1.) Read a History book and you will QUICKLY discover that Organized Religion is the WORST enabler of bad behavior that Human Civilization has ever seen.
I'll use the Catholic Church as an example here, since that is the most widely known here in the Western World.
Let's see...
- They did nothing to stop the West-African slave trade and have often endorsed slavery in various forms throughout their roughly 2,000 year history. Even one of their great philosophers, Thomas Aquinas, argued in favor of certain forms of slavery.
- They seem to think they have a right to tell you what you can do with your own body, and also banned the use of ANY contraception. Even if you know you have a deadly disease that is sexually transmitted, like AIDS, you are still forbidden to use a condom by this ridiculous organization. What the FUCK?!
- They shelter child-molesters in their ranks and cover-up the controversy by threatening anyone who talks with excommunication.
- They condemn homosexuality as a sin despite having more Homosexuals in their employ than virtually ANY other organization on Earth.
- They knew about the Nazi 'Final Solution' and did virtually NOTHING to stop it at all. This is in spite of many Catholic and Protestant church officials speaking out against Hitler's plan to euthanize the mentally-disabled people in the care of the German state. WTF, Guy?!
And I could go on and on all day long. However, those incredibly egregious sins should be more than enough to prove the point. Faith is a wonderful thing to have. Organizing that faith into a church is often quite disastrous.
However, it could be worse. Just imaging if you were brought up in a crazy cult like Scientology...
2.) I never could 'act respectful' in Church... Or when dealing with traditions of another denomination that I found disagreeable/ridiculous/pointless/whatever...
Well, actually I can, I just don't wish to sometimes...
I don't remember exactly when this story took place. I want to say that I was in High School. My family went to my grandmother's house in Mississippi for Easter weekend. Grandma had one of those cheese pizzas you find in the frozen food section of the grocery store ready for us, since she knew we normally ordered pizza on Friday nights at home. I inquired if there was any pepperoni since that is what I liked. Grandma and Mom both told me that there wouldn't be any meat on the pizza that night because it was Good Friday. My teenaged self's reaction? Pretty much what you'd expect...
"No meat because of Good Friday?! That's a Catholic thing, Mom! I'm not part of that crazy cult. Why should I have to suffer?!" - the young Lord Publius
My mother's face went red with embarrassment. My grandmother, who probably deserves to be made a Saint, just wagged the finger at me and said 'Hey, watch it now, Publius.' I also remember my Uncle Phil laughing his head off. I'm laughing at this recollection right now as I type it here in this blog post. Good thing I was one of Grandma's 2 favorite grand kids...
Of course, there was also the way that I acted in Church on Easter Sunday. Once again, my younger self felt it necessary to run his mouth, make a few swipes at the Catholic Church with some sardonic quips and make Uncle Phil laugh out loud.
The church had a new priest, who was Vietnamese and had not yet fully mastered the English language. The local bishop had been lamenting the fact that the local parishes hadn't been pulling in enough money through the collection plate. The young Vietnamese priest told the assembled congregation (which included yours truly that morning) that the bishop was complaining about not getting enough money in the plate as it was being passed around.
My mother gave me and my younger siblings a dollar to put in the plate. As it got to me, I said 'Well, time to pay off the local Don...', comparing the Catholic Church to the Mafia. Uncle Phil laughed his ass off. My mother was mortified and started admonishing me to behave. I simply responded by saying 'What? You heard the man! The bishop is complaining that they aren't getting enough money.' I don't know how much cash ended up in that plate but, it looked like a pretty substantial amount to me.
Considering that this is NOT the first (or last) time that I would act inappropriately in a church, maybe it's best that I just don't go at all. No need to be spending my Sunday morning having to escape from an angry mob with torches and pitchforks. (Especially while also being told that I'll spend eternity in the afterlife living that way... Judgmental assholes...)
3.) Like so many other closed-minded NT's, I find that most of the religious, church-going types that I meet are VERY judgmental (and often hostile) towards me because I like to think for myself.
Funny, doesn't it say somewhere that they should NOT judge other people? I don't need you to wag the finger in my face like a dog that just misbehaved!
Believe it or not, the Bible isn't meant to be an instruction manual to life. It's more like a set of instructions/orders/commandments from your creator and a LOT of ideas added by various holy men over the millennia. The passages attributed to the Savior and his Father are quite important. The importance of the rest is something I leave to you. I have to take some of it with a grain of salt.
For example, do I really want to take relationship advice from St. Paul? He did discuss marriage at length in Chapter 7 of his first letter to the Corinthians. I've read it and it seems to be okay. However, I think he was a lifelong bachelor. He also has a reputation for being a misogynist. Who knows if any of that is true but, it does make me wonder.
