Nothing Imaginary

12/10/14             Corbin              about 25

What is the attraction of reincarnation?  Most people know this to be a core belief of Hinduism, but it is also a common “go to” belief for those who are trying to cobble together their own alternative belief system.  Corbin, a twenty-something young man I spoke with on his way home from his job at a non-profit community organization, described his beliefs as a mixture of Hinduism, Buddhism, and science.  What he liked about Hinduism was the chance to try to improve himself in a new life.  But at the same time he didn’t like the thought of multiple reincarnations stretching into eternity, so he also subscribed to the Buddhist concept of attaining “nirvana” or total enlightenment.  And, just in case anyone thought him to be illogical, he is attracted to any scientific evidence or logic that seems to support his theories, especially ideas having to do with a person’s spirit or soul as being made of energy that is not created or destroyed, but simply changes form from one life to the next.  Despite his catholic upbringng, Corbin has rejected the biblical concepts of God that he grew up with in favor of an image of God of his own design.  He has picked and chosen from the buffet table of religious ideas, but he doesn’t realize he is breaking the second commandment – he is making and serving a false image.  Forming an image of God in one’s imagination is the same as the idol worship of the Old Testament.  It’s the same as bowing down to statues formed by human hands.   Our human nature wants a God whom we are comfortable with, one we can create and control and approach or walk away from at our own whim.  But a living God who has a will and makes His own decisions, who knows every detail of our lives and can’t be predicted or controlled, a God to whom we are accountable to for how we have lived this one life, is not comfortable for many. He isn’t supposed to be.  He has revealed all He wants us to know about Himself throughout history as written in the Bible.  We don’t have to rely on our imagination.