Our attempt to survive on faith rather than the logic and intellect that is our God-given nature is as contrary to the natural scheme of things as a bird who refuses to fly, or a fish who refuses to swim – and the chances of our ultimate survival under the current circumstances are just as slim.
[Beneath The Spin]
First Critical Thinking Then Charting Path Forward
If God knows all, and he knows a billion years before Billy is born that Billy is going to end up in Hell, is there anything Billy can do in life to make God wrong?
The question is designed to point out two things – first, it points out that much of the religious doctrine that we’ve been taught is a myth that can’t stand up to logical examination; and secondly, that we can only know God’s will by what he has done, and he made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to think.
Irrefutable evidence of that fact is when God placed man on Earth, he placed us here as necked apes. We weren’t as strong as the elephant, as ferocious as the lion, nor could we fly above danger like the eagle. So the cards were stacked against our ultimate survival – except for one thing. God provided man with a unique tool for survival – the human mind.
Now, as a direct result of the effective use of that resource, we have built machines that can crush any elephant, slaughter the most ferocious lion, and fly high beyond the domain of the most dedicated eagle – in fact, we’ve now flown past the eagle, beyond the clouds, and on to explore other worlds.
That’s a powerful indicator of God’s will. It clearly demonstrates that God intended man to be a logical, thinking, being. God has done absolutely nothing to suggest that he intended to relegate mankind to be ignorant and superstitious victims, cowering in fear of the unknown, and obliged to be reliant upon “faith” in the words so-called “anointed” others to guide his existence.
That’s not God’s will; that’s man’s will. Because the fact is, by having more “faith” in what man tells us about God than we do what God has actually done, is a slap in the face of God himself. That’s not faith in God, that’s faith in man.
That’s why we live in so much anger, hatred, and turmoil; we’re living against God’s will. Our attempt to survive on faith rather than the logic and intellect that is our God-given nature is as contrary to the natural scheme of things as a bird who refuses to fly, or a fish who refuses to swim – and the chances of our ultimate survival under the current circumstances are just as slim.
No, I don’t have a problem with the church, per se, but I do have a severe problem with blind faith. So I asked the above question regarding Billy’s ultimate fate in order to demonstrate that, for the most part, religion is not only based on superstition rather than sound logic and common sense, but it’s own dogma is self-contradictory. I also wanted to demonstrate that the only reason that many of us believe what we believe is because we choose to believe it – regardless to whether it makes sense or not. That, in turn, demonstrates why man is plagued with so many, seemingly, intractable problems.
The problem is, instead of adhering to our nature – to be logical and independent thinkers – we insist on worshiping totem poles. And instead of being practical in addressing the issues that plague mankind, we remain fixated on meaningless dogma, superficiality, and rituals. In short, we’re being stupid, and stupidity has nothing to do with God. Our gross stupidity only serves to promote the needs of greedy, evil, and power-hungry men.
Do I believe in God? Yes I do, but that doesn’t mean that I believe in Voodoo, talking snakes, and walking dead men. For me, God is whatever force is responsible for the existence of the universe – or to be more precise, existence itself. So, I can see my God, since, from my point of view, God, Nature, and the Universe are synonymous.
That not only frees me from having to be reliant upon the word of “God-fearing” men, but it also gives me a leg up on atheists. Because while atheists take the position that those of us who believe in God have no evidence to show that God exists, my position is, the existence of the universe gives me more evidence to show that God does exist, than they have to show that he doesn’t.
But the problem that I have with organized religion has nothing to do with the existence of God. My problem with religion begins and ends with the corruption of man. The greed, self-service, and machinations of man have turned what should be a spiritual experience into something that’s ugly, divisive, and malevolent – and all of that starts with the concept of blind “faith.”
Man has a vested interest in controlling other men, so he uses the concept of faith to coerce the masses into accepting man himself as the spokesman for God. He does that by laying out written tablets, then convincing the masses that these tablets represent the “word of God.” He then goes on to convince them that God has appointed him to ensure that “God’s word” is followed to the letter, and any deviation from the word of God, or even a second’s doubt that the book – in this case, the Bible – indeed, represents the word of God, is an act heresy, which will result in the most hideous punishment known to man – and, it will endure throughout eternity. Once demagogues have gotten the masses to accept that, they’ve literally taken control of your minds. So for all intent and purpose, they become your God.
It is precisely because of this ploy that we often hear people using the Bible as a metaphor for God. They don’t ask, “Do you believe in God?” They ask, “Do you believe in the Bible?” Their question implies that it goes without saying that the Bible is the word of God. That’s what allows the social manipulators to come in with the Bible under their arm and set themselves up as the spokesmen for God. That’s also why so many preachers are driving around in big cars – because the people think that by making the preacher rich, they’re gaining favor with the Supreme Being. It’s the biggest scam on the face of the Earth.
What a great racket, this organized religion game – and the people never stop to think for a minute that the “faith” that they worship so intently, is not a faith in God at all. Their putting their faith in man, and what corrupt men are telling them about God. And since the people have been taught, literally from birth, that questioning what they’re being told by these “God-anointed” men is an assault on God himself, these charlatans, and their scam, are completely insulated from the ravages of a sudden plague of common sense.
So, carefully consider the question that I pose above, for it pits the common sense that God gave us against the contrived nonsense that man would have us believe. It both, points out a major flaw in the dogma that’s being forced down the people’s throats, and it clearly demonstrates that many of us can no more substantiate the validity of what we choose to believe than a child can substantiate the existence of Santa Clause.
Our belief system has absolutely nothing to do with either morality, or, our love of God. We believe what we believe for one of two reasons – since organized religion never fails to support the status quo, if you’re a part of the ruling class, it rigs the system in your behalf, and if you’re of the subordinate class you’re afraid not to believe it, so it doesn’t matter whether it’s factually valid or not.
In addition, one of the first things we learn as we’re being indoctrinated as children is how to avoid the reality of common sense. In order to insulate religion from our common sense seeping through to suggest that snakes can’t talk, and that dead men don’t just get up and walk away, we’ve been taught that, that flash of insight isn’t common sense at all. In fact, on the contrary, it’s actually the Bogeyman whispering in your ear, trying to steal us away from God.
Thus, instead of giving truth priority over ideology, we learn early in life to distort truth in order to make it conform to what we want to believe. That, in turn, is what makes it much easier to indulge in hatred, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and endless wars. So, instead of being a part of the solution, organized religion is invariably one of our biggest problems. It’s no accident that the Klan originated in the Bible Belt, and the most religious parts of the world are also the most brutally intolerant.
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