This post was inspired by a discussion over at Gods Gal’s site,
She is a very caring and devout Christian who welcomes non-believers like me.
Most of my friends find comfort in the word tradition. It conjuries images of Christmas and happy moments of the past. The traditions of the past, the words in the bible and our Constitution, provide moral codes we must live by.
I see tradition being used all too often as a straight jacket. We are instructed to follow a course of action because that’s how it was done in the past. Any law, rule or code of conduct created in the past needs to be examined in the context of what is right for today. The socities created by these documents of the past, such as the bible, were far from perfect, as our’s is now. There are many words of wisdom contained therein but we can, and must, improve on them.
I see the past as a blueprint for the future. Those parts that are working should be kept. Past mistakes need to be corrected.
What I think of as “modern” history began 5,000 to 6,000 years ago when man discovered agriculture and began living in cities. That’s a very short period on the grand scale of time, a nanosecond, a blip on the radar screen. We homo sapiens are still in our infancy of development.
My guess is that we know probably less than 1% of the knowledge needed to fully understand the world we live in. We are however learning about our world at an ever increasing rate. My guess is that in 10 years our body of knowledge will increase tenfold. Every day I read about the advances being made by science, on sites like Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com .
Some stories from the past do fill us with inspiriation. Others about slavery and war give a very depressing view of the weakness of the societies we have created. I can understand why some have no hope for mankind and turn to religion.
We do have a long way to go, but we have just begun the journey. We must learn from the mistakes of our past to make this world a better place to live in.
That’s my focus. Live for today and work to make tomorrow a better places for ourselves and our families. The past is just a history lesson. We have much to learn.
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February 13, 2008 at 10:40 am
inWorship
What about things that we feel cannot change? And what if someone feels they want to change that anyway? What if scientists were to throw out things they consider concrete and start over, because they did not want any “traditional” thinking getting in the way?
I guess I am asking. Is there anything that cannot or shouldn’t change?
February 13, 2008 at 12:03 pm
edfromct
Brent, “Is there anything that cannot or shouldn’t change?” I am not sure.
The two primary evils I want to see disappear are war and poverty. That we have yet to create a society that is capable of doing this leads me to believe that significant changes are still needed.
I do think society is working in many respects. I think democracy is a good model. I like the idea of a balance of power between the the branches of the US government, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. I like the financial model of Capitalism. I am however prepared to accept any changes that will result in the significant reduction of, or the elimination of, war and poverty.
I believe that people working together can solve any problem. I want to see a global society that is able to remove the barriers of race, religion and nationalism that divide the people of the world and fuel conflict instead of cooperation.
A specific plan on how do this will take someone a lot smarter than me.
My hope is that over the next 10,000 years, maybe longer, we humans can develop a society that does eliminate war and poverty. Where we see our neighbors as members of one family, the human family, and not as Jews or Muslims, not as brown or black, not as Russian or American.
February 13, 2008 at 9:30 pm
1godsgal
Ed, I’m glad I inspired you as you have done the same for me many a time!
A couple things that I can’t help but comment on here…when you answered b’s questions..If I didn’t know you were a Christian, I would think you were one.
I want war and poverty to end as well, but we both know it won’t, not the way things are now anyway. if people could quit being hung up on the fact that what’s in the Bible is from “God” and just start applying the principles in it…(it’s a start) then I believe that they would see that His ways are best, even if they don’t want to give Him the credit. Yet, they can’t stop fighting long enough to try.
“When we see our neighbors as member of one family….” Perfect! As Christians we do! I know you do too without being one…but I think we have the up on that line of thinking! LOL Blessings to you!
February 13, 2008 at 9:44 pm
edfromct
Hi GG, Since I believe mankind will still be around in another 10,000 years I have some confidence that by that time we will have figured out get along better.
I will of course be long gone by that time, but the thought does make it easier for me to look forward to tomorrow.
February 13, 2008 at 10:03 pm
1godsgal
I know Ed, I guess the difference is, I actually don’t think we’ll be here much longer…Even if I were a non-believer, I don’t think I could look at the things going on, and just the facts of this planet and think it will still be going in another 10,000 years. Plus, if we haven’t gotten it down by now, I don’t see what will come along to change how we treat eachother..what do you think on that? Look how long we’ve been around…what do you think needs to change? and how?
February 13, 2008 at 10:58 pm
edfromct
My world of science says that modern humans have been around for about 200,000 years.
From Wikipedia:
“DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago,[3] and they now inhabit almost every continent, with a total population of over 6.6 billion as of 2007.”
I don’t have a crystal ball but I don’t see any reason to think we can’t last another 200,000 years.
The rate of scientific knowledge is increasing at an ever excelerating pace.
Every year we are gaining a better understanding of the world we live in.
Another trand is that technology is allowing people to exchange information almost instantly. People living thousands of mile apart now talk to each other over the internet. The world is getting smaller. I believe this will breakdown the barriers that seperate us.
Internation trade will result in the nations of the world become more interdependant on each other. The wars of the future may be fought with money, not bombs.
Reason will prevail over the emotions of race, religion and nationalism.
I also believe we will discover how to travel to distant planets and repopulate at least some of the many thousands of “earth like” plants in the universe.
Sounds good to me, but I can only say I hope that it will happen. I really don’t know what is going to next week let alone in 10,000 years.
February 15, 2008 at 2:54 pm
1godsgal
“I also believe we will discover how to travel to distant planets and repopulate at least some of the many thousands of “earth like” plants in the universe.”
Honestly and sadly Ed, if we don’t get our act together on this one, I don’t know what good expanding into the universe will do. Have a wonderful weekend and talk with ya when I get back….SMILES!