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Chuang Random Page 12: 232 Heaven is not tribal, nor should we be

 "Heaven does not discriminate"

I'm glad that page and quote came up. I love it. It says so much that is important. Heaven is the Universe, the thing, force, that makes everything happen, from the Big Bang (and the thing that caused the Big Bang), right up to me writing this right now.

Humans in earlier times personified it, like they personified the sun, the moon, the wind, and so on in ancient Greek Gods, or believed that everything was imbued with life force, as they do in Japan's religion-philosophy, Shinto. Others just recognise it as a flow or path, which is how I interpret Taoist and Buddhist views on this matter.

The important thing is that it says, the thing that causes everything, just unfurls naturally. It's not aiming to help one being, one tribe, one species, one planet, one galaxy, one universe because it prefers it, and it's not aiming to punish one being, tribe, species, planet, galaxy, universe either. It doesn't discriminate.

Now unfortunately this does seem to go completely against some religious views, especially the three Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I'm not an expert on them, though I was raised Catholic and of course in Christianity the Old Testament is a pivotal scripture, and one that is shared with Judaism. So I know a bit about two of them. But my understanding is that all three say that if you do not follow their specific beliefs and teachings, you will be punished, while if you follow specific beliefs and teachings you will be rewarded.

That would mean Heaven most definitely discriminates. Whether it is Jews, Christians, or Muslims, some people (the "good" ones) in one group will be rewarded and others (the "bad" ones) will be punished; and those who through chance are born into the "right" faith will have a greater chance of being rewarded, while those born into the "wrong" faith, will have a greater chance of being punished.

I do not believe that. I could never perceive that the force - whether God or some other being that created everything - could be so petty and parochial as to set up a species as some kind of will-they-won't-they game, and reward the believers and punish the unbelievers. Surely that cannot be the mindset of the Creator of the Universe. I'd be surprised if the creator of the universe even remembered we existed, he/she/it has so much more to observe and consider in the vastness of the realms he/she/it created.

For those of you with a specific faith, this statement "Heaven does not discriminate" gives you a challenge and a choice on reflection on this quote: either you stay with your belief and believe that "Heaven" does discriminate by punishing or rewarding according to belief and behaviour; or you choose not to believe that part of your religion's teachings, and thus make your own view of what a God or Creator would do. Such thinking needn't lead to the conclusion that you would leave a particular faith. Every faith has its "wings", from fundamentalist to liberal. But this quote challenges the historical norm about God's purpose for mankind, and more widely, how the Universe actually functions.

 

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