Let's say there is a God, and when getting to him he points out different parts of my life where I chose to be immoral.
Let's say I accepted gays, and even supported their marriages. This would most definitely be seen as a sin, I don't see how the support of evil wouldn't be considered a sin.
So god tells me that it was wrong of me to support them, and that I should have been judging them, and calling them to repentence. The following conversation takes place:
Me - "I was only following Christs teaching. 'He who isn't perfect cast the first stone.' I wasn't going to judge anyone."
Now, at the thought of this statement I realize something very important. God, is judging me. Christ was perfect, and asked that we not judge. So I ask god - 'Do you believe christ was perfect?"
He responds, "but of course"
Me - "then... why don't you follow his teachings if they were perfect."
He responds, "Well, they were perfect for you, because you're not all knowing. You see I'm perfect and all knowing. Therefore I know how to perfectly judge someone. So it is acceptable that I judge."
Me - "So you taught us those things because for the time being that's what we had to use. But when we're all knowing and perfect, THEN we can judge... so these teachings from christ were all temporal."
God - "Yes that's correct."
Me - "Okay.... So you didn't want me judging homos cause I didn't know it was wrong? So by not judging them I was doing the right thing for the temporal time I had on earth..."
God - "No you were supposed to judge them, because you knew that what they were doing was wrong."
Me - "And how did I know that?"
God - "Cause christ said it was wrong..."
Me - "Well, Christ also said not to judge... So did he want me to judge the homos or to not? Cause if we're supposed to judge people by what we know to be right and wrong. Jesus said in the same book to judge and to not judge... And he was perfect.... So both teachings are perfectly correct."
God - "... Well ... Nevermind then, I won't judge you for this issue. But we have much bigger issues to move on to.... let's see... Oh, you drank alcohol."
I respond proudly - "Yes, I did. Just trying to live up to the example Moses, Christ, the 12 apostles and quite a few other religious people left me. Although I don't see how that pertains to my judgement."
God - "Well because your prophet told you not to."
Me - " Hahahah - Right, god... like I'm going to follow their example over the example left by my savior Jesus the Christ"
God obviously frustrated - "Well, then what about when you had pre-marital sex"
With a look of confusion I respond - "Oh I'm sorry... were you married to Mary when ya fucked her... and what were you doing fucking a married woman anyway?"
God - "That's none of your business. Once again I AM PERFECT."
Me - "So once I acquire this perfection, I can disregard everything you and Jesus ever taught me."
God - "No, but once you're perfect - the things you do are sacred, and you do them for sacred reasons"
Me - "Then, what's the point of teaching us all these things"
God laughs mockingly, "well to teach you how to be perfect"
Me - "So the plan is to teach me to be perfect, so that once I am perfect, I never have to follow the teachings that made me perfect."
God - "No you don't understand...."
Me - "Clearly I don't understand, so how can you judge me on morality when I was following the perfect examples of those who killed, committed adultery, drank, swore, judged, didn't judge, etc. I was only following the perfect examples of you and your son, and your prophets..."
God - "But you KNEW better. Your prophet told you not to do those things."
Me - "I knew better than you? Hardly. And how did I know he was your prophet."
God - "Cause the spirit testified to you these truths"
Me - "And how should I have known that this wasn't the spirit of the devil testifying falsely?"
God - "BECAUSE MY PROPHET TOLD YOU THAT IT'S THE SPIRIT OF GOD!"
Me - "Well, so if the devil told me that i should follow him, and then gave me a feeling. And once i have that feeling I will know that he's telling the truth - you expect me to just follow him?"
God - "NO you MORON. Did you get nothing out of christs teachings? 'by their fruits ye shall know them.'
Me - "I'm so glad you said that. Cause all these prophets today talk about how it's immoral to drink or have pre-marital sex. Which is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what you and christ did. By THEIR fruits, I just knew they couldn't have been your prophets."
God sits back... defeated in his argument, trying to figure out just how in the hell anyone could have come to him with such common sense.
If the christian god exists, anyone who has two licks of intelligence could easily talk their way past the pearly gates and the judgement bar. Hell, I could show up drunk, half naked, and with a prostitute, and STILL be confidant I'm getting through.
REBUTTAL:
Now for any christians who want to say, well they did those things because they had a perfect knowledge and I don't so I can't.
Let me get this straight. Me, not knowing what is perfect and right, am left with the example of perfect people, but am expected not to follow.
Instead I am expected to follow the examples of imperfect people (prophets), and hope that their examples of imperfection will somehow lead me to perfection?
This all goes back of course to the first blog I wrote about the goal of religion. Either follow perfect examples, get bad PR, and be told not to. Or, follow imperfect examples which are good for PR, and not try to become like jesus in this life.
Both of those theories sound ridiculous and anyone with common sense would not adhere to either. They would find a theory that works without the ENORMOUS contradictions.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Neurology and God: Chapter 1
Most all religions lay claim to a very important feature, or evidence of validation for their beliefs.
This is most widely known as - the spirit.
The spirit is a feeling inside you, that is supposedly "too deep, too strong," to be just considered a feeling. So religious people will claim that since this feeling is so strong that it must not be a feeling at all. It's the presence of a supernatural being.
If I close my eyes, and imagine a man dressed in white descending from the heavens, his arms open, his eyes and smile expressing love and confidence leading me to believe that I can trust him, and that he's only here to help. Then that feeling of deep peace comes back.
The point being that this feeling doesn't derive from a supernatural being - it derives from your brain.
If I'm in an intense moment of fear - my heart instantly doubles its pace, my eyes open wide, my muscles tighten, and the feeling I have is very different. It's a feeling that doesn't really have a definition - the best I can define it is - lively or passionate. The intensity of the situatin has awoken every facet of my being and for the next few moments my brain and body seem to be working at an incredible rate.
This feeling is far more intense than any spiritual feeling i've ever felt - yet no one would claim that this feeling derived from a supernatural being.
Butterflies are just a feeling, guilt is just a feeling, pain, heartache, goosebumps, horny - those are just feelings. But DEEP PEACE is god.
Here's where this theory doesn't work for me. I've never lived outside of my brain - So I don't know what derives from it, and what doesn't. But I do know small bits about neurology (it is one of my interests). I appreciate knowing the difference between the male and female brain, how they function, and why the brain functions the way it does. So for anyone who believes in the spirit I'm going to explain a very simple fact about brains, and how they process pain. In particular, phantom pain. Phantom pain is simply pain in a part of your body, that doesn't exist anymore.
Phantom pain:
A study found that eight days after amputation, 72 percent of patients had phantom limb pain, and six months later, 65 percent reported it. Some amputees experience continuous pain that varies in intensity or quality; others experience several bouts a day. It is often described as shooting, crushing, burning or cramping. If the pain is continuous for a long period, parts of the body may become sensitized, in so much that by touching them evokes pain in the phantom limb, or the phantom limb pain may accompany urination or defecation.
Now clearly these people don't have limbs - yet those non existent limbs seem to be causing them pain.
I bring this up to make a point about the brain... which is simply: You can't trust it. The brain is very complex, but one thing that is understood about it is brain waves.
Your brain PHYSICALLY changes every time you perform an action. The more you perform an action, the more a brain wave is set, and the more an action becomes a HABIT. Or in other words, the deeper a brain wave or the longer you've performed a habit, the more it becomes a part of your subconscious - to the point where it almost doesn't exist anymore as a thought - you act on habit. Your brain senses a situation is similar to previous situations, and reacts.
