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About the authorPaul Murchison
has been interested in religion and the occult all his adult life, with an
allied interest in rationalism, atheism and humanism. His ultimate aim is to
reach some form of synthesis. The author holds
a B.A. in Social Science, gained over many years as a mature student, and
diplomas in fitness and nutrition. He has had
various articles published in humanist/philosophical journals. Married with no children, Paul enjoys gym work, jogging, reading and going to the footy. Introduction
he title of this book could well
have been, What is God? But I have
chosen to keep things personal as this is the way He is generally perceived
within the Christian religion. Does an entity or force that can somehow be labelled God indeed exist and if so do we possess the intelligence and terminology to come to any meaningful grips with such a concept? If we do not possess these faculties can it be argued that this phenomenon does not somehow exist albeit in a nondescript and ethereal manner? In order to have any understanding of God it is surely imperative that we have a workable understanding of what we are attempting to define. Over the centuries theodicies (or proofs) of God’s alleged existence have been formulated by theologists and philosophers largely in order to show how the former and evil can co exist with no apparent inconsistency. In due course, I will touch on some of these theodicies. Initially, and keeping with the popular Christian definition of God , His attributes must include total cosmic knowledge, perfect goodness, omnipresence, and total power to act as He would wish, a definition that the Scottish philosopher David Hume had considerable trouble with. In proving God’s existence, we cannot content ourselves with claims made by religious people as to why we should believe and the fallacious arguments they may raise to prove their highly contentious points. In logic, this is known as ‘the straw man fallacy’ – i.e. the building up of an argument the premises of which may be logically consistent but factually wrong. For example, the argument, the moon is made of green cheese / therefore the astronauts will have a good source of protein, is valid but certainly scientifically untrue. Conversely, atheistic arguments that simply knock down ‘straw men’ are equally worthless in destroying a belief in God as other better arguments may be forthcoming. However in order to consider God in any depth it will be helpful to eliminate some of the more glaring Christian fallacies. Though many Christians believe they hold a mortgage on God, there are other religions to consider also such as Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and others. Clearly inherent in the Christian faith is the belief in a judgement by God, which will be followed by an afterlife. The issue of death tends to be left obscure in the churches these days with a general weak sort of hope that loved ones have gone directly to heaven though some of the more cultish Christian churches speak of a soul sleep followed directly by the judgement. Quite clearly, there are serious difficulties in rationalizing a multitude of concepts within these realms. The idea of a Heaven of some description is generally an integral part of most religions though not strongly emphasised within Judaism and it is hard to imagine people following the directives of an ineffable vacuous being unless their was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The word ‘ineffable’ seems quite important in any endeavour to form a relationship with God as to know something without knowing comes across as an oxymoron. However, we shall not be deterred by such seeming inconsistencies. The aim of this book is simply to see if God can live up to the general definitions bestowed upon him, and if not, whether there is any other way to get Him off the celestial hook. In other words ‘would a rose by any other name smell so sweet’ or can ‘God’ be redefined in any other way without ceasing to be God. The fact that lay people place quite arbitrary definitions on the alleged perfect master of the cosmos appears very cheeky to me. My approach to this issue will be to make a cursory examination of some historic ideas about God, death, and the afterlife and indicate the massive anomalies within such, not only within the Christian faith but also within other faiths. I firmly believe that theological tripe written and claiming to glorify God does just the opposite and holds the masses to a totally unjustified creed. This all sounds very much as if I will be pushing an atheistic stance. Not so! Where theistic arguments appear anything like reasonable they will be given due consideration. Likewise, the atheistic position will not be given carte blanche to explain away the Universe. Who is this God indeed? Chapter 1 - Some Early Concepts
any of us are held in awe by the
complexity of Nature and our place in the cosmos. From the beginning of time
humans looked to meanings whether from fire, the seasons, sex, the stars, sun,
