The Religion of God FOR PEACE ON EARTH

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Contents

Introduction........................................................................................................xiiiChapter 1: Objectives...............................................................................................1Chapter 2: Perspectives on God and His Laws.........................................................................3What is God?........................................................................................................3What are God's Laws (Laws of Nature)?...............................................................................4What is God's Challenge to Us?......................................................................................6Is God Merciful or Unmerciful?......................................................................................7Is It Evolution, or Is It Creation?.................................................................................9Do We Have a Soul?..................................................................................................9Chapter 3: We and God...............................................................................................13How Can We Understand and Experience God?...........................................................................13Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?............................................................................13Are We Rewarded or Punished for Our Individual or Collective Actions?...............................................14What if One Is an Atheist or Does Not Have a Religion? Does It Matter?..............................................16What Is a Sin?......................................................................................................16Do We Go to Heaven or Hell according to Our Good or Bad Deeds?......................................................17What about Our Prayers to God? Do They Help?........................................................................17Should We Stop Praying?.............................................................................................18Should We Pray in Our Schools?......................................................................................18What is Our Ultimate Goal? What Challenges Do We Face and How Should We Proceed?....................................19How Can We Move in a Straight Line in Our Journey toward the Almighty?..............................................22Chapter 4: Perspectives on Religion.................................................................................23Does It Matter to God Which Religion We Belong To?..................................................................23Is There a Way to Tell When Religious Teachings Are Good and When They Are Not?.....................................24Should Disagreements or Dissensions Be Allowed to Our Current Religious Teachings or Practices?.....................25What about Religious Conversions?...................................................................................26What Should the Role of Religion Be?................................................................................27What Can We Say in Praise of Religion?..............................................................................28What Criticism May We Have About the Practice of Religions Today?...................................................30Chapter 5: In Pursuit of Peace-Where Do We Go from Here?............................................................33In Which Areas Should We Compete?...................................................................................33Chapter 6: Final Thoughts...........................................................................................41Appendix A: The Dynamic Cycle of Birth and Death....................................................................44Appendix B: The Journey to Immortality..............................................................................47Appendix C: Rings of Focus..........................................................................................50

Chapter One

As the title and the introduction of this book suggest, my goal is to enhance world peace by following the Religion of God through understanding and appropriately utilizing the laws of nature. The following objectives provide more details on how to achieve this goal.

1. To encourage religions to focus on the spiritual relationship of man with God

2. To enhance peace and happiness around the world by eliminating or reducing religious differences

3. To encourage the development of a common religion, or at least to find common ground for agreement in teachings that are beneficial to all mankind and other living things

4. To encourage religious teachers to incorporate knowledge from other disciplines and use common sense logic rather than simply depend on faith and beliefs that have existed for hundreds or even thousands of years

5. To strive to understand the true nature of God through His natural laws and the tendencies of His dynamic creation and the creative processes of all living as well as non-living things

6. To provide an alternative for religion for people who may wish to compete with each other yet benefit mankind

Clearly, the burden of fulfilling the above objectives cannot rest on the shoulders of religion alone. The people of the whole world need to come together at different levels to harness and act according to the knowledge that exists in various fields: religion, mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, economics, social science, psychology, and all other systematic sources of our knowledge. However, the religions need to carve out a small but a significant role by utilizing the proven knowledge that exists and go beyond to the realm of the unknown. But they should always cooperate in the discovery of the truth, and they should always remain beneficial to all living and non-living things according to the order of importance described in the "rings of focus" (see appendix C).

To present and discuss my ideas, I have chosen to use a question-answer format in the following chapters. I have raised a number of pertinent questions and provided my answers to them. As mentioned in the preface, I have tried to keep my discussions simple without difficult religious jargon. Furthermore, I have not quoted from any source, including religious books. My ideas are applicable to all religions.

Chapter Two

What is God?

In different religions and scholarly literatures, God has been defined and described in various ways, even using seemingly contradictory terms. I have come to the conclusion that given the current state of knowledge, it is not possible for human beings to define or describe God in a meaningful way. But to some extent we can see and understand God through His dynamic creations that exist all around us. We feel the wind blow, see the water flow, watch plants grow, observe animals walk. We see the moon, the sun, the light, the planet, the stars, and more.

Who created all these things? Can something be created out of nothing? Can things create themselves? Scientists theorize that the universe was created by a "big bang." But who caused the bang? As I mentioned in the preface, I will keep the book simple; hence, I simply and safely assume that God created everything. But like an atheist, if I did not believe...