First,
let me say that I just don’t know if there is a god out there
somewhere or not. And only a religious hack can be certain “in
his heart” that there is one. Everyone else usually ponders
this question sometime during life. This is usually where some
“minister” comes onto the scene with the answer. If your
interested, come and find out more about it at his church (the
club). This is one of mankind's proverbial “fork in the
road” moments. Man eventually decides if he will follow either
the institutional road of religion, or live outside of its
confines and keep his options open in his life.
Giving
Your Life Away
Deep
inside I sense that there probably is a power behind the
universe, but this power has not left us any instruction manuals
(bibles, etc.). There has been no written “revelation” or
instructions about how to live our lives, only manmade books
with the pretension that it is from God! A man that feels like
he needs to be told by a man made book that he needs to give his
life to “Jesus” does just that…HE GIVES HIS LIFE away!
Their life is now under the control or influence of “the
club” if they are sincere about it. This is where his
struggles really begin (again I say…if they are sincere). The
Christian life is difficult to live, and to live up to. It is a
life that asks for sacrifice from its practitioners.
Intellectually, you accept it by faith.
The
Christian life is to be lived by faith . Faith is an admission
that fact is too strong of a word to describe what you believe
in is true. You could call a persons faith a theory, because you
just can’t call it a fact. To those who read, there are many
books out there that display the absurdity of faith and the
bible. My theory is that similar points of view
(anti-bible/religion) are best ”kept quiet” to benefit those
who have interest in you to continue practicing your
faith/religion. Who benefits? Those living outside of faith’s
confines, they have an advantage when they conduct
“business” with you. They know that probably you will follow
the disadvantageous scriptures viewpoint. Obviously, “the
club” benefits from your continued practice.
We
might not have money, health, friends or family, but every man
has a certain amount of time in which to live. Now, what you do
with this time often determines what quality of life that you
will have. Time usually tells you where a man has been, and
where he is going. When a man discovers that his faith belief
system has little substance. That his life has been lived
centered upon propped up myths, he then begins to discover how
religion/faith has robbed him.
The
words to Bon Jovi’s song “It’s my Life” expresses a
powerful thought in capsule form about faith’s imprint on
life. Of note to this author are these words ”Let’s sing a
song for the broken hearted. A silent prayer for faith
departed”…….(on to the Chorus) “It’s my life, its now
or never. I ain’t going to live forever. I just want to live
while I’m alive…..Its my life!.
THE
CLUB
If you were to take away the faith element from churches all you
would have is a religious club. I could always tell which
ministers passionately believed what they were saying, their
churches usually grew. Now, there are those Christians who
believe that they have both faith and the facts on their side.
These people are sincere and bold, they are open to talking to a
skeptic because they believe the truth is on their side. These
types I respect, they are what I call a fundamentalist. I define
a fundamentalist as one who’s basis of belief are tied to a
written scripture believed to be from God. If they believe a
certain aspect of faith, they have a scripture to back it up
with. They believe because of a cause, and what church they
settle in will be based in that cause and psychological aspects.
I
find the non fundamentalist view tougher to respect. They jump
on a bandwagon and have little conviction about what they
believe. They are usually takers of the benefits of a church but
deep down they pick and choose what part of the scriptures that
they want to believe in. The scriptures are demanding upon
people. Since the scriptures are the basis of Christianity,
shouldn’t a non fundamentalist just admit that they don’t
believe and end the charade? What can you do with a man whom
doesn’t believe what he believes in? You could say that they
are in the church based on psychological aspects.
To
avoid being verbose, basically you have two types of clubs.
Either you’re a fundamentalist or your not! These two differ
on their basis of their fact, the scriptures. But what they have
in common is that to journey with them you must have faith!
Doesn’t it seem strange that they have to say they believe it
by faith (they have to give it the benefit of the doubt to
continue to believe). When given the ultimate challenge, faith
can be destroyed by the scriptures own internal inconsistencies
if one is open and intellectually honest. One could say a
fundamentalist is closer to abandoning their faith than a non
fundamentalist when they are challenged.
