Get Religion

Okay, lunchtime, and time to take a few moments to jot down some thoughts.

For years I have been studying religion. Not necessarily as a vocation, but as a life interest.

I grew up, like any other good little church-going person. Went to Sunday school, and church weekly.

Around the time I was graduating high school, I began to wonder what religion, more specifically Christianity, was all about. Not one to leave questions unanswered, I made an appointment with my minister and had a discussion about what exactly this whole church thing was about. As I suspected, it was all B.S. according to the answers I received. In a nutshell, it boiled down to the fact that most of the promises made by the Christian religion boils down to faith. They can't explain it, you just have to rely on faith that it is so...

This to me was the ultimate cover for a religion. Just do as we say, and take it on faith that all of what we say is true. Now, isn't this what was wrong with leaders like Jim Jones, or even the Comet crew? Don't ask questions, just have faith! Is it any wonder we're referred to as sheep in the Christian mythos, and Jesus is our Shepherd? I, for one, am no sheep.

Let me bring up a few points on why the "mainstream" Christian line of thinking is not for me.

1) The Bible is a collection of stories written long ago. It was assembled by numerous men who decided which books were the inspiration of God, and which didn't quite fit in to the message these men wanted to have in their Bible. That's right! There are many books, stories etc... written about the same time that didn't make the cut.
Now let's say I was going to start my own religion, and I walked into Borders and began pulling pieces from various books and sticking them all into one book I was creating that was going to be my Bible. Of course I would be careful to only insert those things that backed my thoughts on how my religion should be. The rest would be tossed out. When I was finished, I would label this the word of God, because all of the stories had to have been inspired by God himself. No really, have faith this is true! And don't you dare question this fact, or you will be put to death as a heretic. Point? The Bible was written by MAN, not God. You do realize the tooth fairy isn’t real either?

2) This brings me to the next point. Christians always enjoyed a good cleansing. Whether it was the destruction of entire cities by both God and his followers, or the variety of Holy Wars and Crusades, Christians have always killed those who did not believe as they do. Today, Christians like to pretend that this was not so, and really get whiney if you bring this fact up to them. Now they are peace-loving, unless you say you don't believe, then they look at you as if you have a disease, and feel sorry for you because you are going to hell. They will, of course, pray for you.

3) Most of the death and wars in our worlds history has sprang from religious intolerance. Someone always wants to kill someone else because of religious differences. And don't get me started on the loonies who kill abortion doctors because these doctors are killing innocent babies. Killing someone, regardless of the reason, is wrong you ignorant wackos! Unfortunately, there are times when you must defend yourself. I am not saying defense is wrong, only not enjoyed by those who truly cherish life.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll share more on this topic, or take you to a place more sane. I look forward to reading any comments you may have on the subject. Let me assure you, comments without intelligent thoughts will be disregarded as uneducated ramblings...

Until next time,