Reflection 46 – What I Learned From Watching The Story Of God By Morgan Freeman

Not so many celebrities in this world have relatively almost unanimous agreement on their career and their respective personalities. I believe Morgan Freeman is one of them! Both as an actor and a person, he tends to be liked by very different people with extremely diverse backgrounds. Of course, I don’t have any data backing my claim but let’s assume that it’s at least partially true. As he seems to be a truth seeker, National Geographic found him the right candidate to feature him in The Story of God episodes several years ago. As probably most of you are aware with my current health condition, I tend to have a decent amount of free time that I try to utilize (hopefully) in an efficient way. Since I believe I saw all the episodes that address all popular religions such as Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism along with others I believe, and then try to discuss their take on God himself, creation, life after death, apocalypse, and so on. Two main points stood out for me. But first, a quick backdrop!
As someone who has been spending relatively more time with Quran in the last couple of years (at least qualitatively or this is at least how I try to think of myself ), there are some topics in the Quran where I keep getting this devil’s whisper constantly trying to bombard my thoughts with the following: How is this relevant today in 2023? These are outdated topics that belong a little around a millennium and a half ago. Really?! Then, you have probably not watched Morgan Freeman lately . Personally, I was shocked but at the same time my faith in Islam got intensified. Without going into any complex or religious debates, I will give you my two cents!
My First Point:
Any attentive reader to the Quran will quickly take note of its fierce critique about the idea of multiple Gods and at the same time its UTMOST focus on The ONNES of God. Typically what comes to mind when I read such parts are those Arab tribes living in the desert more than a thousand years ago. Therefore, I typically (ignorantly) never really thought of the idea of multiple Gods as very important especially in our modern times. Accordingly, I was pretty shocked to know that billions of people in India and other neighboring countries have this belief up until this day. Once again, I am not here to debate the logic behind or refute it as I believe this has been addressed by much more knowledgeable scholars and speakers. I am just offering my humble observations.
My Second Point:
I believe that this is somehow related to my first observation but not quite sure. Once you begin to have the idea that you have to satisfy multiple Gods, then it gives birth to another idea: INTERMEDIARIES! This is basically the idea of having some sort of entity that comes in between you and God(s). And this is another largely discussed topic in the Quran that might seem for some out of date. Remember Quran is a guidance book that will make equal sense for those nomadic Arab tribes thousands of years ago and a well-savvy Hindu engineer living in Silicon Valley today! I think there are two main issues with this intermediary idea. On the one hand, it cuts you off from a possible DIRECT relationship with Allah. On the other hand, it gives the impression that you‘re not GOOD ENOUGH and there should always be someone else (who is better!) that will intercede on your
behalf. Basically, it gets you off the hook . In other words, you‘re allowed to mess up in this life knowing that someone else will take away your trash and throw it away!
IN SHORT: Oneness of God and No Intermediaries!
PS: If I am not mistaken, Judaism supports similar views like Islam when it comes to these two specific points.