A Perfect Reason

This edition is a companion piece to the previous issue of One Possible Happening. The first volume was a short examination of the existence of a Supreme Being in three ways: by logical reason, by sacred reason, and by faith in the Bible. The use of logical reason compares a definition of God to the existence of the cosmos. A discussion of sacred reasoning adds characteristics of knowledge, power, and everlasting love to the notion of God. And the reasoning by faith in the Bible enriches the concept of a God who loves His creation and seeks interaction with the human soul.

A Perfect Reason continues with the enlightened perception of a Biblical God that interacts with and reaches out to His creation, and who sustains it with His loving power. It is meant to inform and awaken readers. It puts things on paper that are difficult to think about. The composition has a purpose to affect human character and action for both believers and nonbelievers. As such, it is written to be accessible to readers who are not necessarily specialists in the Bible. The wordiness of philosophical logic has been eliminated, with the idea that nothing prevents a person who cannot grasp a long theoretical proof from accepting something as a matter of faith.

The whole story begins with a general discussion of religion. A short description of six major religions and seven minor religious philosophies is provided. The different beliefs range from one god, to many gods, to no god at all, and to worship of mankind itself. It covers ideals from the oldest Hindu ideas to Buddhism and to other religions around the world.

A section on how to think about God seeks to eliminate many of the superstitious delusions that reduce God to nothing more than an idol with human characteristics. But when He is seen as an eternal spiritual source of power and knowledge that created the world and mankind in an act of selfless fellowship, the reader can better visualize the ideas of spiritual life and death. Spiritual life includes the everlasting joy of life bestowed by God to all people, and spiritual death is the denial of God's love to those who refuse Him.

In order to improve an understanding of the Bible, the fascinating history of how it was written and developed is reviewed. It includes a short narrative on its style, and how its content was selected as holy scripture. Originally written in three archaic languages, its history of translations are informative. But the scriptures themselves have led to great divisions among believers, especially in how they are interpreted. Many people place their entire trust and faith in these ancient scriptures. There is a great deal of figurative writing to be considered, and translators have resorted to the use of transliteration of many words, which have caused a fair amount of disagreement among Bible readers.

About one-third of the composition is dedicated to the development of more than 200 different church denominations in the US. It describes six basic ideals which contribute to the fractured nature of churches; these are Bible doctrine, the priesthood, baptism, the Eucharist, the Trinity, and millennialism. Each church bases its faith on its interpretation of the Bible, and some churches have added new scriptures to their Biblical faith. This engrossing survey of Christian denominations offers an entertaining view of the many factions.

The dialog concludes with the idea of spiritual maturity. It describes the denial of self-interest with a purpose to surrender completely to the will of God. And there is help from God through His perfect reason for a holy gift as described in scripture.