Did
God create man or did man create God
In
the early fall of 1968 I was riding in a dump truck driven by another Seabee on
Highway 1 in
The
first of more than thirty rounds began to strike our truck and driver as we stopped
in the “Kill Zone” of an ambush. I
emptied a magazine while firing at muzzle smoke from the hill to our right just
as the driver lurched toward me in response to taking a round in his back from
our left rear. I pushed him back behind
the wheel and put a battle dressing on his wrist that was spraying blood from a
severed artery, the only one of his three wounds that I knew about
The
trucks ahead of us began to move and despite the driver’s wounds, we drove
through the ambush to safety. A truckload
of Marines took the wounded driver aboard and I began to change the right front
tire, one of the 3 shot-up tires on our truck.
The courageous driver, Arthur Purks, returned to the States for medical
care.
During
my 26 months of service in
I
firmly believe that we owe our very existence to a Creator rather than to the
whimsical results of evolution. The continuing
tragedy of humankind’s history of internecine conflict is a sad response to the
divine nature of our creation. It seems
that tribal, racial, and religious differences are usually the root causes of
our most serious problems. Our continuing
religious disputes clearly reflect the diversity of opinions regarding the
nature of our Creator. I strongly
suspect that many of our beliefs regarding the unknowable may be the results of
at best well-intentioned testimony and at worse blatant attempts to deceive.
We
have religions that promote love, others that promote hate, and others noted
for their accumulation of wealth. I
suspect that some religions are frauds perpetrated long ago by avarice driven
false prophets with ulterior motives. Nevertheless,
each culture has a religion suited to their needs ranging from serving God by
loving the children of God to killing God’s children in His name. We now know that evil people can hijack a
religion and commit evil deeds in God’s name.
We also know that many have died in response to religious disputes.
Why
do we fail to question the basis of our religions and willingly accept the claims
of men written so long ago when we cannot even agree with the facts regarding
the assassination of JFK? Over many
centuries of time, the religions of our various cultures have achieved a strong
immunity from doubt. I believe that many
people who doubt the validity of their religion fear the social consequences of
expressing their doubts and remain silent. Others may remain silent while fearing danger
from the radical believers of a questioned religion.
The Native Americans of the past and perhaps the present worshiped God and the world He created for His people. To the best of my knowledge, they honored and worshiped “The Great Spirit” without reservation and without an arrogant attempt to define God. They found little need for pomp and circumstance when worshiping their Lord as love was all they could offer and that was enough! We must learn that the hate we often feel for others betrays the trust of God who gave us life as an act of love! Will we ever become worthy of God’s love? I fear not!