Also, there is that bit from the Laws of Moses about selling yourself into indentured servitude to pay off a debt. This is often confused by many people with selling yourself or loved ones into slavery, which the Hebrews wouldn't do because that violates the first commandment. The Bible may be okay with indentured servitude but, I am not. That takes away from personal liberty without ANY kind of due process or being guilty of a crime. That practice would be EXCEPTIONALLY Un-American and thus, in my view, quite Unholy.
4.) Those same judgmental assholes like to take things way out of context when quoting the Bible...
There are many different examples, both good and bad, that I can give. However, I think I'll use a good one: Jeremiah 29:11. My problem with this verse is that it's always taken out of context whenever it's used around me. Although, it's not hard to understand why. It's often used to console people and tell them that God has some sort of plan for them. It was emblazoned on the cover of a Bible being given away while I was in Basic Training for the Army circa Fall 2009 and Winter 2010. The version of this verse from the New International Version is as follows:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Sounds nice, huh? Only problem is that God didn't actually intend for this to be some message of hope to those children of his who feel lost. At least, not for all eternity. That verse, along with all the others among the first 24 verses in Chapter 29 of Jeremiah, was called A Letter to the Exiles. In this open letter, Jeremiah is claiming to speak for God and telling the then-exiled Israelites in Babylon that they don't need to worry about returning to Israel. God has it in His hands and they will return in 70 years from that time. And it specifically says 70 years in the preceding verse, Jeremiah 29:10.
The open letter also encourages the exiled Israelites to settle down and assimilate into Babylonian culture while they wait. Tell me, what does a random verse from one of God's open letters have to do with people in the modern world looking for some direction or hope? I find it difficult to imagine how someone can try to apply this verse to a general/global audience across several millennia of time. However, I could be nitpicking since I prefer accuracy and the truth rather than what feels good. Aspies have that 'problem' a lot when we have to deal with you NT's. We don't care about feelings very much, including our own.
5.) The so-called 'righteous' are anything but... And they are ALL going to Hell.
Ever notice how 'God-fearing Christian' individuals are often pretty rotten and horrible people? Sadly, I have been exposed to a lot of these folks from a very early age. However, we won't be getting into that too much here. It's a long story and will also segue into a different topic: Why I hate Football but, still love the New Orleans Saints. (And I have been meaning to write about that for quite a while...)
Anyway, Jeshua of Nazareth was NOT kidding when He said the whores will get into Heaven before a lot of the righteous. It's not just because they are more likely to be humble before God and sincerely repent their sins, either.
Islamic terrorists, the Westboro Baptist Church and Catholic Priests with a taste for pederasty are all going to Hell. They are going directly to Hell. They will not pass that non-existent place called purgatory. They will not collect anything from a collection plate. And while we're at it, I think the religious nut-job roommate that a friend of mine had to deal with in Iraq is going to Hell too. This friend is the same one who's story I linked to previously in my now infamous '17 reasons why I left the Army' post. The one who was nearly raped while in Iraq and her unit did NOTHING to punish the offender or keep him away from her afterward. Yeah, that bitch of a roommate, who was also a freakin' 'Holy Roller', is definitely going to Hell.
'Why?', you ask. Easy. Because they all committed that one sin that God said he'd NEVER forgive: committing evil in His name, which violates the 3rd Commandment. (Or, the 3rd Statement, if you prefer the original Hebrew version.)
Seriously, what was with that Holy Roller roommate chick? How could she have stood back and did nothing to stop my friend's would-be attacker? How could she think my friend deserved something as horrible as a rape just because her opinions and worldview differed? How could she possibly think that God would want her to go to Iraq to kill Muslims? That's like thinking your father wants you to murder another of the children in his brood! That's just sick! This chick, from what was described to me, sounds like she deserves Hell. She not only committed great evils through her prejudice and inaction, she also did it in God's name. That's a no-go. This YouTube video should explain:
So, doing Evil in His name turns people away from God and creates Atheism. For that, the offending party probably should be going to Hell. I don't mean that fictional fire-and-brimstone place the Vatican invented in the Middle Ages. I mean the *actual* Hell: Oblivion. As in, NOTHING of you continues to exist. You just get deleted from the universe like files getting emptied out of a computer's recycle bin. You're just GONE. And it would serve them right. The universe will be a much better place without such wicked people in it, ruining things for the rest of us. Then again, who am I to judge?
- Lord Publius
P.S. Yes, that last line was intended to be sarcasm.
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