you don't have to be ashamed of it, because today you found your way that lets you love and enjoy life.
Some mistakes one really wishes they could take back. I know everyone has many, but this is certainly one for me, even though it doesn't change life’s trajectory as many mistakes can.
Religion is fickle and ridiculous, especially western ones, with myriad contradiction. How can one wholly subscribe to a belief system like that? I know nothing is perfect, but come on. Don't tell me how to live, then do the opposite. This is more than being a parent telling their children to " do as I say, not as I do," that shit doesn’t fly. God is supposed to love us but then kills us for our good by flooding the whole planet, lol? How is that possible when we have irrefutable scientific evidence that civilizations flourished during that time? At best, I could believe the stories in the bible are parables or allegories, but most can't stand as absolute historical accounts. However, people fall for the big shit and believe it as if they saw a butterfly fly before them and land on their nose.
Besides, I'm pretty sure the fact that we do (#zoolife, LGBTQ+, capital murder, abortion, etc.) what we do here is against anything in the Torah, the Bible, or the Quran. That being said, how does the relative sky-daddy let one into “the kingdom” if we knowingly and invariably live in sin with no actual intent to change. Purportedly, sky-daddy knows our true intent in our heart of hearts. I don't see how one can be absolved of their transgression when they ask for forgiveness on Sunday, then repeat their immoralities that very night or through the next week, then ask again on Sunday for love and state, "I'm sorry again." Think about your own life; what if someone trespassed against you like that week after week. Would you absolve them? Yeah, me neither. Don't give me the "Well, this is God we're talking about; that’s different." Again, refer to the Bible and uncounted scripture of death, destruction, and contradiction. So, this whole idea of believing one is saved when willfully committing such acts is uproarious.
Western theology is not a paragon and pillar of sound altruism and earnest morals. Somehow, people pervert and twist the scripture to serve their motivation and narrative at the time and then dismiss the other things. In this cognitive dissonance, one can’t just cherry-pick what sounds good in a belief system. Otherwise, the whole belief system falls apart, and people see them as hypocrites. The bible gets it right sometimes, just like a broken clock is right twice a day, and just like Hitler had good qualities even though he was a shit human overall. But, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to batteries in my clock, and follow the Nazism that Hitler tried to impose on the world in WWII.
Find or create me a system that shows ALL good, and I’ll ante up to that, but don’t come to my door and tell me how Christianity is the one true religion, all others are fake, and I’ll burn in hell if I don’t believe in God. Christianity is the “new kid on the block” when it comes to religion in the grand scheme of things, unless you want to believe in something fantastically preposterous like Scientology.
Christianity has been around for about 2,000 years. Humans have existed for 6 million years, depending on how you want to slice the semantics, but if you want to go sooner, maybe 150,000 to 300,000 years. Logically, this would lead one to believe that there had to be religions around before God was thought of as we know it today as defined by any form of Christianity. So, this whole “Christianity is the ONLY way” is contemptible at the very best. Supplementary, it doesn’t matter about the religions before that, as they were probably just as flawed or even worse since people of those times relative to us today were significantly less intelligent.
For the sake of argument, if there were a god, and it was perfect, then wouldn’t that entity create an ideal system without contradiction? Don’t give me the “well; we’re human, how can we possibly understand a super deity?” argument. It’s apparent to me that this imperfect system was created by humanity, specifically “man,” which is why it IS imperfect. Think about it, if one uses scrupulous judgment and exercises critical thinking skills, and it was a perfect system, wouldn’t women and men be equal instead of women being second-class citizens? Wouldn’t there be equality for all? Regardless of sexuality, gender, ethnicity, social class, etc.? Of course, that is not an exhaustive list, but you get the notion.
More still, I’ve been chastised by those that believe in some form of Christianity and ask how I can have morals if I don’t believe. Um, I don’t need the fear of burning in hell for eternity JUST to be a good person. What kind of person are you truly if the ONLY thing from keeping you from being “bad” is the fear of being plowed by Satan on his alter surrounded by hot lava with an audience of people more or less just like you relative to the reason your there in the first place? If that is the case, we’re only doing things, so we don’t get into trouble. How many times for those that have kids say they’re doing something or not doing something because they don’t want to get into trouble? Like doing chores, cleaning their room, laundry, dishes, etc. It’s like, “well, gee, son, maybe have some pride in where you live, and you should do it because it’s the right thing to do in general?” If one can’t see the value in that in and of itself, they’re a lost soul (figuratively, not the spiritual one).
Why can’t one have a moral compass and a sense of what is right without any kind of involved religion? The idea of eternal damnation hanging over my head for me to do what is right “in god’s eyes” is asinine and sadistic. Just because I have a sexual and loving relationship with the same gender doesn’t mean I’m bad. Just because a young girl was experimenting and was overwhelming horny in her high school years, and Fido comes along and gives her a licking and a poking, doesn’t mean she is a bad girl and deserves to burn in hell; especially if she likes it. Just because little Timmy decided to take a Horse in the barn one day while feeding his mare doesn’t mean he is a bad person. The list can go on and on. However, western theology has the lock and code for us as humans and how we should be. Otherwise, we’ll burn in hell. Total balderdash!
I’m a good person because I choose to be without any thought or respect for some imaginary supernatural being. Yes, things happen for a reason in this world; it’s either physics because someone is an asshole and wants to watch the world burn, someone is vindictive, or whatever, but that ends in physics either way. Not because God is trying to settle some comic debt and create an equilibrium with the universe’s “chakras” (lol!) and your soul. Bad shit happens to good people, and good shit happens to bad people all the time. Satan didn’t make me shoot heroin and kill someone, just like God didn’t allow me to win the gold medal during the Olympics because I was the “better” Christian that day, prayed harder, and had more pluses on the good side of the good/bad ledger sheet. You did drugs and killed someone because you’re an asshole and were irresponsible, and you won the gold medal that day because YOU did the work and were better on game day, plain and simple.
I don’t know, maybe the original idea of religion was created with noble intentions by an idealist. If it was, good on them for trying, but it’s been perverted through time, and now look at everything. I mean really look at it all and think about it objectively.
What we have now are power-hungry people or organizations who are overwhelmed with greed and want to squeeze money out of people and pervert the scripture to guilt people into giving more, especially when they can’t afford it because, somehow, God will get them through the hard times, as the spirit of the “footsteps” poems says
What about bailouts during the pandemic? How many churches thought they should get money from Uncle Sam? Aren’t there rules in place in our government at that level that separate church and state?
They’re a 501c3, so they don’t have to pay taxes. I'm sure many churches used that money for things against the rules. Think about Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland’s tears about STILL tithing, especially when both are worth almost a billion dollars! I’m sure they could’ve floated their obscene wealth to help their followers; they weren’t hurting during the pandemic. No, I don’t want to hear some scripture about how it isn’t a sin to be wealthy; that’s not what is on trial here. Religion is a business that literally gets away with murder.
Quick research shows in 2015 that, US churches cost taxpayers $71 billion dollars. We all know that number is much higher seven years later.
Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough and I have to work now.
