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Religion

Take the apple and know your humility

I bet if it were a trible cheeseburger with supersized fries there would be no question

What is religion? Today in mainstream modern religions it is fundamentally the need to feel secure in the fact that our life has meaning and the event we know as death is not truly the end of our conscious existence. Most modern (2000 yr.) religions I have ever encountered all have similarities like a well constructed book. You have your introduction, where we as beings came into this world either it be from mainstream genesis, aboriginal dreamland or the less accepted but equally valid belief from a small coastal Latin American community that Adam and Eve rode in on a turtle. The characters, us, are given meaning, usually some directions, have trials and errors conducive of rising action and as a climax have punishment and consequences.

Why do we do this? It has been done through out our modern history, at least from the point we began to organize into jointed communities. Perhaps this can be explained at least in some part to our dependance on the land for resources and natural phenomena that was beyond human comprehension at the time. Most of us today forget the hardships our predecessors faced not even a hundred years ago. Dinner was not always just around the corner at Walmart. People had to work and work feverishly to produce crops or hunt to attain food. Picture this scenario : A small quasi-tribe of nomadic modern humans 10,000 years ago roaming through Northern Africa searching for a meal. They see a dry creek bed void of any huntable wildlife, however after a hard rain the creek bed fills, attracts thirsty animals and suddenly there are numerous potential kills. Now they associate the filled creek bed with attracting wildlife to this area and the creek bed fills when there is a hard rain. So, the more it rains the more they have to eat. It is now easy to see how rituals may have been birthed from such correlations. This I believe is the foundations for later more organized paganistic religions. The same principle can be applied to rearing crops, weather must remain conducive to have a productive harvest so you and your family can eat. So rituals no doubt also developed in hopes of persuading the phenomena that be to stage predictable weather patterns for optimal harvest.The most well known examples lie in the Greek and later Roman polytheistic religions. The Greeks created gods to represent nearly every facet of life. For instance, Helios was the Greek god of the sun, keep this god pleased and you may enjoy abundant sunshine to fuel your crops, please the god of the river and flooding will not destroy your home and farm.

Why the nearly global switch from polytheistic to monotheistic?

I believe the answer lies within the bible itself. The book as it stands it an amazing piece of literature for what is has accomplished. The lessons found within the bible stand as a monument as how to live a moralistic life. However as I think most will agree most of the consequences described are dire and severe. Now unveil this book to the masses, most of whom are illiterate and nothing more than simple sustenance farmers, teach them the lessons within the book and if they adhere to them than society is under control. These simple farmers would be scared to death to face the consequences of not living the complete moralistic life. After the church became a dominant political figure in Europe religion became a very powerful weapon. People were(and to a large extent still are) so involved in their piety wars would erupt of such trivial matters as which way to cross yourself.

Such dramatic and flamboyant involvement people have in religion has forever puzzled me. Most of all however is mainstream Christianity. The human empirical mind strongly urges us through many trials of evolution not to accept anything without physical fact. Taking anything on faith is a liability in nature. An organism does not take upon faith that its next meal will be easily available so therefore lax in its hunting, if that where to happen that organism would not survive to pass on its unsuccessful genetics. So how can an empirically superior being such as humans take upon faith that there is an omniscient god? Especially on the word of a book that is filled with absurd events that physically could never have happened? As I mentioned earlier the bible is great manual outlining how to live a moral life, but the events such as parting the seas, walking on water, people turning to stone are extreme exaggerations propagated to awe, convince and scare people into converting to Christianity. Jesus in all likelihood did exist, he would have been an outspoken critic of the roman occupation of what is now the middle east. An admired social reformer by today's standards he mostly wanted better treatment for his people, and autonomy for the lands he and his people occupied. Evidence suggests that he never claimed to be the son of god, that and the fantastic exaggerations were conceived after his death by his few loyal followers as a recruiting tool. However people are so zealous still today as to the validity of these events it would be dangerous in some cases to even question its authenticity. But what puzzles me to an even greater extent is the fact that the bible can change to fit the times. If god and his bible were to be the strict standard to which you were to live your life, set in stone centuries ago, how can you amend it to better suit how you want to live your life today? I do not ever remember reading a clause in the bible which states god gives his disciples permission to amend his guidelines as soon as they become to much of a liability or discomfort. As the business that religion has evolved into how can anyone who believes in Jesus think that this is how he would have wanted people to worship him(even thought evidence shows he never expected, wished or conversed about people worshipping his legacy, and most likely never accepted the crucifixion to redeem man for his sins)? It seems to me that if people were truly secure in their religion they would not need to be reassured every Sunday by a trained preacher. It should be something felt on a deeply personal level, there should never be any transaction of funds in relation in any capacity in regards to religion, money always has to strong potential to corrupt and depreciate everything. I would also like to know how so many people claim to committed to Jesus yet habitually violate his and gods mandates. If people do believe the bible and that Jesus died a slow, horrid death for man's sins, how do they justify repeatedly experiencing gluttony (evident by the USA's 50% overweight population and 33% obesity rate), lusting over others (evident by our 50%+ divorce rate), also by our insatiable need for more than we need ( material lust and material gluttony), premarital sex, etc...? Is it rather arrogant and presumptuous that people can choose what they feel they need to adhere to in the bible, conveniently choosing to ignore scripture that may make their life alittle less comfortable and still believe they are going to the paradise the bible says is reserved for those who have lived as it has outlined?

