Air Sikh

Was Man created in God’s image or God created in Man’s image ?

The former claim seems arrogant since we cannot know what God looks like. The latter seems more likely. In our attempt to understand God, it is natural that we should imagine God to be like us – only more powerful. Thus the God of warrior races is a warrior like them. The God of pastoral people is a more gentle God, a shepherd like them

Or is it that these different Gods are not the different constructs of different peoples but the different aspects of the One God that he has chosen to reveal to different people at different times in a form and manner best suited to their lifestyle and understanding?

That’s the interpretation I favour

We stand on a globe circling the sun. If I look up at the night sky (assuming it’s not covered in clouds), the stars I see in the heaven are not the stars someone looking up at the sky in the southern hemisphere will see. And while the stars I see are the same as those seen by other people in the northern hemisphere, their position in the night sky will vary depending on location – the position of the stars as seen from Kolkata will differ from that seen when those same stars are observed from London or New York. Each observer of the night sky sees the truth, from their perspective, but each only sees a part of a greater truth. In the same way, I believe no one religion is superior to another. Each sees a part of a greater truth. For that reason, I would not criticise the follower of another religion. Nor ridicule their beliefs.

Having made that clear, I hope what I say next will not be misinterpreted.

Many Sikhs in the Punjab region would like to move abroad. To do that, they need a visa. No one is quite sure how it started but many believe that by offering small model planes to the Hawai Jahaz Gurdwara they will increase their chances of obtaining that visa and their passport to a better life abroad – http://tinyurl.com/currfsq

I do not believe God grants favours. That one can bargain or plead with God to be treated better than some-one else. I do not believe God has favourites. We are all God’s children. Gifting planes to the Gurdwara in the hope of getting a visa in return has got nothing to do with religion, in my view. It is more akin to ‘sympathetic magic’ – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_magic