HIS WORD
Summary Presentation
of Humanity's Most Incisive
Picture Ever ›› Read The Book
God and Humanity - Faith and Religion
Certain words, gender, and connotations are used because this is the only understandable human expression. In my thinking, this limitation in grasping is a direct result of humanity's falling for the great lie "...mankind can be like God, knowing good and evil..."; thus the 'Original Sin' that led to separating humans from God and His wisdom. His grace is the only gift that helped us retain what we now have in comprehension and expression.
The Reality
As our world entered the 21st century C.E., there are more than six billion humans/people living on this planet earth. More than half of them do not acknowledge one God, while the rest of humanity claim to believe in a single God, who created all creation.
The first group believes in, and worships all kinds of Gods; and it spreads around the world as its individuals migrate around the world. The great majority of this group of people live in S.E. Asia and the Far East (China, India, and Japan). In a sense, this group dates back to Cain (at least according to the Biblical account) who rejected God's way and followed his own rebellious way.
The second group consists of Jews (who started around 2000 B.C.), Christians (who started about 2000 years later/ago), and Muslims (who started in the 7th century A.D.). All of these claim to believe in the same God (The Creator and sustainer of all creation). They all claim that they follow the faith of Abraham, who was a "Friend of God"; the one whom God used to spread the faith in this Awesome and Holy Creator, an eternal being that has no beginning and no end.
In general, the Jews have always tried to be exclusive and mostly self enclosed; and that did not help make them well accepted by the rest of humanity at any time in their four thousand years of existence/history.
Christians, believe in the same God and faith, but developed a clearer concept of how God deals with the human person and condition, and His purpose of redeeming humanity. This clearer understanding of life came directly from the Only God/Man Jesus The Christ (Anointed One) who lived and taught His disciples before his death and after His resurrection from the dead (as witnessed by hundreds of people, but still rejected by the Jewish religious leadership; thus the Jews still wait for His first coming to this earth according to their prophets). Therefore, 'Christians' always tried to reach out, and share this with all other people on earth; in love and concern for their precious lives. Christ died for 'everyone who believes'.Muslims, under the leadership of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, pursued a path of replacing the worship of idols/other - man made - gods with the worship of the only God (Allah); and the use of force and the threat of 'death by the sword' were justified means so as to maintain the purity of worship of the only living God. This led to Muslims always thinking of others (who resist or reject Islam) as their enemies that need to be hated and fought with zeal; and either converted to Islam, dominated and controlled, or eliminated by all means.
Faith vs. Religion
Based on my first hand observations of many religions and cultures in many countries and societies all over the world during the past forty some years of my life, I have come to the following simple conclusion:
Faith comes as a gift from God, while Religion is man-made
If one examines the facts with no prejudice, he/she will find that true faith is one that truly acknowledges God as The Creator and Sustainer of all life; thus HE looks equally on every human person with compassion and the desire that that person will choose to voluntarily have faith/trust in Him. Moreover, HE expects each person to do the same towards his fellow human beings; regardless of their position or situation.
On the other hand, religion is that human understanding of what is taught about God by other human beings; and usually is their translation of faith into dos and don'ts, i.e. a set of practices and traditions that the group who associate with that religion end up implementing and maintaining with little change in their society.
Therefore, one finds religion to inevitably assign a superior position and value to the group of followers of one set of practices, and another lower position to all other groups of other religions; which reflects the sinful human nature that is exactly the opposite from the holiness of God.
Humanity has been trapped in this earthly existence since Adam and Eve made the choice to believe the lie (of the rebellious devil/Satan and his angels) that God was restrictive in His expectation of them. Thus, every human being since then continues to make the same wrong choice; and ends up allowing evil to impact his/her life, and to separate one person from another in every imaginable way.
The Basic Concept
Religion is supposed to teach people about faith in God, and the relationship between God and the human person; thus the relationship between the human person and the rest of creation (human, animal, plant, etc… including the whole environment).
True faith is based on the fundamental that God is The Creator and Sustainer of it all, and that HE created the human person to care for His creation; thus humanity needs to have a harmonious relationship with The Creator in order to be able to know how to be a good trustee on God's creation, and live in harmony with all creatures.
The human creature is the only creature that God endowed with the creative ability, the ability to think and communicate/express concepts (other than material/earthly); and has the freedom to choose and make decisions. This is what Judaism and Christianity explain as when 'God created the human person in His own image and likeness'.
However, humanity chose to 'try to be like God', i.e. be its own god; instead of to really learn to imitate God to be like Him as HE would have it do. Religion, in effect, continues to promote this attitude/wrong choice; and the leaders in most every religion are humans who seek to become dominant among the group so as to have followers, power, and all that goes with it. There is no religion that is free from this or immune to it, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; which proves the perversion of the 'true faith' that God wants for the human person to have.
Conclusion
God is the only one who has the right to judge. First, it is His creation, and HE (The Almighty, the Great I AM, YHWH) alone knows the innermost motivation of the person and their actions; which usually reflect the decisions that they make and act upon.
Humanity, through its long history of existence on this planet earth has been known to manipulate and try every other means to justify its wrong thinking, decisions, and actions. This, of course, includes inventing religion in order
to facilitate gaining control of the majority by the few. Most often, religion corrupts the faith that it is supposed to present to the world at large.
As we have entered the 21st century of the current era, the time has come for all/every intelligent human beings to really decide for themselves. GOD will hold each one of us accountable for what we choose to believe, and the resulting decisions we make and the life we lead on this earth. The question is: Are you willing to search for the truth, and then make your genuine choice and the commitment it dictates? Or, are you contented to plug on like you have read nothing?