God vs Religion
Getting closer to God should make people more open-minded. But in some cases the exact opposite happens when people blindly follow religious teachings. Infact in most cases religious teachings are not to blame, its the way Man interprets them. Knowing God opens one's mind to the universe. It is by letting God in to our minds that we learn to be compassionate towards fellow beings, tolerance for one another, patience, understanding and love. The relationship between Man and God is not complicated. Man complicates it by introducing religion in to the equation.
Religion is man-made, and so is liable to imperfections that any man-made thing contains. God's or Nature's creations are all perfect. They are perfect in itself and in their interactions with the universe. Man is constantly intermixing the two concepts of religion & God. In the name of getting closer to God, Man promotes man-made religious ideologies and thoughts that some times have nothing to do with understanding God. What is even more ironic is that in some cases those teachings don't even agree with basic common sense. Thus religion has only made Man to be narrow-minded, intolerant, less compassionate and even less understanding. It has taken Man further from God and all that God represents.
I believe that the beginnings of all religions had good intentions to guide Man to live a better life in harmony with fellow human beings, animals and to bring him closer to God. But over the years with the advent of various thought processes, multiple religious societies took shape. Although most of them have similar ideologies, each of these religions have their own unique take on God, and follow different religious practises. Ultimately in the present world all these religions have merely reduced to being power-houses indulging in a supremacy battle over one another with each of them working hard to include more people in to their folds. Its a carefully strategised and choreographed game of money and power, in the middle of which God is all but forgotten.
Every religion has extremists. It is the natural outcome of religious fanaticism. These fanatics proclaim themselves to be messengers of God, sent to protect people from 'evil'. They take up on themselves the responsibility of serving God by cleansing the society of 'evil'. In all of the cases 'evil' is nothing but other religions and its followers. Some religions try to accomplish this by violence while others do it with relentless systematic gatherings of teachings and constant follow-ups. Whether a religion propagates violence or non-violence in the society is actually a secondary issue, what is more pertinent here is the intolerance being encouraged in the name of God. God is defeated right there. Religious societies have gradually infiltrated our community with intolerance. Man is genetically programmed to view with suspicion, any thing that is different or unfamiliar to him. Race, colour, physical apprearence, nationalities etc have contributed their share without religion having to make it any more complicated than it already was.
Over the years God has taken various roles, rather we have garbed Him/Her in multiple robes as per our needs. We began religion in the name of God to have a morally stronger society, then convinced more and more people to join the religion so as to make more money, become powerful and rule the world. Now a days God is used to run businesses, sell more products and in turn again make more money. Its not a coincidence that businesses make the maximum profits on days of religious significance or celebration. They all wait to cash in and make the most of the celebration by luring people to spend more direclty or indirectly in the name of God. I wonder what God thinks about his new role as a business man/woman. He/She probably saw this coming, after all God created Man.
Its interesting to see how God has changed in roles and in purpose for Man over time. As long as it keeps us all togather and makes us better people, I guess there is no harm.
Religion is man-made, and so is liable to imperfections that any man-made thing contains. God's or Nature's creations are all perfect. They are perfect in itself and in their interactions with the universe. Man is constantly intermixing the two concepts of religion & God. In the name of getting closer to God, Man promotes man-made religious ideologies and thoughts that some times have nothing to do with understanding God. What is even more ironic is that in some cases those teachings don't even agree with basic common sense. Thus religion has only made Man to be narrow-minded, intolerant, less compassionate and even less understanding. It has taken Man further from God and all that God represents.
I believe that the beginnings of all religions had good intentions to guide Man to live a better life in harmony with fellow human beings, animals and to bring him closer to God. But over the years with the advent of various thought processes, multiple religious societies took shape. Although most of them have similar ideologies, each of these religions have their own unique take on God, and follow different religious practises. Ultimately in the present world all these religions have merely reduced to being power-houses indulging in a supremacy battle over one another with each of them working hard to include more people in to their folds. Its a carefully strategised and choreographed game of money and power, in the middle of which God is all but forgotten.
Every religion has extremists. It is the natural outcome of religious fanaticism. These fanatics proclaim themselves to be messengers of God, sent to protect people from 'evil'. They take up on themselves the responsibility of serving God by cleansing the society of 'evil'. In all of the cases 'evil' is nothing but other religions and its followers. Some religions try to accomplish this by violence while others do it with relentless systematic gatherings of teachings and constant follow-ups. Whether a religion propagates violence or non-violence in the society is actually a secondary issue, what is more pertinent here is the intolerance being encouraged in the name of God. God is defeated right there. Religious societies have gradually infiltrated our community with intolerance. Man is genetically programmed to view with suspicion, any thing that is different or unfamiliar to him. Race, colour, physical apprearence, nationalities etc have contributed their share without religion having to make it any more complicated than it already was.
Over the years God has taken various roles, rather we have garbed Him/Her in multiple robes as per our needs. We began religion in the name of God to have a morally stronger society, then convinced more and more people to join the religion so as to make more money, become powerful and rule the world. Now a days God is used to run businesses, sell more products and in turn again make more money. Its not a coincidence that businesses make the maximum profits on days of religious significance or celebration. They all wait to cash in and make the most of the celebration by luring people to spend more direclty or indirectly in the name of God. I wonder what God thinks about his new role as a business man/woman. He/She probably saw this coming, after all God created Man.
Its interesting to see how God has changed in roles and in purpose for Man over time. As long as it keeps us all togather and makes us better people, I guess there is no harm.
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