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The Exclusivity of God - A Dialogue

“God is everywhere, God is in everything; therefore, everything is sacred, everything is God.”

“Is God also in dung?”

“No!”

“Why?”

“Because dung is unclean.”

“But, then you said that God is in everything.”

“But, how can God be in what is unclean?”

“Why not?”

“Because God is holy. Don’t we keep our holy places clean?”

“Then, it means that there are certain things God is not present in.”

“Yes.”

“It means that God is not in everything, or everywhere.”

“Yes.”

“It also means that everything is not God.”

“Yes.”

“What about man? Can we say that the human spirit is God, especially when it is evident that there are also evil men as well as good men?”

“In that sense, we cannot say that the human spirit that is prone to evil is divine. But, what if we say that the human spirit which is divine has fallen into disillusion and has missed to be what it was meant to be?”

“But, is that possible with God?”

“Why not?”

“Because God is perfect, and if God were not perfect then He would not be God, but be slave to circumstances and disillusioning powers greater than Him.”

“Yes. Then, it is not possible for God to err.”

“Which means that the human spirit cannot be divine.”

“Yes.”

“It also means that if human spirits in general cannot be divine, no human spirit can claim to be divine in particular.”

“But, don’t we see that great souls exist? Those who have enormous powers and have deep spiritual knowledge.”

“Yet, all these ones are subject to experiences of suffering, aging, and death like any other humans.”

“Yes.”

“And, there is a difference between having stronger power and being all-powerful, between having deeper understanding and being all-knowing.”

“Yes.”

“So, these are neither omnipotent nor omniscient.”

“Yes.”

“Which means they are not divine.”

“Seems so. Though they do claim to be divine and encourage their worship.”

“Either they are divine or their claims are false.”

“Yes, either.”

“So, if they are not divine, their claims are false.”

“Yes.”

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