Continued… Are there witches and wizards, principalities and powers, spiritual wickedness in high places, rulers of darkness, etc, etc????!!! Is this a known-known, known-unknown or unknown-unknown? I admit this is sensationalism of sorts. I need you with me. A similar less sensational side of the question from the flow is – Does faith work? Let us consider ourselves as Africans, who did not develop our societies to achieve writing skills and the codification of our history and religious practice development or unification thereof; at least we do not have a Holy Book. In my short time in this life and in this country and continent; I have seen whole scale legalistic adoption of, and emotion laden and violent disputes concerning, Christianity and Islam by majority of people but who nevertheless cannot let go of, or are still inherently influenced by, traditional religious beliefs and practices. I am not talking of the Imam or Pastor that offers sacrifices to “diabolical” powers to succeed. I am talking of the phenomenon where people can place their hands on the Bible/Quran and still lie but will demur from false swearing with an animal horn banded by a red sash, containing native chalk smeared with blood and producing a malodorous stench. Before continuing, let us confront the issue of FEAR, which is truly a major underlying factor and driver in the acceptance of religion and our own pre-occupation with the malevolence of evil forces and their human principals or agents; depending on what you may believe them to be. Capturing it all is the fear of uncertainty which truly is the fear of loss of control or being at the mercy of someone with intent and capacity to cause harm. It also embeds the fear of not getting what you consider your interest and desire. Allying with the all-powerful God or force(s) to insure against his/her wrath and to obtain our interest is the lure of religion stripped naked notwithstanding protestations to the contrary by those would rather not see the naked truth. We can get lost in the analyses of fear and its influence, but point here is to zero-in on the generally accepted truism, and which is to me self-evident, that the “goodness” of decisions is diminished by fear and the diminution increases with volume of fear. Religion, and its instrumentality of fear, is the major hindrance to the advancement of general knowledge about non-physical sciences. I have chosen that phrase to avoid getting bogged down in disputations of classifications - mental, emotional, soul level, spiritual, etc. Science as we know, despite the many and unending inventions, is at its heart the discovery and manipulation of what is – as scientist maintain – matter cannot be created. Physical science has shown that that world is governed by universal laws, like gravity, relativity, etc. (I wasn’t a core science student), from which we infer others and for this discourse – the law of cause and effect. While these laws appear to be temporarily bent (an aircraft in the air) or semi-permanently broken (an object in orbit), we instinctively and logically do not consider these events as making the laws inconsistent. Religion, fear, particularly cocooned in holy books that must remain fossilized in the context of their era of writing, make this area of science – what is – a no go area for general public research. More so, when the attendant obfuscation makes a bountiful harvest for religious organisers, who become powerful and influential thereby. To be continued… GOD WILLING Does the name of Jesus really heal? What of healing rivers and those reputed to give children? Who can give a consistent percentage for answered prayers plus a certifiable context of conditions precedent and during to ensure it?
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 10:16:50 +0000
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