Friday, April 20, 2007: wondering...
...how God felt during the Renaissance, when people started to believe that they could be their own gods, in a way, because of the change in attitudes towards the science and the arts.
what society believed before, in a very fatalistic manner, was that work was a form of punishment from God because of when adam and eve ate the forbidden fruit, i.e. mankind was predestined to suffer.
during the reformation, ideas started to change about the church and christianity and God (other factors did play a role as well) because of Martin Luther and John Calvin (ie Calvinism). attitudes changed; people believed that work was a way to glorify God and salvation was earned through good works.
the renaissance happened about the same period as the reformation, and i think it came about because of discoveries made by astronomists (or something), like how the earth revolved around the sun in ellipses, (which caused a great uproar with society because all along it was preached that mankind was the centre of God's grand design, and hence the sun should revolve around the earth.) how the universe was so vast, the discovery of other planets. scientists like newton rose up around this period, the human anatomy was researched on. there was lots of questioning about the basis of religion because everything discovered "went against" what they believed in.
i wonder how God felt then. surely the intricacies of the world around us, the flow of the system, how we are all made, both in terms of anatomy and character (we're all unique and individualistic!), the basis of metaphysics and hydraulics, somehow showed the existence of a Creator, someone who planned everything, a God that is smarter than anyone else could ever have been. How can the creation of the world just be based on math and mechanics; How could the world appear out of nothing?
everything that is created is inspired by God's creation. how can people regard themselves as their own god simply because they invented something? surely God's genius and divine interllect deserves some credit.
would God have been upset with us though? disappointed? i still wonder. but one thing i'm for sure: God will still continue to love me and you with an everlasting love, after all, why else would He have sent His Son to die for our iniquities? without a doubt, God loves me. (: salvation, after all, is not earned by good works, but by believing that God loved me so He sent Jesus to die for me. my comfort is the faith that God has prepared a place for me in His kingdom (:
... yes, economic history did this to me, btw. (:
~~
"when i consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of he air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord how majestic is Your name in all the earth!"
Psalms 8:3-9
a shout of praise.
12:31 AM
