Church of SothChurch of SothAll of my life I've been seeking answers to the big questions. I love exploring and the process of learning. Early in my adult life I was settled into atheism and took an interest in philosophy (some of my favorites are Russell, Schopenhauer, Aristotle, and Singer), which helped me fill out my understanding of great stuff like ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. Some of my other favorite fields include history, astronomy, and cosmology. My interests are always changing, and I'm often distracted by new areas of learning that catch my attention. Lately, it's been geology.
I should stop here and highlight that I'm not an expert on the above topics, but I do love them and find them fascinating, and my learning in these diverse fields is what brought me to where I am right now as I write this.
A couple years ago, shortly after I turned 40, I was still an atheist and sitting in my chair, mind wandering. I began to develop a belief that I couldn't shake. If God exists, it's important to find it. Or, if God doesn't exist, it's important to invent it. Either way, it's important to take action. Church of Soth is the product of my searching and/or inventing, and it describes my sincere and deeply-held beliefs. I no longer think of myself as an atheist. Since I'm only an amateur in these fields, I'm not sure if the idea is novel or new, but I'm guessing it's not. It's similar to pantheism, but different. At the root there are two essential beliefs: Truth is forever beyond our reach, and Truth is the reason for everything. What else could that be but God?
It might seem like a semantic trick because of how casually we talk about "truth" and things that are "true" but when I talk about Truth it's always with my epistemological belief about Truth in mind. Things we talk about casually as "true" should instead be talked about as fact. It's a bit semantic, but precise definitions are useful and important.
Also, because our traditional concepts of God are very different from Truth, the equality that I assert may seem like nothing more than words. However, I believe the more you meditate on Truth the more it becomes clear. Take a look around and be present in the moment, wherever you are. Even though your senses can't grasp the full reality of Truth, you can see and hear and feel a great deal of it, and what results from it.
I believe that God should not be personified. God is not similar to a human, and does not have a gender.
It's not much different, actually. Soth is the creator and cause of everything, and the destroyer of everything. The better we understand and respect Soth, the better our lives and our outcomes. If we don't understand and respect Soth, misfortune and suffering will result. This sounds very similar to other descriptions of God, doesn't it? Some gods call down from the heavens, "worship me, or else!" Truth doesn't need to make demands. Truth deserves worship by its very nature.
Soth is just the unique name I gave it for branding and SEO. English speakers know what God means, even with all of its complexity and variety. So, if I'm trying to communicate clearly and concisely, "The One True God" or just "God" is the best way to describe Truth. The word God belongs to the English language, not to any particular creed.
A bit of a non sequitur, but yeah, I do believe in Jesus. I believe he was a historical human being who walked on Earth 2000 years ago, and I love him. The account of Jesus's life presented in the new testament must be taken for what it is: imperfect, probably exaggerated, probably filled in with the personal interpretations and beliefs of the writers, altered through translation, and reinterpreted countless times. But I believe that Jesus was a real person, and a brilliant communicator and moral thinker. Do I believe he's the Son of God and died for our sins? Not literally. Maybe he didn't believe that either. Suppose that Jesus believed that Truth was God, and consider how he might have framed that belief when communicating to his peers to facilitate their understanding and acceptance. Perhaps he was trying to describe himself as the Son of Truth, since to him it might have seemed that he had unprecedented access to Truth. Perhaps he was trying to describe heaven as the Kingdom of Truth. After all, nothing could be more heavenly than a kingdom where all of its people were devoted to making a better world for the living.