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Astronomers theorize that there are thousands of other civilizations in the universe—and that these civilizations have a ten-thousand year life-span.
Assuming their second supposition is correct; that would mean earth’s people have reached a point. (roughly five thousand years old) where, by any measurable means, we have the intelligence and ability to reorganize our collective way of governing ourselves: both politically and spiritually.
Tragically we have not done this. And any leader, in their political right mind, has ever considered doing things differently. Leaders of any nation never ‘lead the way’ to a new order of things. Their main concern is to keep things the way they are—to keep their power structure intact.
As a civilization our track record is not very good. We have fought wars endlessly with great dedication, but we’ve spent zero time trying to reorganize the way we live. Why?
One could argue we need more time to ‘grow.’ But I believe we are at that point where we know what we should do, but have failed to act upon our knowledge.
For example: A rational concept would be to have a one world government. But we have not done so: Why?
As the earth’s population has grown, ever so slowly, we’ve organized ourselves into nations. (And within the nations are sub-culture ‘tribes’ such as The Boy Scouts, The Masons, Republicans and Democrats.) Binding those tribes together is a never ending process, led by leaders and legislators. (And unfortunately approved by the populace). The most horrendous way tribalism is continued is by warfare and the perceived threat of war. (The truly great Science Fiction writers of our time have not been far off the mark.)
The other major organizations of people on this earth are religions. These religions are also part of the tribal culture mankind has adopted as a way of organizing our societies. They practice tribalism the same as governments do. They contend that their particular ‘organization’ i.e. The Catholic Church, Buddhism, Christianity, are the true faiths.
It is true that in the past forty or so years there has been an attempt on the part of church elders (of most religions) to acknowledge other religions, quite possibly because deep down they know there is only one God. (I believe the reason God spoke to so many different men, Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha, was because the cultures of the earth were separated and spoke different languages.) (That is of course if a ‘God’ really spoke to these men.)
The truth is that religions foster elitism. It may not be so ‘in your face’ as it was fifty years ago, but it’s still there. What churchgoer does not leave his or her church on Sundays saying to themselves, ‘I must learn to be tolerant of other religions, but thank God I have the true faith?’
What if there is only one God. What if the God of Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha and all the other descendants from heaven are simply the same God? (For that matter, what if there is no ‘God.?)’ What if all the faiths of the world are simply man’s craving to understand what existence is?
Leaders (by necessity) need to bind their people to them, and to make their ‘tribes’ special—the best. Within nations bonding is accomplished with ‘symbols;’ our flag, our uniform, our belief system, etc. (We’re better, or at the very least, better off than the other guy.)
Unfortunately by its very nature tribalism keeps us (the human race) from ‘coming together’ as a unified entity.
How can we do away with or modify tribalism? We need to do away with nations and borders: we need a one-world government. Individual nations with borders, rules and regulations cause numerous problems. We also need to bring all the religions of the world under one roof. If we, the human race, are to worship a God, we need to recognize that there is only one God. It doesn’t matter what we call this God, it is the force that created the universe, call it what you will.
To sum up, we need to eliminate tribalism.
This would not make it a perfect world: a perfect world may not be possible. But having a one-world governing body, and bringing all religions under one roof, would make it a better world.
We can accomplish these things. It just takes the vision and will to do them.
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The premise that astronomers believe there are other civilizations and that they have a 10,000 year life span is purely subjective with very little or no evidence of a planet that could sustain life as we know it. These same scientists are the ones that believe the oldest man, found in Nigeria, is 7 million years old. Scientists have found individual fossilized microbes in rocks they claim to be 3.5 billion years old. This would not support the 10,000 year life span.
