The Nature Of Things

I have been watching for 60 plus years now. I am an observer. My participation in life tends to revolve around observation. I am also a believer in "reverse engineering." This concept I learned while in my manufacturing career. It centers around taking something apart, looking at it in detail and coming to conclusion about how it was made and what the intent of the designer was in creating the design. I am skilled in these characteristics, I have many years of practice and implementation. While it is difficult to take apart this world, it is relatively exposed and we can observe and form opinions or come to certain conclusions.

After years of watching, observing, reading and talking with others I have come to the conclusion that the basic nature of our world lies in competition. Everything we can think of competes for something. Plants compete for light and nourishment. It would be easy to say that adaptation reduces competition and allows for plants to exist in their environment without competition. Not so, even then when plants adapt to conditions they compete with their neighbors for sun and nourishment. The animals compete, we see competition come to a logical conclusion in the concept of "survival of the fittest."

The second characteristic that goes hand in hand with competition is survival. The will to survive is a tremendous force. Whether collectively or singly plants and animals fight to survive sometimes against overwhelming odds. Human beings carry the will to survive to uncommon lengths. We see this will overcome medical odds and people who should survive cancer for three years live long lives and die of something else.

So if we are competitive and we have a strong will to live, then what is our purpose on this earth. That is simple, to live. We humans make more of it than that simple statement. We impose our concept of God onto our social behavior and decide we should live as God wishes us. God wishes us to live, to live for as long as we can.

Should we live a moral life? Why, morality is a totally human set of values and ideas. They are not God's. In fact, Man created God. We formed an idea, it grew into legends and stories about early man's condition. Someone set those ideas into writing. Make no mistake about it, God did not write one word about man's relationship with the world.

So we should compete, we should exercise the will to live. We should take judiciously or we shall destroy our home, thus destroy our ability to live. The world will not care. Neither will God. This earth will carry on until its capability of sustaining the things that sustain life are burned away in some gigantic cosmic explosion so far in the future we cannot imagine the time span. The particles, atoms, and energy will not be lost, but will be recycled and reused in the ever growing universe. Whether man makes the transition is simply up to man.

The Gospel of Inclusion

I am reading a book by Carl Pearson. He is a Pentecostal Minister who had an awakening and is now preaching the gospel of inclusion. I am not done with the book yet. I thought I would comment on what I've read to date.

Pearson brings to our attention many questions and illogical concerns about Christianity and man's relationship with God that have plagued many through the years. Why, for example, if we are taught that God loves us unconditionally would he consign so many to Hell? Why would God make how we live our life a test for admittance to heaven? To what purpose?

The book asks many questions I've pondered on for years. The book also does the old Bible Thumper's trick of quoting scripture to make the writer's points. The interesting think is Pearson uses text from the Bible to argue, and quite effectively, against Christianity's motives.

I think the shortcoming is that Pearson is unable to make the final logical leap. He says that we are saved, we just don't know it. Carl says God's love extends to all. Yet he cannot make the break away from his old teachings and say that there are more ways to relate to God than just through Jesus. Pearson certainly goes far beyond any writers I previously read, but I just don't think he gos far enough. Perhaps time and reflection will allow him to climb the final hill.