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The Islamic Threat
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They Sikh Him Here...
Why is Religion Special?
Theocracy? No thanks.
Seeking Jesus
The Cult of Christ
What kind of an ineffectual god needs a madman with a bomb or a sword to carry out his will? Or indeed a prophet?
The story of the true god would ring true in a way which could not be denied or questioned. The question of faith would be irrelevant, all people would know the truth as clearly as they know their own name. The will of a real god would be obvious to all.
A real god would have no need for a prophet. Ever. If a god can talk to a man why can't he talk to all men? If a god needs a single interpreter working in secret what kind of a god is he, weak or secretive? Would a good father give a message to his children via one favourite child?
The role of prophet needs a lot of explaining. It is obvious what a false religion needs a prophet for, how else is it going to be launched? Somebody has to originate or present the sayings or writings that form the basis of any cult. People will not accept that any human is a god unless they've done something pretty spectacular, such as conquer most of the known world and then some. A false religion always needs a figure on Earth and a powerful figure or host of powerful figures unseen, powerful and other worldly, or alien. We can see this pattern in Mormonism with the Angel Moroni being invoked as giving the word of God to the very human Joseph Smith and again with Raëlians, Scientologists and the Heaven's Gate cult. The prophet is a charismatic man who demands (but often does not command) respect, but the supernatural power is merely channeled through him.
A religion is simply a cult with a bit of history behind it, a cult too old to thoroughly disprove and ridicule by simple investigative journalism. Currently we can see Scientology going through the process of metamorphosis, changing from a cult into a new and distrusted religion. Mormonism has a bit over one hundred year head start on Scientology. Christianity had to pass through another couple of centuries before it gained a significant amount of legitimacy, becoming the luckiest cult in history by being taken up by the Roman Empire, the religious equivalent of getting a contract to supply McDonald's.
But what is a real prophet? Why does any god feel so thoroughly helpless that he has to enlist human help? Surely a real god could send down as big a host of angels as the job of talking to all humanity required. To an infinite god what is the value of penny-pinching on the production values? If you want to pass on a message give a show, give a show they will never forget. Surely a billion angels is no harder to conjure up than one to the Alpha and Omega. But no, that isn't the way these all-powerful one and only gods are reported to act. They pass on messages in secret to lowly Earth-bound stooges who then live off the glory of talking to the god and sometimes use it to pull women, or children.
How can you tell the difference between a genuine prophet and a false prophet? Is there an unmistakable sign, and if so how would a charlatan go about faking it? Of course there is a clear difference between a prophet and a false prophet in practice, false prophets aren't convincing or tell you things you don't want to accept. To become accepted as a prophet a person has to have bags of charisma, which is something that cannot be translated or passed on second hand. A classic example of the one-to-one nature of charisma is Adolf Hitler. I am prepared to accept that the man had an electrifying personality and presence because so many people have attested to it. But with the barrier of decades and my lack of understanding of German I am largely immune to that charisma. He looks rather too much like a stupid git to me. The idea of being bowled over by the charisma of a man I have been told about, a charisma I have to reconstruct and imagine is simply silly. And yet many religious people do just that. They imagine Jesus as somebody with great convincing presence and charisma because they want to be convinced. They convince themselves by summoning up a convincing mental image, specifically tailored to their own tastes. How's that for self-hypnosis! Of course Muslims go one better, by not being shown what he looks like in icons and stained glass windows you get to imagine the great ultimate prophet for yourself, what kind of an idiot would imagine an ugly stammering bumpkin?
Surely you've seen this effect in operation with the thousands of different faces of Jesus, from hippy dude to noble Lord of Heaven, ascetic thin beggar to rippling muscled superhero. Friend of the poor, communist hero throwing out the money lenders speaking the sermon on the mount as if he meant it or the Jesus who blesses America and drives a Hummer and hates fags.
Will the Real Jesus Christ Please Stand Up?
I am whatever you say I am, if I wasn't then why would I say I am?
Whatever will allow you to be convinced by me, that's what I am.
Could I ever be anything else and convincing?
A truly powerful god who really was worthy of the title and concept would not require the help of any men. A true god could write his own word directly, not a few characters scrawled on a palace wall but an entire sacred tome mass-produced in a handy to read form, translated into all languages, including those which have no writing yet, a true god could invent the script too. A true god would not write in ambiguous riddles, parables, myths and allegories but in prose so elegant, precise and unambiguous it would make both poets and lawyers weep. A true god would not allow anything approaching a contradiction to appear in his written word. A true god's written word would never be corrupted. |
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What kind of a god is it who ever requires help from a mere mortal man, and one blinded by faith to boot? Surely such a god would be despicable, not worthy of respect let alone worship. If the universe really is created by a god wouldn't you expect him to feel appalled by the acts that are done in his (imagined) name?