| 1. | any amazing or wonderful occurrence |
| 2. | a marvellous event manifesting a supernatural act of a divine agent |
I hear more and more people denying the second definition and claiming all miracles described in scripture and by clergy fall within the realm of the first. That is, all miracles are amazing natural phenomena. This is what I also believe to be true. What is never clarified to me is why god is evoked when talking about these miracles. Natural phenomena have natural causes. A sky god would have to be supernatural to even exist in the form described by any mainstream religion. God doesn't seem to be as great as the hype would lead you to believe.
It seems that god is used as a drug to some. Something used to get artificial good feelings. A religious experience is a nice high but there are other, less destructive, ways to get it. If denying homosexuals equality, lying about the effectiveness of condoms, artificially linking religious dogma with charity (as many christian charities do), and any number of the other atrocities are what it takes to get that high i will gladly find alternatives.
6 comments:
What do you mean by 'artificial' experience? The way I see it, experience is experience, whether one is on drugs, in a dream, or in prayer/meditation. The similarities between drug experiences and religious experiences are many as well. You should read Dr. Timothy Leary's The Politics of Ecstasy for more on this.
@Gatterr
I think i said "artificial good feelings". I think i meant good feelings derived through intentionally manipulating brain chemistry. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just needs to be called what it is. The benefit of the experience gained is another topic.
@Meira
I did not use any non-standard definitions.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/natural
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supernatural
@ Meira
It seems like you are implying that god's behaviour is observable. If you are going to claim that we observe his behaviour through the accounts given in the bible then you must prove the validity of your version of the bible as compared to the masses of other religious texts throughout the world. All of which have equal claim to divinity. In short, it is impossible to understand something that doesn't exist.
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