Hey! This is Beymer, and I am the author of the newsletter “Figuring Things Out”. In this second article on religion, I will be writing about worship, or as the subtitle states, “To Worship or Not To Worship”. In one of the engineering technology classes I taught, I built several robot kits and programmed them to do various things. Detecting and picking up an object, following the corners of a room, and following a particular type of object were the usual things I taught when time was available. These autonomous activities were programmed using simple techniques from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). I started with Finite State Machines and then moved on to Fuzzy Logic Machines. Making the robots “intelligent” was the most exciting thing here to me and I believe to the students. Never once, I mean never ever, did I nor the students consider programming the robots to worship us or to perform religious rituals of any kind. Instruction on Artificial Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms were provided but we never implemented such code in the robots, so we did not get to experience any semblances of “learning” on the part of the robots due to time constraints and the math and programming level required for these fields of AI. The thrill was all about making the robots intelligent … that’s what the students and I yearned for achieving. Never once, I mean never ever, did I nor the students consider making the robots worship us … that’s headed in a direction diametrically opposed to instilling intelligence into the robots.
In the writing that follows, I use the word “God” to serve as a placeholder for the unknown. This could be the creator of the world and life. It could be the Big Bang. It could be whatever you worship. It represents that humongous void in our knowledge of how we and the world came into being.
So, if God created us in his image, wouldn’t He also be more concerned with us acting intelligently based on our individual capabilities or “processors”? Would an all-powerful Being really be concerned or even place any importance on such a petty action as worshiping Him? Would such an intelligent Being purposely create a race of sycophants? Would such an eternal Being want His creations to “waste” their precious and limited lifetime in human form on religious rituals at the expense of potentially great achievements in the arts and sciences? I say no! I think to focus on such activities is a waste of our God-given talents and an insult to God. How dare us to think of Him as being so petty!
So, how did all this worshiping come to past? Well, it’s all the work of men attempting to control other people through religion. These great deceivers created elaborate and solemn rituals designed to make them the “middle-men”, who alone had a direct communication line to God and who alone could interpret His wishes. These men alone had the “authority” to speak for God and they used such authority to further their own agenda of power and wealth. Some evil men, unlike God, thrive on being worshiped. Once such individuals convinced others to worship God, it was easy for them to convince these same people to worship them. Worship is a man thing, not a God thing. It never was and never will be.
So, you may ask, “what about prayer”? Well, having a conversation with God is a good thing! You don’t need a priest, preacher, or shaman to guide you or speak in your behalf (in exchange for financial compensation). But what should you talk about? Well, just talk about anything, just as you would to a friend or a close relative. Should you beg for help? Well, you could but I “believe” that we are “God’s” hands. In addition to intelligence, He gave us emotions and a gregarious nature. If you are having bad times, seek out your family and friends … individual hardships, I suspect, are not much of a priority for God.