In Reply to: How much does God get involved? posted by Oldtimer on November 15, 2004 at 16:05:10:
You pose very profound questions. A lot of this started way before Christianity got to North America.
Think about colonialism in general and how the Christian Europeans came and slaughtered the Native Americans who were considered, of course, "savages." Think about the Christian conquistadores and what they did to the native populations of South America. It is so convenient to call people you want to rob "savages" while acting savagely towards them. It is a legacy of violence that drips blood, no matter how you look at it.
Then think about the Protestant Ethic, and how it valued and praised possession and industrious/profitable activities. The measure of God's blessing was, and still is for many, in how much you could obtain: health, money, power, beauty, etc. Whatever you have, the more you have, the more you can show "God" is blessing you.
There is not much emphasis on who you ARE instead, because having and being have become synonymous. You are what you own and what you can show. (BTW, if you ever can, check out Erich Fromm's Haben und Sein, To have and to be, a great classic, or A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn)
The catch in the Protestant doctrine was that there was nothing wrong about amassing property or wealth, but there was lots wrong about "enjoying" it. Wow. You can only see how far that greed has come now.
If a higher Power, God, worked only for the ones who THINK they have a monopoly on Him, then most of the world would have very little hope. So many keep suffering and dying every day, and it is not because they have no faith. Actually, I'm not even sure God speaks English, but it would be worthless to tell many Americans about that. And it would be very disturbing to find out God speaks Iraqi. How could that be?
I truly hope the after life is either a peaceful state of non being and non suffering, or some sort of coming home to a better place.