Posted 5/25/98

Finding God On A More
Intellectual Level

By Mary

In Worldwide Church of God hell, or most religions, people are forced to believe they have to have a relationship in whatever way the church decides is THE way. But I've been reading writings by atheists and am finding a pattern. Atheists tend to be intellectuals and rationalists who were brought up Christian, but trashed it all when they found out there are so many contradictions and error in it.

So the question is, has God allowed a way to faith for intellectual rationalists? Since I tend to go more in that direction, I say yes. I think we all have a part of our mind that's subject to irrationality, and that's where faith resides. What works for some, doesn't for others. The act of physical prayer gets results for some. It never did for me because I'm not wired that way. The same way some are easily hypnotized, others aren't. God started to become more of a reality to me when I decided to NOT pray or limit my study to the bible. I quit looking and then he came.

Many people are satisfied there's a God because creation and nature is proof enough to them. But some need to go beyond that. At least one of the astronauts had their first religious experience when they were on the moon. I think the answer for intellectuals and rationalists is to attempt to find God in whatever interests them, like quantum physics for instance. Follow it to the point where they can't rationalize it anymore, and perhaps that's where they'll find God.

For instance, I happen to be interested in how the mind works. So I've tried to find something in that area that's totally irrational. I stumbled on it by accident, which is what usually happens (serendipity). I happened to read about the Idiot Savant. Atheistic scientists believe the mind is controlled by the brain, therefore there is no floating mind (or soul, or spirit in man). The mind is totally physical, they reason. But they can't explain how a person can be a total idiot on one hand, yet be able to sit down and play an extremely complicated piece on the piano that they've never been taught. Where does that knowledge come from? Or, how many of you have had it where you have to get up a lot earlier to take a trip, so you set your alarm for 4 a.m., but you wake up at 3:59? I've had this happen a lot. How is that physically possible?

The bible was mostly written by people who hadn't explored beyond the physical realm. But maybe Jesus was really just a man who had somehow discovered the ability to venture beyond. And there's still the mystery of the pyramids. As humans become more enlightened, old religious beliefs become extinct. Animal sacrifice replaced human sacrifice. Spiritual sacrifice replaced animal sacrifice. But spiritual sacrifice still involved physical works, i.e. prayer, worship, church-going, following a rule book. And many people are out-growing that, much to the dismay of traditionalists. I think a time will come when Christianity will be outdated.

To have faith is to be a little (or a lot) irrational. Even dyed-in-the-wool atheists and scientists are as religious and irrational as God believers. None of us is totally rational. Religious fanatics are people who put down their stakes in one irrational belief and refuse to venture beyond it. After awhile it affects their conscious faculties and they become wackos.

Scott Peck says depression is basically a result of your subconscious trying to tell you to move on and get rid of old ways of thinking and doing things, but your conscious is fighting it as tries to catch up. That's why so many ex-WCGbees experience depression during the transition out of the cult. Deep down they know they're doing the right thing, but it's still confusing and painful. Once they catch up to the subconscious and accept the change, that particular depression should subside. Depression only becomes unhealthy and prolonged when something interferes with the giving-up and growing process. That's why some of us get so angry when someone tries to drag us back to the old ways. It irritates us like static interference on the radio.

The Wackos are extreme cases of the above condition, but what about current Worldwide Church of God members? They have Joe Jr. telling them to grow out of the old way on one hand, yet encouraging them to hang on to some of the old ways on the other. And now he's resurrected the image of Herbvert (Herbert/pervert) besides! Talk about cognitive dissonance. HE'S causing it as much as anyone! But at least the Tkaches led some of us to the awareness that we can move on by moving out, even if that wasn't their intention. People in the offshoots are falling further and further behind. I give a lot of credit to the few people who left Worldwide Church of God in the old days. Even more to those who leave Flurry's church. I really feel for those who have family still deeply entrenched in those churches.

 

 

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