moon, plants other creatures and a host of other phenomena. Life has never been simple even on the most mundane level, much less in terms of an infinite universe. Even the cave dweller in his hunt for food simply to survive may have possessed the capacity to observe the stars on a cloudless night and within his limited capacity instinctually wonder in some very small way at his role and genesis. As history progressed over millennia and language and clans evolved, so did communication, leadership and further wonderment. Pagan religions, observing the effects of the seasons on crops, began to worship nature spirits represented by the sun, the moon, earth, streams, and all phenomena associated with the environment. For thousands of years Goddesses were very much in vogue and archaeological digs have discovered artefacts of these thought to be twenty five thousand years old. In this Palaeolithic period, it is most probable that reverence was largely due to the woman’s ability to reproduce rather than any other virtues, though of course not many women were given the honour. The cult of the Goddess was to remain for many thousands of years within this prehistoric period. At this time the old testament God or Yahweh was still many years down the track ( at least from an historic perspective) and women are thought to have maintained considerable power around this period, such as the Egyptian Goddesses of fertility Isis a fertility god; while in Greece the Goddess of love was Aphrodite. We should note that in these far distant times, myth and truth were greatly intertwined and the extreme potency of religious belief remained quite vague and ill defined. In ancient Egyptian mythology, Charon
Lord of the Dead carried bodies across the river The common notion of one all-powerful God was to develop in the progress of the Jewish faith and their belief that they were God’s chosen people. Here God becomes a serious rule giver and liberator to an oppressed people seeking status and liberation. The Egyptians had held the Jews in servitude for a great many years and the time was ripening for escape or exodus which takes its roots in ‘communication’ between God and Moses who he orders to commence negotiations, “let my people go”, over a period of time. During this period, God devises a series of unpleasantness directed towards the Egyptians to hasten their demise but they stubbornly resist. The Israelites were looking for guidance; they had been held captive for four hundred and thirty years and were not concerned with nuances relating to the essential meanings attached to the word ‘God’. God adopts a variety of methodologies to intimidate the Egyptians. The land was covered with frogs, flies and lice but the Egyptians stood firm under such appalling circumstances. God in all his omnipotence was obliged to try several other ploys. All Egyptian cattle was destroyed, but not one belonging to the Israelites, and hail destroyed all crops as God seemingly indulged in an egocentric power play, but still Pharaoh would not let God’s people go despite always giving assurance that he would do so. It came to pass that God finally sickened of this continuous battle with Pharaoh; He had become fed up of “hardening Pharaohs Heart” and decided to terminate the whole sorry situation. The Passover, which initiated an ongoing
Jewish festival, would see the Hebrews liberated from The first-born of every of man and every
creature, animal as well as human, was to be killed as the spirit of God crossed
over Strangely, God (was He really omniscient?) would require every Hebrew family to smear their homes with the blood of a sacrificial lamb in order that God might pass over that house and leave all their first born alone. Finally, Pharaoh was obliged to let Gods people go. The great exodus began with the Israelis filling their coffers with Egyptian spoils and their newfound liberation was a smooth one but the battle of Gods favoured people as they ventured forth into the wilderness was far from over. As liberator extraordinaire, Moses and
his brother and God appointed mouthpiece Aaron were subjected to considerable
criticisms from their followers. Food became very short and there was fear of
dying in the desert. There was no water and the liberated Hebrews wished they
were back under the domination but relative safety of life in Undoubtedly the most amazing event that
took place over this period was the attempt by Pharaoh (he was a very slow
learner) to send hundreds of soldiers in chariots to kill or recapture the
fleeing Israelites. In this instance, God really excels Himself by providing a
