Winning over souls
MOST PEOPLE spend their entire lives wondering about the hereafter. All religions teach that our souls are temporarily housed in bodies of clay. They tell us that what we do while incarnated will impact significantly on our eternal souls. I believe that religion could save many more souls if the message wasn’t so rigid, contradictory and ominous.
When it comes to Heaven and Hell, I wonder if the scriptures have been accurately interpreted. The scrolls were written in an ancient language and, as languages go, many words have changed their meanings. Even in our ‘modern’ English language, the word ‘gay’ used to mean happy and carefree, then it meant ‘homosexual male’, now it simply means ‘homosexual’.
Therefore, what does ‘Hell’ really mean? The impression is that God will condemn sinners to burn in Hell for eternity. That sounds horrible, especially given that God is supposed to be allloving and that we are supposed to be His (or Her) children. For most people, something does not add up.
As for burning for eternity, could ‘burning’ simply be another word for great desire or great regret? For instance, ‘a burning desire’ for something. And, ‘eternity’ has nothing to do with forever and ever and ever and ever; it means ‘without the confines of the fourth dimension – time’. Which is to say that a soul could end up in a state of deep regret or extreme desire to repent for an indeterminate period of (what we call) time.
It’s very possible that the early fathers of religion believed that people needed to fear the prospect of an eternity in Hell for them to toe the (moral) line. I dare say that, even with that entrenched fear of Hell, many socalled religious people do horrendous things to others.
A few church leaders fleece their flock; some prey on (not pray for) the children and women; others are rich church rats, not poor church mice. All those sins against God are done in spite of the prospect of a ‘hell’ hanging over them.
Which leads many to suspect that some so-called religious
I believe that the biblical teachings and science are saying the very same thing. However, the Bible is written so that all can understand. Therefore, the language is sometimes metaphorical.
people make a sham of believing in God. They’re hedging their bets by participating in religious activities, thinking that God will support and/or reward them because they have made themselves important to Him (or Her). That kind of erroneous thinking is nothing short of unfounded extrapolation and will lead to dire consequences.
To be very candid, the atheists that I know are not cruel or hateful. They are more ethical than some so-called Christians. However, some of them simply find it difficult to believe in any Supreme Being and others find that they don’t believe in God because they are told that He (She) magically created everything and controls everything.
They tell me that they are confused by a Supreme Being that is supposed to love us, but watches as some suffer horribly and, might condemn us to interminable and unimaginable horrors because of a few sins. I respond by asking, since matter can neither be created or destroyed, where did everything originate from? And God suffers with us through our tribulations because we are part of Him (Her).
I honestly believe that part of the problem is with the way that religion is presented. I believe that the biblical teachings and science are saying the very same thing. However, the Bible is written so that all can understand. Therefore, the language is sometimes metaphorical.
I think that churches would win over more souls if they were more flexible in allowing wider discussions on how the scriptures might be interpreted and not hold fast to rigid explanations put forward by ancient theologians with ulterior motives.