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Anti-Christ Genius
Posts: 3
Joined: Jan 2005
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January 19, 2005 12:39 AM
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Religion is actually kind of ridiculous... I mean think about it, there are so many... How can you choose one, through "faith"? "Faith" can be easily explained, if you grow up around Christians all your life, your most likely going to be Christian, not because "faith" or a little voice in your head saying, "Do my will, do my will!" It�s just what you were raised up on, and anything out of your bubble scares you. Now I want a show of hands... Are you ready...? Who has actually seen and talked to God?... No one...? Yea... That�s what I thought... But like I was saying religion, there are too many to count. What makes you think yours is right? It�s just as idiotic as the lottery... Everyone has different numbers (Christians, Catholics, Mormons, Buddhist, Atheist, Jews, etc.) one number is the winning one (?). That�s why some people just choose not to get involved with it (agnostic) and watch as people throw their quite possibly only life away into something that could be false... Not to smart aye? Now being Agnostic I have Christians coming up to me left and right saying, "Well this is good." or "You need God." etc. What makes them think theirs is right, that�s pretty conceded... To think yours out of the 1000s of different beliefs are right...
Edited: January 19, 2005 at 12:40 AM by Anti-Christ Genius
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Jonathan Kinsman
Posts: 78
Joined: Feb 2004
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January 19, 2005 2:31 AM
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Mr. Genius,
You may be correct. But I think your frustration is misplaced. If a religion is to be judged by its adherents, then we might as well judge a profession by its licensed practitioners or a race, the human race let's say, by its more infamous members: Stalin, Idi Amin, Hitler, Hussein, and an almost overwhelming number of fanatical followers of racial ideologies, political theories, and superstitous beliefs. Let's kill all the humans! Then our problems would be over! Mmmmm...I don't think so.
If your approach is to learn what a particular religion teaches, then you may be on to something. Some religions (termed sects or cults for reason which to a reasonable person will become clear) exclude others or limit their worth and value. An example is Islam. Women do not have souls in their theology. In fact, there are many suras (chapters in the Koran) which tell the Believers to kill the Infidel if he does not convert to Islam. Now that's a novel approach to proselytizing!
Others, mostly perverted (meaning focused on one or two bizarre points to explain all) versions of Christianity are equally stupid. Mormons see Jesus as separate from God and that God was once a man like you (I am assuming you are male, forgive me if I err in this) and me. And that when good Mormons die, they become gods on their own little planets and the world goes round and round and round. There are other screwy things, like lifting whole chapters of Isaiah from the King James Version and putting them into the 'Book of Mormon' as being translated from the golden plates from the angel Moroni! Blacks were believed to have evil souls until the 1950s and then a revelation to the President of the Council of Twelve (a mormon ruling clique) changed all that. Reminds one of the time the US was suing the Mormons in the Supreme Court and denying statehood to Deseret (present day Utah) on grounds that polygamy was illegal and (dare we say it in 21st century America!) morally wrong. Old Brigham Young had a vision from God (I hope it was our God and not some god passing by in a spaceship) that told him that the time for polygamy was past. Whew! That was close!
Jehovah's Witnesses are also another wacky group: they think 'Jehovah' is God's name (we don't know if He has a Name: the Jews call Him by His attributes, such as 'El' or 'The Eternal'). They get this from the KJV (a fertile mine for screwball American protestant sects!). The translators put two words together to coin the word 'Jehovah.' Look it up in that Protestant university press book: the Oxford Commentary to the Bible. The Witnesses started predicting the end of the world in the 1920s up until the 1940s, then realized that many of their members were leaving in disgust. But they survive like the Mormons and the Moslems and the Feng Sheis and the Ramones (kidding on this last one) because unlike traditional Christianity, id est, Catholicism, these sects and offshoots from the Judaic-Christian thread, share one very important thing in common:
They exclude others and make their members feel they have the inside track to Paradise. Of course, only if they follow specific rules of behavior, dress, diet and political beliefs.
Yes I know, I may be a little obvious here, but you, Mr. Genius exhibit some of the similar traits to those who seek the Exclusive Club of Knowing and Uncommon People.
Seeing God has nothing to do with 'faith.' Faith is from the Latin word, fides, meaning 'trust.' Like trusting there is a God and a plan and a reason for all that happens (good, bad and indifferent) in the world. The ancient Jews did not use 'faith' in their Scriptures (our Old Testament), they used 'trust.'
Christianity is not an exclusive 'faith.' It is the correct 'faith' in that it treats others as equals (I know, the idiot Baptists and Anglicans of southern US in the 1840s used the OT to justify slavery, but others, mostly Catholics and Jews and enlightened Protestants knew better) regardless of ethnicity or class or sex or wealth. Bury the dead, take care of the widows and poor, feed the hungry. Wow, what concepts! and new to most of the ancient world. The Jews believed these to be good works, the Christians knew these to be necessary and essential to being 'human' or 'perfect (that is, 'merciful') with one another.
Jesus does not have to be personally accepted as you Savior in order for you to go to Heaven. That is a Protestant misconception. He came for all men, for the world. It is a done deal. This is not a bilateral contract (sorry for the legal metaphor) but a unilateral contract. He died for all men so that we would live forever. Pope John Paul II was asked by an Italian journalist (a self proclaimed 'agnostic') if non-Catholics or Christians could go to Heaven. Our Holy Father answered, "Yes." We do not know God's Grace in these matters. It is arrogant and conceited to think we can speak for God as to who will be up or who will be down. What matters is living a Christ-like life, then you will realize that this life makes you happier (a much maligned emotion) and you will seek to know more about the Story.
I hope you read, not to exclude others but to seek understanding and trust.
And remember, Mr. Genius, if a religion praises God as creating all that is good and beautiful and requires of you to treat others as you would be treated (and you want to be treated humanely and with respect) and reminds you that Jesus is God-with-us, or God made man (through the Son), and that His life on earth was to "make all things new" (no more animal or human sacrifices -like the Aztecs-) and bring us all to His Father's kingdom (that is, Heaven), well, that sounds pretty good to me, and I hope the other 999+ "different beliefs" you refer to point you to this one.
Pax Christi,
Jonathan
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