend to proving God’s existance. The only form of sience proved to be most accurate is Quantum Physics. Relative to the string theory (Highly accepted by most scientists), the existence of God is possible. If you are unfamiliar with the concept I will VERY breifly shed some light on the subject. The theory (I will remind you that even wind and air are, by scientific law, only theory) is that there are ten existing dimensions. We as 3rd dimensional beings, can detect and sense four of those ten. And according to said theory, God would exist in the seventh dimension. Which would also conclude that he is located outside of the fourth dimension to which we are enslaved. This dimension is time. Therefore, it is utterly inconcievable to put a set “time” on our end. Likewise, it is equally childish and arrogant to say that we would even remotely understand this 7th dimensional being. Just like a two dimensional being couldn’t possibly imagine how we look, or function. With this said, my personal opinion and response to “If God exists, then man is a slave.
If man is free, then God is dead.” is this:
How in the world would you know?
Secondly, i will state that it is true that within our dimensions, everything is decaying. This is the fifth law of thermal dynamics, Entropy.
But as I speculated before, we as 3rd dimensional beings can only physically understand so much. The rest is impossible
First, I must disagree that Quantum Physics is the most accurate form of science – although it is the by far the most interesting and far-reaching field of science, it is still rather young (a mere 50 years old, as compared to evolution, a 150 year old theory).
However, I have heard that science has generally confirmed the 10-11 dimensions. But here’s my quarrel with your point: if humans are enslaved to the first four dimensions, any dimension beyond the fourth is unknown to us. And just because some of the universe is unknown, it is silly to assume that this is proof of god. It is unknown – we cannot make any statements about what occupies the unknown because it is simply that: unknown! Saying that god occupies the seventh dimension is just as silly as saying that god does NOT occupy the seventh dimension. We simply do not know anything about it.
*I will redact everything I have said if you can present a peer-reviewed scientific study that supports the notion that 1) we know what is in the seventh dimension, and 2) “God would exist in the seventh dimension.”
To the Anonymous poster, I wrote to you on my blog, but I’m curious how you came upon my article. Would you email me at jennifermhartsock@hotmail.com if you would prefer not to talk about it publicly? Thank you.
Also i will add a small side note, I see this not so much as “If God exists, then man is a slave.
If man is free, then God is dead.”
Rather,
“If time exists, then man is a slave.
If man is free, then time is irrelavent”
Thank you for commenting on my article this week. I feel my best while discussing and gaining new insight on topics never touched before. I encourage all of you to keep seeking understanding because there are plenty of wonderful things to gain and learn from this world. Thank you.
Always,
Jennifer