Atheism makes sense to me
Firstly, let me say that I don't mean to offend any believers in any of the religions that exist today. But, I do want to vent my anger at the Catholic Church since it taught me about religion.
I was taught, in the beginning, to think about fire and the feeling that it gives you when it is burning your skin. This was at the age of 6, when one is susceptible to belief in Santa Claus, magic, and many things to which a young kid hasn't had much exposure. So, yeah, I was made to fear that feeling - like what hellfire would feel like. What must I do to avoid that? Just force yourself to believe in Jesus and how he died for our sins and so forth. I heard this story, was made to read the Bible with all the begats to explain how this was the true word of God, all in the effort to make me understand the precepts of the Church.
Then, there was the going to Church every Sunday. The dressing up, shining up the car, Mom putting on the make-up, all in the interest of joining the community group that will comfort and help us when in need. That kind of did make sense that this group of people would help us if our house burned or we lost our jobs. So the stage was set for our family to be part of the big family - following them all into Heaven.
I'll hold back on how I viewed all of this to give the audience a chance to think about their own beginning in religious, spiritual thinking. At what age did you become aware of these concepts?
I was taught, in the beginning, to think about fire and the feeling that it gives you when it is burning your skin. This was at the age of 6, when one is susceptible to belief in Santa Claus, magic, and many things to which a young kid hasn't had much exposure. So, yeah, I was made to fear that feeling - like what hellfire would feel like. What must I do to avoid that? Just force yourself to believe in Jesus and how he died for our sins and so forth. I heard this story, was made to read the Bible with all the begats to explain how this was the true word of God, all in the effort to make me understand the precepts of the Church.
Then, there was the going to Church every Sunday. The dressing up, shining up the car, Mom putting on the make-up, all in the interest of joining the community group that will comfort and help us when in need. That kind of did make sense that this group of people would help us if our house burned or we lost our jobs. So the stage was set for our family to be part of the big family - following them all into Heaven.
I'll hold back on how I viewed all of this to give the audience a chance to think about their own beginning in religious, spiritual thinking. At what age did you become aware of these concepts?
Comments
So, for now, I'm saying that we innocent, young kids were first scared into thinking about how to avoid going to Hell and all that pain and suffering.
It was a planned approach which got our attention. Then, we were shown how easy it would be if we would just get over that first step of believing in something that you really can't see. It was a campaign by the nuns I was exposed to for those 8 years of grammar school. Religion was during first period. Many of us became alter boys and I was sure I'd go to the seminary. It was how I gained the approval I wanted from the authoritarian teachers. They were doing their job.
And I really hated the "sit, kneel, stand, kneel, sit" routine. So I opted for the easy route.
I think that the bible is a work of man trying to understand his place in the universe, and his vanity takes it's toll. I also disbelieve in the trinity. I think that the Apostle Paul figured out that he could lead his departed adversary's cult by joining them and becoming an advocate. And I think that Rome put him up to it ("seize control of this fringe group that threatens our hold on this region, etc")
That said, christianity does many things for many people. For one it allows many to forgive themselves for their own guilt, ...for another I think that many use it as a crutch to tell themselves they are living their life "correctly",...still others use it as a blueprint to raise their children in a certain way, without having to take responsibility for making the rules,...and yes...there is the control factor as well, where the church has empowered itself in the name of a supreme entity.
I guess some people have special needs in that area.
I especially liked the plenary indulgence cards you'd get if you did something for which the nun would pay you off. These were pictures of saints and a value of time in purgatory that you've been forgiven for. So you don't spend that year in purgatory because you did well on your spelling test. We all had stacks of cards. It was the beginning of collecting baseball cards, for me.
I guess I haven't really given up on questioning what made this universe. We do know about the Spanish Inquisition and that they burned all the written Aztec and Inca astronomical wisdom to keep all pagan stuff from posterity.
So, Atheism slams the door on God. I do have trouble guessing why have this system along with all the suffering, starvation, alzheimer's, and poison oak? With all that power, can't God improve as we all try to do? I'm happy to go all the way and just say He's not there. No more lies about believing that He died for our sins and all of that. I just never believed. The religious groups, that kept recruiting me, said they believed. I say it was a lie that the whole group said together to keep the club mantra going. It's not the same to say "Maybe there's someone/something out there that created this whole thing."
From what history tells us, religion had been a force to reckon with for the aristocracy, back in the days of the Protestants starting up their approach. It was part of the government and it told everyone what to do and how to do it. The church survived because it had political power. Many wars were fought over who believes in what God - along with how those gooks do other things as well. Its a holy war. God is on our side. Let's just go kill 'em all. Ethnic cleansing maybe.
I find that the community meeting part can be retained by joining the Kiwanis, Moose, Boy Scouts, PTA, etc. You can find help by meeting those same people that you used to go to Church with. Why have the religious community at all? We might raise our consciousness a bit if we talked about these things openly. We should also consider our current political system and do something about getting the Corporations from deciding what laws to lobby in. Money has become everyone's God. We do whatever it takes to get more of it - including systematically breaking laws because we can get away with it.
The churches are not getting as much following these days. Maybe the Internet has illuminated some of that. Apparently church attendance is at an all time low. More Agnostics. More Atheists. Maybe we are doing the open discussions and making decisions about leaving the religions behind. I say Mazeltov! Wait, they're doing what the Germans did to them, with Palestine. Hmmm...