What Has Happened To Religion

What has happened to religion?

When was the last time you heard "I am a God fearing Christian?" Even as a child I questioned that concept because it never made sense to me. Why FEAR God? Why fear that which is supposed to be good? My "Grams" was good! I never feared going to visit or stay with her. She would bust me up when I was out of line but I did not fear what I knew to be good. My aunt and uncle were hard on me; quick to discipline and quicker to love but never once did they threaten me in order to keep me on the straight and narrow.

In church I was continually threatened by a man representing a Man. That too did not sit well with my young and challenging mind. Discussion after discussion about this ended with how man should fear God – though I never understood why good should be feared. It was my introduction to the contradiction that is religion. When was the last time your feared something that was good? You fear wrong and evil; not good. I found it to be ironic that the only good thing in our humanity to fear is God; being that all else in life that I was pensive about were things that are wrong. Fear in this usage was described to me at that young age as awe and reverence. Then I got my hands on the Old Testament – fear was an understatement at best! I compared it to the bible I had in my bedroom and found vengeance and contempt for those who stood against God's will; and yes – fear. My young, self folding mind painted clear pictures of the concepts these books held and determined for myself just how aggressive of a religion Christianity is. I followed my religion, studied my religion and never hid my religion as I was taught to do but never lost the images my young mind developed as a youth. These are but a few of the passages that I clearly remember to this day:


Deuteronomy 5:7

I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.


Deuteronomy 12:2-3

2. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: 3. And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.



Revelation 9:3-6

3. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment [was] as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Deuteronomy 21:18

If you have a "stubborn and rebellious son, then you and the other men in your neighborhood shall stone him with stones that he die.



Proverbs 30:17

The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.



Leviticus 26:21:29

And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.






2 Kings 2:23

From there Elisha went up to Bethel.
As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said.
"Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.



Lamentations 4:9:11

Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of famine; racked with hunger, they waste away for lack of food from the field.
With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed. The LORD has given full vent to his wrath; he has poured out his fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations.




Ezekiel 5:8-10

The LORD says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers.

The word fear, not awe or reverence gained ground. Awe and reverence could be applied when you lived you your life in fear of not abiding by God's will and word and you witnessed what happened to those who did not. Even at such a young age I clearly saw the difference. It was an ultimatum - Me or this.

In college I pursued my quest for understanding religion and its connotations both on and in my life. Being a logical person, I have a preference for concrete over abstract (science over religion in this case). I studied religion extensively. Not for the reasons the others were in the classes; I was motivated by curiosity and cognitive understanding. I was the true antagonist in every class. The biggest hurdles were the professors themselves. Most were retired rabbi, priests, fathers and various other clergy that were devoutly religious men and women who tended to lean more towards why they felt they were right than they did the objective perspective. Needless to say, arguing science in a religion class was a tough way to maintain a 4.0 GPA! As the classes got more involved I opted to look at monotheistic religions as a whole paying particular attention their evolution, development and contradiction in order to force the argument within the realm of the professors' base of (denial) knowledge.

What makes one religion "right" and the religions both before and after it "wrong"? Of most importance is the history of religions; their origins in particular. There are two things here when it came to western religions or (Abrahamic religions): One, they are competitive and two, they are exclusive (less a few such as the Bahai Faith which embraces all western religions citing the entity that is God in all of these religions is one in the same).

