To return to Francis Bacon, he once opined, “They are ill
discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.”[1] Believers would offer advice to
Atheists and Agnostics alike that God exists, whether seen or not, whether
desired or not, whether considered proven or not. Argument to the
contrary is just a distraction from a reality which will unfold as undeniable
truth on a future day of joy for some, deep regret and horror for others.
A great many people need not await the Day of Judgement to
entertain such a conclusion, for all people faced with insurmountable trials
find themselves drawn to belief, for when faced with desperate circumstances,
Who else do people instinctively call upon other than God? Although few
make good on the promises of fidelity made at such moments of desperate appeal,
the evidence of the oath remains long after the promises to God are cast aside
to lie neglected in the gutters of the memory.
Can anybody help the insincere? Very likely not.
The concept of recognizing God and living in satisfaction of His commandments
only when, and for as long as, it suits one’s purpose, demonstrates an
unwillingness to submit on God’s terms. Take, for example, St. Augustine ’s pathetic
prayer, “Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo. (Give me
chastity and continency—but not yet!)”[2] Here’s the prayer of a ‘Saint?’
who on one hand was praying to God, and on the other hand wasn’t ready to leave
the houses of prostitution, to the compromise of his sexual incontinency.
Compare this with the exemplary lives of the disciples of Jesus, who are
reported to have deserted infinitely more honorable pursuits when called to
follow Christ Jesus. These men left their worldly priorities, such
as their livelihood of fishing and their obligation of burying the dead, when
the truth came to them, without delay to a time of greater personal
convenience. The religious might be inclined to comment, “Wow!
Those are my kind of guys!” The more important understanding, however, is
that those appear to be God’s ‘kind of guys.’
Of course, that was then and this is now. In the
present age prophets walk on water, heal lepers, and bid mankind to follow only
in the imaginations of those with a view to history. All the same, a lot
of people still seek the truth of God and, once recognized, will follow
immediately, regardless of the sacrifice required. But first, they must
know the truth with certainty.
So what’s the problem? Simply this: information has
never been so readily available, and yet (on the surface at least) never so
confusing and religiously obstructive. Most people have been raised with
the intellectual tools to root out and identify the inconsistencies and fallacies
of the religions predominant within their exposure. Sincere seekers log a
certain depth of experience in discrediting various faiths, a few of which are
truly twitty cults, but the majority of which are sects claiming to be based
upon some version of the Old or New Testaments, but in fact diverging from the
balanced and fundamental teachings found therein. After a while, one sect
begins to look very much like the others, many times with only shallow
doctrinal differences, and almost always with the same questionable
foundation. Most such sects have evolved to a modern conglomerate of
truths, half-truths (or in other words, half-lies) and solid unadulterated
deception. The problem is, mixing truth with falsehood is like mixing
beauty with ugliness -- it doesn’t work. Any one particular religion is
either entirely truthful or to some degree impure. And since God doesn’t
error -- not even once -- if people can’t trust one element of that which is
presented as revelation, how can they know which teachings can be
trusted? Furthermore, many of the religious have difficulty conceiving
that God would leave humankind to hang the hereafter on an impure understanding
of Him.
The problem screams in the doctrine-stuffed ears of man that
a person cannot mix truth with falsehood and continue to consider the blend to
originate from God any more than a person can mix loveliness and ugliness and
continue to win beauty pageants. Place a single, hairy, multilobulated
mole (not a beauty mark, but a trueugly mark) smack dab in the middle of
any picture of facial perfection and what does a person get? Pure,
unadulterated ‘Angelic’ beauty? On the contrary, the end result is the
all too human reality of beauty marred.
Place the tiniest of falsehoods in a religion, which is
reported to be from a perfect and flawless God, and what is the result? A
lot of sincere people walking, for one. But for those who wish to hang on
to the canon of a flawed belief system, apologists assume the role of religious
cosmetic surgeons. These apologists may succeed in smoothing the uneven
surface of scripture by way of doctrinal dermabrasion, but anybody with depth
of insight recognizes that the foundational genetics remain faulty.
Consequently, while some see straight through the lame attempts at excusing the
absurd, many follow anyway.
Amongst those who do choose to embrace a faith, many arrive
at their choice by throwing up their hands in frustration and chosing whatever
religion suits best or, at the very minimum, offends least. Some file a
telepathic communiqué with God to the effect that they are doing the best they
can, others rest comfortably on insecure conclusions. Many become
Agnostic with regard to all doctrinal faiths, pursuing an internal, personal
faith for lack of exposure to a doctrinal belief which is pure and consistently
Godly.
Refusal to compromise belief in a perfect and infallible God
for a ‘settle for’ religion possessing shaky foundation and demonstrable
doctrinal weaknesses is understandable – respectable even. After generations
of distracting family traditions, centuries of confounding cultural
misdirection, and a lifetime of prejudiced propaganda, many Westerners have
become spiritually immobilized. On one hand the concept of a pristine,
pure religion devoid of adulteration, corruption and, in short, the grimy and
fallible hand of religion-engineering man is much sought after, but elusive to
Western consciousness. On the other hand, many see too clearly the
inconsistencies of any present day religion founded on that with which the West
is most familiar—namely the Jewish and Christian Bibles. Some may remain
trapped within the narrow confine defined by the horn-tips of this
dilemma. Others look deeply into Biblical scriptures and recognize that
as the Old Testament predicted the coming of John the Baptist, Christ Jesus and
one remaining prophet, so did Christ Jesus predict a prophet to follow
himself—one who would bring a message of truth to make all things clear.
Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, and a variety of other Christian
sects claim to fulfill this prophecy with the founder of their flavor of
belief. Many others are skeptical and still searching. It is for
the latter that this book has been written.
Copyright © 2007 Laurence B. Brown; used by permission.
The above excerpt is taken from Dr. Brown’s forthcoming
book, MisGod’ed, which is expected to be published along with its sequel, God’ed.
Both books can be viewed on Dr. Brown’s website, www.Leveltruth.com. Dr. Brown can
be contacted at BrownL38@yahoo.com
Footnotes:
[1] Bacon,
Francis. Advancement of Learning. I.vii.5.
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