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.