Well that is just a few reasons why I have no stock in mainstream religions. So, what are my spiritual beliefs?

I cannot say as of yet I have a definite religious code, and I most likely will not, or at least any thing mainstream. However I can say I think out of any culture to have occupied this planet I share the closest beliefs with the native Americans of north America. They truly respected the earth and all its systems. They believed that they arose from the earth and shall return to it in one way or another and when you have such beliefs you tend to respect the land that you occupy( unlike today's global populations). I feel that humans should strongly feel a sense of kinship with the earth and all its inhabitants and we as individuals should leave as small a footprint left as possible when we depart. It is a strange notion to me how we knowingly and intentionally poison our water, land, air, fellow inhabitants and ourselves just to fuel our need for things of mostly ambiguous importance.

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	The American Alternative \| home recent disappointments \| Society \| Environment \| religion \| Fuel \| Pop Culture \| Editorials \| Ignorance-American Style \| In the News religion Religion Take the apple and know your humility I bet if it were a trible cheeseburger with supersized fries there would be no question What is religion? Today in mainstream modern religions it is fundamentally the need to feel secure in the fact that our life has meaning and the event we know as death is not truly the end of our conscious existence. Most modern (2000 yr.) religions I have ever encountered all have similarities like a well constructed book. You have your introduction, where we as beings came into this world either it be from mainstream genesis, aboriginal dreamland or the less accepted but equally valid belief from a small coastal Latin American community that Adam and Eve rode in on a turtle. The characters, us, are given meaning, usually some directions, have trials and errors conducive of rising action and as a climax have punishment and consequences. Why do we do this? It has been done through out our modern history, at least from the point we began to organize into jointed communities. Perhaps this can be explained at least in some part to our dependance on the land for resources and natural phenomena that was beyond human comprehension at the time. Most of us today forget the hardships our predecessors faced not even a hundred years ago. Dinner was not always just around the corner at Walmart. People had to work and work feverishly to produce crops or hunt to attain food. Picture this scenario : A small quasi-tribe of nomadic modern humans 10,000 years ago roaming through Northern Africa searching for a meal. They see a dry creek bed void of any huntable wildlife, however after a hard rain the creek bed fills, attracts thirsty animals and suddenly there are numerous potential kills. Now they associate the filled creek bed with attracting wildlife to this area and the creek bed fills when there is a hard rain. So, the more it rains the more they have to eat. It is now easy to see how rituals may have been birthed from such correlations. This I believe is the foundations for later more organized paganistic religions. The same principle can be applied to rearing crops, weather must remain conducive to have a productive harvest so you and your family can eat. So rituals no doubt also developed in hopes of persuading the phenomena that be to stage predictable weather patterns for optimal harvest.The most well known examples lie in the Greek and later Roman polytheistic religions. The Greeks created gods to represent nearly every facet of life. For instance, Helios was the Greek god of the sun, keep this god pleased and you may enjoy abundant sunshine to fuel your crops, please the god of the river and flooding will not destroy your home and farm. Why the nearly global switch from polytheistic to monotheistic? I believe the answer lies within the bible itself. The book as it stands it an amazing piece of literature for what is has accomplished. The lessons found within the bible stand as a monument as how to live a moralistic life. However as I think most will agree most of the consequences described are dire and severe. Now unveil this book to the masses, most of whom are illiterate and nothing more than simple sustenance farmers, teach them the lessons within the book and if they adhere to them than society is under control. These simple farmers would be scared to death to face the consequences of not living the complete moralistic life. After the church became a dominant political figure in Europe religion became a very powerful weapon. People