When
the word fighting comes up, usually we think of the
fundamentalist first! But this isn’t exactly fair to the
fundamentalist. Both of these fight, often with each other over
members of their respective clubs straying towards another
congregation. For if a member leaves their church, so does
“their capital”. I can’t think of any group in society
that is more divisive than ministers and churches. Thomas
Jefferson expressed this idea in a letter he wrote to Thomas
Whittemore on June 5, 1822 “[Creeds] have been the bane and
ruin of the Christian church, it’s own fatal invention, which,
through so many ages, made of Christendom a slaughterhouse, and
at this day divides it into castes of inextinguishable hatred to
one another”.
THE
CHOICE
Most would agree, that ministers should
know the scriptures very well. Over the years, they should come
to master the scriptures. You would think that in time ministers
would do as I and others have done by walking away from the
faith because they find it untenable to continue. Obviously,
most of them do not leave. They stay for a variety of reasons.
First and foremost is, if they leave how will they make a
living? How will they feed their families? They know they will
face abandonment or disapproval from those whom previously
admired them. They know if they leave the faith they should also
leave the area in which they lived. If they don’t, they stand
to be frequented by both the wrath of those they offended in
leaving the faith. And usually more difficult is being in the
place to where you face those that are open about their faith,
you being the one that could possibly destroy their belief
system. Often, that minister was responsible for them having
their faith to begin with!
Remember
earlier me mentioning that I could tell which ministers actually
believe what they were teaching (or were good actors)! For those
ministers whom aren’t passionate, it is a sad state to be
stuck in his faith and have to make a living at it when you
don’t strongly believe in it yourself. Their ministry is gone,
at this point it isn’t about truth or building up the soul of
man. They are doing what they have to do, their going through
the motions. This is my theory on why ministers can be so mean
when they perceive that they are “crossed”. It is about
survival and economics.
Now,
some ministers lack the capacity due to lack of proper
education, intellect or courage to do the right thing. I view it
like this: let us say that brains are like light bulbs, with 100
watts the brightest bulb there is. Some men have 90 watt light
bulb for brains, while some others have lesser than 25 watts.
What is illuminated at this level? People do follow them.
THE
AFTERMATH
Most congregation members are not aware of
this aspect of ministers and the ministry. I call it the
aftermath. After a war, you deal with the aftermath. As a former
minister, and most current ministers would probably agree with
me by saying the greater part of the attrition rate of their
members is not due to matters of faith but to “personality
conflicts”.
Now
ministers should not get all of the blame, church leadership and
other members can also leave its own aftermath. The pressures on
living in certain ways to remain in favor also takes its toll on
its parishioners. This brought out the need of a Christian
psychology movement. Now everyone has problems, but
Christianity’s problems are more involved. The trick is to
keep these same people within the confines of “the club”
with the Christian answers they have to work with. When I
ministered, I often cringed when I heard Christian
psychology’s scriptural solution. Often their answers
conflicted with the bible. Christianity claims to have the
answer to most any of man’s problems. Funny how in real life
they promise much more than they actually deliver.
Don’t
get me wrong, I do believe that churches also do much good for
the community. It helps children who have inattentive parents.
It helps to have a “community” within reach for its members.
Socially it gives man a platform to interact with those of
mutual thoughts. It is entertainment and fills a void by giving
the people “something to do”. Churches usually are among the
first to offer help when someone is “down and out”. Weigh
the good versus the bad things of the church on a scale; man
would be better off without it!
The
point that I want to make is “Does the church really offer
anything of substance, or just the illusion of it? Please
re-read the prior question and ponder the ramifications. For
example, the promise of eternal life in heaven (or is it a fear
of hell). Once you die….you are dead! You spent your life
living for a better hope in the supposed next life. I agree with
Bon Jovi it is better to “live while I’m alive”. This
eternal life is a false hope that “the club” sells people!