Now if a brain wave is set let's say about... a limb. You've lived with your limb for 50 years, and then it's amputated. The brain isn't going to just accept the fact that a limb doesn't exist anymore. It has built an understanding about it's environment for 50 years, and it's not going to simply drop it. That's like asking you to walk upright for 50 years, and then suddenly placing you on a boat, and EXPECTING your brain to know exactly what to do to react to the waves and keep balance.
Why do I bring all this up? Because let's say the spirit is just a feeling brought on by the brain. Now, under certain situations (church, prayer) it calls upon the spirit. The more it has this feeling under these given situation, the more apt your brain will revert to that feeling naturally when you're put into that situation.
Now if an amputee can believe he still feels pain in an inexistent limb - could you... accept the idea that it is possible that when you feel the spirit - it's actually just your brain creating a feeling for something that doesn't exist?
This theory that the brain is the cause of this spirit feeling holds alot more weight when you realize that every religion claims to have this feeling - and they all claim that they understand it, and that it guides them in their lives.
Now, either everyone but your religion is lying about this (quite a coincidence - when they all think you're lying)
or
God is sending down a spirit that is confusing everyone, and sending everyone in different directions.
BOTH of these situations seem unlikely - compared to the idea that maybe - it just comes from your brain. Like every other feeling that you experience.
This is most widely known as - the spirit.
The spirit is a feeling inside you, that is supposedly "too deep, too strong," to be just considered a feeling. So religious people will claim that since this feeling is so strong that it must not be a feeling at all. It's the presence of a supernatural being.
If I close my eyes, and imagine a man dressed in white descending from the heavens, his arms open, his eyes and smile expressing love and confidence leading me to believe that I can trust him, and that he's only here to help. Then that feeling of deep peace comes back.
The point being that this feeling doesn't derive from a supernatural being - it derives from your brain.
If I'm in an intense moment of fear - my heart instantly doubles its pace, my eyes open wide, my muscles tighten, and the feeling I have is very different. It's a feeling that doesn't really have a definition - the best I can define it is - lively or passionate. The intensity of the situatin has awoken every facet of my being and for the next few moments my brain and body seem to be working at an incredible rate.
This feeling is far more intense than any spiritual feeling i've ever felt - yet no one would claim that this feeling derived from a supernatural being.
Butterflies are just a feeling, guilt is just a feeling, pain, heartache, goosebumps, horny - those are just feelings. But DEEP PEACE is god.
Here's where this theory doesn't work for me. I've never lived outside of my brain - So I don't know what derives from it, and what doesn't. But I do know small bits about neurology (it is one of my interests). I appreciate knowing the difference between the male and female brain, how they function, and why the brain functions the way it does. So for anyone who believes in the spirit I'm going to explain a very simple fact about brains, and how they process pain. In particular, phantom pain. Phantom pain is simply pain in a part of your body, that doesn't exist anymore.
Phantom pain:
A study found that eight days after amputation, 72 percent of patients had phantom limb pain, and six months later, 65 percent reported it. Some amputees experience continuous pain that varies in intensity or quality; others experience several bouts a day. It is often described as shooting, crushing, burning or cramping. If the pain is continuous for a long period, parts of the body may become sensitized, in so much that by touching them evokes pain in the phantom limb, or the phantom limb pain may accompany urination or defecation.
Now clearly these people don't have limbs - yet those non existent limbs seem to be causing them pain.
I bring this up to make a point about the brain... which is simply: You can't trust it. The brain is very complex, but one thing that is understood about it is brain waves.
Your brain PHYSICALLY changes every time you perform an action. The more you perform an action, the more a brain wave is set, and the more an action becomes a HABIT. Or in other words, the deeper a brain wave or the longer you've performed a habit, the more it becomes a part of your subconscious - to the point where it almost doesn't exist anymore as a thought - you act on habit. Your brain senses a situation is similar to previous situations, and reacts.
Now if a brain wave is set let's say about... a limb. You've lived with your limb for 50 years, and then it's amputated. The brain isn't going to just accept the fact that a limb doesn't exist anymore. It has built an understanding about it's environment for 50 years, and it's not going to simply drop it. That's like asking you to walk upright for 50 years, and then suddenly placing you on a boat, and EXPECTING your brain to know exactly what to do to react to the waves and keep balance.
Why do I bring all this up? Because let's say the spirit is just a feeling brought on by the brain. Now, under certain situations (church, prayer) it calls upon the spirit. The more it has this feeling under these given situation, the more apt your brain will revert to that feeling naturally when you're put into that situation.
Now if an amputee can believe he still feels pain in an inexistent limb - could you... accept the idea that it is possible that when you feel the spirit - it's actually just your brain creating a feeling for something that doesn't exist?
This theory that the brain is the cause of this spirit feeling holds alot more weight when you realize that every religion claims to have this feeling - and they all claim that they understand it, and that it guides them in their lives.
Now, either everyone but your religion is lying about this (quite a coincidence - when they all think you're lying)
or
God is sending down a spirit that is confusing everyone, and sending everyone in different directions.
BOTH of these situations seem unlikely - compared to the idea that maybe - it just comes from your brain. Like every other feeling that you experience.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Vain 1: The resurrection.
Every bit of talk that is written in spiritual books about god - was written before men knew what a germ was. If you showed them a car they'd jizz in their pants, and if Nikola Tesla showed them his electric tower they would have called him god, and wrote books about him instead.
The god these people created seem to fit more of a natural view, a natural view that requires an unnatural system.
Or to better explain:
When you look at nature, everything. EVERYTHING depends on something else. The system works only because there are many cogs, that work together. If one cog fails, it will have an effect on the rest of them. However insignificant the cog is, when it fails it will effect something. BUT anything in the system CAN fail. And if a big enough cog fails, the rest of the system needs to adapt to survive, or that cog will put an end to many different functions of the system, or destroy it altogether. (the sun)
Think of it as an organic clock. Or a living system that is organized, but only to a certain extent.
Religious or god fearing people would say our system is perfect. And that nothing else could explain this well organized system other than a creator.
But you have to realize that no prophet that ever lived - knew a damn thing about the world.
They never talked about germs, animals, organisms, evolution. They never invented anything, or showed their inspirational influence through any bit of intelligence. They never talk about the stars, what they really are, other than claiming that they are majestic. The sun, the same. They had no idea how nature as a system works.
They were imbalanced idiots. It continually surprises me that a religious person claims to love god, and that his evidence for gods existence is simple:
"i look at the mountains, i see the trees and beauty of this world, and know there's a god that created it"
... Really? Really dipshit?
You're driving around in a huge truck emitting gases that are destroying the atmosphere, you support food chains that keep gods animals in a confined space practically living off of their own feces, and you don't recycle any bit of gods creations to be used more than once.
For loving and seeing god in all that's around us - you sure treat it like shit. I mean if you have no problem manipulating and destroying one of gods creations (that i imagine is pretty sacred to him... the earth) What makes me think you know how to handle something else that would be precious... like say... the spirit?
I treat gods earth, animals, plants, and even other humans that don't think like me shitty... But don't worry. I have the SPIRIT of god - and it provides me the peace and comfort to know that i'm always right.
