The Bible Story
The story of the Old Testament is very simple. The Jews
had a covenant with God that said that if they worshipped the one God and obeyed
the 10 commandments God would protect them. If they failed to keep their side
of the covenant God would break up Israel and disperse them. The Old Testament
relates how this cycle played out. We can see the same thing happening again:
Israel is threatened for the same reason that it has been for the last 4000
years: they have broken their covenant. However, what people don't realise is
that the Muslims are threatened for exactly the same reason, after all it says
in the Koran 'Oh Muhammad, we have given you the religion of Abraham'. The Palestinians
haven't been good Muslims in the same way as the Bosnians were not good Muslims.
Of course nowadays such things as a covenant are seen as superstitions but in reality this is simply the laws of the universe in operation. In one sense it can be seen as Karma, what goes around, comes around. It relates also to a theme that I've brought up many times before: you have to stop the emotional responses that cause you to react in an automatic way. One way of doing this is with prayer but there is another important element to religion and it is what is usually called 'faith' or 'belief'.
In one sense life is a game. People get so caught up with the game that they are unable to see things in their real perspective. People kill for money because they can't see any way out of their predicament. Wives kill violent husbands because they can't stand back from their situation and walk away from the marriage. People sacrifice their morals because they can't see the real situation. Belief in God provides a higher view of life. It provides perspective that life really is a game and that there are forces far more powerful than humans in control. If you lose this perspective then you invade other countries and kill innocent people to suit your own ends. These acts produce their own results. If you have faith then hardship produces more faith, it tests you (in the old fashioned sense of the word) and faith brings about it's own reward. It is a fact of life that that if you pray for something you
will get it, or something like it, though not necessarily in a time frame that your ego demands. The more pressure you are under, the more energy there is in your appeal and the more it is listened to.
In the old days (and we are talking old) kings had absolute power, they were, quite literally, above the law. Subjects who felt that the law had been unjust could appeal to the king but this wasn't an easy process. Often there was a long journey and palms had to be greased, When the appeal was made much would depend on the mood of the king or whether you were on-side with his advisers, but if the appeal was successful he could disregard the law and overrule it. For example, if you felt you had been unjustly fined the king could demand that you were reimbursed and could even provide compensation from the treasury. He was responsible to no one. In the same way, people can appeal to God who has the power to overrule what we call the 'laws of nature'. He is responsible to no one. He has absolute power to perform miracles, but you have to ask.
The problems of the world could be solved by people returning to their religion in actuality rather than just in name.
