Will the True God of Abraham, Please Stand Up
Part 1
When I was a young teen of 15 years of age, I was subjected to an inquisition at the religious high school I attended. No, it was not a Catholic high school. It was a Seventh Day Adventist high school in California. How I ended up in this boarding school is a story of the bullying of a mother who felt overwhelmed that her daughter wanted to live with her, not her father’s family.
My overwhelmed mother had my brother living with her. And now here I came. I say this because this is why she agreed to send me away to boarding school. A child sent off to a boarding school is an old story, isn’t it? Yes. I was one of those kids. And I am the wiser for it.
Of course, it effected me, psychologically, in many ways. But I was then, as I am now; able to roll with the punches.
The religious harassment I experienced there, from these followers of the god of Abraham, gave me insight into people and their religions. The experience influenced me to take on the life long practice, of the study of religions, and mythology.
Let’s get this question out first. No, I am not an atheist. Nor even an agnostic. I am more gnostic, deist, and polytheistic, because I find it absurd that there is just this one deity out there all on his own, except for the angels. So the monotheists, to me, are, well, methinks they lie to themselves. That is not a condemnation.
All the stories we have about deities developed long before there were civilizations. Or writing, for that matter. There is a theory among people who study the ancients, that the oldest stories are about 6000 years old. That would take us back to the early civilizations in Egypt, China, the Steppes and Mesopotamia. I would argue the stories are much older because they deal with such questions as creation itself. Indeed, the Bible’s story on the origins of humans is based on oral traditions.
Since we have art from the Hunter-gatherer period, I suggest that they also had storytellers. Because what does one do with those long winter nights? Sleep for 12 hours? You can say, well, they had sex, but that takes 30 minutes. What do you do with the other 11.5 hours? Right, you tell stories before bed time. And drink a little beer or wine, or munch on an herb that sends you into another place inside your head. If you’re camping on the plains somewhere, that vast sky of stars makes a person wonder. And then, someone will tell a story.
I won’t get into the theory I have about where these stories originated. Because the creation stories do have a theme to them that seems universal. Well, to learn that theory, you will have to wait until the next book, Don’t Do Dumb Stuff, comes out, next year.
All stories on a god or gods, are developed by human beings to answer many questions. Some of the questions are no longer asked, because people are either believers, non curious skeptics, or atheist. The atheists grow in numbers every time HAMAS, or any other Islamic fanatic, gets an itchy finger. It is a modern idea, that religious wars are ridiculous. Back in the day, it was considered okay for people to get into wars over their god.
Religious wars are a product of monotheism. There are five monotheistic religions: Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam. Gnostics and Muslims were both influenced by the previous three. Gnostics, considered heretics by the Christians, respect all religions, without prejudice. Indeed, Christians think anyone not of their particular faith, is a heretic. And therein lies the problem. Though the other two religions hold the one god as God, nonetheless, to the Christian it is the dogma that counts, not what you call the deity: Adonai/God/Allah.
One of the best origin stories of monotheism, is the one about Abraham. He is the founder of the Jewish nation, which gave us Jesus, which gave us Christianity. The story of Abraham is broken down into episodes. It reads like a novel. Abraham was an older dude when Adonai told him he would be the father of nations. Abraham was a bit skeptical because of his age, and the age of his wife, Sarah. Indeed, Sarah laughed at the idea. Being a good wife, Sarah told Abraham to take her handmaiden, Hagar, and have a son by her. Which, in those days, was a perfectly legitimate thing to do. Hagar did have a son, Ishmael.
Adonai wasn’t too happy with this decision. And, is usual, there was trouble in the house because Hagar had a son, and Sarah didn’t. Things got so bad, that Hagar and Ishmael were sent away. And then Sarah had a son, Isaac.
It is this first son, Ishmael, that the Arabs claim as their ancestor. Therefore, they too claim Abraham as well. It is logical, that Muhammed would then claim the same prophets if he wants to borrow from the Jews and Christians.
The Brittanica Encyclopedia, states it thus:
“…Muhammad is considered the last of a series of prophets (including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, and Jesus), and his message simultaneously consummates and completes the “revelations” attributed to earlier prophets.”
Meaning, Muslims claim their god is the Hebrew/Christian god, the one, and only, god.