If you see god in all his creations - then when you look at porn do you feel the spirit? I mean, that's his most sacred creation was the human right? I know for me personally when I find myself in a pussy, the spirit OVERWHELMS me with deep peace, and comfort. I feel his love for me, and the deeper I get the more I lose all control of myself. This moment is so spiritual that it physically drains me of all my energy, and am left so weak that I need to nap before continuing on with my day.
But you'll never hear this topic talked about in church meetings.We're all for god creating beautiful things - but when it comes to the more icky things he's created - we prefer to stay obliviuos.
What they don't realize is that these icky or evil things as most of them would probably label them all support the system that we live in.
If there weren't forest fires, diseases, icky organisms, than we'd overpopulate and with our excessive love of taking gods creation for granted and ransacking it of everything it offers us - we'd all be screwed in a matter of years.
These things serve as a check against stupidity and excessiveness.
But i'm getting off topic - let's get back to the organic cog and how god doesn't work in OUR system.
So ... he's omnipotent - can't die.
If you're a mormon you claim that he has a human body like ours.
So he's got - eyes, ears, liver, lungs, appendix, Coccyx...
It's all there. And why? "... well because... he's our father.."
Okay, let me be more specific. What does an all powerful, infinite, immortal being need with lungs?
God likes to breathe? But he doesn't need it.... Also he just likes to breathe oxygen, can't use lungs for anything else other than breathing in oxygen. So... if he stopped breathing oxygen... he wouldn't die... so why does he have lungs?
So what's the point? Once again there is no point... he's vain, he likes to breathe oxygen... Doesn't like to breathe anyhthing else, but he sure loves his oxygen.
So what's the point of him having a body? If you can't destroy it, it serves no purpose. What good are your teeth going to be when you don't eat? What good is your skin when it's not protecting your organs? What good are your organs when they don't keep you alive? Like I said in the beginning - no matter how INSIGNIFICANT a cog is, it will effect the system if it dies, or is destroyed...
So with that being said, what would happen if a cog that isn't needed in this system disappeared (or rather, what would happen if god disappeared)? well.. nothing... the system doesn't rely on him, because he does nothing for the system. If he doesn't depend on it, and unless you see god tying a string to every plant and pulling, or bending over cows before they're impregnated... the system doesn't seem to need him... then what's the point of his existence?
For making such a big deal about having THIS life have meaning and purpose, you seem to fill the rest of your existence with vanity.
The truth is an all powerful being wouldn't need anything to exist - a body, a conscience, - for something to be all powerful, it would need not exist. If it had something - anything - it would be vain.
Think about it - if you had all the power in the world - what would be the point of a wife? No one could give you an orgasm, like yourself.
And what would be the point of an orgasm if you're all powerful? That's basically like saying numbers are infinite, and then saying that 1,000 is the highest number ever. If his powers are INFINITE - then saying he enjoys orgasms is just as silly as saying 1,000 is the highest number. He can have something INFINITELY GREATER than an orgasm.
There's no structure around something that is INFINITE - because there's nothing to compare it to.
It's like saying that in a race god would win everybody right, cause he's all powerful. Okay, well by how much does he win? .1 seconds - well, he's all powerful so he can do better than that. 1.0 second? Nope, he's ALL POWERFUL - so he wins INFINITELY better than everyone else.
To revert back to the body - Nothing can physically hurt him, so he's physically untouchable. Has no feeling. And if you can hurt him, then he can die. Pain is tissue damage - damage would be a key word here, if you can physically damage something, then you can physically damage it beyond repair, help, etc. So if god can FEEL physical pain, he can die, and therefore isn't immortal at all.
The god these people created seem to fit more of a natural view, a natural view that requires an unnatural system.
Or to better explain:
When you look at nature, everything. EVERYTHING depends on something else. The system works only because there are many cogs, that work together. If one cog fails, it will have an effect on the rest of them. However insignificant the cog is, when it fails it will effect something. BUT anything in the system CAN fail. And if a big enough cog fails, the rest of the system needs to adapt to survive, or that cog will put an end to many different functions of the system, or destroy it altogether. (the sun)
Think of it as an organic clock. Or a living system that is organized, but only to a certain extent.
Religious or god fearing people would say our system is perfect. And that nothing else could explain this well organized system other than a creator.
But you have to realize that no prophet that ever lived - knew a damn thing about the world.
They never talked about germs, animals, organisms, evolution. They never invented anything, or showed their inspirational influence through any bit of intelligence. They never talk about the stars, what they really are, other than claiming that they are majestic. The sun, the same. They had no idea how nature as a system works.
They were imbalanced idiots. It continually surprises me that a religious person claims to love god, and that his evidence for gods existence is simple:
"i look at the mountains, i see the trees and beauty of this world, and know there's a god that created it"
... Really? Really dipshit?
You're driving around in a huge truck emitting gases that are destroying the atmosphere, you support food chains that keep gods animals in a confined space practically living off of their own feces, and you don't recycle any bit of gods creations to be used more than once.
For loving and seeing god in all that's around us - you sure treat it like shit. I mean if you have no problem manipulating and destroying one of gods creations (that i imagine is pretty sacred to him... the earth) What makes me think you know how to handle something else that would be precious... like say... the spirit?
I treat gods earth, animals, plants, and even other humans that don't think like me shitty... But don't worry. I have the SPIRIT of god - and it provides me the peace and comfort to know that i'm always right.
If you see god in all his creations - then when you look at porn do you feel the spirit? I mean, that's his most sacred creation was the human right? I know for me personally when I find myself in a pussy, the spirit OVERWHELMS me with deep peace, and comfort. I feel his love for me, and the deeper I get the more I lose all control of myself. This moment is so spiritual that it physically drains me of all my energy, and am left so weak that I need to nap before continuing on with my day.
But you'll never hear this topic talked about in church meetings.We're all for god creating beautiful things - but when it comes to the more icky things he's created - we prefer to stay obliviuos.
What they don't realize is that these icky or evil things as most of them would probably label them all support the system that we live in.
If there weren't forest fires, diseases, icky organisms, than we'd overpopulate and with our excessive love of taking gods creation for granted and ransacking it of everything it offers us - we'd all be screwed in a matter of years.
These things serve as a check against stupidity and excessiveness.
But i'm getting off topic - let's get back to the organic cog and how god doesn't work in OUR system.
So ... he's omnipotent - can't die.
If you're a mormon you claim that he has a human body like ours.
So he's got - eyes, ears, liver, lungs, appendix, Coccyx...
It's all there. And why? "... well because... he's our father.."
Okay, let me be more specific. What does an all powerful, infinite, immortal being need with lungs?
God likes to breathe? But he doesn't need it.... Also he just likes to breathe oxygen, can't use lungs for anything else other than breathing in oxygen. So... if he stopped breathing oxygen... he wouldn't die... so why does he have lungs?
So what's the point? Once again there is no point... he's vain, he likes to breathe oxygen... Doesn't like to breathe anyhthing else, but he sure loves his oxygen.
So what's the point of him having a body? If you can't destroy it, it serves no purpose. What good are your teeth going to be when you don't eat? What good is your skin when it's not protecting your organs? What good are your organs when they don't keep you alive? Like I said in the beginning - no matter how INSIGNIFICANT a cog is, it will effect the system if it dies, or is destroyed...
