the arrogance of religion.

ajb911: its arrogant of man to claim to know are fully understand god if we did know we would have to use more than 10% of our brain.

calybonos: Not gonna happen. My penis already uses 95% of mine.

ghostgeek: What makes you think that God is that hard to understand? Some old guy sat on a white fluffy cloud. Religion though, that's a whole different matter. Full of holier than thou types intent on getting to Heaven, whatever the cost to anyone else.

Zanjan: "Intent" - yes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

By the way, the 10% brain usage was a hoax from the 70's.

The parent says "Go to your room!" Does the child know his parent? The child fully understands his parent and obeys (if he knows what's good for him). Does the child comprehend the parent? No, he comprehends steely displeasure.

Zanjan: A better question is why people keep confusing religion with human beings.

ghostgeek: An even better question to ask would be why people keep confusing religion with God.

Zanjan: Or better still, why do they confuse God with man?

Zanjan: The order of confusion is reflected in the order of names: Mothers appear to be like "Adam"

Mothers used to name their children by the first thing their eyes landed on after birth; then mothers named them by the spirit of what they saw in their child's eyes. Their clan re-named them when they changed - that is, reached puberty or joined a new religion.

Then mothers named their children after Saints; then mothers named them after famous people or their own parents. Then mothers began inventing names with absurdly unique spellings and pronunciations. When their kids grew up, they paid to have their names changed. These mothers named their kids by the names of countries, exotic tribes, and models of cars.

Now mothers name their kids with dog names and their dogs with people names. I'm not sure of the newest trend but there seems to be more kids called by the name of inanimate objects.

ghostgeek: It's simple. Man created God to rule over Man. It was the only way to bring an absolute reference point into our lives.

Zanjan: Who's the perfect Man then? Actually, I don't know anyone who wants to volunteer for the job of Messiah.

However, I do agree that men tend to create an image of God in their own likeness.

ghostgeek: I know of nobody that is perfect, be it man or God.

Zanjan: You know an imperfect God?

ghostgeek: Yes, the one between the pages of the Bible.

Zanjan: Read by imperfect eyes, of course.

God designed this physical plane to be an imperfect world for every creature in it. Without imperfection, there wouldn't be any purpose or progress.

His divine plan is perfect; His Revelation is progressive, suited to the capacity of the people of the times as they develop.

I heard something on TV the other day that struck me as a great observation by a historian. The ancients, the great builders of their times, referred to themselves as civilizations. However, in modern times, we refer to ourselves as cultures and communities.

This marked difference between the old and the new world order is actually a transitory descriptive. Mankind is moving towards an entirely different kind of civilization on this planet and they haven't agreed on a name for it yet. I think it will be known by the name of an Era.

ghostgeek: If the animals aren't going to Heaven what are they progressing towards?

Zanjan: They don't need to progress because they arrive at their full potential on reaching adulthood. From infancy, they learn how to meet their needs quickly; these are basic and their urges are primal....their ultimate priority is self-survival.

Animals aren't concerned with anything that doesn't directly involve them in their daily life since they have no comprehension of something greater than themselves.

ghostgeek: Yes, but you said God designed this physical plane to be an imperfect world for every creature in it. So what do the animals get out of this state of imperfection?

Zanjan: Food, protection, contentment,happiness, interest. These suffice.

Nature is another expression of the Will of God - just as He makes the wind blow hard and temperatures dip to zub-zero; just as He causes predators to chase and challenges to appear, all these things make them physically tougher and sharper so they can more easily survive and multiply.

Imperfect nature produces a hardened species - that's the perfect plan of God. For humans, it should move them towards a greater challenge - to beauty and strength.

ghostgeek: So the prey run harder and the predators run harder still. In other words, more effort for no gain. That's sure to breed contentment and happiness.

Zanjan: When you stub your toe, do you cry for a month?

The human potential is far greater than that of the animal. While the elements and vicissitudes of existence make humans tough and harder as well, for humans, that hardness is a crude cut, leading to brutishness. God intended him to rise above that limitation.

If humans remain in the animal state, they find no contentment, much anger, sadness, resentment and bitterness. They know they're missing something even if they don't know what it is. Animals don't succumb to those traits but a human, when he's sick, becomes worse than a beast.

A human can only be truly happy when he rises above his lower nature and becomes a man. In his mature state, he recognizes his own reality and understands he needs to learn how to properly express that nobility. This requires education and training.

The human's higher nature is the Spirit of Man, which reflects the Divine Light of Being. Attaining this is heaven.

ghostgeek: Humans don't have a higher nature, just a better brain.

Zanjan: People with really good brains can be reeely stupid sometimes.

ghostgeek: Indeed so Zanjan. Isn't life a bugger.

Zanjan: It's because God doesn't guide the wrong doer. Vision is one thing they don't have access to.

ghostgeek: Seems a dumb ass way of going about things to me Zanjan. If God has any function at all, surely it's to guide the wrong doer?

Zanjan: Er, no - wrong doers just don't listen! God doesn't talk to walls.

You have to want to do right but sometimes just don't know how; the means isn't available for you to make the correct decision. Even when you ask others for guidance, they can't be certain either.

That's when you consult God, asking for His assistance - He'll send shafts of light to your mind and spirit and the way will be made known to you. When you act on it in good faith, confirmations will come, then everyone else will know too. I could give examples but these can be quite personal and possibly create more questions than they answer.