path between the At this point, it may be appropriate to make some analysis of God, here, as perceived either literally or allegorically. In what sense can we make any sense? Let us remember that this is not only the Jewish God but also the Christian God and in a sense the God of Islam. The description of God in Exodus suggests jealousy, egocentricity, cruelty, impotence, vanity, revengefulness, capriciousness and other negative traits hardly in keeping with the present concept we hold of a just and loving God. In fact, all of these traits seem better suited to humans, especially those living in primitive times and embarked on a great pioneering adventure. Rather than try to move Pharaoh, God chooses to goad him, play games and indulge in magic tricks with opposing wizards. He is quite capricious, in that his numerous and grotesque attacks on the Egyptian people are directed upon all and sundry, including farm animals. He is jealous of other Gods and wants to be known as the most powerful God. His people have been especially chosen by Him and He would smite all competing factions. Also, he seems somewhat less than omniscient. Why, otherwise would He require the Hebrews during the Passover to smear their homes with lamb’s blood in order that He might recognize His own people? This section at least of the Old Testament sounds like a ridiculous fairy tale and it is difficult to read into it any morally worthwhile directive. We might argue that God showed persistence and patience in dealing with Pharaoh a factor that does not really inspire. The shock and awe of His crazed and prolonged indulgences against the Egyptians is indicative of the powers of a crazed psychopath rather that a phenomenon epitomising ‘Love’. I am reminded here of a poem by Thomas Hardy several thousand years later. We
wonder ever wonder, why we find us here! Has
some vast Imbecility, Mighty
to build and blend But
impotent to tend, Framed
us in jest and left us to hazadry? Or
come us of an Automaton Unconscious
of our pains?… Or
are we live remains Of
head dying downwards, brain and eye now gone? Or
is it that some high Plan betides As
yet understood, Of
Evil stormed by Good We
the Forlorn Hope over which Achievement strides? Thus
things around. No answerer I… Meanwhile
the winds and rains And
earth’s old gloom and pains Are
still the same and Death and glad Life neighbour nigh Natures
Questioning. Thomas Harding appears to have been engaged in some serious soul searching. Not only does he question God’s omnipotence, he also wonders if it could exist beyond the world we inhabit. It is interesting that one of the ‘proofs’ for God’s existence is claimed to be found in the beauty and uniformity of nature. Here the religious apologist seems to ignore life’s natural disasters such as erupting volcanoes, landslides, floods, droughts, wildfires and other ugly forms of destructiveness. Sir Thomas Aquinas claimed that earthquakes were a product of homosexuality. As the Israeli people seek enlightenment in the desert post Exodus, the God who has chosen them shows little sign of becoming more virtuous. Moses has ascended to the mountaintop for further negotiations with God and once again, the people become restless, seemingly unable to think for themselves. They turn to the High Priest, Moses’ brother Aaron desirous of something substantial to worship. Aaron strips them all of their ear rings (stolen no doubt from the Egyptians), melts down the gold and creates a calf of gold to be worshipped seemingly as representing God, who as one might expect flies into a violent rage, as does Moses. The result here is the slaughter of three thousand Israelis as a redemptive act towards Yahweh. The pleasant savour from burning animal flesh had obviously not appeased his lusts. The Old Testament is a huge collection of ancient Jewish history and the alleged divine guidance of God as expressed through Moses and other prophets. Exodus makes up a very small part of The Old Testament and while its portrayal of God is less than flattering, we need to look at the situation in the correct perspective. Judaism evolved, in part, from writings contained herein and this obviously entailed an evolving wisdom as the Hebrews sought some meaning to life as they trekked through the desert. The fact that the God of Exodus appears naïve, cruel, judgmental and barbaric does not exclude the possibility that great wisdom will not be found elsewhere and quite obviously such wisdom is to be found and can be attributed to a belief in God, irrespective of whether such an entity exists or does not exist. Wisdom can evolve simply through trial and error; then again, the possibility of a higher creating entity cannot be denied or ignored. The ‘God concept’ is painfully unclear. By considering ideas about God as depicted in Exodus and other holy writ, we can merely tinker with the idea in terms of infinity, after life, moral requirements and indeed the possibility of the subject matter in question. Proofs of God’s existence are often formulated from the perspective of an established religion or one of their many offshoots or cults; hence, ‘He’ is ensconced within dogmas appertaining to His very nature. To use an analogy, in order to identify a body buried in sand, the sand obscuring the body needs to be removed. It appears to me that the nebulous nature of God’s existence or non-existence will remain obscure if the very definition of God is found wanting in the first place. In other words, ‘removal of sand’ will not reveal a man, if in fact, underneath lies a horse. Click on the cart below to purchase this book:
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