The enforcing of religion

Still in my stark frame of mind:

I believe in the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Joseph—the one true God and Jesus Christ, who he sent, who is our savior.  I say this in a voice that rings, that refuses to be mild and take the world as it is presently coming at me.

Ask me if I believe my God is THE God, the creator, the Father, the Only God – and I will tell you  yes.

Ask me if I wish I could force everyone on earth to believe that same thing, to make them all admit His reality and cause them to obey what I understand to be his law?  And I will tell you, most fervently, no.  No, no, no.

You cannot enforce religion.  Not the way I define the word.  Enforced religion = oxymoron.

Here’s a little thought: if there is a God, and he is an all-powerful being, and he wanted people forced to believe in him – couldn’t he do the enforcing himself?  And if that were the case, why would he have created people so that they are capable of making choices?  Is life just a wild game of nine pins – He sets them up, just for the joy of knocking them down?  Does this even begin to make sense?

So who is this God that is so well-served by bullies, butchers and megalomaniacs?

I want to save the Iranians.  Does that mean I want them to admit that the Christian God is the only God?  NO.  It means I want to build shields around all the nice people in Iran, all the innocent hearts, and keep them from harm.  I want to offer them all the choices I enjoy.  I want them to be free to choose.  That is my idea of saving.

A man who “believes” something because, should it become evident he does not actually believe, he will be put to death or tortured or exiled, does NOT BELIEVE.  He is not converted.  His heart is not, to that thing, true.  He is not changed.  He is not dependable.  He is a chemical bomb, waiting to be shaken in just the right way.

Make a man afraid of going to hell, and he may change his behavior.  The changed behavior may make the world a nicer place for everybody else.  But it is no witness that, should conditions change, the old, nasty behavior might not just come bounding back.

So can you “save” a man from “hell” by terrifying him?  Threatening him? 

And just what does “save” mean, anyway?  Saving the world?  Keeping it from blowing up?  Maybe teaching it how to integrate its peoples so that they don’t harm each other, so that they can take responsibility and feed themselves, and care for each other.

What do I want to be “saved” from?  Myself, sometimes.  From pain and fear and unexpected danger, always.  From sadness, when I don’t deserve to be sad.  From the stupidity of thinking I deserve anything.  I want my regrets to be limited, so that when I have made my best reparation, and I have changed my heart and my behavior to make it so that I will never do the regrettable thing again, I can go on and live a productive life.  I want to be saved from hunger and illness.  I want to be saved from all kinds of physical danger.  And from hurting other people.  I want to be shielded from the violence and shock that comes of people behaving badly, stupidly, cruelly.

So if you have something that will save me from a great deal of the anguish, sorrow, despair, failure, discomfort, regret that I might otherwise run into, you are welcome to offer it to me, and if I accept, to teach me.  But you may not threaten me or push me around or in any way try to force me to accept what you have.  What I end up living through is largely (but not all, factoring in the odd fatal disease and things like drunken drivers) my own responsibility.  If the consequences of my stupidity are going to offer harm to others (like if I was the drunk driver) then make laws that will protect other people from that thing.  But do not tell me what to believe.  And do not seek to take away my free will otherwise.

Yes, I think the world, if each person was willing to take responsibility, to serve, to love, to sacrifice, to work, would be a better place, but NO ONE CAN BE FORCED TO DO THESE THINGS.  Not and make it work.  Hearts have to be changed, or the world doesn’t change.  And the peace thus achieved is stretched like a rubber band.

And all of this has to do with my basic understanding of why we are here: to prove ourselves – to ourselves.  To find out what we are made of.  Not to be heroes or stars or kings or presidents or any kind of remarkable person.  But to live lives of rich color, deep love, earnest and joyful usefulness.  In the end, after we have been presented with a panoply of choices, a hoard, a buffet, a banquet, a tsunami of choices, we will be left with just ourselves – ourselves either surrounded by the things we have chosen – physical things, earth things – that will not pass easily into any other reality.  Or ourselves, deepened, made beautiful and useful and burdened by love and light – all part of the us that will, inevitably pass into other realities.

I am still trying to make sense of evil governments of whatever size – even ones fashioned out of one person in one home.

Not succeeding.