So with that being said, what would happen if a cog that isn't needed in this system disappeared (or rather, what would happen if god disappeared)? well.. nothing... the system doesn't rely on him, because he does nothing for the system. If he doesn't depend on it, and unless you see god tying a string to every plant and pulling, or bending over cows before they're impregnated... the system doesn't seem to need him... then what's the point of his existence?
For making such a big deal about having THIS life have meaning and purpose, you seem to fill the rest of your existence with vanity.
The truth is an all powerful being wouldn't need anything to exist - a body, a conscience, - for something to be all powerful, it would need not exist. If it had something - anything - it would be vain.
Think about it - if you had all the power in the world - what would be the point of a wife? No one could give you an orgasm, like yourself.
And what would be the point of an orgasm if you're all powerful? That's basically like saying numbers are infinite, and then saying that 1,000 is the highest number ever. If his powers are INFINITE - then saying he enjoys orgasms is just as silly as saying 1,000 is the highest number. He can have something INFINITELY GREATER than an orgasm.
There's no structure around something that is INFINITE - because there's nothing to compare it to.
It's like saying that in a race god would win everybody right, cause he's all powerful. Okay, well by how much does he win? .1 seconds - well, he's all powerful so he can do better than that. 1.0 second? Nope, he's ALL POWERFUL - so he wins INFINITELY better than everyone else.
To revert back to the body - Nothing can physically hurt him, so he's physically untouchable. Has no feeling. And if you can hurt him, then he can die. Pain is tissue damage - damage would be a key word here, if you can physically damage something, then you can physically damage it beyond repair, help, etc. So if god can FEEL physical pain, he can die, and therefore isn't immortal at all.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
If Moses were real...
So I've had this argument a few times. Never gotten a good answer. (No surprise there) because there is no good answer. It's either answer like a dipshit, or answer like a dipshit. Either way, your dippin' yourself in shit to stay convinced that there is a god, and it's the christian one.
So it's the argument of 'when is evil justified' and it goes a little something like this.
If you ask a Chrisian in our day if they believe that the muslims that flew planes into the twin towers on 09/11 and killed roughly 4,000 people, were terrorists.
The vote would be unanimous - YES. They were terrorists.
Now if you asked them if someone roamed around the desert and killed men, women, children, and even animals. And it wasn't just a small number - like 4,000 - it was 40,000. Ten times that amount.
Not just christians, but everyone would vote unanimously - YES, he's a terrorist.
Now, just change 1 word in that last phrase. Moses.
If moses roamed the desert....
Christians unanimously would say - NO. Not a terrorist. Inspired by God to kill. Completely different from Muslims who were inspired to fly planes into twin towers. Because our God is real, theres is fake.
Fair enough, I'm not about to get into the arguments of faith. Faith can never be set up as a logical argument, and I refuse to argue with someone that uses no logic to defend their stance.
Rather, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt Christianity. Let's ALL assume that your God is real, and that Moses was truly inspired by him, and it was more of a pre-emptive attack, than terrorism.
Now let's say you are a judge. And a group of people come to you with a man that supposedly killed 40,000 people. Not only do the prosecuters claim that this man did this, the man confesses. Not only does he confess, but is proud of his work. So proud that he writes it in a book. A book that is supposed to be a guide of morals to influence people to believe in God.
When they bring the man before you, you realize that it's the man you believe to be a prophet. Moses.
You have a moral obligation to do what's right here. God could not punish you for putting his prophet to death, God said numerous times... in the same book that moses just wrote in - that you must obey the laws of the land. Which clearly Moses did not.
Not only that but as a judge, you don't represent yourself, you represent the community. And if you let this man go free, you would basically be saying to everyone within the community - it's okay to murder, in mass quantities, AND there's a chance you won't go to prison for it, because you did it in God's name.
I thought god was all intelligent - an all intelligent and all knowing being would know exactly what to say to convince you of the error of your ways. Especially if he has the truth on his side.
But no intelligence shown here, no words used. No hope or faith for the pagans - just a blunt, frank: don't believe in god? well FUCK YOUR EXISTENCE THEN!
So I guess the better question is - when is it okay for god to disobey his own commandments? When is it acceptable for him to say - you're not allowed your agency?
And would god judge you for judging one of his prophets who created the very commandment he broke 'thou shalt not kill' - or would god judge you for not judging that prophet, and leaving the example that it's acceptable to be a terrorist?
So it's the argument of 'when is evil justified' and it goes a little something like this.
If you ask a Chrisian in our day if they believe that the muslims that flew planes into the twin towers on 09/11 and killed roughly 4,000 people, were terrorists.
The vote would be unanimous - YES. They were terrorists.
Now if you asked them if someone roamed around the desert and killed men, women, children, and even animals. And it wasn't just a small number - like 4,000 - it was 40,000. Ten times that amount.
Not just christians, but everyone would vote unanimously - YES, he's a terrorist.
Now, just change 1 word in that last phrase. Moses.
If moses roamed the desert....
Christians unanimously would say - NO. Not a terrorist. Inspired by God to kill. Completely different from Muslims who were inspired to fly planes into twin towers. Because our God is real, theres is fake.
Fair enough, I'm not about to get into the arguments of faith. Faith can never be set up as a logical argument, and I refuse to argue with someone that uses no logic to defend their stance.
Rather, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt Christianity. Let's ALL assume that your God is real, and that Moses was truly inspired by him, and it was more of a pre-emptive attack, than terrorism.
Now let's say you are a judge. And a group of people come to you with a man that supposedly killed 40,000 people. Not only do the prosecuters claim that this man did this, the man confesses. Not only does he confess, but is proud of his work. So proud that he writes it in a book. A book that is supposed to be a guide of morals to influence people to believe in God.
When they bring the man before you, you realize that it's the man you believe to be a prophet. Moses.
You have a moral obligation to do what's right here. God could not punish you for putting his prophet to death, God said numerous times... in the same book that moses just wrote in - that you must obey the laws of the land. Which clearly Moses did not.
Not only that but as a judge, you don't represent yourself, you represent the community. And if you let this man go free, you would basically be saying to everyone within the community - it's okay to murder, in mass quantities, AND there's a chance you won't go to prison for it, because you did it in God's name.
I thought god was all intelligent - an all intelligent and all knowing being would know exactly what to say to convince you of the error of your ways. Especially if he has the truth on his side.
But no intelligence shown here, no words used. No hope or faith for the pagans - just a blunt, frank: don't believe in god? well FUCK YOUR EXISTENCE THEN!
So I guess the better question is - when is it okay for god to disobey his own commandments? When is it acceptable for him to say - you're not allowed your agency?
And would god judge you for judging one of his prophets who created the very commandment he broke 'thou shalt not kill' - or would god judge you for not judging that prophet, and leaving the example that it's acceptable to be a terrorist?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The goal of religion...
The point of life if you're a christian is to become as much like jesus as you can. jesus said it himself in mathew 5:48 - 'be ye therefore perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect.' Jesus demands perfection. And no christian would claim that Jesus wasn't perfect, so the goal is to be like him.
Now if that's the goal, then we have to follow the example he left. WHICH MEANS: we have to walk around, correcting peoples mistakes/sins. Jesus loved the people of this earth, and he wanted to make them get back to god, the way he did that, and the only way to do that is by correcting errors. Calling people to repentance. Therefore if you want to be perfect, (which jesus has commanded) every religious person should be devoted to correcting peoples mistakes.
