You think with God you've found peace?

[webmdave]

By MG (Monk)

 

I once had a question and answer session with a devout Church of Christ member. This was a few years ago, and I couldn't possibly tell you how much of this was/is my thought and how much came from other sources as I was deep into my de-conversion studies at the time. I do not wish to steal ideas (or otherwise plagiarize) but to promote independence, inquiry, and rational thought.

 

With that prelude, the following is derived from a piece I jotted down after our debate:

To Christians:

 

Religion is the greatest menace the world has ever known. As long as religion exists, we will never see a unified world, a world at peace. You might ask, "Without religion, why bother with a unified world? What would be the point?" I say for the betterment of man, a LASTING betterment -- to take care of the carnal vessels that have sustained us this far: our bodies, the planet, each other. No one is coming back to save you or your children. If you don't save yourself, nothing else is going to do it for you.

 

Religion should never have been an end but a means. It should only have been a bridge between barbaric ignorance and modern scientific inquiry. As a means for the well-being of humanity, it has failed; it is obsolete. As a means to control the ignorant and the masses, it always has, still does, and always will excel. Rational thought may one day win, but the battle will be hard fought. Once upon a time, I wished I was wrong when I had these thoughts. I feel overwhelmingly now (as I also did then) that I am not wrong.

 

You say, "Do you feel that there is no god?" I would be tempted to say that I don't know. How could I? Certainly, the evidence is against a god of any sorts.

 

As Christianity preaches god... NO, absolutely not. Why does there even have to BE a god?

 

Do Christians not realize that they are worshiping a man (Jesus) and a god (Yahweh... etc., etc.) that originated in the Middle East? You cannot understand Christianity outside of the context of its region of origin. Resources are scarce, and if you aren’t part of their particular club, tribe, religion, etc, they will probably NOT be very nice to you. They weren’t when they gleefully recorded the genocide of rival peoples in the Old Testament, when they gleefully killed each other for absurd reasons, or when they gleefully slaughtered a man that sought to reform their original decrepit religious views. Not then and certainly not now. Yes, this is the same region that has spawned Islam and Osama bin Laden and 9/11. No, not all Middle Easterners are evil. Nor all Jews (no antisemitism here). None of this changes the fact that Christians subscribe to a religion that espouses hatred, bigotry, ethnocentrism, and the slaughter of all things different from itself. When the bible was written, these people often had to act in these ways to survive, but do you really want to be part of a religion, here, now, in the 21st century, founded on (and laced with) such evil? The good you proclaim your religion has done does not offset the bad. Period.

 

You say, "But nothing makes sense to me without god." I say which one? The god of the Bible? Zeus? Krishna? The little voice that whispers sweet, delusional nothings in your head? If you want to speak of origins and Christianity's supposed primacy as being the SOLE word of god, consider the many common threads of the world’s religions. I’m not going to list them; go find them yourself. I promise that they are there. Doubtless there was a root to it all... but a root one could trace back to primitive man's need to feel like he could in some ways control or lessen the hardships of life, not one that traces back to an "omniscient" and "benevolent" deity.

 

Christianity has become little better than a substitute for tribalism; it has NEVER been anything useful. It is perpetually destructive. The Romans tried to use it as a social control mechanism to solidify a crumbling empire and failed. I used to hear it said that "if only the Roman Empire would have been CHRISTIAN, it might have survived." In the end, it WAS a Christian empire... that fell. Why is that? Didn't god care that the most powerful country in the world was Christian and about to fall?

 

Further, I loathe the guilt... the guilt that Christianity thrives on and that is the SOLE reason that I feel many of the "faithful" pretend to believe. How many people do you think really believe and follow Christianity’s teachings because they truly "love" Jesus and god? And, no, they don't follow the bible—oh no! Even the most devout often remain remarkably ignorant of it... most biblical knowledge comes to Christians in a second hand fashion. I wager that even those that do claim to love god and Jesus are duping themselves into belief. How many deep down are just striving to be "better safe than sorry?" How many are really only looking out for number one (something they hypocritically say is secular humanism's only purpose)? How many are just too lazy and tired of life to try and improve what we know we have: the here and now... what's right in front of us at this moment... reality?

 

"True" Christians are terrified for me and for my soul. I am terrified for my fellow humans, for the future.

 

To Christians lurking in the background: why is a sincere questioning of the faith, of the whole dubious enterprise, such a terrible (and apparently, DAMNABLE) offense? What "Father" doesn't want his "children" to learn, to question? How dare he send otherwise good people to a hell to suffer for USING their "god given" ability to reason and then calling foul when they unfailingly find something amiss?

 

You think with God you've found peace? Why don't you try to finding it with your fellow man?

 

—MG (Monk)

 

To monitor comments posted to this topic, use .

 

http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2007/07...ound-peace.html

[Wally]

"Further, I loathe the guilt... the guilt that Christianity thrives on and that is the SOLE reason that I feel many of the 'faithful' pretend to believe. How many people do you think really believe and follow Christianity’s teachings because they truly 'love' Jesus and god? And, no, they don't follow the bible—oh no! Even the most devout often remain remarkably ignorant of it... most biblical knowledge comes to Christians in a second hand fashion. I wager that even those that do claim to love god and Jesus are duping themselves into belief. How many deep down are just striving to be 'better safe than sorry?' How many are really only looking out for number one (something they hypocritically say is secular humanism's only purpose)? How many are just too lazy and tired of life to try and improve what we know we have: the here and now... what's right in front of us at this moment... reality?"

WOW! Well said. Towards the end of my church life, I found myself devastated that I believed and practiced the Bible more than the pastors and church leaders I knew. To them Christianity was a business, social club, family affair, or inescapable guilt magnet. For some people, it's a matter of convenience to go- they don't want to upset their family. So it becomes a generational trap and family tradition.

I remember once in adult Sunday School I pointed out that the book of Isaiah (45:7) has God saying, "I make peace, and create evil." I couldn't remember the exact reference at that point in time, but an old man gave me the ol' Penecostal scowl and accused me of blasphemy, even though I was quoting from the same book we were studying. What's more, I wasn't even trying to be contentious. I was simply asking for an answer and some help with that verse.

I got the typical answer anyone would receive to such a question in church. To put it in simple terms, it's the equivalent of "Close your mouth. Close your mind. Believe. Be happy."

[Lycorth]

Nice post. I especially like the part about Xianity being only a substitute for tribalism. Western civilization didn't evolve from internecine human conflicts with the adoption of Xianity, it just found a different sort of tribe to violently espouse. Instead of a tribe into which one is born and is a member by dint of birth, now there is a tribe to which one professes belief and sticks to as a matter of choice - but the hatred for "all others" and especially presumed rivals is the same.