EMMANUEL

Atheism would be considered weird, taboo,or even insane ,if we were living in the second century .Today, atheism gets a better place in society, as their ideas suddenly fits in with the whole Gen–X ideology.All of a sudden, it seems to be “cool” to be an atheist. One may also stand to argue that many great minds were atheists- Machiavelli, Plotinus, Camus, Sartre ,and Marx.But then Descartes ,Luther, Aquinas, Anselm, Copernicus, Newton ,Bach , Leonardo Da Vinci, TS Elliot, Dickens, John Paul the 2^nd Dalai Lama, Swami Prabhupad , even Buddha, Mohammad and a guy named Jesus Christ were not stupid either, or rather are not stupid , to accept the idea of God .However the question that arises now IS can atheism be considered a religion?First let us see what atheism and religion actually MEANS .The Oxford intepretation of religion is : The belief in the existence of a god/gods esp the belief that they gave human beings a spiritual nature which continues to exist after the death of the body.While it defines atheism as: the belief that God does not exist.Therefore, my opinion is that, atheism is not a religion in itself.In that case,can communism be considered a religion ?Marx does not reject the existence of God, he only says that God cannot bring progress to a nation, nor can He develop the economy.What about Satanism?Is it atheist in nature? It certainly does not reject the IDEA of God, it rejects GOD Himself.Is it atheist?Can the New Age movement be considered atheist? It favours direct spiritual encounters than organized, structured religion, but it does not deny the existence of a Higher Being.where then does the stigma of the word atheist come from?Is Gen X atheist?What about liberalism? I genuinely think it is time to reexamine our intrepetation of the word atheist, not that I am an atheist.This IS rather short, isn’t it?Please comment

ARTICLE : DOES GOD EXIST?

This was the question that has bogged the mind of many great thinkers from Socrates to Dante.Undoubtedly this question still does.The issue of Godhead is still laced with mystery.Countless questions can be solved with human logic,only to create more questions. For example,once the existence of God has been made out to be true, that is there is a God, the question of how does this God look like and does It have a name arises.One may stand to doubt the authencity of any given Holybook, and therefore I shall not attempt to write using any Holybook, only mimamsa(Sanskrit for logical deduction).

Question One: How can a perfect God create an imperfect universe?

Reply : The people who came up with this question had apparently missed a conandrum of even larger propotion, why would a perfect God create a universe at all?

Hmm, gives you something to think about doesn’t it?But the question really doesn’t need to be replied, as it answers itself. The word perfect would not be used as a yardstick, had this universe not been created. God , perfect as He is created a perfect universe, just to show His perfectness.

Question 2:God contradicts Himself by means of promising Heaven, Heaven is selfish, God claims not to be.

Reply:God, firstly, is a being of whom nothing greater can be thought, therefore His abode also cannot be perceived by our simple human matrix.In this respect, we cannot possibly in our arrogance claim to comprehend the nature of this mysterious God, let alone His abode.Anyhow, the question’s reply would be that to reap ETERNAL reward would be heavenly in nature, and heaven itself is an ETERNAL reward, not an earthly, selfish reward, rather a wholesome, one, blessed reward

Question 3:God is only a figment of human perception, a means of seeking a imaginary life after death, a way to allay our own mortality.

Reply: I do not wish to answer this question, because it is absolutely true. In a way we did create God,only the concept of God, not the Being itself.As stated earlier God means “of whom nothing greater can be thought of” therefore the concept of Godliness is Human in nature, but the Being is supernatural in itself

Question 3:How can God be all powerful and all forgiving at the same time?

Reply:If God IS all powerful, he has the power to do whatever He desires, why not desire to forgive?

Question 4: If God is all goodness,he will definitely will all that is good, and war and pestilence is not something good, therefore God does not exist.

Reply:God is all goodness, but goodness is something viewed in the constraints of time and contingency,therefore war and pestilence not necessarily need to be viewed negatively.It may be viewed positively as a chance for humans to show their caring side.Also, war and pestilence are results of human greed. The Gita easily explains this, “where there is lust, there is anger, where there is anger, there is pain”

The Jesus Dilemma: Lord Or Liar?

Disclaimer:All opinions expressed in this article not necessarily need be doctrinally right, it is only the opinion of the author, so don’t sue.

Hypothesis One: Jesus was a day dreamer. The entire Son Of God thing was just a mere figment of his wild imagination

Refutation:This could not possibly be true.People who are deluded on such a great scale can hardly think right, let alone memorize ancient scrolls and preach in synagogue.Never mind that, the Jesus documented in the Gospel was really preaching and teaching in the likes of an educated lawyer, with conviction and authority(something which most of us lack these days).Also, his teachings were vouched by miracles and a great following

Hypothesis Two: Jesus was a fraud.The entire miracles and documented teachings are merely conspiracy.

Refutation:Firstly,those who came up with this question definitely must be watching too much “Millenium” or X Files.secondly, Jesus could not have been able to amass the power nor wealth to pull such a trick in his lifetime( keeping in mind lotteries and elections were not the order of the day 2000 years ago)Plus, a point to ponder, his followers were merely fisherman ,common fisherman mostly who did not have the capacity nor cunning to abet with Jesus the conman in this .And could he have abetted with Elijah,Moses and Abraham?

Hypothesis Three :Jesus was simply cuckoo.He had something wrong with his head and was therefore mad.So as any mad person, he starts babbling rubbish.

Refutation: Mad people cannot preach in a synagogue , nor can they possibly quote scripture “You have looked,but you have not seen, you have heard but you have not understood”.Mad people would not have nearly as many followers, credible followers ranging to physicians to lawyers.Also, prophets would not prophecy about some mad guy saving the world now would they?

Conclusion Four:Jesus was the Son of God.Of course now it makes sense…

The prophets prophesised, the angels welcomed Him and he preched, and died and brought salvation.Now it makes sense, and I rest my case, I can finally get some rest