How can you sell something that you do not possess (eternal
life). You can only sell the illusion!
The
offer of forgiveness is another illusion. Sure, everyone has
done things that they know were wrong and they regret doing. But
how can a “club” offer forgiveness that comes from
“God”? In reality, they act as a broker does and the club
gets its commission. Follow my rhetorical questions…Did
“God” speak to them? If he did, did anyone else hear what
was said? Did “God” give them a paper receipt as proof? In
reality, why can’t a man feel remorse for his wrongs, try to
right his wrongs if possible or give back to the community in
some way as a token of his appreciation? This idea of
forgiveness is part of the churches psychological hook into man.
Even when “forgiven” the lashing out at sin is a reminder
and instigator of false guilt.
The
life and teaching of Jesus definitely has to be accepted by
faith. Has anyone read what a contemporary of Jesus said about
Christianity? Read Tacitus “ The Annals of Imperial Rome”
where he discusses Christus. Nothing I read gave me any
indication of divinity! The historian Josephus is easily
discredited! Even the gospel writers themselves didn’t write
their accounts of the events until at least some 60 years after
Christ’s birth. And we won’t even discuss their
contradicting the others account! So let us realistically face
the case for faith that is before us. If it is presented fairly,
accurately and objectively the case for faith is a very weak
proposition and not worthy of acceptance. Knowing what I now
know, I can strongly say that mankind would be better off
without religion or faith.
AFTER
CHRISTIANITY
Who says that you must believe anything at
all? I chuckle when the religionist insist on giving people like
myself a title like atheist or agnostic. I also chuckle when
they cannot explain to others still in their faith why I left
the faith. They often must change my story to protect their
viewpoints. Often they rationalize (lie) and say I left the
faith for some other reason other than the Christian faith is a
simply untenable proposition for me to continue believing in. To
those whom feel that we would have bedlam in society without the
bible….what do we now have? This is an absurd argument, we
have plenty of laws that don’t include stoning gay people!
A
personal note about faith’s departure upon my feelings. The
causes that once pressed upon me have disappeared. I am not
upset with differing competing viewpoints from other
“ministers” that I felt deceived people. I found myself more
concerned about the environment because Jesus will not return to
fix our problems. I am not angry with gay people for their
choices. When I see a drunkard living in the street my first
thought now isn’t “he needs Jesus”, my thoughts are that
he needs some real help. It is also nice to give of yourself
without expecting a “blessing in return”, if you think about
it this whole idea is just “trading with the divine”. It is
also nice to know that you no longer have the approval of the
“good ole boys” anymore. I am no longer a “fisher of
men” as the bible says, when I relate to others I am not
secretly trying to get them into faith. My motives are true.
I
urge those who are contemplating a departure of faith to resist
the urge to join another religious type institution, all that
would be is a lateral move to your detriment! Have a “coming
out party”, declare yourself free of religion and identify
yourself as a skeptic when you are asked about it. To those whom
have come out of religion and that have had an actively giving
role, I urge you to find a worthy cause and use it to express
the giving side of yourself to. Encourage others contemplating
leaving their faith who might not be so strong as yourself in
their journey from faith.
10
POINT SUMMARY ON HOW MAN IS
ROBBED
1.
Time that was taken.
2. Sacrifices that
were made for the cause.
3. Christian
psychology’s damaging aspects
(false guilt, etc.).
4. Finances lost
when given to the club.
5. Free time
and entertainment choices were
restricted.
6.
Prejudices/dislike against
people for their choices (gay
people).
7. Family
division because of faith.
8. Your
“Christian behavior” was
probably annoying to others,
earning you
disfavor.
9. You were in
a disadvantageous position in
business as a Christian
practitioner.
10. Politically,
many Christians are patriots.
They are often diverted into
fighting for an unworthy cause
while greater problems need the
attention. The environmental
movement also suffers when great
numbers of people feel Jesus
will come back and solve
mankind’s problems.
