It seems to me that through the history of mankind one premise stands as the prime motivator of all action; a just cause empowered by the most powerful deity. In short–my God loves me more!
Ancient tribes of men, wrapped up in fear-beliefs, offered sacrifices to appease the wrath of the Gods of the wind, volcano and Earth. And in the name of their God, ventured out to capture additional territory in order to live in peace.
Throughout the ensuing centuries, this quest for peace has become more complex, steeped in ritual language, song, art, but with the same overriding premise: My God loves me more!
Depending where you popped out in the world would determine which God you might refer to. In India, all traffic stops when their sacred cow decides to sit in the middle of the street. You are not permitted to “shoo” this God, although in the west we are happy to eat It.
The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and more, covered all bases with many Gods, each designated to a particular territory over the mortals. For them it was pluralistic: My Gods love me more! Even when they did not.
That’s the thing about deity – mere mortals cannot compare, cannot explain, justify and certainly, cannot rule over – unless you conquer their people, in which case, all things are possible.
The crusaders wanted to purge the heathens. The heathens wanted to destroy the infidels. With such support, it became fashionable to try to straighten the other out – after all, you had to prove that your God loved you more!
Atheists have no God. They love themselves more as the ruler of their lives, although many an atheist in a life threatening situation resorts to the plea, “Oh God, don’t let me die.”
Just as brothers may squabble over the value of their father’s love, humans obsess in the worth and their worthiness of their creator’s blessings. Like all things temporal, these blessings are temporal and tend to require ongoing renewal by those in power at the time.
In contemporary times, we see the Christian churches, so diverse and splintered into different flavors, one denomination for each believer, that they cannot find a common unity within their own precepts, regardless what they claim. Yet still they remain in judgment of others who look for a common God.
I suspect that long after the humans of the planet have extinguished themselves through toxic pollution or technological bickering or war, that the next species to inherit the planet might well stand high upon the rubble of the once great, and quickly lost human world and, with a gasp of insight proclaim in whatever form it can…
“My God loves me more!”
from “Signs You May Not Be An Idiot” by William Gensburger, available HERE.
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Beautiful content.