History is extremely blunt and unforgiving in its documented portrayal of individuals and institutions, including those individuals and institutions of the religious persuasion. Sometimes it needs to be blunt and unforgiving. We cannot change history but we should learn from it in a positive way.
My intent, as I bring some of that history to our attention, is to use it only as a source of documentation and to remind us of what has happened in the past. There will be no mean spiritedness, or bigotry in my presentation of the history you will be reading here.
I do not consider myself anything more than the most amateur of authors. Although I enjoy literature you will find that my skills in composition and continuity are at times somewhat lacking. When you encounter any of those fragmented literary moments I ask you to overlook the “mistake(s)” and consider instead the subject matter being discussed or the direction of thought that I am attempting to travel.
In my lifetime I have crossed the paths of many people who have a tendency to think as I do; there is a certain amount of…contempt...for anything even hinting of religion or God. I felt I was smarter than those who believed in such things. Religion and God were for those who did not have the strength to handle life on their own. Like Karl Marx, I believed that religion was the opium of the people. When I picked up a book and discovered it was about spiritual things, I would set it back down and walk away with a self-satisfied thought of superiority. I had everything figured out and felt that reading from another source of that miry pit called religion would be an unnecessary waste of time.
If that is also the case with you then the odds are rather large that you will never finish this book.
By putting the book down though you could also be showing a certain amount of fear; fear that you might actually end up reading something that is going to make practical sense; fear that you are going to have a difficult time walking away from it with a feeling of superiority...because you will know, deep down inside, that it could very well be true. We are a lot alike, you and I.
For some it will be hard to read references to scripture. If you will just hang in there for a few chapters you will find that I will present more than just a scriptural explanation of things, as we know them. There is a very real science behind the declarative words of scripture.
You will find the following recorded ancient history in the book of John, chapter 18.
Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter/teacher, had been taken to Pilate because the Jewish religious leaders wanted him executed for, among other things, claiming to be God. As he was being questioned Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. Pilate asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus replied by saying, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.”
Were I in Pilates position right now I would most likely have paused and really looked at the man standing before me. Nothing had ever been withheld from Pilate, he was a man who had seen it all, he had heard it all and he had done it all. His next question was as honest as any that has ever been asked. He asked Jesus, “What is truth?”
He never gave Jesus the opportunity to answer that question. Right after Pilate asked the question he walked away. He never gave Jesus the opportunity to answer the question and I believe it was because he was afraid.
Sure, he could lead and rule over people; he could sneer at those who were “weaker” than he was; he was a master of everything but he could not face anything for long if it made him take an honest, truthful look at himself and his understanding of reality.
Although Mel Gibson, like everyone else, has his own personal issues that have to dealt with in life he has given this world the absolute best view of what spiritless humanity did to that carpenter/teacher from Nazareth. The one who suffered through that gruesome day in the spring of 0031 A.D. was no wimp. He did not have to go through what he did. He had at least a couple of options in regards to the course his life could take. Earlier, he had told his disciple Peter that he could ask his Father to send an army of 72,000 angels and they would gladly have stood by his side. Looking at it from a strictly human point of view, he could also have easily begged for his life at the feet of Pilate, compromised his principles and walked away a free man. I wouldn't have called him a coward.
There is a very good reason why Jesus of Nazareth went through what he did and it was not because he was a misguided, delusional, religious fanatic with a martyr wish as some people believe.
It all started a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. (Sorry Mr. Lucas)
We know what was done to the carpenter/teacher from Nazareth. Later in this book, you will learn why he had to go through those inhuman things. In a moment, you are going to hear…the rest of the story. (Sorry Mr. Harvey)
I do not want anyone to think that they are going to be reading the words of a hard-nosed, Bible-thumping, hell-fire-and-brimstone preacher. Just like you I have, moment by moment, made choices that have slowly developed my character into what it is today. In the end character development is what life is all about.
