Origins

In the Beginning There Was No Religion

December 23, 2021

There were no pastors to preach about God. Nobody ever existed before time, space, and matter. There was no God to honor and adore. God was not part of the original cosmic narrative.

But when humanity appeared, everybody created God and God proliferated in every corner of the globe, with each race and culture claiming that their God, god, or goddess is more powerful than the others. Regardless of their beliefs, we are told through their sacred scriptures that their God sent its messengers and prophets to tell the people about the world beyond, where their Father and the Holy Spirit dwell.

The entire world becomes a place swarmed with so many Gods fighting for power and dominance. India alone has as many gods and goddesses as there are Indians. Not satisfied with all these gods and goddesses, people continue to create their own God until now.

These are questions and issues that remain to be seriously resolved by all religious beliefs, including philosophers, theologians, and psychologists.

In a similar way, the Cosmos and all living creatures appeared mysteriously through fortuitous encounters of billions and trillions of atoms that littered frenziedly across time and space right after the Big Bang. This is what science teaches us and would have us believe.

There was no intention of giving birth to the universe and all its creatures. There was no a priori design to manufacture them since there was nobody, no scientists, no skilled craftsmen, no demigods to construct them.

But when scientists appeared on Planet Earth, they manipulated the genes and DNA of all living things--plants, fishes, animals--until the human species appeared. Through trial-and-error, we became products of experimentation, as what scientists continue to do to us today on a more massive, global, and violent way.

Yet, by going deeper and deeper into the nature of things, science has also stumbled into the world of the metaphysical, the world beyond the material and the physical, which scientists say, is necessary because without the world beyond we would all be soulless skeletons, acting as robots.

Our only hope is that little light that still glimmers from within, inspiring each of us to live joyfully as well as learn and discover new talents, skills, and expertise from the great ordeal.

Indeed, many have discovered so many things while learning to survive and fulfill their responsibilities as good citizens of this world. And one of these is transcending the physical and spiritual by going into the world beyond where there is only peace and harmony.

This is the realm we all would like to stay for all eternity. This is the only realm where we could be in total communion with our own being. This is the only realm where our being, as nothing, becomes the reason for our existence. The Light, I experienced in the world beyond, has become a home and destiny.

Yet, there remains one great challenge that need to be hurdled and that is: to reconcile the experience I had with the world beyond on one hand and, on the other, the "world beyond" spoken of by religion and science.

The Origin of Religion

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. - December 7, 2020

The origin of religion has always been hotly debated upon. When and how did religion emerge on Earth? Who introduced it to humanity? How was it brought to us? By a messenger from God? Or by an alien? There are several theories that are still circulated to this day. But a more direct concern is addressed to us personally: How did I receive my religion? Am I open for more holistic views?

Religion is a Human Invention, not God's

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. - December 9, 2020

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18).

Yes, very clearly, Jesus said I will build "my Church" , not "my religion". So with the other God's messengers and prophets like Krishna, Gautama Buddha, Anu, Horus, Zeus, Moses, Elijah, Jephthah, Noah, Adam, etc. Their intention was not to establish a religion.

It was their respective followers and disciples that established religion. And many of them manipulated and filtered God’s teachings to strengthen their power and wealth.

By their follies, they carved their own religion, filling it up with a potpourri of teachings that compete for global power and dominance. Religion has become not only a domain of God, but also of mammon.

God becomes inextricably entangled with power and money. There can be no God without money, no money without God. They are two sides of the same coin and the coin is religion. The blacksmith is Man, not God.

To say that God created religion is a cosmic joke. God must either be laughing or frowning up there. But I'm sure, the Lord understands our wickedness.

Who gave these men and women the authority to establish religion and to be the judge in discerning what is true or not, what is God's or not?

The Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible mentions 11 leaders as judges: Othniel, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson. But they are to "judge" Israel only.

If ever there's such a judge, it can only be each one of us. It can only be me. Yet, whatever judgement I render, it can only apply to me. I cannot impose what I judge to be true or not on others. I cannot judge others. Worse, I cannot say: '"It's only me that possesses the truth. Others are wrong and misguided."

There's no reason for me to convert or convince others to what I believe, especially babes, children, and the youth. The most I can do is to provide them the opportunity to realize and discern what is right and what is wrong. It's a trial and error method until they learn their lessons. After all, what is one "sin" for a "sinner". What is one error for the chances and opportunities to become better.

We cannot live our children's lives. They have to live it themselves. In the West, children are in fact living on their own after they reach the age of 18. This is not true in many countries in the East. It's even their parents that decide when to be baptized, when and who to marry, when to go to school, what course to take.