My mission was ripe with people who acted like this. Missionaries would correct other missionaries constantly on any and every action and/or word. Anything that derived from the spirit, and some missionary would make it known.
And while I hated them at the time, because it was very apparent they were hypocrites. (they would constantly be doing something against the rules of the mission)
Even though I hated them for it - I understood it. Their job is to correct flaws, that's what they were told to do. They were given the authority and power of the priesthood to act in gods name. And they had the example of jesus to follow - they were only doing what they had been told.
But no matter how much I understood it, I always thought of them as assholes. Think about it, if you walked around all day correcting your friends, your neighbors, coworkers, children, wife, parents, siblings, strangers, for every little mistake they made. How far do you think you'd get before people started telling you to fuck off?
It would be an incredibly lonely road. It would build a very pessimistic atmosphere around you, and people would begin to hate you, and feel like they couldn't act like themselves around you. Eventually they would avoid you altogether.
In my entire life - i've been surrounded by 2 people that are like this. Constantly correcting, telling people to act a certain way around them, etc. I can tell you by experience - they have no real friends. No one ever gets close to them, they are very isolated and alone. They both believe the worst of other people when it comes to religion.
But this is the price you have to pay if you really believe in the christian god.
This is the choice I came across getting home from my mission.
There's really only 3 options when it comes to religion, and the christian god.
1. You believe, call everyone to repentance, correct every mistake you see. And isolate yourself from the rest of the world.
2. half-ass it. Say you believe, but do things that constantly prevent you from becoming perfect.
3. don't believe in it. find something else to believe in that you can fully devote yourself to without becoming the asshole that the first options demand you to.
Those were my three options coming home from my mission. Choose option 1 and be like jesus (an asshole).
2. half-ass it (which really there's no point to - deny yourself certain pleasures, while justifying other pleasures (or sins) and pretending that god won't care about those sins.
or 3 - drop it altogether and find something that works without the contradictions of the other 2 options.
When you put the options up like that it really becomes an easy choice. MOST people won't choose option 1 - because they realize the fallacy of it. (which I will explain in a minute)
Option 2 is very appealing - and is the option most people pick.
Pretty much everyone I know falls into this category.
I remember getting home (at this time I still believed in mormonism) and I argued with my friends about rated R movies. (for those who don't know, it is against mormon culture to watch movies that are rated R)
I had grown up watching rated R movies my entire life. Never had a problem with them. Parents watched 'em, friends watched 'em, it was never really an issue until I got home from the mish.
Their argument ultimately fell on the fact that they would not want to watch any rated R movie if jesus, their bishop, or the prophet were present. To which I laughed.
'you're not going to get closer to god by watching a movie. So why would you feel any better about watching a PG movie that takes away from you learning, and growing closer to God. Or a rated R movie that distracts from god?'
Remember - jesus, the prophet, bishops - ALL OF THEM fit into the first option - and they are going to PICK APART every mistake you make.
Now for anyone who believes in god or religion - and has chosen this option - ask yourself. How many things do you do a day that do not get you closer to god?
My friend Mark Twain wrote a little about this - and I feel I should touch on this contradiction as well.
My friends LOVE Arrested development, the office, 30 rock. They enjoy playing video games like battlefield 2, halo, star wars, etc.
They do these things because they find joy in them. Do you really think in the next life you're going to sit in a room playing video games, or talking about arrested development?
If anyone has picked this option - you do realize that eventually you will have to feel ashamed for liking these things, right? You're goal in this life obviously isn't to be perfect like jesus, it's to be happy. But EVENTUALLY you will have to be perfect, and when you are, you'll have to feel ashamed about who you are. You'll have to learn to dislike the things you take joy in, and be ashamed of anyone else who does find joy in them (good luck).
You want the best of both worlds - that's why you haven't picked option 1. You want to feel like there's a heaven for you, and that you can praise jesus, be happy, and have an eternal family. But you also just want to spend your lives dicking around with simple pleasures.
What's that phrase that religious people love? 'your happiness is temporary, ours is eternal.'
Well that's good and great - but if my joy is temporal, and you're choosing option 2 - guess what dipshit - your joy is temporal too. The eternal joy you somehow feel you can claim is only for people that are becoming like jesus - not wasting their time on temporal joys like movies, and video games.
If you want that eternal joy you seem to think you already have - you're gonna have to pick option 1. And why don't you do this? It's not because you're weak, it's not because you can't - you believe in god apparently, you took on the name of jesus - and you have the priesthood - the absolute power of god - you represent him on this earth.
Or rather I should say, you represent him a few hours a week when you go to church, or have church responsibilites. But the rest of the week you're just like everyone else - finding as much temporal joy as you can. So why don't you pick option 1? Cause it's more apparent that you're an asshole. Option 2 allows you to lie to yourself, and to everyone else, and feel okay about it. Which is the real goal of religion.
I'll just say this last comment for all the people that fit into this option:
If you spend more time playing games, reading books, and watching movies than you do studying scriptures, praying, or calling people to repentance. You don't honestly believe that those things bring you eternal joy. If that shit made you THAT happy - you'd choose that over games and movies. You're obviously getting more joy out of temporary things, than the eternal...
hmmm... I wonder why...
Now if that's the goal, then we have to follow the example he left. WHICH MEANS: we have to walk around, correcting peoples mistakes/sins. Jesus loved the people of this earth, and he wanted to make them get back to god, the way he did that, and the only way to do that is by correcting errors. Calling people to repentance. Therefore if you want to be perfect, (which jesus has commanded) every religious person should be devoted to correcting peoples mistakes.
My mission was ripe with people who acted like this. Missionaries would correct other missionaries constantly on any and every action and/or word. Anything that derived from the spirit, and some missionary would make it known.
And while I hated them at the time, because it was very apparent they were hypocrites. (they would constantly be doing something against the rules of the mission)
Even though I hated them for it - I understood it. Their job is to correct flaws, that's what they were told to do. They were given the authority and power of the priesthood to act in gods name. And they had the example of jesus to follow - they were only doing what they had been told.
But no matter how much I understood it, I always thought of them as assholes. Think about it, if you walked around all day correcting your friends, your neighbors, coworkers, children, wife, parents, siblings, strangers, for every little mistake they made. How far do you think you'd get before people started telling you to fuck off?
It would be an incredibly lonely road. It would build a very pessimistic atmosphere around you, and people would begin to hate you, and feel like they couldn't act like themselves around you. Eventually they would avoid you altogether.
In my entire life - i've been surrounded by 2 people that are like this. Constantly correcting, telling people to act a certain way around them, etc. I can tell you by experience - they have no real friends. No one ever gets close to them, they are very isolated and alone. They both believe the worst of other people when it comes to religion.
But this is the price you have to pay if you really believe in the christian god.
This is the choice I came across getting home from my mission.
There's really only 3 options when it comes to religion, and the christian god.
1. You believe, call everyone to repentance, correct every mistake you see. And isolate yourself from the rest of the world.
2. half-ass it. Say you believe, but do things that constantly prevent you from becoming perfect.
3. don't believe in it. find something else to believe in that you can fully devote yourself to without becoming the asshole that the first options demand you to.
Those were my three options coming home from my mission. Choose option 1 and be like jesus (an asshole).
2. half-ass it (which really there's no point to - deny yourself certain pleasures, while justifying other pleasures (or sins) and pretending that god won't care about those sins.
or 3 - drop it altogether and find something that works without the contradictions of the other 2 options.
