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Hero Worship

Hero worship is historical and present in most faith traditions. For instance, one can find it in Christianity with Jesus being the hero of humanity through his ‘sacrificial death’ and ‘resurrection’ thereby providing ‘salvation’ for humanity.

Heroes are also linked to the concept of ‘sonship’. So we have people that were referred to as ‘sons of God/a god’ as they were said to accomplish great exploits through ‘divine’ intervention. Even great rulers were known as ‘sons of God’.

Therefore the debate between faith traditions has mostly revolved around the concept of ‘unique Sonship’. Hence the efforts of writers of the letters we refer today as the ‘the New Testament’ in establishing Jesus as ‘God’s only son’.

However, there are other wider questions against this position. Some scholars even argue that we are all in fact — sons and daughters of God, and no one is unique in any sense.

By and large, one could argue that religion provides simple answers to complex questions about life and meaning. Whether or not those answers are necessary and sufficient is really down to individuals — and rightly so in my humble opinion!

#hero #ideas #beliefs

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A Moral Critique of the Book of Exodus_4

Today at Healingsprings fellowship

In recent months I explored some fundamental problems with biblical texts and their doctrinal implication, using the book of Exodus as a case study.

This series sparked a lot of questions which has opened my eyes to the degree of assumptions made by Christians about the influence of the faith. I also discovered that non-believers are often more knowledgeable about Christian history and its implication on social norms and our world.

When we draw swift conclusions without doing the required research we leave no room for possibilities. This is particularly depressing in an era in which access to information is easy and affordable once we have the right guidance or mentorship. I emphasise the need for guidance because there are lots of poor quality information out there also.

So back to the subject at hand, writing on the relationship between colonialism and religion for instance, citing Jan H. Boer (the Sudan United Mission), Falola (2001) argues that:

Colonialism is a form of imperialism based on a divine mandate and designed to bring liberation – spiritual, cultural, economic and political – by sharing the blessings of the Christ-inspired civilization of the West with a people suffering under satanic oppression, ignorance and disease, effected by a combination of political, economic and religious forces that cooperate under a regime seeking the benefit of both ruler and ruled.” – Violence in Nigeria: The Crisis of Religious Politics and Secular Ideologies, p. 33.

So, it will seem that some missionaries were trying to fix the colossal damage that slavery made on the geography, life and psyche of Africans. Because If we rewind back a few centuries before slavery in Africa, early missionaries recalled that poverty was an alien concept within African societies. Africans were organised in tribes or kingdoms, and there were sophisticated systems and processes in place to address the concerns of the poor, disabled, elderly, widows and orphans. Judaism could not be said to be more civilised or ethical because disabled people were not allowed into the Temple, even animals for sacrifice were meant to be without spot, wrinkle, or blemish; and lepers were not allowed into the community.

To this end, how do we harness all that is good and ethical about humanity to move us forward?

Join us at 3pm today for the series: From Order to Chaos: a study on Exodus

St John the Evangelist Hall, Church Rd, Sidcup DA14 6BX

Healingsprings fellowship: Human Capital Development

http://www.healingsprings.org.uk

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Christian doctrine and Anthromorphism

Thought Leaders Series:2018

By way of context, anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. A behaviour which psychologists describe as innate to humans.

For example, in religion and mythology, anthropomorphism is the perception of a divine being or beings in human form, or the recognition of human qualities in these beings.

In Christianity, we are told that we are replicas of God (Gen. 1:27). Thus we find descriptive use of human features for God in Judaism and Christianity. These include references like: “The finger of the lord’ (Gen. 8:19), ‘The eyes of the lord, (2 Chronicles 16:19), ‘The hand of the lord’ (1 Peter 5:6-7) etc.

Jewish scholars tried to do away with this idea once they realised its shortcoming and implications. So they wrote commentaries to shift this perspective, but once the oral tradition had been translated to written text, it was near impossible to convince followers otherwise.

The idea was already branded into their psyche and no amount of enlightened thought could change it. Even today, scholarship is often dismissed as secondary information, as audiences fail to not understand that Bible is not a primary source either. But rather, a collection of commentaries by enlightened thinkers in their era. In fact there is no primary source.

That aside, thinking of the Divine in anthropomorphic terms also means the attribution of human emotions and actions. This is common in most cultures, perhaps more apparent in Greek mythology.

In Christianity for instance: love, anger, vengeance, hatred, justice, jealousy etc., are often used to describe God’s emotion. In Exodus 15:3, Isaiah 42:13, we see examples of human actions. In these two examples, God’s involvement in the killing and destruction of non-compliant nations or people through active warfare.

Thus in Christianity we have an angry God, who holds grudges. One who requires human sacrifice as Atonement for the sin of Adam and Eve – humanity.

But even if we agree that this was Truth, there are plethora of positions with this doctrine. Theologians like Julian of Norwich (1342-1430) believes that Jesus’ sacrifice was once, and for all of humanity (regardless of belief or unbelief). In other circles, in-spite of Jesus’ sacrifice, there are other complicated doctrinal subsets, like the Rapture and Judgement Day, which some believers are likely to fall short of, leading to everlasting condemnation in hell fire🔥with non-believers.

In fact, there is a whole industry built on this premise, with some Christians even having a preview of who might, or has ended up in hell already.

At any rate, except the definition of love as we know and understand it is wrong. Because If it is right, then the Christian God could not be described as loving.

Human Capital Development: Healingsprings fellowship

http://www.healingsprings.org.uk

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