Confucius Part 2

Is it fair for Confucius to ‘invoke God’ when giving his answer to the problems of humanity?  How can people truly follow the “Decree of Heaven” if he didn’t elaborate farther than “benevolence” is a virtue? Is Confucius really offering any practical advice here? Personally, I don't really think so. First of all, as pointed out in class, invoking God in philosophy is basically outright cheating. All of your arguments are based upon one grand assumption which really is simply a matter of what you believe in, and that is just not logical. Then someone suggested that "Heaven" meant a place, but didn't really make reference to God. However, who would be making a "Decree of Heaven" if not God? And even if Confucius didn't mean God, he was still very vague as to what exactly that "decree" was. If people aren't aware of this all-powerful decree, which alone has the power to change the human condition, then how can the condition change? Also, Confucius himself states that humans aren't typically benevolent, the sole virtue of the "Decree of Heaven" that he actually explains. So if people aren't usually benevolent, and it takes years and years of hard work and studying the sages to become benevolent, but then people still don't fully understand the "decree", so the human condition doesn't actually change, then what is Confucius really saying? He has a pretty fair diagnoses of humanity, but then no practical cure for it? Being benevolent, or religious, or wise might be good for an individual, but it isn't going to cure humankind of all its ailments.