ReplyDeleteThen the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil. How can we be “at that point where we know what we should do”. We are in two major wars, the economy is failing, people are out of work, India has killed 1000’s and displaced 10s of thousand more, destroyed 1000’s of home and churches just because they believed in Jesus. Soldiers last week in Laos raped a woman and then used her 2 year old baby as target practice until the head was shot off. African Muslims cut off limbs of whole villages just to terrorize the tribes. Are these the people that will pick the “One Man”. “No one is righteous, not even one.”—Romans 3:10”
There is one man that is destined to rule the world and he is coming soon. He will be perfect in wisdom, his judgment will just toward all people, and there will be no dissention, no crime, hatred or tears. Christ will reign for 1000 year and then judgment. Rev 22
Man wants to be good because he was created in God's image with an inward desire to be good, as God is good. Man also wants to worship and serve God because man was created with a spirit within him that is for contacting God; this gives him a desire to seek after God. Wherever you go on the earth, you will always find people worshipping something, whether it is the true God or many false, man-made gods. You can never find any animal worshipping anything, because only man has a spirit that causes an inner seeking to know and worship God. Not having God living inside of him, man still wants to express God. Not knowing God and His intention, man nonetheless wants to worship and serve someone. It is this inner seeking that gives rise to religion.
Most religions, teach people to be good by trying to activate the good nature that is within them. Generally, they teach people to love, to help and not hurt others, to do good deeds, etc. They may even teach various methods of achieving these objectives. Most of these teachings and methods are moral and ethical. At the same time they teach their people to ask God for help. They also promise that God will reward their people if they do well. But there has been a big problem concerning religion -neither the teachers nor the followers can live according to their standards. Although there is a willingness to follow them, there is a lack of ability to do so. This is because sin dwells in the flesh of man, preventing man from living according to such standards. The sinful nature, expressed in selfishness, strife, jealousy, etc., always overtakes man, causing man to fail. Many get frustrated and either look for another religion, from their own new religion, or give up on religion altogether. Religious man is incapable of being absolutely good, and his worship and service can never satisfy God.
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Religions have all different views concerning God and different approaches to God. Most of the time these views and approaches are not according to the revelation of God in His word. Some have the true God, yet their worship and service are not according to His desire. Some have false gods, so it does not matter what rituals they have - they will never arrive at the true God. Each religion describes its "God" or gods as the right one(s), and they are all different. By logic, either they are all false or only one is true. Some people say that they believe God is this way or that way, but God does not change according to people's beliefs. People cannot create their own God according to their concepts. People need to find out who God is and what He wants with man. It is a tragedy that many people give their entire life to false gods. They will end up getting nothing. We must find the one and only true God and establish our relationship with Him.
ReplyDeleteTrue religion does not promote elitism but humility, meekness, patience and yieldness. It does not promote tolerance. If a man is walking on thin ice that cannot support him and you tell him but he denies it, you may say well if that is what you want to believe OK. However you would be responsible for failing to try and save him. The Bible says because of sin mankind is destined to eternal torment in the “lake of fire” - hell. Now what! The Bible tells us he sent his son to earth where he was rejected by those he came to save, was beaten until his vessels and intestines were exposed and nailed to a cross. We are all destined to die for our sins, but Jesus was sinless and died for our sins. Those that accept this gift will have eternal life as part of the family of God now and in heaven. The Word of God says this is foolishness to those that are perishing.
To remove all division of tribes and countries is a very “nice” idea but would have dire consequences. When boundaries are removed the more developed countries become privileged and the others are marginalized. In India where tribal land is destroyed and tribal people move to the city slum dwellers have skyrocketed - “Slums dwellers will triple in 25 years and so will the poverty. Delhi will have four and a half million-slum dwellers.” It is said that the stench is so bad it makes you vomit and that is just at the edge of the slum.
Quote “But having a one-world governing body, and bringing all religions under one roof, would make it a better world. We can accomplish these things. It just takes the vision and will to do them.”?? This would be a disaster. To mix religions is like mixing gasoline and water. As a Christian and the believer of One God to mix with a Hindu that believes in 1000’s of Gods and adds them daily would be an abomination to me and to God. Mixing of religions, is compromise and acceptance. It is like mixing truth, half- truths and lies and treating them with equal merit. Muslim “Books” tell them to kill all that do not believe in Islam and several forms of Islam kill other sects because that don’t believe as they do. They believe in world domination, according to their own laws.