Yes, you say: "But we have to guide them." By doing so, you are using your norms and standards which you have accepted from others, from society, from schools, from the media, and other institutional hierarchy. Your norms are nothing but external conditionings and impositions. Unconsciously, you swallow them hook, line and sinker.

The term religion is from the Latin word “legare”, meaning to connect or join. Over the millennia, this has been distorted to purely mean “to connect or join with God”. Not necessarily so.

It can also mean connecting and communing with Nature, animals, forests, trees, caves, lakes, oceans, air, water, fire, ground, atmosphere, planets, moons, stars, galaxies, as well as with our neighbors, society, institutions, etc.

It can also mean getting in touch with our atoms, electrons, neurons, protons, quarks, leptons, strings, photons, tachyons, neutrinos, and many other subatomic particles.

The term “legare” does not mean worship or adoration. It simply means “to connect, join, commune, or link”.

Religion is a human invention, not God’s creation. Either you follow Man or God. Either you commune with Man alone and make humanity god or with God

Religion: Never a Loser

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. - December 8, 2020

Religion has been one of the most hotly discussed topic in my posts this year. People exhibit keen interests on where religion originated.

There are so many theories raised, ranging from the mythical to sociological, psychosocial, philosophical, theological, and scientific.

Here is one theory which I just came to know not too long ago.

Religion was created by peaceful entities around two million years ago for the primary purpose of establishing peace and giving hope to the hearts of humanity.

According to this theory, during the primordial ages, divine entities or extraterrestrial beings introduced the concept of religion on Earth for the purpose of helping humans---who have always been considered a savage, violent, and warring species---become more tamed, civilized, and united with each other in peace and harmony.

As time goes by, however, our ancestors and

religious leaders have corrupted it’s teachings and meanings.

Gradually, religion turned out being used as the most powerful weapon to control their followers and the masses. Indeed, wars, violence, killings, injustices, and corruption in the name of religion characterized our historical past, even moreso today. One wonders why peace is still a mirage when all religions teach peace and harmony.

The theory further predicts that Aliens will return--a sort of Second Coming--to quarantine our world and stop us before we become a major cosmic threat. Their return signals years of peace, harmony, and unity.

This is quite different from other theories which preach otherwise, i.e., "Religion is an invention of humanity."

Does this mean that we dismiss religion? By no means! If religion is able to achieve its original purpose of establishing love, peace, and unity, then, by all means, let's embrace it.

Yet, others maintain that it is possible that love, peace, and unity can be achieved. When this happens, unity can be realized amidst diverse religious beliefs. And by that time, we don't even need any religion at all. Religion has successfully served its purpose to humanity.

Others, however, firmly believe that this can never happen, the reason why, instead of a long agonizing wait, they totally dismiss religion outright.

I only hope that before it's too late for us, these senseless, endless killings and manipulations can jolt us hard back to the immediate realization that we all came from the same Primal Energy which is manifested on Earth in diverse forms.

Religion is a Product of Evolution

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D.

September 11, 2016

RELIGION IS NOT AN ALTERNATIVE TO EVOLUTION, BUT A PRODUCT OF EVOLUTION, SAYS A RECENT THEORY.

USING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH THAT COVERS ANTHROPOLOGY, EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, AND NEUROSCIENCE, PROFESSOR DOMINIC JOHNSON OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY THEORIZES THAT RELIGION AND GOD ARE A PRODUCT OF EVOLUTION.

IN HIS WORDS:

"‘The ability to anticipate rewards or punishments arising from our behavior would clearly have been favored by Darwinian natural selection because it promoted survival and reproduction,’ he said.

‘I argue this extended to the anticipation of supernatural reward and punishment.’

"‘God-fearing people were better able to avoid raising the ire of their fellow man, lowering the costs of real-world sanctions, and raising the rewards of co-operation.’

"‘It offers a striking twist on the old science and religion debate – religion is not an alternative to evolution; it is a product of evolution.’"

BUT JOHNSON IS NOT SAYING WHETHER THIS DISPROVES THE EXISTENCE OF GOD OR MAKES RELIGION IRRELEVANT.

https://www.ewao.com/.../are-we-programmed-to-believe-in.../

Interfaith Convergence

July 21, 2016

Can we now declare that Science on the one hand as well as Religion, Mysticism, Esotericism, and Occultism on the other are now reaching towards a convergence? The parallelisms and similarities in their theories, though they differ in the mythology and approach, are really indisputable. Their picture of the Cosmos are differing expressions of the same reality.