Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 9
INTRODUCTION WITH A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. To discuss issues of such great import, purely on a secular and rational basis is not an easy task. Add to this the question of revelation as having played any significant role in human guidance, and the task will become all the more challenging. Yet this is the task we have undertaken, with the full realization of all the complexities involved. . The reader is most humbly requested to make an effort to remain alert. Once he familiarizes himself with the intricacies of the philosophical and rational jigsaw, he will be amply rewarded with the ultimate pleasure of watching the pieces of this jigsaw fall into the right places. . In application to religion, this view has given birth to a school of sociologists and modern thinkers who consider the birth and development of religion to be a reflection of man's developing power of reasoning. The implication of this is that man's comparatively primitive intellect in the remote past led to the creation of many godly images, which, with the passage of time, gave birth to the idea of a single deity, referred to as God, Allah, Parmatma etc. If accepted, this theory would lead to the conclusion that the development of religion at every cross-section of its history corresponded to man's changing intellectual capabilities. . This is a diametrically opposed view to the one held by various religions of the world, who all believe in the. Divine origin of religion. According to this view, religion is directly taught to man by the One, Eternal, All-Wise God. . They see polytheism, which dominates many periods of human history, merely as a degenerative process process which invariably follows monotheism after it is established by the messengers of God. A further discussion on these issues will follow later. a. Nearly all major religions profess belief in an invisible God Who can and does communicate with man. . They claim that God chooses human representatives and 9