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%GOD'S PLEASURE 761213
What gives God pleasure? The behavior of religious
leaders gives us one possible answer. Their scriptures
tell us that God made the whole universe and upon
completing it called it all good. Ever since it seems
that religious leaders have been telling us that life is
full of evil pleasures which we, for our own long-term
good, must not enjoy. Yet the original story would
indicate that those pleasures were ordained by God and
called good by God! Either God or the religious leaders
are confused and inconsistent---or perhaps God takes
delight in frustrating his creatures---by creating desires
for pleasures and then issuing commandments that they not
be enjoyed. Why is it that religious leaders never lead in
giving thanks for the capacity for sensuous pleasure, and
regularly lead prayers of confession and pleas for
forgiveness for fulfilling our God-given desires for
pleasure? Why is it that religious leaders are always
saying "no", "no"; and never leading the way to the
fulfillment of sensuous pleasures? Is it because they
believe that it is God's pleasure that His creatures be
frustrated in the fulfillment of a set of technical rules
and regulations? Is it because they cannot stand to see
others enjoy pleasure while they themselves are suffering
the frustrations of denying themselves those pleasures? Is
envy their motivating drive? Are they too up-tight to be
jealous? Are they all mixed up with definitions of "good"
and "evil" in what they perceive to be a universe which is
essentially dualistic? Have they eaten the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
An image of a dualistic universe undermines personal
integrity, and therefore promotes I-It relationships
rather than I-Thou relationships. The introjection of
dualism into people makes it impossible for them to relate
to each other as whole beings with integrity. This
undermines the possible fulfillment of their God-given
capacity for pleasure and promotes estrangement. This is
tragic and ironic---for religious leaders preach that it
is God's pleasure to promote reconciliation, rather than
estrangement.
Yet religious leaders often promote the image of a
dualistic universe in which by their stories one gets the
impression that the Devil, as the supreme agent of evil
has the upper hand. It would appear that religious
leaders fear it will take a full arsenal of negativistic
rules, regulations, and moral injunctions to defeat the
Devil. They seem not to understand the power of love,
including sexual love, to bring people together in
cooperative relationships which are pleasurable for all
involved in them.
(c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in
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(On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)
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