The other monotheists, the Zoroastrians, have their own god, and, aside from the Zoroastrians, only the Gnostics recognize their prophet, Mani, as the genuine article. However, the Zoroaster people are not out their promoting their religion. The Gnostics, along with the Zoroastrians, are not into saying their god is the god, and all the rest of the folks are either pagans or heretics. That means the other three monotheists are causing most of the issues on this planet.
It is true the Hindus will fight the Sikhs, and the Hindus and Sikhs can get pushy with the Muslims. However, that is confined, mostly, to their own back yard. The trouble in the West begins with the idea that the monotheists think their personal god is the one true god, and your gods cannot hold a finger to their god. And you are a heathen if you do not recognize their god.
Gee, what could go wrong with this attitude?
Only wars and inquisitions, burning people at the stake, and harassing a 15 year old girl, without her having any advocate present, inquiring into her religious beliefs, and generally, bullying her. What an adult thing to do!
I told my inquisitors that I hated them. I don’t think they expected that out of me. But now I thank them for revealing to me the true nature of their dark souls. I learned many things that day I will never forget. All this over taking a drink of booze on a Saturday night in the dorm, convinced me the Gnostics have a truth that cannot be denied.
All sorts of human suffering has been perpetrated by religious zealots. From the Cathars to the World Trade Center, people committing murder in the name of their one true god, is an act of cowardice, barbarism and psychopathy.
A god that tells you, “Have no fear, for I am with you,” is not a god that requires you to run around with a gun in one hand, and a Bible, or Quran in the other. Those actions are not only heresy, they are the actions of psychopaths. And their co-religionists, need to call them out on those terms. The leaders of HAMAS, are psychopaths. The leaders of Hezbollah, are psychopaths. The Saudi Wahhabi leaders, are psychopaths. The leaders of Iran, are psychopaths. Indeed, if anyone needs to be given a few billion to arm themselves against an enemy, it is the good people of Iran, so that they can mount a true revolution over the mad men that rule their nation.
When I stated that the members of the three big monotheistic faiths worship the same, “one and only god” a few individuals became put out with me. This is so, because Islam is the bad boy in the school yard. So the other two, Jews and Christians, deny that Islam belongs to their extended, Abrahamic family. Each of these faiths have a past that they want to distance themselves from. Especially Christians who have been killing people in the name of Jesus Christ for hundreds of years. To their credit, Christians have, mostly, gotten over their murderous ways. Likewise, most followers of Muhammed have no interest in the conversion of the world to their religious ideals. Nonetheless, the Muslims recognize they worship the same one, the only god, as the Jews and Christians. And that would be the God of Abraham.
When Muhammed was alive, (570-632 AD) he would hang out with Jews and Christians. He admired both faiths because of their morality. The Arabia that Muhammed was born into, was a madhouse of tribal warfare, with each tribe feeling superior to the other tribes. Thieving from another tribe’s commercial activities, like raiding their caravans, was considered okay, because everyone did it. To his credit, Muhammed wanted to put an end to this way of life. Like many a leader before him, he understood that to unify a people, they needed to share a moral code. Back in those days, moral codes had gods attached to them. Muhammad attached the God of Abraham to his code.
I would remind both Jews and Christians, that their “jealous God” wants every human soul on the planet to worship him. I do have this sneaking suspicion, that He is not too happy with the followers who judge His other followers. That too is a heresy. No matter the dogma written by humans, God calls the shots. And good people everywhere are good to go to heaven.
Are the standards of conduct different from one monotheistic religion to the other? Depends on the location. The Iranians and Saudis are truly rigid in the application of their code. That they have a nasty attitude towards women is the most obvious part of their code that is repulsive to thinking people everywhere. Nonetheless, it is based on an ancient attitude that is as Western as it is Middle Eastern. I refer to the myth of Pandora and her urn.*
It all adds up to “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”
In regards to the latest conflict in the Middle East, defending against an aggressor is a moral course of action. Because warmongers are immoral. Period. And this is especially so when they aggress in the name of a god that is worshiped by others of the relative faiths.
The God of Abraham is the god of the Middle East. He is the god of Christians, Jews and Muslims. If He is all powerful, then I say we let Him take care of the problem in the Middle East. Jews, Christians and Muslims can pray, wherever they are in this world, that their god steps in. And all these other nations, can step out of the process. Stop interfering, which only prolongs the conflict.
There, you have it; the call to action for those of you who follow the Abrahamic faiths. Let your God of Abraham handle this. As the adage goes, let go, and let God…
*I address this myth and its meaning in Don’t Do Dumb Stuff.