Our fellow poster, AGuest, made the following comment in her recent post titled: Hearing God/Christ - Not "Rocket Science":
"Because we are such physical creatures, drawn to the empirical, we have great difficulty understanding, believing or even imagining anything that is not physical or discernable by our physical senses. "Empirical" refers to that which is realized by the five senses: sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing. To the pure empiricalist (or, experientialist, if you will), that which cannot be seen, touched, tasted, smelled or heard... with one or more of the parts of our physical bodies that perceive these... it does not exist."
SOURCE: [ http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/71148/1.ashx ]
I will not parse out the entire post as that would take too much time. Also, this post is not an attack on Shelby, but on the type of thinking that gives people what I term, "God Complexes." What I mean by this complex, is not a "put-down" of spiritual things, but rather a focus on faux spirituality that is a wste of time and an insult to otherwise intelligent minds.
The lead in sentance continues the ever-constant theme that we humans are these physical creatures that have a hard time discerning spiritual things ... because we demand physical evidence that meets our senses head on ... it is continuing a theme that is subtly insulting, arrogant, and presumptuous.
By nature we human are TOO spiritual. The human species in nearly every culture and throughout its entire existence has exhibited a strong inclination toward the spiritual, the unseen, the invisible, the unknowable, and the unprovable. It is the virtue of "Intellectual Honesty" that is allowing modern humans, especially in advanced cultures, to break free of the gravity of human spiritualism and special claims of spirituality, and to put an end to such fantasies. Such honesty is exposing religions of every breed for what they are. Our problem has NOT been our base, animalistic, instinctual inclination to view matters from a purely physical perspective, but rather, to attribute nearly everything in our lives as having some spiritual connection ... some meaning attached to some hidden lesson from God. And this faux sense of spirituality has led people of every religion into serious trouble ... it is the root of many, if not most of our human ills.
This attempt to categorize people into some "box" that unless they have been blessed by the particular brand of spirituality promoted by its sales force, speaks to a sickness in our humanity, that is: The need to feel we are part of some great Divine Plan, some Grand Purpose, some link to the realm of the eternal "Ether" of divinity that makes us so special ... so above everything ... and of course this brings the ever necessary "faux humility" that we are "just like everyone else, we are sinners too, but our faith has brought us Divine blessings, anointing, a touch of the Spirit, that sets us apart" ... "and if you only listen to us, you too can be oh so blessed like we are." ... AND ... every so-called "faith" makes these insulting claims, be it the various brands of Islam, Christianity, and even Judaism. These claims are similarly inherant in many tribal religions, whether deep in the heart of Africa, the ancient American Indians, or the secluded Buddists in Tibet.
Faith, like a gun, in the hands of the True believer, is DANGEROUS. Not because true believers are insincere ... rather because they are most sincere, and willing to sacrifice everything for their invisible ghosts and "feelings" of being talked to by God that places them at risk of being manipulated by charletons. We only have to look back to 9-11 to see how sincere "true believers' in their spirituality ... in their oh so great "understanding" of spiritual things ... things too far above the average western "infidel" that causes them to fly planes into buildings ... this same level of thinking permeates most religions in some way ... and we see the results woven throughout the fabric of human society ... such "faith" and "true" belief is not confined to religion, but can be found in business and politics ... hence we have had our share of people like Adolph Hitler and the Nazis who were "true believers" ... who created a mess ... or the true believers in Allah who hate evil westerners ... or Christian cults who think all but members of their own cult will go to hell or die at Armageddon ...
Religious Faith is a serious human quality requiring maturity and responsibility. Faith is not about taking one's "feelings" too seriously so as to think that what one experiences is coming from God ... nor should faith be centered on any Holy Book as some kind of proven work of God ... rather, faith needs to be anchored by Hope so that a person never becomes presumptuous and steps outside the boundary of intellectual honesty, but instead hopes that God will act, and hopes that more about God will be revealed that is true, solid and reliable. Hope that can honestly see life for what it is and be willing to wait for answers and not mere claims. Likewise, Faith must be tempered above all by love, which is what really keeps us genuinely humble, and steers us away from thinking that we have all the answers ... that we are smehow inextricably linked to God in some divine cosmic program of having special spiritual insight above our fellow human ...
The Challenge to Claims of Faith and the Spirit: We, as ex-JWs know only too well how "claims" of men or women who think they represent God can cause so much pain, hurt, and harm. While we do not necessarily demand that the unseen must be proven by the visible using science, or the physical senses ... we must, however, walk with "extreme caution" about any claim, about any assertion, about any "feeling" that the could be, and probably is, filled with more harm than good ... and is likely a lie rather than any kind of divine truth or spirituality.
Here are some questions that seem good to ask ourselves when people make spiritual claims and assert some fashion of faith:
1. How can we know if the thing claimed really comes from God?
2. How do we test it to be sure it is not just the faux claim of the "True Believer?"
3. If the claim is not from God, then what is its source? - The Devil? A deluded human?
4. Is the claim just another interpretation of some Holy Book, e.g.:Bible, Koran, Torah, Book of Mormon, writings of some self-appointed prophet?
5. Does the claim cause any harm to people?
6. Does the claim do any real good for your fellow human?
7. Most of all ... does it really and truly make any difference?
Most people don't like being lied to ... and we as ex-JWs don't ever again want to be victims of a lie. By exercising "Intellectual Honesty" we help ourselves avoid getting sucked up into claims of faith and spirituality ... we side-step would-be prophets and self-anointed leaders who wish to enslave us to their will ... we actually avoid displeasing any God, because we are not ready to accept such claims without proof it truly comes from Him / Her / It ...
The Power of God's Silence: One true piece of evidence we have from any God is deafening silence ... silence to the pain and struggle of our human existence ... silence as to what or when he intends to do anything to help us from being victims of our own faux spirituality ... victims of faux faith ... victims of fantasy spirituality ... and instead ... where do we then find God, if at all?
The power is in each of our hands ... to simply do the right thing ... to be a friend ... to show love ... to avoid presumption ... to resist claims of the spirit and assertions of special faith ... to concentrate on simple good ... perhaps we can find God in one another, if that term is proper to use, that is if we accept that God is love ... the power is with us all along to make a difference ... to make this life count now, today and not in some elusive "Ether-like" in the future.
The people I most respect ... are those who do not sit around comtemplating the spirit, or proving their faith ... or trying to sell others on something, or convince new converts to some "-ism" ... but rather, the people I respect take responsibility now by becoming well educated ... by engaging in meaningful work that contributes to the betterment of humanity ... people who build up worth of the race, and not seek to destroy it ... doctors, nurses, lawyers (maybe), engineers, mothers, fathers, researchers, craftsmen and craftswomen, construction workers, designers, manufacturers, garbage collectors, ditch-diggers, wise business leaders and managers, accountants, good politicians, police and fire people, and many more ... these folks work hard, and by their daily contributions make our lives better every day ... they do not live in a world of cynicism, ever seeking ways to tear down human society ... rather, they keep on building and working and making a difference ... without whom we would be in dire straights ... many of these people do good works that are never seen by most, and many times are never paid for their service.
At the end of the day ... does our making special spiritual claims of faith and spirituality really bring worth, or merely frustration ... and in making such claims are we failing to be truly honest with ourselves? As each day passes, it is one less day we have to do any good on this earth. It is one day less to be honest and find that all these claims of the spirit, these great expressions of faith are nothing but puffy showmanship. They do not feed the hungry or cloth the naked ... or cause even a moment of love between two people ... they are an insult to our humanity, and a grand waste our time. I would rather spend a thousand days helping to feed the hungry than waste even one hour pondering the meanig of faith.