From a practical point of view, Jews, especially their leaders, only win people's hearts and exclude dissidents in the name of God. No matter Moses or later Jewish kings, they asked God to show his holiness in order to gain people's awe and make themselves appear on behalf of God, which is undoubtedly quite ironic.
Jews have a clear love and hate, and they are smart and hardworking, which really deserves our admiration. But, on the whole, I think Jews have shown narrowness and stubbornness in their dark side. Looking at the Old Testament, we can see that compared with the Christian gods, the Jewish gods show greatness, selfishness and tyranny. Always shout "I am your God, Almighty God!" " When Jews were imprisoned as slaves in Egypt, God sent Moses to save them. When Moses failed to convince Pharaoh, this god brought drought and plague to Egypt, and exchanged the lives of the Egyptian people for Pharaoh to allow Jews to leave Egypt. When Moses split the Red Sea and led the Jews to escape the pursuit of the Egyptian army, the God drowned the Egyptian army that followed him in the Red Sea, and even the people on the shore were not spared and were swept into the sea. In fact, he didn't have to do it at all. Before that, he had blocked the pursuers with a pillar of fire, perhaps to root out the root cause-my pursuer died, but the Jews were human and the Egyptians were not human? Why can't you be tolerant? It is better to exert his divine power and let the two peoples live in harmony. The Lord protects his own people and chooses his own people, and the means are equally cruel. He dug up the ground and buried Jews who did not obey the Ten Commandments. He doesn't know what "probation" is.
They are too narrow, and the God they created is too narrow. However, it is such an old testament that it is indeed a classic preserved by Jews. They are hardworking, because God says they were born guilty; They are loyal because God showed them the end of betrayal. Where there is a god with clear love and hate, there are people with clear love and hate; There is a narrow Jew and a narrow God.
In the era of tribal disputes, God is an authority and a tool to exclude dissidents and mobilize the masses. Leaders need it to make people passionate and bravely kill their enemies. I believe that in addition to the wicked, he will also replace God, so it is inevitable to appear cruel, changeable and narrow-minded! But with the development of the times, the role and position of God are also developing. When it becomes a religion, things are different.
By about 1050, almost all western European countries have become Christian countries. On the vast European continent, most people have been baptized since childhood, and they have begun to worship God without knowing anything about themselves and having any worship mode different from their own. "Their religion is essentially worthy of worship-they think that the power that the church obtains from God through prayer is above all else. For Christianity, the daily affairs of human beings can only be carried out under the intervention of God-the government relies on the king sworn in in the name of God to exercise its functions and powers; Social justice is guaranteed by recording the sacred judgment decided by God; People cure diseases by relying on the strength and magic endowed by church saints or practitioners; The duty of monks and priests is to pray to God, while the duty of laymen is to maintain their lives through generous explanations. "
In the religious era, not only those missionaries, but also ordinary people and dignitaries really believed in God. In their hearts, God is indeed supreme, he can relieve people's suffering, and he is the last and most reliable person to talk about.
At that time, people were short of materials, hoping for God's redemption, finding a peaceful mind in God's doctrine of equality for all and facing the reality. The appearance of God, or savior, makes people forget the pain in life and get inner comfort, so it can spread quickly. It is not unreasonable for dignitaries to believe in God and say that it is their own needs as the ruling class to some extent. But there may also be some dissatisfaction with reality. After all, every class has its own pain, and the powerful are not necessarily painless. For the so-called intellectuals, not going out at random may be obedience. After all, nature is endless, and many mysteries cannot be solved. God has undoubtedly given a ready-made answer to many questions.
Giving people spiritual comfort, of course, is not cruel and narrow-minded, but requires people to tolerate, love and be optimistic. At this time, the first thing Christianity wants to preach is the love of God and the tolerance of "If someone hits your left face, you should reach out your right face to hit him". The second is to preach the omnipotence of God, not in destruction, but in salvation. Isn't it said that a piece of bread of Jesus can feed many people? Many missionaries tell people that God is supreme and can relieve people's suffering. He is the last reliable person to talk about. So people are willing to pack up and go with him. But you know, nothing has changed. If he preaches that Jesus can kill Roman officers who oppress you, he will be in trouble. In fact, he said that you can atone and go to heaven in the future. They have committed crimes and will go to hell in the future. Just wait, so wait! These are beautiful and harmless sermons, but they are fascinating enough.
Although they are all gods, whoever talks to God will have different effects. We may also say that God and the church he represents are tools for the ruling class to anesthetize the people and maintain the rule, but at this time, religion, as a culture, has penetrated into all aspects of life, and science, culture, art, attitude towards life and lifestyle ... can't simply look at the problem from a pragmatic perspective!
In the Middle Ages when Christianity reached its peak, the role of God may have changed again. At that time, there were famous crusades, selling atonement books, and the inquisition was rampant. At this time, God was actually a manipulated tool to oppress the working people and became the card of centralized power of the church. Perhaps at that time, Christianity had enough self-confidence and authority, and the priests had enough status and vital interests, and God had really become the master of the world. They still preach the teachings in the original New Testament, but they can't tolerate betrayal and challenge. Jesus' hometown fell into the hands of Arabs, which made them feel even more ashamed. At this point, they have no room for tolerance and have to win back the dignity and honor of Christianity by military means contrary to the previous appeasement and distance.
The extremes meet, and too cruel religious oppression is bound to bring about an earth-shaking religious reform. Icons were pushed down, Puritans appeared in large numbers, and some farmers' dissatisfaction triggered an uprising, which led to bloodshed. Martin Luther, Calvin, Huguenots, etc. A fierce religious reform began ... religion is facing an unprecedented crisis. This is an era when even God has to worry that he will be pushed down the cloud.
