god or God?
god: Any supernatural being, worshipped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life or who is the personification of a force.
God: The supernatural being, conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe.
I first learnt the difference during a General Paper class in Junior College as my teacher showed off some random guys essay and his “understanding” of the difference. Call me an agnostic but few will refute that while we can have full faith in God or god, we can never truly understand “its” nature. 65% of the world is Christian, Muslim or Hindu and they all believe in the same thing that has different names, for various reasons. Some find solace, while others find strength. Some seek answers while others demand explanations. Most simply need something to blame/credit.
We all desire a blissful life, or want to get as close to it as we can. So we turn to religion, which provides us with a set of rules to follow, to help us. We are in constant search for the truth; but truth is something we merely associate with“convenience, with what most closely accords with self-interest and personal well being or promises best to avoid awkward effort or unwelcome dislocation of life.”(Freakanomics) So then who is truly god and of what use is religion?
Christians believe in evangelism, which is the advocacy of the gospel (books that tell the story of Christ’s life and teachings). Interestingly, I am told, that those who don’t believe in Christianity will go to hell. Muslims accept polygamy. But more relevant to the rest of us is the concept of Jihad, which is suppose to be a holy war waged by Muslims against infidels. While its also defined as a personal struggle by a Muslim for a moral or spiritual goal, its former meaning is what makes the headlines more often. Hindus embrace the concepts of karma, reincarnation and all that follows. Some even practice vegetarianism. Then there were those who practised sati (widow burning) and agni pariksha (test by fire) among other prejudices against women in the name of religion. So where does all this put us on the big picture? When do we start asking the difficult questions? How do we start challenging our centuries old beliefs, assumptions and concepts? “Dharmha Matibhya Udgritaha” is a famous line from The Mahabharata (a sacred epic Sanskrit scripture). It translates into, “religion or consciousness of duty, is one that is dictated by intelligence”. Need I say more?
Empty your cup, challenge conventional thinking; the divide we find today is not in religion, it’s in the thinking…there is no race bigger than humanity, and no religion bigger than love…
“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” - Abraham Lincoln
A lot of the inspiration came from long engaging discussions with friends at the weirdest of times...
My buddy, Joshua (Christian), with whom I obviously at had a good deal of discussions during my 10 month stay with him!
Khairy (Muslim) and I had a long chat on religion at OBS!
Yee Kiat (Free-thinker) who had many random conversations with me. How a conversation lead from girls to religion and vice versa, we still don’t know!
2 comments:
Ahhh, great! This is another imperishable topic for discussion when gossips are scarce. We do still like to talk about religion even though we cant really define it, explain it or truely understand it (come on guys, admit it.)
You wanted us to challenge our old beliefs and concepts. But I guess this challenge will likely be futile. Why does Christians believe in procreation? While they have got their reasons, Darwin's explanation of his theory of evolution sounds so plausible. What comes first...? The egg or the chicken? Guess we'll never know.
Nevermind about seeking the "truth" or "the meaning of life". The dividing world is the one in peril. However, what is dictating the divsion of our motherly earth is not, in my opinion, religion(or rather, different "Gods"). From that, I shadnt go further into what I think is the mastermind of this division. Its another topic which I actually prefer to talk about(its more real and applicable to us).
Religion is actually a sophisticated tool. Alot of things are said and done in the name of religion(or God), be it good or bad.
Back to the topic of gods, I am here speaking on behalf of the agnostics, the answer to whether gods exist is not a "I dont know" but rather, a "I cant know."
Thanks for your time.
Hey Zheng Wei,
First of all thank you for YOUR time to share with us your insights..I must say I am surprised and it brought me to post a comment on my own blog for the first time...Its such comments and sharings that I have been longing for ever since I have started writing...I like a lot of things you said but its your last line that put a smile on my face, it was like hitting a bulls eye as I huffed and puffed about the issue. Well I wont go into a discussion about the topic, leave it for another time..
but thanks for your contribution once again. Much appreciated.
Cheers.
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