I watch a lot of period drama on DVD and also watch documentaries about various times in history and recently have been watching a BBC series about the history of Christianity.
In times past, the rulers of the people were wicked. They controlled through fear. People, including children, were executed in the most horrendous manner. Burning at the stake became very popular, especially for those rulers who fervently believed in God. This is a slow agonising death. Deliberately so. Millions died this way throughout hundreds of years.
It is not surprising that people's idea of God developed upon the same lines. Instead of seeing in God's image, God was made in ours. God was like these despots, these egomaniacs. He became cruel and vindictive. It is not surprising that sinners and non believers would 'burn' in hell for eternity. It is not surprising that our sins were could be 'burned away' in Purgatory.
The people were uneducated, lived in terrible poverty and fear. Having a God such a this is not surprising. It is no different to so called pagan Gods that require blood sacrifice. After all, the Xtian God did!
This is not about how much of the Xtian ritual and beliefs is snatched straight out of pagan religions. It is more about the fear that still causes people to believe in what is ultimately an evil belief system.
The very idea that God required a blood sacrifice to appease him and save us from our sins is evil. The idea that there exists a God who will destroy us and punish us for not being good is evil. Even more evil is the idea that someone else pays for our wrong doing! It is why the so called religious and pious who believe that their sins have been paid for do and say what they do. They don't believe in consequences for their actions.
Ultimately, that is what it means to believe that someone else has paid for your sins: there will be no consequences resulting from one's thoughts and actions. This is clearly untrue! The untruth of it is glaringly obvious but there are none so blind as those that refuse to see. And none so blind as the scared.
Yes. Scared. I know what it is like to have these beliefs thrust upon you when growing up. I understand the fear. Any religious belief that says if you don't believe you are condemned is so clearly false. I cannot trust anyone who holds such a belief and the more vociferous they are in spouting their belief, the less I believe them, the more fear I see and more obvious the evil inherent in the ideas becomes.
One cannot love what one fears. No matter how much one declares this love, it is false. You cannot love anyone or anything when you have a gun held at your temple.The professing of love is really a professing of fear.
The one thing that God offers is the one thing that humankind seems determined to reject. Unconditional love. Why? I think because our own desire for vengeance cannot envisage such a love. How can one not be punished for wrong doing? This is of course precisely what humans do. We condemn transgressors of our ideas. That is how it works isn't it? That is what has been taught for millennia? That is how we control others and how we get our ideas accepted(that is what POWER is all about-having our views override those of others.)
What we do not seem to grasp is the there is no such thing as getting away with it! Our beliefs and our actions have consequences. ALL of them. There is no escaping that. We reap what we sow. Fro every action there is a re action. What we put out, we get back. Nothing we can do nor believe will alter that. All around us are the consequences of the ideas and actions of human beings.
On a human to human plain, what is the point of hating? What is the point of condemning? What is the point of vengeance? None of this will relieve pain. It will only increase it. For all.
I wish only peace for those who harmed me and those who seek to now. Yes that is the force behind these Fundies. They want to harm me. Don't fooled. They want us dead and gone. Not just me, but anyone who who rejects their ideas.
Instead though of reacting with an equal hatred, it is only common sense to work to bring peace in oneself, which precludes this hatred. If we do this, we will not be adding fuel to the fire, but be pouring water upon it.
It just makes no sense to hate. That seemed obvious to me even when I was a boy. I knew how much I hurt and I just wanted that to stop. I didn't want to cause others to hurt as I was. I just wanted the pain to stop.
It is not logical to believe that our pain will be relieved by causing others pain.
It is illogical to believe that God would react to us with anything other than unconditional love. This means that no matter what, how far in the opposite direction we have strayed, the way to peace is never ever barred to us. we will never be destroyed. Likewise we will never not have to suffer or enjoy the consequences of our beliefs and actions. We will work through them.
There is no rejection, no fiery pit awaiting any of us. Only a Love that will bring what we yearn for, peace. It will always be up to us to accept or reject that love. There is no time limit. Death is not the deadline!
Once fear begins to leave you, the more room there is for love. As fear, evil, dissipates the way becomes more clear.
(Whether or not there is a God is whole other issue and for the purpose of the above, it is assumed there is.)
