God: Rational Theology: 3Rd Edition

GOD:

Rational Theology–

Prescription For World Peace

3rd Edition – 2011

Humanity is One

Guro Bert Domingo

AuthorHouse™

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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© 2012 by Guro Bert Domingo. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 01/05/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-0635-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-0634-1 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011961293

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

DEDICATION

INTRODUCTION

RATIONAL FAITH

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION

PROLOGUE

RATIONAL THEOLOGY

For WORLD PEACE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

SELECTED READINGS

DEDICATION

To all the people I have met and shared ideas with, I dedicate this book.

I have learned from you and you have enriched my life that led me to seek for a higher and nobler truth.

You—are my family, teachers, friends, co-workers, and associates.

My special thanks to Adelaida Taraya Domingo, whose love and care gave me courage to persevere.

Felixberto Joson (Bert) Domingo

Guro

RATIONAL THEOLOGY

Opening Prayer

Infinite and Eternal God,

We are all made of your Divine particles, and

Share your cosmic intellect,

Help us find the right way.

You are in all of us, yet free to act,

Even against our best judgment,

Help us understand your way

Make us the instrument for,

Your design and plan.

Instill in our minds the need to cooperate,

With one another and not compete.

Keep us humble in the face of plenty,

Charitable to all the needy,

And steadfast in our resolve,

To do what is right, for all of humanity.

INTRODUCTION

TRUTH ABOUT GOD: Answers

To Fundamental Questions.

This edition of my book about God that focuses on the need to be rational in one’s belief, centers on the unresolved issue of science and religion about an Intelligent Creator with a design and plan. The author has a problem with the idea that life has no meaning and came about as an accident of nature in a random fashion.

This work offers some suggestions as to view God in a reasonable and logical manner that answers present state of thinking beyond traditional beliefs and cultural anthropomorphism. Since this is an attempt to avoid mythical, esoteric, and mystical views, some science facts were cited in presenting the arguments for this view.

The author’s studies on religion and theology culminated in the area of the unseen world or the world of Spirits. This book was initially focused on different religious practices and its effect to society and the individual person. After studying Western and Eastern Faiths, including mythologies and historical struggles of different cultures, the author observed problems of interpretation in semantics, which produces the differentiation of beliefs. My preface to the second edition attests to this.

The views expressed in this book, specifically in this Introduction attempt to explain the Creator in a Pantheistic manner, thus avoiding the problems associated with a personal god, who is always there for the adherents of the faith. Bible readers will attest to this. The gods of different bibles seem to be concerned only with the group of believers against all the other people of the Earth. The author thinks that this approach to god or goddess resulted to the unending conflict among people, cultures, and nations.

Following are Universal Doctrines and Declaration of Faith:

BASIC DOCTRINES

1. Everything that can be perceived` by Human senses are created from building blocks of particles.

2. These particles are infinite, eternal, and possess intelligence that follow certain rules of Infinite Permutation, resulting to the Creation of infinite discrete units, starting from atoms, elements, compounds(solid, liquid, gaseous, plasma : seen and unseen).

3. The intelligence in every particle and discrete unit whether living or non-living, function in various degrees as required by an intelligent design of Cosmic proportion.

4. Intelligence in everything created can be deduced from their behavior and characteristics, as observed by scientific processes.

5. Everything created can be circumscribed under the term Nature with all the laws defined and observed by Science.

6. The observable phenomena of Nature, which having the Stability to be dependable, as the stars and galaxies in the firmament, the predictability and seasonality of life cycles of both animals and matter.

7. All the above beliefs are gathered from existing human consciousness from ancient wisdom to present state of human knowledge and experiences.

8. The Unseen world or the realm of the spirit was difficult to explain until Quantum physics supported knowledge of nuclear structure and microbiology. Coupled with studies in Paranormal Psychology and consciousness dynamics, we can now hypothesize the presence of spirit in the body-mind interaction.

9. The Only World in which we exist must be created and designed by an Intelligence considering our own intelligence, where laws and principles abide. Furthermore, the discovery of dark matter and dark energy shows the inexhaustible source for the building of Universes, that can point to an Infinite and Eternal Creator.

