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Communists are
right
after all when
they say that belief in a super–
natural being, in religion, is
indeed
" the opiate of the people"?
Do we believe that plain, clear
words in the Bible describing the
purpose of life, the plan of God, and
defining the gospel are all empty
phrases holding no practica! mean–
ing? Are these phrases to be taken
with a grain of salt as mere religious
phraseology having no
real
meaning
or substance? Do words used in the
revelation of God to mankind have
a meaning apart from reality? Do
we really believe that God
says
one
thing but
means
another? (That was
Satan's first argument back in the
Garden of Eden with Adam and
Eve! Check it for yourself: Genesis,
chapter two.)
When God says His purpose is to
make you and me His sons-just
what kind of sons do you suppose
He means? Real ones, or fake ones?
When and if you become a son of
God, what kind of son do you think
you will be?
When you get right down to it,
are
you
really satisfied with
any
reli–
gion's explanation of the meaning
of life, of the key purpose for our
creation, of the ultimate goal to be
attained by
any
religious exercise?
Let's briefly examine the major op–
tions otfered to us.
What Would You Llke To
Be
When
You RlseUp?
Billions have believed that the ulti–
mate goal of mankind is to achieve
nirvana : "the state of perfect bles–
sedness achieved by the absorption
of the soul into the supreme spi rit";
that is, an unconscious continued
existence, as it were, like a cell in the
body of the great one.
lt
may have
served billions, and driven them to
extremes in their worship to accom–
plish nirvana- but
J
must admit that
it does
not
satisfy me personally.
What good is it to live forever and
ye t not even
realize
you are alive;
have no
personal
existence? How
aboutyou?
A nearly equal number have be–
lieved that the afterlife of the faith–
fu l will consist of forever living at
ease in an oasis called the "Garden
of Allah," where, lounging in ham–
mocks strung between date palms,
the men (because this is a rather
The
PLAIN TRUTH
June
1977
male-dominated religion) will be
fed delicacies by a bevy of volup–
tuous women (an eterna! harem?)
and will have all the hashish needed
to keep them in a stupor (alcohol is
not allowed) so the eventual bore–
dom will not bother. In the name of
the god of
peace
(Islam), true believ–
ers have converted others by the
sword
to believe and seek this re–
ward! This goal may be pleasing to
many- it does have sorne specific,
concrete goodies explained- but
again 1 must admit that it does not
satisfy me personally. How about
you?
Christianity is separated into two
basic camps, which for many cen–
turies have endeavored to extermi–
na te one another . The more
universal belief held by the larger of
the two camps is that the purpose of
life is to achieve the " beatific vi–
sion." After wading through about
six pages of fine print in tbe ency–
clopedia of that religion, attempting
to define just
what
the "beatific vi–
sion"
is,
you cometo the disappoint–
ing conclusion that, in their own
words, "no one really knows" ! The
best you can get is that it is a state of
blessedness in which you, living for–
ever, will be able to gaze upon God,
seeing Him better than you see Him
now, but not ever being able to see
Him as He really is. Vague as it may
seem, it is avidly pursued by hun–
dreds of millions as the goal of their
existence. Perhaps the threat of the
only other alternative-suffering un–
imaginable torments in hellfire, all
explained in vivid detail, spurs them
on. One more time 1 must admit
that this theory does not satisfy me.
To think that the Creator who has
fashioned this fabulously complex,
intricate, material and very real uní–
verse would propose such a vague
purpose for His highest creation–
mankind- just do.es not compute
with me. How about
you?
The other Christian belief-devel–
oped in protest and now sbattered
into hundreds of splinters, each hav–
ing a slight variant of doctrine re–
garding the afterlife-is basically
this: When you die , you go to
heaven as a spirit being of sorne sort
and live eternally in bliss-some–
what similar to the beatific vision,
but with more details added. You
check in at the pearly gates with
Peter, get your wings, your harp,
your golden slippers with which to
walk the golden streets, your white
robe, your cloud- and then you oo
NOTHING
(virtually), and you do(?)
it forever! Granted, you are never
hungry or thirsty; never cry or suf–
fer. A sort of a great golden, peace–
ful retirement center in the sky,
with, torture of all tortures,
nothing
to do ...
forever.
It doesn't sat isfy
me- how about
you?
ls the sutfering
of hell again the driving force that
encourages enlistment for tbis the–
ory?
There are many more beliefs with
goals equally vague- but those men–
tioned cover the majority of man–
kind, with the exception of the
billions who believe we are born
and die, like dogs, with no purpose.
This doesn' t satisfy me either, and 1
even refuse to address it- bow about
you?
Why the Mystery?
There is a very definite reason for
all this confusion. The vagueness
about the ultimate reward of the
true believer of any religion, and
particularly the Christian religion, is
specifically predicted and explained
in your Bible.
It
is nobody's fault ;
no one is to blame. All who cling to
these faiths can easi ly be given the
benefit of the doubt and be said
truly to be deeply sincere-tbe blood
of the believers and martyrs of all
these religions bespeaks eloquently
the indelible fact ofsincerity.
But there is a reason why
no
faith
gives the clear purpose of life, the
reason for creation, the plan of God,
the ultimate goal God set for man–
kind. The reason is that God locked
up that truth and gives the key to
unlock
it
only to those of His own
choosing at the time of His own
choosing.
Many a sermon ha s been
preached on how impossible it is for
us to understand just what it is that
God has in store for us, using as the
text this scripture: ..But as it is writ–
ten, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the thiogs which God
hath prepared for them that !ove
him" (1 Cor. 2:9). This conveniently
explains away the vagueness. This
allows all manner of speculation, of
possibilities for scenario-developing,
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