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Future Articles In The Human Condition, Religion Series

Future articles in this series will include several issues showing distinct patterns of change through the ages.

The idea of change doesn't imply that God has somehow changed, or what God expects of us has changed. Change doesn't imply that anything was "all made up," and isn't valid - on the contrary, the implication is of a growing responsibility for greater judgment on our part as our understanding increases. Neither has human nature changed, it has always remained about the same. God expects us to treat others well.

Does religion indicate God's needs? God has no needs. He doesn't need a temple or other house of worship, he doesn't need people to fast, or do other forms of self-discipline - God doesn't even need worship in the sense of ceremony. He does need worship in the sense of being kind to others. As Christ said, man wasn't made for the Sabbath (day of worship) - the Sabbath was made for man. These statements, all taken from OT and NT Scripture, indicate that religious needs aren't God's needs, they are a response to people's needs. However, the needs and situations of people do change. The below listed articles help show how religion has changed as a response to people's needs, situations, and ability to understand, and not just in the Judeo-Muslim-Christian world, but in other religions as well.

Religious change and disgusting things, the developing morality. From Law to Love: Sex - changing times, cultures. Multiple wives, eunuchs, celibacy, adultery and divorce, homosexuality, responsibility.
Worship: priests, teachers, holy places, prophets, the Temple, priests, sacrifices, sponsor homes, synagogues and churches and Mosques, Rabbis, ministers, priests, theaters and various media, community, and true worship.
The changing(?) role of women through religious history.
Prophecy to cease? and punishment and The Day of the Lord.
Entrance into religion: Outward, Born into - (family, culture, circumcision, allowed entrance into the Temple); Inward - (ritual washing, introspection); Sponsored - (community, teaching, obedience, and rites); Convert - (alien); Private.
The problem of identity and individual differences - religion cannot force ethnic groups, cultures, and nationalities to adapt to a single religious practice. Religion is faced with adapting, diversity (differences in individuals and in groups in understanding), and with a plurality (number) of practices and beliefs which allow people to develop just as religion has developed.

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