10. The Creator may take the essence of what religion refer to God, not in a superstitious way but in a rational manner

11. The nature of God from the religious perspective, is a very personal one. Their god can be described as "being there for them when prayed to, perform miracles, like healing, personal protection, providing basic needs in life. It has the power of life and death, promote morality with promise of reward for good work and punishment for evil acts.

12. The Creator described in Items 1 to 10, possesses Omnipotence or being All Powerful, as observed by Science in the laws of Nature; Omnipresent, for the whole Cosmos is made of the Creator’s particles or building blocks of everything; and Omniscient which is the totality of all Intelligences in the Whole of Creation. A Great Unity where Everything is interconnected. ONE.

DECLARATION OF FAITH

I believe in an Infinite and Eternal Creator;

The Source and Cause of Everything.

I believe that I am made from the Creator’s particles that form the atoms, elements, organs, cells, and every other systems of my body.

I believe that my mind-consciousness is part of the Creator’s total Intelligence, which extend from Ancient wisdom to present state of human consciousness.

I believe that the Creator’s power of Healing, and of Life and Death is embedded in each and everyone of us, in the form of Spirit, in the beating of our heart, the breath we take, and the different functioning of our total essence.

I believe that while we see the world in various shape and form, we are but One at the Particle level.

I believe that the Creator’s purpose for our existence is to provide His Creation to continue for ever, utilizing Human Consciousness and experiences as both Observer and Participant, to the Infinite Permutation of matters and Ideas, in His Cosmic Realm.

Finally, I believe that we were given Freedom of Choice, from all the Things provided for Us, coupled with the Full Responsibility to achieve, what many religion accept as Righteousness: TO BUILD NOT TO DESTROY OR WE SUFFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR ACTION

WHY SPIRIT REALLY EXIST—A RATIONAL VIEW.

• Out–of-Body Experience—Distant viewing while in a trance or deep relaxation

• Near-death Experience (NDE), While body was declared dead, person relates observation while out of body.

• Hypnotic Regression. Studies on Re-incarnation show that spirit has life after life.

• Spirit on Vision Quest by Shamans, part of Anthropological studies.

• Quantum principles at particle level—Energy

• Spirit as the Psychic Energy, demonstrated in Para-normal studies in Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP), i.e., precognition, telekinesis, and other powers of human consciousness.

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RATIONAL FAITH

Let me start where there is no beginning. This would require an embracing of a new Paradigm. The concept of Infinity is a very difficult concept for our finite minds. Yet, we have adopted, in Mathematics, the notion of Infinity, where there is no beginning and ending. The paradigm of Infinity is critical when we try to understand the idea of God, Creation, and trying to fathom, why we are here, existing. Since there is no Human who can testify as witness to the foundation of the Universe, any avowal of creation and of a Creator will all be hypothetical. For this, no religion can claim honestly that they have the truth.

A Rational Faith would require, reason, logic, facts tested by normal senses, factoring out delusion, illusion, and use of a very fertile imagination. With the advancement of science and its instrumentation, we can verify any claim for truth or untruth. If what you believe can not pass the test of rationality, why are you still holding onto them? There must be a very good reason for this. Laziness to search for the truth is a valid reason, as long as you will accept the consequence of your faith.

The power of Institutions that proliferate in most cultures and societies have bred beliefs that are even considered as superstitious, are given credence. Thus, clashes between religious adherents and the scientific communities continue to defy reason and logic. The problems of semantics and definition can be threshed out easily, but the stake to the churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples are very costly. Removing the shroud of mysteries and esoteric language will uncover the mystique of dogma, rituals, ceremonies, pomp and pageantry, and mysticism. Who can afford that?

Born in a Roman Catholic family, in a sleepy town, our life is given meaning around the year of church celebration from New Year, to the Holy Week, then to a one month festival of flowers in May with daily processions, then All Souls and Saints days, finally Christmas season. Even the town fiesta is of religious significance. So as an acolyte in the only church in the town, I am a participant in baptism, church sacraments, wedding and death rituals. Sometimes I do the ringing of the bells in the steeple of the church. School and civic activities take second only to church activities. The life of the people centers on the church. Miracles and superstitions are believed without a thought.

Considering that the Rationalist, Agnostics, Atheist of the 17th and 18th Centuries have made very strong arguments about beliefs based from logic, reason, and scientific facts, the great multitude continue to believe their held traditions despite the absence of evidence to support their beliefs. Nowadays, the Secular movement in Humanism, which