When you put the options up like that it really becomes an easy choice. MOST people won't choose option 1 - because they realize the fallacy of it. (which I will explain in a minute)
Option 2 is very appealing - and is the option most people pick.
Option 2:
Justified
Justified
Pretty much everyone I know falls into this category.
I remember getting home (at this time I still believed in mormonism) and I argued with my friends about rated R movies. (for those who don't know, it is against mormon culture to watch movies that are rated R)
I had grown up watching rated R movies my entire life. Never had a problem with them. Parents watched 'em, friends watched 'em, it was never really an issue until I got home from the mish.
Their argument ultimately fell on the fact that they would not want to watch any rated R movie if jesus, their bishop, or the prophet were present. To which I laughed.
'you're not going to get closer to god by watching a movie. So why would you feel any better about watching a PG movie that takes away from you learning, and growing closer to God. Or a rated R movie that distracts from god?'
Remember - jesus, the prophet, bishops - ALL OF THEM fit into the first option - and they are going to PICK APART every mistake you make.
Now for anyone who believes in god or religion - and has chosen this option - ask yourself. How many things do you do a day that do not get you closer to god?
My friend Mark Twain wrote a little about this - and I feel I should touch on this contradiction as well.
My friends LOVE Arrested development, the office, 30 rock. They enjoy playing video games like battlefield 2, halo, star wars, etc.
They do these things because they find joy in them. Do you really think in the next life you're going to sit in a room playing video games, or talking about arrested development?
If anyone has picked this option - you do realize that eventually you will have to feel ashamed for liking these things, right? You're goal in this life obviously isn't to be perfect like jesus, it's to be happy. But EVENTUALLY you will have to be perfect, and when you are, you'll have to feel ashamed about who you are. You'll have to learn to dislike the things you take joy in, and be ashamed of anyone else who does find joy in them (good luck).
You want the best of both worlds - that's why you haven't picked option 1. You want to feel like there's a heaven for you, and that you can praise jesus, be happy, and have an eternal family. But you also just want to spend your lives dicking around with simple pleasures.
What's that phrase that religious people love? 'your happiness is temporary, ours is eternal.'
Well that's good and great - but if my joy is temporal, and you're choosing option 2 - guess what dipshit - your joy is temporal too. The eternal joy you somehow feel you can claim is only for people that are becoming like jesus - not wasting their time on temporal joys like movies, and video games.
If you want that eternal joy you seem to think you already have - you're gonna have to pick option 1. And why don't you do this? It's not because you're weak, it's not because you can't - you believe in god apparently, you took on the name of jesus - and you have the priesthood - the absolute power of god - you represent him on this earth.
Or rather I should say, you represent him a few hours a week when you go to church, or have church responsibilites. But the rest of the week you're just like everyone else - finding as much temporal joy as you can. So why don't you pick option 1? Cause it's more apparent that you're an asshole. Option 2 allows you to lie to yourself, and to everyone else, and feel okay about it. Which is the real goal of religion.
I'll just say this last comment for all the people that fit into this option:
If you spend more time playing games, reading books, and watching movies than you do studying scriptures, praying, or calling people to repentance. You don't honestly believe that those things bring you eternal joy. If that shit made you THAT happy - you'd choose that over games and movies. You're obviously getting more joy out of temporary things, than the eternal...
hmmm... I wonder why...
Option 1
Jesus - you got problems.
Jesus - you got problems.
It's a funny thing when people choose option 1. You're really able to see the true stupidity of religion.
This option, (which is supposedly the goal of religion) doesn't work well with public relations. Either way you come off as an idiot - pick option 2, and have people think you're not confident, that you half ass things, and you're a hypocrite. BUT with option 2, religion seems more normal, because people don't act like assholes. SO it's great for PR.
Or pick option 1 - and this is where the real PR issues come into play.
You're asked to be like jesus, or to try. Problem is, you don't have a knowledge of it, you have faith. Faith is not knowledge - if it were this world would be FUCKED UP. Can you imagine a world where every religious person was extreme about their beliefs? Can you imagine if every religion had their own 'moses' - some guy just roaming around with their followers, destroying villages because their pagan culture will influence them for the bad?
That's the world that would be created if everyone took religion seriously. Thank god the majority of religious people half ass it - can't imagine how horrible it would be if religion actually accomplished their goal of turning people into confident, faith is knowledge extremists.
Which is why the people that follow this option make it so apparent that religion is full of shit.
For PR reasons they don't want you to become extreme (which is why no prophet resembles the hard ass approach joseph smith had anymore, Joe smith would be kicked out of his own religion because of the PR issues he would create by claiming everyone elses church is an ABOMINATION) - but yet, they tell you to be like jesus, and that you CAN know for a fact that he lives.
hmmm... you want us to know for a fact that he lives, but if we find out for a fact, you want us to not give a shit because no one likes an extremist. SO believe, but half ass it - we don't want to be known as assholes for going around talking as if we actually believed this shit.
Once again - the goal of religion is to do something they never ACTUALLY intend to accomplish. Because if they had a bunch of little Jesus' running around telling people they're going to hell for thinking different than them - everyone would hate them.
What's that jesus line again, 'lose yourself for my sake'
Phew - alright - we can all stop pretending that religion and god are real now. If it were you'd either have to be like jesus (the asshole in option 1), or the hypocritical asshole (option 2) -
Good thing it's not true, or our terrible god would make assholes of all of us.
And god - if you're so in love with assholes, why are you against gays?
No one else is going to understand your love of assholes like the gay community!
Once again - the goal of religion is to do something they never ACTUALLY intend to accomplish. Because if they had a bunch of little Jesus' running around telling people they're going to hell for thinking different than them - everyone would hate them.
What's that jesus line again, 'lose yourself for my sake'
Phew - alright - we can all stop pretending that religion and god are real now. If it were you'd either have to be like jesus (the asshole in option 1), or the hypocritical asshole (option 2) -
Good thing it's not true, or our terrible god would make assholes of all of us.
And god - if you're so in love with assholes, why are you against gays?
No one else is going to understand your love of assholes like the gay community!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Sheperd's Voice
So in order to look at the system god, and religion have set up for us, let’s examine the way we as humans learn.
All my life I've had a problem obeying authority. I would go to church, and people would tell me what to do, I would get home (I was the youngest in my family) and everyone would tell me what to do, I would go to school and I was told what to do.
It is not in our nature to sit and listen to lectures when we're 8 years old. The BEST way we learn is by experience, which is why children are so curious about the world. Experience unlike words, touches more than one human sense. And therefore my struggle to obey authority occured at a very young age, and eventually I was 'diagnosed' with A.D.D. - Which in my opinion is just some dipshit doctors way of claiming that me... a child... had the audacity to act as one.
And although they shoved pills down my throat, I would always find a way to disobey. I wasn't born in this world to be a spectator, and that's exactly what I saw in every authority figure - Stronger, wiser people telling me to not experience life - they've experienced it, and they're only suggestion to me is to avoid it (life).
This demands alot of faith. When first told about a principle, or law to obey you don't understand why you should. You have no experiences showing you that disobedience would make you unhappy, so you're required to have faith. If your faith isn't strong enough and you sin or disobey, your parents will then have to punish you, to get you to understand and obey. But this doesn‘t work that well.. Which is why often times people fail, or repeat transgressions. If something doesn't make sense to you, or if you haven’t learned by experience, the only way you will obey is if you're afraid of the alternative of not obeying (punishment).
