In this last blog posting, some posts on Facebook, and on Twitter, I’ve said some things that might make one believe that I am out to destroy religion.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Here’s something I wrote:
God is capitalized to show respect, and God may be thought of as a person or a single entity, whatever makes you more comfortable. God as an institution or a collection of truths may be personified because we understand personal power, leaders who are people, kingdoms and authority. This is a bridge and there’s nothing wrong with what you’ve learned, that which was taught to you by your parents. The Bible was written, and is mostly awesome, but it did not appear on your computer screen, it does not burn itself into your walls, it does not appear in a collection of freckles on your back. There is absolutely no way the Bible is the whole Word and nothing but the Word any more than what people say on the stand is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That shouldn’t take anything away from your experience. Your instinct to protect what you see as The Word and your God’s name was instilled in you by the words written by men thousands of years ago with the agenda to protect the organization they created. This also is not all bad. Besides, God is more of a title than a name. Like President.
If you believe that Jesus Christ has saved you, then it is true, Jesus Christ did save you. It was your belief in the potential of salvation that saved you. You saved you.
Well, I should clarify. You saved you from hell on Earth. If you want to believe that Jesus has saved you from hell in Hell, that’s cool. It’s sad when people believe that dudes like Ghandi are in Hell because they didn’t not accept JC as their personal Lord and Savior. It’s more than sad, it’s wrong, and saying these things was added to the code to keep you in a mode that will protect the institution of Christianity and do whatever it takes to save your fellow man, growing the ranks and keeping Jesus alive.
The ancient posturing to protect the organization made by both the main religions I think reflects a distrust of the other group to protect people who were in real life and death conflicts. Some may say that this conflict still exists and that we need to be suspicious of the other side.
Who said, “Trust but verify?” Oh, Ronald Reagan. That was a different kind of enemy. But God does exist, whatever you want to call the concept.
My goal is not to end religion. If someone can be saved from despair by an existing system of thought, then I’m all for them studying it.
My goal is to provide seeds of thought for people who deny the assistance they could be receiving from powers outside of their own experience, and outside the bounds of what can be detected with our animal senses, because they deny that God, as described by traditional religious texts, exists. My thinking is that people do this because of the historical fact that terrible things have been done in God’s name to people who did not believe the same thing. And these terrible crimes were committed not for the power and glory of the real God, but to protect the very system that had indoctrinated the offenders.
These people were serving human masters, long dead, and their living heirs.
We have all heard stories of fantastic feats performed by human beings in stressful situations.
We have all heard stories of people who should have died, but did not.
We have all experienced weird things that worked out, and we have been convinced that it was all random, that we were lucky, that sometimes people win even against great odds, because sometimes the coin lands on heads.
The funniest story is the one where we, the most complex collection of atoms in the known universe, were assembled out of chance, thanks to the extremely long period of time during which the coin was tossed.
How long do you have to toss a coin before you’ll get a string of heads, ten tosses long??
How long??
How long do you have to toss a coin before you’ll get 1,000,000 heads in a row?? Would 15 billion years be enough?? No. It’s not possible to get it in 15 billion years, yet this is the age of the known universe.
You might want to read this (by me): Evolution is not enough.
But, the story in the Bible is obviously not accurate.
Evolution is an obvious fact, but it doesn’t explain the human brain.
The spark that turned self-forming carbon into a life form with mobility wasn’t random chance, not in 6 billion years, not in 15.
This is Jennifer Aniston.
Now, little Jen is probably the most awesome arrangement of atoms in the known universe. Who would have thoughts that atoms could be so cute when stacked up just right??
Who wouldn’t want to spend eight days a week with her?
You know, I proposed to Jennifer Aniston.
I’m afraid I haven’t been working on my JoeWantsJen channel where I planned to improve myself to make myself a more attractive choice for Jennifer’s new spouse. I’ve been busy trying to get a business started.
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