At that time, although many intellectuals were used to challenge religious authority, Copernicus, Bruno and Galileo were just weak scholars. They are not all social activists and reformers. They can't change the whole situation by themselves. Reform needs a class with the strength to challenge religious authority! Therefore, it is not unreasonable for us to attribute the fundamental change of the situation to the development and growth of the emerging bourgeoisie.
There is no doubt that the effect of this religious reform is remarkable and sensational. The religious reform produced all kinds of anti-clerical authoritarianism, which reduced the role of clergy in society. The church split into different factions and religion began to obey politics. People still perform their religious duties almost as usual, and religion has become their indispensable daily activities, but "all the cohesion of religion has disappeared." (john donne wrote at the time)
Regardless of politics and religion, the power of religion is too strong, even higher than politics. The political dictatorship of religion undoubtedly seriously hindered the development of capitalism. Therefore, correspondingly, the emerging bourgeoisie demands to reform the orientation of God, and begins to pay attention to publicizing the secular and utilitarian side of God, serving people and taking people as the center.
It is impossible for Christianity to restore its former scenery. Personally, I think that the separation of church and state is unfavorable to the development of Christianity. Religion should pay more attention to comforting believers' hearts than interfering in politics. Politics is always changeable. Today is a hero, tomorrow may be a devil. Compare the Emperor of China with the Emperor of Japan. Emperor China personally ruled, and the dynasty only lasted for 300 years. The Japanese emperor is a nominal monarch and does not interfere in politics. What is wrong is the fault of the shogunate, and what contribution is blessed by his old man's house, so it can last for thousands of years. If Christianity interferes with politics too much, it will bring its own destruction.
Religion should do its duty, comfort people, do too much and go too far.
But the bourgeoisie still needs God. Capitalist society is cruel and pays attention to efficiency, but morality and fairness are the magic weapons for politicians to come to power. They need economic theory to achieve efficiency, moral public opinion to achieve fairness and make society warm. Religion plays a prominent role in this respect, which is one of the reasons why she can continue to survive in modern society. Of course, the more important reason may be freedom of belief.
With the times striding towards secularization, this secularization can be said to be a change from "Christian" order to "polite" order.
"The great passion released by the Reformation has also been guided to emphasize the automatic conversion of individuals. It advocates that religion is rich in people's hearts, self-evident, and does not need to rely on conventional obedience to prove it. " In the process of producing this inner belief, external force is ineffective or even counterproductive. In addition, theologians have gradually accepted the concept of' invisible church', believing that the invisible church is far better than the fragmented Christian entity. 18th century is a "rational era". Defenders of rational Christianity regard the church as a collection of members with various belief factors, rather than the only lasting organic whole designated by God. Here, as Locke said, it is a "voluntary group that people unite out of worship of God". People are gradually getting rid of the control of religion, not only in thought and literature, but also in art. When the theocratic Christian world has obviously collapsed, some contemporary Christians and skeptics have abandoned all the ideals of the Christian world without hesitation. At the same time, a new form of worship has emerged, which is more suitable for the taste of the privileged class. Religion has gradually become a matter for everyone to decide for themselves. Western Europe's society, culture and thoughts are becoming increasingly secular, and religion is personalized and individualized. The two blend together and want to complement each other. The change of face of the master who knows the times is undoubtedly quite successful.
Someone once compared Christianity to a sailing boat on the rocks. In the era of rationality and materialism, it was constantly slapped by the sea and finally looted by pirates. In fact, if God's setbacks in the Middle Ages came from the resistance of religious reformers and Puritans, his repeated setbacks in recent centuries were mainly attributed to the development of science and technology. With the rapid development of science and technology, especially the breakthrough progress of biology, people know more about themselves and nature, and more and more arguments about Christianity are no longer tenable. It is also inevitable that people's attitude towards God will gradually turn to rationality from their previous fanaticism. For westerners who are increasingly pursuing personal individuality and free development, there are not many empirical reasons to support their belief in God and to confront the challenges of science and materialism. Our God is really becoming more and more filial, more and more civilian and more humane.
Throughout the history of God's development, as a scholar said, "In fact, as far as ethics and teachings are concerned, Christianity itself is developing like the ever-changing world around it. It is constantly looking for new focuses, new passions and attracting new classes in new ways. " God has changed his face many times, which shows that he is as flexible as people.
What is the nature of God now? This is a difficult topic to understand. For theists, the essence of God is omniscient, omnipotent and universal. Where does this essence come from? In the philosopher Feuerbach's view, it comes from human nature, but it is only the alienation of human nature. Some more extreme views hold that God is just a tool created by man. People need him, let him be a god, dedicate himself to people's worship, pin emptiness on him and resolve doubts. It looks like a beautiful bubble. People blow it out into the sky, but when people no longer need it, they can pierce it with their fingers.
Just like China's Confucius was actually not the Confucius of that era, but the Confucius that people thought in wishful thinking. Today's god is not the original god, but the god that people think has become a religious symbol. People can dress him in various gorgeous coats at will according to their own preferences and the needs of the development of the times!
Therefore, we can only say-"What is your heart, so is your God." Everyone has his own god in his eyes. The mainstream image of God is determined by the God in the eyes of authoritative people. Many things in the world are like this!
I think people's thinking is a combination of sensibility and rationality. Perhaps rationality can make us see more clearly, but perceptual performance makes us see more comfortably. Sometimes sensibility is what people need. Religion can comfort people, whether it is deception or liberation, and can liberate people's hearts. This is what it is for. Or maybe God is just a concept, each of us is imperfect, and the concept of God makes imperfect individuals perfect.
In a word, God doesn't want us to worship, he wants us to feel.