That's all faith is really - a combination of hope... and fear. If the hope of being happy by obeying (the spirit, eternal families, temporary happiness from following a commandment) doesn't sustain you in your time of need.. then fear will. Sustain (in this context) should not be defined as a constant state of happiness, security, well being - It is defined as sustaining you in obedience.
So there are two ways of learning: Experience, which creates an inner desire to follow. No need for reminders OR need for being threatened with consequences.
And then there’s faith, which requires reminders and punishment to follow.
So for example: A child is told to clean his room. Most likely the mom will have to remind him several times because the child knows from experience that if he cleans his room today, it will only be dirty by tomorrow. So in the childs mind, there is no point. In order to keep the room clean, the mother will have to constantly remind him to do so. However, let's say the child grows up, loses his keys inside his messy room, is late for work and is fired because of it. This child will no longer need reminders - He has learned from experience that it is better to spend 2 minutes a day cleaning his room, than spend hours looking for something in it.
Religion acts as the authority figure to it's members the same way a parent acts towards its child. They teach you something, if it doesn't make sense to you then they'll have to remind you, over and over again - every sunday, every morning with scriptures and prayer - remember jesus, remember god, remember... They tell you to have faith, and if that doesn’t work they punish you, or threaten you with consequences.
So why does religion focus so much on faith and reminders, when they could just convert them through experience? Because if members did disobey, and by some fluke chance experienced joy outside of their religion, members might think they're full of shit.
So in order to keep you from gaining this knowledge, religion will show you the highlights of their god and religion, and anything questionable about them is a mystery, go pray, have faith, and if it still doesn’t make sense to you, remember that you’re going to hell for a very long time if you guess it wrong.
When you have a history as dark, confusing, contradicting, and as pathetic as religion does - you're not going to convert people. And when people can be happy disobeying laws, they don't want you to investigate or gain any knowledge outside of their system.
Religion therefore only has two options: Show people their history, and let them have experiences outside of the religion to see if they can be happier - and hope that the faith of their members is strong enough not to deter them. Or have the parent child relationship. (do what i say, if you don't there will be consequences).
I mean, how many of you really know what your parents sins were when they were growing up?
So lets reverse it, and try looking at the theory as if parents acted like religion.
You grow up your entire life, and your parents give you only the highlights of their lives. Like they graduated from college, they were the president of so and so's company. Gave to charity organizations, etc.
Now lets say you grow up hearing all these good things about your parents, and don't know a single bad thing about their past. At about 30 years old you see your parents being taken to jail - and you start hearing stories that they've been having sex with 14 year olds (joseph smith). They've killed numerous people because they had an inkling that god wanted them dead (elijah). They massacred entire towns because they were afraid the sins of their pagan neighbors would influence them (moses).
I'm guessing if you heard all this about your parents at the age of 30, the question would pop up in your head - why didn't they tell me?
I'm sure you would question just about everything they ever taught you, and you would probably think a lot more realistically about the highlights of their lives. Granted, if you had obeyed a certain principle and seen by experience that it makes you happier - you wouldn't question that principle that they had taught you. Everything else however would demand faith. And faith in people with a history like that is very daunting.
Now, lets say you go and visit them in jail, and they make a lot of crazy promises about how they will get you into heaven in the next life, if you post bail for them. And that if you didn't post their bail, there would be horrible consequences in the next life (hell) - You'd probably stop seeing them as loving parents. "You NEED to do this because there will be blessings if you do. If you DON'T do this there will be consequences."
Hmmm... doesn't seem like you've left us much of a choice. And yet the only verifiable evidence of anyone benefitting from this - is you... not me.
"So let me get this straight - I pay you money so you can keep murdering, molesting, spreading hate and racism. And god will be so pleased with me that I'm funding His program, that he's gonna offer me a free pass to get into heaven. I'm sorry but after years of hiding all this from me, I'm gonna need a little bit more than a 'trust me, you'll go to heaven.' And, 'trust me you're going to hell if you don't help.' I'm gonna need some proof.
Religion has no grounds, and has not earned the right to be trusted simply because they say something.
Religion WANTS you to depend on them. They don't even want you to depend on Jesus, or even God - your salvation depends on THEM.
If I argue with an evangelical about what Jesus meant about a certain scripture they'll tell me that I believe in a different Jesus than them - and that if I don't accept their jesus - I can't make it to heaven believing in a false god.
If I quite mormonism and go live in the mountains to have a personal relationship with god and jesus - they'll say, 'well you still need to go to the temple to get to the celestial kingdom... Oh, and getting to the temple requires 10% of your income.... Oh, and when you get to the temple you have to promise to give us everything you own if there's ever a day we need your house, all your money, etc."
Suddenly all your talk about having a personal relationship with god sounds like bullshit. Jesus came as a mediator between us and god... And now religion has come to act as a mediator between us and Jesus. 'Can't get to Jesus unless you go through us' - (oh, and we want your money for providing this service)
Parents want you to be good, and happy - independent of them. Religion wants you to depend on them - if they didn't want you to depend on them, they'd hand you a bible, teach you good principles by living, and experiencing those principles, and then send you on your way.
But religion doesn't. They don't have a weekly session of taking you to a homeless shelter, or giving to charity. They don't have a weekly stop at the old folks home, or a volunteer program. BUT what they do have.... EVERY WEEK ... is a church meeting to REMIND (there's that word again) you that you depend on them for your salvation. Like a parent reminding you to clean your room.
So if god is behind your religion it begs the question, "Why does your god prefer the weaker way of teaching by faith, and reminders (where people will always fail because they don't understand. They don't understand because of a lack of experience. Experience that you refuse to give them) as opposed to creating a self made person that will be good when no one else is looking?"
Which then begs the question - why does God want you to depend on him. What parent wants to be calling their 70 year old kids daily to remind them to clean their room?
The bubble that religion creates, makes you into a spectator. Faith demands that you not experience life, but that you take someone elses word for it. They don't want you to gain knowledge because that makes you independent.
And they do this all under the guise that they are a loving, caring parent - that they only want to protect you from the evils of this world - and that they know what's best. Well I for one, know by experience that god and religion don't know what's best. Their system is flawed, and contradicting:
You want me to be good, but not if I can do it on my own.
And why should I be afraid of this moron that calls himself god again? And why should I be afraid of the morons who claim i'm going to hell if I don't follow this program?
Oh that's right.. you have a feeling. And if that feeling tells you that 2+2=7, then BY GOD 2+2=7!!
Phew - Okay guys, that's the end of the theory. I know it was hard... But you can all stop pretending that religion is true, or that god exists. He's a terrifying idea isn't he? Our terrible god.
All my life I've had a problem obeying authority. I would go to church, and people would tell me what to do, I would get home (I was the youngest in my family) and everyone would tell me what to do, I would go to school and I was told what to do.
It is not in our nature to sit and listen to lectures when we're 8 years old. The BEST way we learn is by experience, which is why children are so curious about the world. Experience unlike words, touches more than one human sense. And therefore my struggle to obey authority occured at a very young age, and eventually I was 'diagnosed' with A.D.D. - Which in my opinion is just some dipshit doctors way of claiming that me... a child... had the audacity to act as one.
