THE BRIDGE OF TRUTH
The evolution of religion into Proligion is necessary for world peace. Proligion is simply the name for people of good mind and good will uniting to save the human race by building a better world and better human relations, not destroying the world or us because of religious differences.
We have to become a mature race and go beyond the stage of killing each other due to our beliefs. Let us try for unity of purpose through our knowledge.
The power of reason places us above other animal species, but at the same time, it is our worst enemy. My beliefs are true and yours are not. That is the dialogue. Instead of working together with what we know, we fight because of what we believe, and everyone should know knowledge is certainty, beliefs could be true or false. If the insects inherit the Earth, it will be because the most rational of the species acted irrationally, like undeveloped teenagers.
Notice that to be a person of good will, the agent of good actions in the world, a human being needs a good mind. You may think you are doing the right thing, but if you are a fanatic with a mind indoctrinated by those around you and by false ideas contained in what you call a sacred book that cannot be questioned, you are not a person of good will. Why? Because you may hate others who do not think like you and in the worst of cases do them harm, even committing murder and all kinds of atrocities in the name of the god you believe in.
A good God would never ask any of us to kill our human brothers and sisters to demonstrate our belief or show our loyalty.
This could be a peaceful planet even if there were a million religions in the world, that is, if all of them included democratic people who minded their own business and went along in life not bothering or fighting other people because of their religion, but this is not the case.
Limiting this essay to just the Western religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, in modern times the only religion trying to dominate all others and establish itself as ruler of the human race by bringing about a caliphate and imposing Sharia law is Islam. Not all Muslims think that way, but the fanatic fringe do.
Muhammad told them he was the prophet of God, and they believe it because he claimed to be visited by angels.
You do that. Go tell people something like that and see if they believe you. We must believe that God is a rational being who decides to give different messages to different individuals, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. What was God's purpose to create confusion and enjoy himself watching how the Muslims, the Jews and the Christians fight each other?
That is not the true God, one who creates conflict and division among his children.
To get to Proligion, one needs to cross the Bridge of Truth, examining everything one has been taught since being a child, and as a child would, starting at zero and looking at everything with fresh eyes and a fresh mind.
I started crossing that Bridge in the 1970's. Eventually, I stopped being a catholic and became an Ercian. It was not easy, to let go of many things I believed in, but I had to arrive at the Truth through my own mind, not the minds of the men and women called prophets or messiahs.
What I found out crossing the Bridge is that the Ultimate God, the eternal, the one I call ERC, is not a person. You can find my arguments for reaching that conclusion in my book "Ercian Testament" or in my website ercian.org.
If my logic is sound and I am right, then the Ultimate and True God has never uttered a word because ERC is not a thinking being. ERC is infinite space, eternal time, and all the energy-matter that exists.
If so, then no so-called sacred book contains "The Word of God," not the Torah, not the Bible with the New Testament, and not the Koran. These books can still be honored because they address the hopes and aspirations of millions of human beings dealing with life's problems and yearning for God, for the Source that brought us here.
As children and young adults, we believe the incredible stories in religious books because we choose to, because we want to believe, but there comes a time when we have to cross the Bridge of Truth if we want to be a mature race, one destined for the stars and space exploration.
Do I believe Moses received the ten commandments from God? No, but he was a leader of his people and established order in his society by spelling out rules of behavior. That was a good, civilized thing to do.
Do I believe an angel came to Muhammad to make him God’s prophet? No, but Muhammad was a leader of his people and galvanized them with his words, assuming authority from God, an authority he did not have.
If you read the Koran, he tells his people many times that if they don’t do what he says, they will go to Hell because that is God’s Will. He is God’s prophet. He speaks for God.
This is false and wrong. I say this with all sincerity and due respect for the faithful, but the Truth is that no living being speaks for ERC, the Ultimate and True God.