were(and to a large extent still are) so involved in their piety wars would erupt of such trivial matters as which way to cross yourself. Such dramatic and flamboyant involvement people have in religion has forever puzzled me. Most of all however is mainstream Christianity. The human empirical mind strongly urges us through many trials of evolution not to accept anything without physical fact. Taking anything on faith is a liability in nature. An organism does not take upon faith that its next meal will be easily available so therefore lax in its hunting, if that where to happen that organism would not survive to pass on its unsuccessful genetics. So how can an empirically superior being such as humans take upon faith that there is an omniscient god? Especially on the word of a book that is filled with absurd events that physically could never have happened? As I mentioned earlier the bible is great manual outlining how to live a moral life, but the events such as parting the seas, walking on water, people turning to stone are extreme exaggerations propagated to awe, convince and scare people into converting to Christianity. Jesus in all likelihood did exist, he would have been an outspoken critic of the roman occupation of what is now the middle east. An admired social reformer by today's standards he mostly wanted better treatment for his people, and autonomy for the lands he and his people occupied. Evidence suggests that he never claimed to be the son of god, that and the fantastic exaggerations were conceived after his death by his few loyal followers as a recruiting tool. However people are so zealous still today as to the validity of these events it would be dangerous in some cases to even question its authenticity. But what puzzles me to an even greater extent is the fact that the bible can change to fit the times. If god and his bible were to be the strict standard to which you were to live your life, set in stone centuries ago, how can you amend it to better suit how you want to live your life today? I do not ever remember reading a clause in the bible which states god gives his disciples permission to amend his guidelines as soon as they become to much of a liability or discomfort. As the business that religion has evolved into how can anyone who believes in Jesus think that this is how he would have wanted people to worship him(even thought evidence shows he never expected, wished or conversed about people worshipping his legacy, and most likely never accepted the crucifixion to redeem man for his sins)? It seems to me that if people were truly secure in their religion they would not need to be reassured every Sunday by a trained preacher. It should be something felt on a deeply personal level, there should never be any transaction of funds in relation in any capacity in regards to religion, money always has to strong potential to corrupt and depreciate everything. I would also like to know how so many people claim to committed to Jesus yet habitually violate his and gods mandates. If people do believe the bible and that Jesus died a slow, horrid death for man's sins, how do they justify repeatedly experiencing gluttony (evident by the USA's 50% overweight population and 33% obesity rate), lusting over others (evident by our 50%+ divorce rate), also by our insatiable need for more than we need ( material lust and material gluttony), premarital sex, etc...? Is it rather arrogant and presumptuous that people can choose what they feel they need to adhere to in the bible, conveniently choosing to ignore scripture that may make their life alittle less comfortable and still believe they are going to the paradise the bible says is reserved for those who have lived as it has outlined? Well that is just a few reasons why I have no stock in mainstream religions. So, what are my spiritual beliefs? I cannot say as of yet I have a definite religious code, and I most likely will not, or at least any thing mainstream. However I can say I think out of any culture to have occupied this planet I share the closest beliefs with the native Americans of north America. They truly respected the earth and all its systems. They believed that they arose from the earth and shall return to it in one way or another and when you have such beliefs you tend to respect the land that you occupy( unlike today's global populations). I feel that humans should strongly feel a sense of kinship with the earth and all its inhabitants and we as individuals should leave as small a footprint left as possible when we depart. It is a strange notion to me how we knowingly and intentionally poison our water, land, air, fellow inhabitants and ourselves just to fuel our need for things of mostly ambiguous importance. back