We can never BE a god, but as we improve and become more in accord with accurate thinking,
love, and justice we get closer to becoming our humane godly ideal.
We must strive to evolve from the superstitious idealizations to humane principles.
We must strive to evolve from the superstitious idealizations to humane principles.
The God of Abraham can be loved, or feared, as a father, sometimes his forgiveness, sometimes his anger being the dominant aspect. Inasmuch as God is the father, I am the child. I have not emerged fully from the fantastic wish for omniscience and omnipotence. I have not yet acquired the objectivity to realize my limitations as a human being, my ignorance, my helplessness. I still claim, like a child, that there must be a father who rescues me, who watches me, who punishes me, a father who likes me when I am obedient, who is flattered by my praise and angry because of my disobedience.
Quite obviously, the majority of people have, in their personal development, not overcome this infantile stage, and hence the belief in God to most people is the belief in a helping father—a childish illusion.
In spite of the fact that this concept of religion has been overcome by some of the great teachers of the human race, and by a minority of people, it is still the dominant form of religion.