What about Christ? What about Jesus, the god of my first 30 or 40 years of life? Do I believe he walked on water? No. Do I believe he made miracles, such as converting water into wine, multiplying the fish, curing the blind or bringing to life someone who was actually dead? No. Do I believe Jesus resuscitated from being dead? No.
Why do I think this way, because I am a cynic? No, I think this way because there is one thing I know for certain, that there are no brokers or intermediaries between my mind and God. The mind that God gave me tells me there are physical laws in the universe, and I have never seen or heard credible verified accounts of those kinds of miracles happening.
All the birds fly and all the fish swim, but no fish can fly for a considerable height or distance. So, it is very hard for me to believe that out of all members of our species, one was given the power to do miracles.
What good did those miracles do after Jesus died, supposing he had done them. Except for people becoming Christians and having faith in him, we were all left to our own human devices, doing things only with the powers we all naturally have. In my opinion, tales of miracles were propagated by the disciples to attribute to Jesus authority from God, an authority he did not have but this was assumed beneficial for the acquisition and conversion of followers.
Was Jesus the only begotten son of God? In reference to ERC, the answer is no. We are all children of ERC. However, as an Ercian, I also believe in a Personal God and Holy Self which is Consciousness and I call ELLAEL. Unlike ERC, whose concept I have logically arrived at, ELLAEL is a product of my faith whom I hope is real.
If so, and if existing in the form of an entity somewhere, then it is possible Jesus could be special to ELLAEL, perhaps even considered a son, but this is all speculation on my part and probably wrong because there have been many other good people in history whose exemplary lives may have merited the title of son or daughter of God.
Because the New Testament was written years after Jesus died, I do not know how much it is true about the accounts of his life. Of course, photographs and videos did not exist at that time, so what we read in the Bible is hearsay. What I retain from Jesus and my catholic teachings are the golden rule and a spirit of sacrifice especially for the benefit of those I love.
Because I am far from perfect, I hope for forgiveness of my sins as I forgive others, but there are limits dealing with people who are committed to evil, saying or doing things that are unforgivable from my perspective. For them to be forgiven, they must first face our courts of Justice, serve their sentences, show remorse and ask God for forgiveness.
Regarding the forgiveness of sins, Christian doctrine says that Christ died for our sins and that our sins will be forgiven if we just believe in "Him," (the capital H is because they think Jesus is God, which is not true) but because we must be responsible and accountable for our actions. I dislike the idea of someone else paying for my sins, even with the best of intentions.
In Jesus case, however, I would have to accept the forgiveness of my sins by making him my God, one of the Trinity, and I cannot do that because it would be committing idolatry. If Jesus was and is a good soul, I would love him for all eternity, but I worship God only.
In my case, as an Ercian, I worship ERC, who being a concept that encompasses all of Reality and not a being, has no idea of my worship, and Ellael whom I worship conditionally, provided ELLAEL really exists, and provided ELLAEL is a good conscious spirit or entity that loves all human beings, male and female, equally.
Another thing that I will not do according to Christian doctrine is love my enemies, which I define as those who want to harm me or my family. The world is a two-way street. I will do my best to treat others with respect and decency, and I expect the same thing in return. Disagreements can be worked out among people of goodwill but when one of the parties is dishonest and has evil intentions, then conflict is unavoidable.
What I have related to you was part of my thinking process as I crossed the Bridge of Truth on the Road to Proligion. It was a long journey. As of now, I cannot think of anything else to say to you, except regardless of your religion or lack of one, crossing the Bridge is good for one's mental health because the worst thing one can do is lie to oneself.
You may lie to others for many reasons, because you are ashamed of something you did or for some other reason, but when you lie to yourself no one can help you bring to light the false ideas or the incorrect reasoning behind them. Let us live and let live, in Peace.
Joseph Marchante
Copyright © 2024 Joseph Marchante. All Rights Reserved.
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AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.COM: My "ORIGINAL" religion and philosophy are spelled out in the book "Ercian Testament" with the subtitle "The Teachings of Proligion and Ercian Philosophy."
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