I’ll start this off by clarifying that I am not religious in any sense of the word, I don’t believe there is a higher power. I think the events that happen just happen. I do believe that we all create our own destiny and that no matter how insignificant everything we do molds us in our later lives, but I don’t think there is a divine being that controls everything for us.
What I’m going to post is just my opinion, get upset about it if you want to – but if you get pissed just know that you’re probably a moron.
Religion.
It’s been around for EVER. But where did it come from?
I could go on for HOURS and post a super long diatribe quoting information I got from search engines, or I could just tell you my take on it.
As I know it, religion was created thousands of years ago to explain things that science couldn’t. Rain? There’s a God for that. Wind? That too. The sea’s currents? Yup – there’s a God for that.
Over the years as mankind has progressed, science has slowly taken over, and the truly intelligent people on the planet are realizing “Hey you know what? There’s an explanation for all this shit that’s going on that doesn’t have to do with a God.”
In the beginning, there was a heaven and a hell according to the bible. There was no way to disprove this. We couldn’t get up in the air, and we couldn’t get too far into the Earth’s core. Now though? We’ve gone how far into space and we also know that the deeper you get into Earth the hotter it gets – but there’s nobody hanging out there in Hell. Good job, religion.
So over the years religion progressed. We go from multiple Gods or entities to some religions have one God. Some believe in Heaven some don’t believe in Hell.
If you read the bible (I’ve skimmed it), EVERYTHING you do is a sin. Greed is a sin, so you shouldn’t make money or better yourself. Lust is a sin, so don’t marry before you date. Certainly don’t be gay, because that’s not cool either. Yet there are MANY reported (and I’m sure thousands more unreported) cases of Priests molesting children. And these people aren’t molesting the opposite sex, they are molesting young boys. So the people you are listening to once or more a week are preaching but certainly not practicing. Shouldn’t that tell you something?
I was raised United Methodist, went to an Episcopalian private school for part of my Freshman year in High School, so I know a bit of what’s being said – and even though I was an alter boy (I wasn’t molested, don’t worry) I never really bought into it.
Sidenote – Parents… if you want your children to believe what you believe, practice what you preach. This isn’t a reflection on my parents because they didn’t do anything wrong – but if your kid is smart – let them make their own decisions. Back on track.
I truly believe that intelligent people (I put myself in this group) can’t possibly believe any of the hype of religion. You have people starting wars over it, committing genocide because of it, sexually exploiting minors because of it, and using fear (do what I say or go to Hell!) to get people to comply. With written and enforced law, there is no place for religion.
So we have different cultures, different beliefs and different versions of God. The Christian’s believe that God indeed invented everything. EVERYTHING. God was a righteous and forgiving being, yet the bible also (in a round about way) tells us that EVERYONE is being punished for the sins (that he also created) of two people seduced by the devil. If God is so powerful… how did he allow Lucifer to become just as powerful as he is? And people buy this shit?
Salem, Mass in the earlier part of US history bad, bad things were happening. So instead of looking for a logical explanation – the higher-ups in the town decided that is was once again the work of the Devil and his minions. So what did they do? They started raping women “just to see,” pushing bitches off cliffs and burning them at the stake – in the name of God of course. Wait. Isn’t murder frowned upon in the bible? No it’s cool, just say you’re doing it for God.
Hitler did the same thing, remember him? Of course you do. He’s the guy that got denied to art school, and then joined the service – only to then run for the government, take control and slaughter gypsies, Jews, and the like … just because he didn’t agree with their religion. In reality – dude was greedy and knew that the Jews (since being released from their enslavement by the Egyptians) were making good money, were good savers and he could profit from it. PS, the Jew’s legally owned slaves too. So don’t go running around boohooing for them as a religion as they were just as guilty. Not that they deserved what Hitler did, but they were just as guilty as the Pharaohs, Christians, etc.
So we’ve got hundreds of cultures over thousands (tens of thousands?) of years all believing something different. I see the parallels between most of them. They all believe there is something higher controlling the universe – but even there the universe was only known as the area inhabited by that specific culture. For fucks sake, people thought the earth was FLAT not too long ago. It wasn’t until SCIENCE progressed and developed into what it’s been in recent years (and by that I mean the last few hundred years) that some people finally woke up and realized that the Earth is not flat, the sun does not disappear, and the moon is not made out of cheese.
There are millions of billions of worlds beyond ours, may or may not be inhabited – but one thing I know for sure is that beyond our ability to see with the naked eye, a heaven does not exist. I respect the right to choose to believe, but frankly I will mock you if you bring it up to me. Everybody needs something to believe in, but base your beliefs on your own morals – not those imposed to you by people who probably don’t really understand them anyway.
And with that said, and my reservation in Hell confirmed, that’s all I’m saying about it.