And although they shoved pills down my throat, I would always find a way to disobey. I wasn't born in this world to be a spectator, and that's exactly what I saw in every authority figure - Stronger, wiser people telling me to not experience life - they've experienced it, and they're only suggestion to me is to avoid it (life).
This demands alot of faith. When first told about a principle, or law to obey you don't understand why you should. You have no experiences showing you that disobedience would make you unhappy, so you're required to have faith. If your faith isn't strong enough and you sin or disobey, your parents will then have to punish you, to get you to understand and obey. But this doesn‘t work that well.. Which is why often times people fail, or repeat transgressions. If something doesn't make sense to you, or if you haven’t learned by experience, the only way you will obey is if you're afraid of the alternative of not obeying (punishment).
That's all faith is really - a combination of hope... and fear. If the hope of being happy by obeying (the spirit, eternal families, temporary happiness from following a commandment) doesn't sustain you in your time of need.. then fear will. Sustain (in this context) should not be defined as a constant state of happiness, security, well being - It is defined as sustaining you in obedience.
So there are two ways of learning: Experience, which creates an inner desire to follow. No need for reminders OR need for being threatened with consequences.
And then there’s faith, which requires reminders and punishment to follow.
So for example: A child is told to clean his room. Most likely the mom will have to remind him several times because the child knows from experience that if he cleans his room today, it will only be dirty by tomorrow. So in the childs mind, there is no point. In order to keep the room clean, the mother will have to constantly remind him to do so. However, let's say the child grows up, loses his keys inside his messy room, is late for work and is fired because of it. This child will no longer need reminders - He has learned from experience that it is better to spend 2 minutes a day cleaning his room, than spend hours looking for something in it.
Religion acts as the authority figure to it's members the same way a parent acts towards its child. They teach you something, if it doesn't make sense to you then they'll have to remind you, over and over again - every sunday, every morning with scriptures and prayer - remember jesus, remember god, remember... They tell you to have faith, and if that doesn’t work they punish you, or threaten you with consequences.
So why does religion focus so much on faith and reminders, when they could just convert them through experience? Because if members did disobey, and by some fluke chance experienced joy outside of their religion, members might think they're full of shit.
So in order to keep you from gaining this knowledge, religion will show you the highlights of their god and religion, and anything questionable about them is a mystery, go pray, have faith, and if it still doesn’t make sense to you, remember that you’re going to hell for a very long time if you guess it wrong.
When you have a history as dark, confusing, contradicting, and as pathetic as religion does - you're not going to convert people. And when people can be happy disobeying laws, they don't want you to investigate or gain any knowledge outside of their system.
Religion therefore only has two options: Show people their history, and let them have experiences outside of the religion to see if they can be happier - and hope that the faith of their members is strong enough not to deter them. Or have the parent child relationship. (do what i say, if you don't there will be consequences).
I mean, how many of you really know what your parents sins were when they were growing up?
So lets reverse it, and try looking at the theory as if parents acted like religion.
You grow up your entire life, and your parents give you only the highlights of their lives. Like they graduated from college, they were the president of so and so's company. Gave to charity organizations, etc.
Now lets say you grow up hearing all these good things about your parents, and don't know a single bad thing about their past. At about 30 years old you see your parents being taken to jail - and you start hearing stories that they've been having sex with 14 year olds (joseph smith). They've killed numerous people because they had an inkling that god wanted them dead (elijah). They massacred entire towns because they were afraid the sins of their pagan neighbors would influence them (moses).
I'm guessing if you heard all this about your parents at the age of 30, the question would pop up in your head - why didn't they tell me?
I'm sure you would question just about everything they ever taught you, and you would probably think a lot more realistically about the highlights of their lives. Granted, if you had obeyed a certain principle and seen by experience that it makes you happier - you wouldn't question that principle that they had taught you. Everything else however would demand faith. And faith in people with a history like that is very daunting.
Now, lets say you go and visit them in jail, and they make a lot of crazy promises about how they will get you into heaven in the next life, if you post bail for them. And that if you didn't post their bail, there would be horrible consequences in the next life (hell) - You'd probably stop seeing them as loving parents. "You NEED to do this because there will be blessings if you do. If you DON'T do this there will be consequences."
Hmmm... doesn't seem like you've left us much of a choice. And yet the only verifiable evidence of anyone benefitting from this - is you... not me.
"So let me get this straight - I pay you money so you can keep murdering, molesting, spreading hate and racism. And god will be so pleased with me that I'm funding His program, that he's gonna offer me a free pass to get into heaven. I'm sorry but after years of hiding all this from me, I'm gonna need a little bit more than a 'trust me, you'll go to heaven.' And, 'trust me you're going to hell if you don't help.' I'm gonna need some proof.
Religion has no grounds, and has not earned the right to be trusted simply because they say something.
Religion WANTS you to depend on them. They don't even want you to depend on Jesus, or even God - your salvation depends on THEM.
If I argue with an evangelical about what Jesus meant about a certain scripture they'll tell me that I believe in a different Jesus than them - and that if I don't accept their jesus - I can't make it to heaven believing in a false god.
If I quite mormonism and go live in the mountains to have a personal relationship with god and jesus - they'll say, 'well you still need to go to the temple to get to the celestial kingdom... Oh, and getting to the temple requires 10% of your income.... Oh, and when you get to the temple you have to promise to give us everything you own if there's ever a day we need your house, all your money, etc."
Suddenly all your talk about having a personal relationship with god sounds like bullshit. Jesus came as a mediator between us and god... And now religion has come to act as a mediator between us and Jesus. 'Can't get to Jesus unless you go through us' - (oh, and we want your money for providing this service)
Parents want you to be good, and happy - independent of them. Religion wants you to depend on them - if they didn't want you to depend on them, they'd hand you a bible, teach you good principles by living, and experiencing those principles, and then send you on your way.
But religion doesn't. They don't have a weekly session of taking you to a homeless shelter, or giving to charity. They don't have a weekly stop at the old folks home, or a volunteer program. BUT what they do have.... EVERY WEEK ... is a church meeting to REMIND (there's that word again) you that you depend on them for your salvation. Like a parent reminding you to clean your room.
So if god is behind your religion it begs the question, "Why does your god prefer the weaker way of teaching by faith, and reminders (where people will always fail because they don't understand. They don't understand because of a lack of experience. Experience that you refuse to give them) as opposed to creating a self made person that will be good when no one else is looking?"
Which then begs the question - why does God want you to depend on him. What parent wants to be calling their 70 year old kids daily to remind them to clean their room?
The bubble that religion creates, makes you into a spectator. Faith demands that you not experience life, but that you take someone elses word for it. They don't want you to gain knowledge because that makes you independent.
And they do this all under the guise that they are a loving, caring parent - that they only want to protect you from the evils of this world - and that they know what's best. Well I for one, know by experience that god and religion don't know what's best. Their system is flawed, and contradicting:
You want me to be good, but not if I can do it on my own.
And why should I be afraid of this moron that calls himself god again? And why should I be afraid of the morons who claim i'm going to hell if I don't follow this program?
Oh that's right.. you have a feeling. And if that feeling tells you that 2+2=7, then BY GOD 2+2=7!!
Phew - Okay guys, that's the end of the theory. I know it was hard... But you can all stop pretending that religion is true, or that god exists. He's a terrifying idea isn't he? Our terrible god.
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