Religion

Grandpappy was a spiritual man first and a religious man second, but I don’t think it can be denied that He was, in fact, religious. He read scriptures and attended synagogue and participated in religious rituals according to the customs of His people. And, when you think about it, why wouldn’t He? After all, there isn’t a thing wrong with ritual as far as it goes, just so long as one doesn’t confuse its means for the end. And Grandpappy was nothing if not a level-headed man.

I enjoy discovering the doctrines and practices of various faiths. As with any act of exploration, it helps if one is familiar with the various features that one may encounter within the landscape she-or-he is exploring. In terms of exploring Earth, it’s good to understand that there are oceans, mountains, volcanoes, lakes, rivers, forests, and so on, specific elements that you can find in different places all over the planet. With religions, there are at least four universally recognized features that most of them share. These features correspond roughly to how religious groups deal with the existence of things in general, the existence of life, the existence of thought, and the purpose of the existence of everything. The features manifest themselves, respectively, as origin stories, explanations of natural phenomena, answers to the problem of evil, and destiny stories.

In deference to the question of the existence of things, most religions present an origin story. Interestingly, it is not uncommon for a religion to skip over the origin of ordinary matter altogether and perhaps even the origin of life, getting right to the origin of the people to whom the religion belongs. But regardless of the details of the narrative, the origin story is meant to establish a beginning, to focus everyone on a particular picture of the genesis of their world.

In considering the existence of life, religions that don’t simply leave the question in their origin story continue addressing it in the explanations they form of the interactions going on all around them. It’s no surprise, then, when forces deemed inanimate by some, like the wind and the sun, are seen as living beings by others. Religions that avoid explaining phenomena typically defer to science or deny the importance of the material realm or some combination of both. Avoidance of the question is sometimes just as telling as a detailed attempt to answer it.

The question of the existence of thought is almost always dealt with as the question of how evil entered the world, and certainly the "problem of evil" is addressed in nearly every religion that ever existed. The origins of "good" and "evil" are sometimes treated as a different thing, but are still often relegated to "problem of evil" stories specifically.

Finally, when contemplating the meaning of it all, religions concern themselves with the destiny of humankind, and this is often tied in intimately to the origin, leading one to wonder if, sometimes, the entire narrative beings with the destiny.

All of these existential narratives together constitute the grand narrative of any given religion. They reveal how the religious collective being examined answers the four fundamental existential questions. In comprehending a religion’s existential position in four dimensions, one can begin to appreciate the universe within which the religious community lives.

Grandpappy seemed to accept the idea that the origin of the universe began with a supreme creator God. God’s interaction with Her/His creation explained a variety of things, but in particular it explained why Life and Thought and Love seem to govern the universe (because that’s just the kind of God She/He is). Evil exists merely as a personal choice, and therefore it can easily be conquered the same way. And the destiny of humankind is to be co-creators with God in a world that is ultimately peaceful.

When it comes down to it, Grandpappy’s religion wasn’t that much different than anyone else’s. In fact, it seems to me that, outside of historical details, most religions only really differ significantly in how they contextualize the nature of the Divine. Grandpappy, always liking to get right to the heart of a matter, came with a massage that addressed that very issue. But, when you think about it, who can really say objectively who’s right or wrong when it comes to an issue like that?

I imagine it bothers Grandpappy quite a bit to see us here on Earth constantly bickering about fine points in religious doctrine – even fighting wars over them – that in the cosmic scheme of things don’t make a hill-of-beans difference. Grandpappy frequently told people that He’d healed not to go telling everyone about it because He really didn’t want that kind of attention. The message He was bringing to the world wasn’t primarily about Him. It was about how we treat each other and ourselves. How embarrassed He must be when people sacrifice loving one another for the sake of casting the spotlight on Him personally.

Because I think if Grandpappy had to choose between folks knowing who He was (historically speaking) or knowing that Love is the most important thing in the universe, there is no question He’d choose the latter.

It’s a pity knowing Grandpappy and knowing Love aren’t often the same thing these days. But Grandpappy isn’t to blame for that.