PLEASURE and RELIGION!
In this piece of prose, please bear with me as I deviate a little from the norm;
I will not quote any Bible Verses, but will simply share my thoughts in simple language, yet hopefully, my love for the Big questions in Life, and Basic Philosophy, will shine through. May they be both helpful and enriching!
Are these Subjects, ‘Pleasure’, and ‘Religion’, absolute Opposites?
Is God an Ogre?
The Devil would like people to think this way, or at least the True God of Creation and Salvation from Sin and Death!
Religion does NOT have to be a DIRTY WORD!
It would seem that getting to know the True God involves giving up all that is pleasurable and that DUTY or ‘WORK’ as we know it, is nothing but IRKSOME Drudgery and the Sooner it is Over the better, and that FUN, Parties, Jokes, Bingeing on Food, Drink, and particularly Alcohol, along with Entertainment, Sport, especially Highly Competitive Sport, is the absolute Epitome of Pleasure and the Ultimate Fulfillment of LIFE before we finally pass away into OBLIVION!!!
Why do more and more persons commit Suicide each year?
Why are there so many arguments about how to run the world?
Why do many lambast each other’s religions and belief systems?
Where do we all get our ideas of ‘Political Correctness’ or Conformity to the Majority, and what is ‘Socially Appropriate’ at the present time in the culture which we happen to be a part of?
Are there ANY consistent and absolute guidelines in which we may get MORAL answers to all these deep questions? or are we left to Guess and Squabble amongst ourselves as to the whole Meaning of Life and it’s Issues;  especially our Deep Cravings of Pleasure, but, along with this, a deeper sense of Responsibility towards each other as humans, as well as the rest of Creation, (or Evolved Planetary Systems) the Animals, Wildlife, and the Environment in which we all exist?
The Creator, God, has given us as humans ‘all the answers’ in His book, the Bible, but most people think it ‘too hard’ to accept; their minds are much of the time pre-occupied with ‘pleasures’ of all kinds in order to help give them a ‘positive’ release from the ‘horrible realities’ and ‘struggles’ of ‘every-day life’ wherever we live on this ‘Globe’!
Each of us has a ‘Conscience’, a sense of ‘Right and Wrong’ which is what ‘morality’ is all about; and by weighing many things in life up, obvious things like the Sky, the Environment in which we live, Earth, Sea, Rivers, Water, the Air we breathe, Pollution, Destruction, War etc. it is ‘Surprising’ that most of the things in this world we hold as ‘True’ because we experience it with our senses, we are in almost universal harmony!
Other things most of humanity have in common are: our sense of need for developing families to propagate humanity in order to fill the world and keep the species going; educating our young ones to fulfill different roles in society, keeping to certain laws or rules of safety in order to respect each other, getting along amiably and with genuine friendliness endeavoring to promote positive goodwill to each other as fellow humans.
Where, then, does the problem of ‘SIN’ arise, along with disagreements, wars, carnage, promiscuous sexual affairs and behaviors, greed, lying, untruths, fights, displays of pride and dominance at the expense of the weaker or inferior?
We know inwardly that these things are wrong, sometimes vaguely, sometimes sharply, and our common understandings, right across the board of international courts of law, have a surprising amount of agreement between each other, demonstrating, at least in my mind, as these are all my reflections, that we each have an innate sense of justice, fair-play, and what is right from what is wrong or sinful, as the Judao-Christian Scriptures portray as ‘moral wrongs’, SINS.
According to the ‘Scriptures’ Sin is the ‘transgresion of law’, and, recognizing God as our Creator (and Sustainer of Life) His Law is ‘written in our Hearts (our minds, our conscience) but has been gradually graffitied (if I can use that word based on ‘graffiti’ )or partially obliterated over the years and generations of human existence by constantly violating that law by ignoring conscience and ‘doing one’s own thing to greater and lesser degrees of departure from ‘law’. In society, major departures are classified as ‘crimes’, lesser departures as minor infractions, or petty crimes, such as breaking the speed limit, (depending on speed of course) jay-walking, loitering, shoplifting etc.
As we see the need for man’s laws, so we may also see the need for God’s laws, to govern the Universe, and therefore the need for harmony and co-operation without friction; and the multitude of various experiences within this law are what has been given us by a ‘Loving Creator’ to exercise ‘Guilt Free Pleasure’.
That mankind may experience this Guilt-free pleasure, a large price has been paid. The Price of Deviation from this multitude of Criminal activity over the years and generations of human life on this Planet in order to cover the cost of accumulated guilt, was extremely high! God has sacrificed His own One Son (His Representative on the Same level with Himself) in the form of Excruciating punishment of Crucifixion and it’s accompanying shame and insult. The Price of these Deviations from God’s Laws by All of Humanity since Creation began, up until probationary time for this World has Ended, has been finally paid in this one critical incident, the Crucifixion. This part of World History is now evidentially acknowledged as an almost undisputable fact!
This is almost universally known today as the Gospel or Good News, to all except some native peoples living out of touch with the Modern World and it’s electronic and written Media.
My purpose in putting together this Blog was to help open-minded individuals recognize, as I did early in my teen life, that the Judao/Christian scriptures answer all the greatest philosophical, moral, historical questions of ‘all’ time, and yet these ‘scriptures’, most commonly known as the ‘BIBLE’, in singular form, ‘is relatively ‘short’ and yet so ‘comprehensive’ that persons living but a few short decades, can come to grips with it’s underlying message –
Eternity is there for the asking, Certain conditions apply, yet the price paid is virtually ‘Free’ in comparison to what is asked of us as members of today’s competitive Buying and Selling environment.
Whether rich or poor, Salvation is there for the taking. Purchase or pick up a free copy. Read for yourself. Dig deep. Pray over and over for it’s ‘Big Picture’ meaning as we compare it’s message with ‘everyday life’. Then ‘find’ the ‘Little Flock/Fold’ who is ‘Honest enough to follow it’s guidelines in a fair and strait-forward manner, yet humble enough to admit they do not know everything and are ready to be corrected if needed!
As we find the ‘Truth’ on all subjects, point by point, we shall rejoice, and rejoice even more when we find others who think and are convicted along the same lines as ourselves.
Following these guidelines we shall find that Religion, ‘True’ Religion, is no longer a Formalistic ritual, or just a basic backbone to everyday living, but the Greatest Joy in Life, every other part of life is just a reflection of it’s Principles.
Summarized briefly: Religion means Re-connecting Man back to God, Creation, back with Creator, Saved from Sinner, to Saint (nothing special, just in harmony with the rest of the Universe and Other Worlds) The process is spelled out in just the right amount of detail as to attract our attention, and answer Most of our major deep questions, through personal and public (Church group style) studying, in palatable increments of time, as we can digest it!
And then comes the Lifestyle adjustments, only possible when Our Creator’s Spirit reins within us, empowering us to do what we normally would think impossible; Living a Good, Right, and Practical, Helpful life perfectly in line with our God, and the best way possible with each other, ready and waiting for this poor old corrupt system to End, and for Our Creator/Saviour/Redeemer to take us Home to His Father’s Dwelling place, central planet of the Universe (Heaven) before this World is finally ‘Re-created’ and ‘Made fit to live in Properly’ after Sin and Sinners (those who do not want to be bothered with all this process) are removed forever.
Then, Eternity will have just begun……………..!
May you be a part of it?
I intend to, by God’s Grace!
Gary Southwell
4/6/2021
“James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world. Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence [is] fulness of joy; at thy right hand [there are] pleasures for evermore.”