There are plenty of difficult subjects to understand in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. You hear all of the stories and then you read some of the things in the Bible and you have a tendency to think to yourself, “Man, if that’s what God is like, I don’t want to live with him.” Trust me; I have had to struggle sometimes when harmonizing the loving character of God, the one I have been told about, with what scripture appears to say about the Old Testament character of God. That struggle has led me to a better understanding of what was happening during the Old Testament times when those jaw-dropping revelations into the character of God were being revealed to the entire world. It helps when you look at things from more than one point of view.
That is what this book is all about. It is another point of view. For the most part you will find this book to be a view like you have never seen before. It is not a namby-pamby, milquetoast way of looking at things because there are some serious issues that need to be dealt with when you are trying to understand someone as complex as God. You cannot water things down just because they are too strong. We need to look at some very important issues and ask some very hard questions.
I am going to challenge you to make it all the way through this book from cover to cover. What do you have to lose? There really is nothing to fear from truth. Who was it who said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”?
I made a promise to myself to be open-minded to the views of others while trying to make sense of my own personal concepts of life and everything in it. I will be true to that promise as these words are being written and that it will not have changed by the time you are reading these words.
Because there is such a wide variety of thought on so many subjects in life there are times when some things need to be viewed from more than one angle. Ask the right questions, keep reality in mind and you will be safe from being led way off into right field by someone like Jim Jones.
You make a serious decision when you voluntarily place your life into the hands of another human being and then allow that person to manipulate your thoughts until you are thinking exactly as they are; you give up your free will and free will is the most sacred and personal part of your psyche that you can legitimately call your own.
Sadly, the group of people this disclaimer is really intended for, the ones I believe I might upset the most is the religious community at large; those who claim to be the moral majority of this country (the U.S.A.); or of any country in the world for that matter.
I consider myself to be what most people would call a born-again Christian and please, do not categorize me because of that statement. One of the few things I ask is that you will not be judgmental as you make your way through this book. If there is one seriously lacking ingredient in this “enlightened” world of ours it would have to be respect for the personal beliefs of other people...whether we support them or not.
This book is not intended for those who already believe in God. It is designed to speak to those people out there who believe, or used to believe, as I once did. This book is meant for those who are seriously looking for the answers to the questions about the existence of God; it is meant for the atheists and agnostics of this world and for those who might even absolutely hate God and the book which some people claim, and that claims for itself, to be the word of God.
I am not telling you who believe in God to not read this book, because what you gain from it can further strengthen your faith in what you already believe in.
There should be, and I believe there really is, a way to harmonize all of what we see and nearly everything we read in this world of ours with what the scriptures say happened in the past. The Bible is a great resource for ancient history but there are other resources that contain truth as well. Those of you of faith know what I am saying, so give me the courtesy of speaking to those people I have spent the majority of my life thinking like and talking with.
Believers are not the only ones with “moral” standards. There are nice people of every lifestyle, no matter what people believe or disbelieve; or what faith, or even lack of faith they might have.
Read the book. Give it some serious thought. If you agree with what I have said, then great, write me and let me know. If you disagree with part, most or all of what I have written you can write me as well; then you can delete the book if you wish and go on with your life. You will not bother me if you disagree with me. If you decide to delete this book and write me a note to tell me why, I will not write back and try to convince you of "the error of your ways"…unless you want me to.
If you are like most people then I am willing to bet that you are not someone who would normally react by withdrawing from the idea of a new thought. If you enjoy a thinking challenge then enjoy the book you hold in your hands. My hope is to give you something to consider.
I believe in Him. Within these pages, you will find intelligent reasons why I believe in Him. You have nothing to lose by reading these words.
This is a free world. It is a world that has been given the freedom to do as it chooses because there is nothing that God values more than freedom of choice; even if those choices are wrong. This is His world...I’m not going to argue with him.
If communicating via email please enter the words, FIGURED OUT, into the subject line; that way I will not mistake any unknown email as spam or junk.
In referencing scripture there are many excellent versions and translations available. My personal favorite, because of its 21st century flavor, is the New Century Version. For consistency in translation I have decided that all references and quotations of and from scripture in this book will be from the New King James Version of the Bible.
Personally, I do not care what version, translation or paraphrase you read. What is important to me is that people become familiar with the words that have been changing people’s lives, for the better, for the past 3,500 years.