EVIL BEGETS EVIL CLICK HERE
In times past, the rulers of the people were wicked. They controlled through fear. People, including children, were executed in the most horrendous manner. Burning at the stake became very popular, especially for those rulers who fervently believed in God. This is a slow agonising death. Deliberately so. Millions died this way throughout hundreds of years.
It is not surprising that people's idea of God developed upon the same lines. Instead of seeing in God's image, God was made in ours. God was like these despots, these egomaniacs. He became cruel and vindictive. It is not surprising that sinners and non believers would 'burn' in hell for eternity. It is not surprising that our sins were could be 'burned away' in Purgatory.
The people were uneducated, lived in terrible poverty and fear. Having a God such a this is not surprising. It is no different to so called pagan Gods that require blood sacrifice. After all, the Xtian God did!
This is not about how much of the Xtian ritual and beliefs is snatched straight out of pagan religions. It is more about the fear that still causes people to believe in what is ultimately an evil belief system.
The very idea that God required a blood sacrifice to appease him and save us from our sins is evil. The idea that there exists a God who will destroy us and punish us for not being good is evil. Even more evil is the idea that someone else pays for our wrong doing! It is why the so called religious and pious who believe that their sins have been paid for do and say what they do. They don't believe in consequences for their actions.
Ultimately, that is what it means to believe that someone else has paid for your sins: there will be no consequences resulting from one's thoughts and actions. This is clearly untrue! The untruth of it is glaringly obvious but there are none so blind as those that refuse to see. And none so blind as the scared.
Yes. Scared. I know what it is like to have these beliefs thrust upon you when growing up. I understand the fear. Any religious belief that says if you don't believe you are condemned is so clearly false. I cannot trust anyone who holds such a belief and the more vociferous they are in spouting their belief, the less I believe them, the more fear I see and more obvious the evil inherent in the ideas becomes.
One cannot love what one fears. No matter how much one declares this love, it is false. You cannot love anyone or anything when you have a gun held at your temple.The professing of love is really a professing of fear.
The one thing that God offers is the one thing that humankind seems determined to reject. Unconditional love. Why? I think because our own desire for vengeance cannot envisage such a love. How can one not be punished for wrong doing? This is of course precisely what humans do. We condemn transgressors of our ideas. That is how it works isn't it? That is what has been taught for millennia? That is how we control others and how we get our ideas accepted(that is what POWER is all about-having our views override those of others.)
What we do not seem to grasp is the there is no such thing as getting away with it! Our beliefs and our actions have consequences. ALL of them. There is no escaping that. We reap what we sow. Fro every action there is a re action. What we put out, we get back. Nothing we can do nor believe will alter that. All around us are the consequences of the ideas and actions of human beings.
On a human to human plain, what is the point of hating? What is the point of condemning? What is the point of vengeance? None of this will relieve pain. It will only increase it. For all.
I wish only peace for those who harmed me and those who seek to now. Yes that is the force behind these Fundies. They want to harm me. Don't fooled. They want us dead and gone. Not just me, but anyone who who rejects their ideas.
Instead though of reacting with an equal hatred, it is only common sense to work to bring peace in oneself, which precludes this hatred. If we do this, we will not be adding fuel to the fire, but be pouring water upon it.
It just makes no sense to hate. That seemed obvious to me even when I was a boy. I knew how much I hurt and I just wanted that to stop. I didn't want to cause others to hurt as I was. I just wanted the pain to stop.
It is not logical to believe that our pain will be relieved by causing others pain.
It is illogical to believe that God would react to us with anything other than unconditional love. This means that no matter what, how far in the opposite direction we have strayed, the way to peace is never ever barred to us. we will never be destroyed. Likewise we will never not have to suffer or enjoy the consequences of our beliefs and actions. We will work through them.
There is no rejection, no fiery pit awaiting any of us. Only a Love that will bring what we yearn for, peace. It will always be up to us to accept or reject that love. There is no time limit. Death is not the deadline!
Once fear begins to leave you, the more room there is for love. As fear, evil, dissipates the way becomes more clear.
(Whether or not there is a God is whole other issue and for the purpose of the above, it is assumed there is.)
EVIL BEGETS EVIL CLICK HERE
1 comment:
What a sad place this world can be. I am certain some of the very people participating in the creation of this law are homosexuals, themselves. In addition to the cruelty, bigotry, ignorance and inhumanity, they can add deception to their crimes. Of course, the reason WHY the perpetrate this deception is because of their fear. Sad, sad, sad.
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