Babism (Bábism)

Bahai Faith (Bahá'í Faith)

Christianity (Christianity)

Gnosticsm (Gnosticism)

Islam (Islam)

Judaism (Judaism)

Rastafari Movement (Rastafari movement)

Sabians (Sabians)

Samaratanism (Samaritanism)

All were contrived from Zoroastrianism which is actually classified as an Indian religion. The religion dates back to 6000 BCE as stated by conservative Zoroastrian followers, but historians and religious scholars date it as 1500 – 1000 BCE. Being the first monotheistic religion it gave birth to what we know as western religion today. Oddly, religion has changed from a very peaceful and accepting concept to a violent and exclusionary tool that torments both world order and social structure. In the origins of monotheistic religion we find:

1. God is not about fear guilt and Condemnation.

2. God is Wisdom Love and Logic.

3. God does not have favorites and does not discriminate on the basis of nationality sex, race or class.

4. God treats humans with dignity and respect.

5. God is not a slave master, or despot, among his serfs.

6. God is man's Soul Mate and Partner.

7. God is not Jealous, Wrathful or Vengeful.

8. Man is not sinful, fallen or depraved.

9. God has no opponent and heaven and hell are states of mind and being.

10. Man was created to progress to likeness and eliminate wrong from the Cosmos in partnership with God.

Quite different than what we find western and modern religions of today. Religion is the world's largest living document that is continually rewritten to accommodate the moral erosion that plagues the world, to drive out and eliminate competing world and western religions and demands devotion through fear and intimidation.

(An interesting, or ironic fact about the founding religion of a largely monotheistic world culture is that it was forced out of what is now Iran and Iraq by Muslim Arabs in 650 CE during the invasion of Persia).

Could it be that more modern religions were written as such out of the intent for compliance? Being that religion is man made, those men making it designed it in their image of leading through intimidation, not embracement and partnership. They sought world religious order as they thought followers would only do so out of fear, not voluntary devotion. To this day many go to church out of fear of what happens if they don't go.

So what has happened to religion? Why has it become so vengeful and jealous? Why do we go to war with nations over such an abstract concept that has no proof it even exists?

Over the years I have learned some interesting things about religion and the abuse of religion. History holds atrocities based on religion. "I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." -Adolf Hitler. Foregoing the obvious look at this for what it is. It is not that fact that he misused Christianity but the fact that it was written as an exclusionary religion and allowed itself to be misused in such a horrific manner. It is no different than a Muslim declaring holy war against an infidel solely because they do not believe in the same abstract concept. The origins of monotheistic religions were not based in this contempt for our fellow human beings.

We have manipulated religion to such an extreme that we have completely reversed its initial design. We have systematically made an inclusive order of existence, exclusive. We have turned a partnership into a vengeful coexistence. Man has manipulated religion in such a manner that he is using it to destroy fellow man. Yet we put on our Sunday best and blindly follow what has become a benevolent tool of destruction and contempt.

Why do we believe? As religions have evolved, they continue to evolve in order to better meet the agenda of those rewriting it. The facts are clear. Religion is a tool developed for social and civil order of the masses. Religion is our emotional escape from the reality that we can not accept our own mortality. We need something bigger than ourselves so we can look past our own insignificance in the world we live in. For many, it is beyond comprehension that we are a scientifically based phenomena that evolved into what we are. We argue evolution and science as hard as we argue one religion being more right than the next. We support the fact that regardless of what our own religion is, any religion before or after it is wrong and the followers of that religion will suffer for an eternity. We live under constant threat of the eternal consequences of not constantly doing right; even though monotheistic religion was not all created to be this way.

Something has gone terribly wrong with religion, faith and the practices thereof. Just like man did not magically appear on earth one day, neither did religion. We created it and continue to manipulate its creation. Each passing year the manipulation and interpretation of religion worsens. Just as we progressed from Zoroastrianism by manipulating it into newer religions we further progress away from its intended purpose of peace and harmony. We have designed it to further our agenda and have given it the traits that expose the worst in what we are as a people. (It is wrong to besiege a city of people, kill off the adult males, enslave the women and children and eat their food because their religious belief is not that of our own).

Religion has simply become more political than holy. What was wrong yesterday is rewritten to be right today in order to accommodate the masses of a given religion and keep them loyal to it. We have seen the written religious acceptance of what was once considered deviant personal behavior. What was right yesterday is written as wrong today. Venal sins are now larger in number but supposedly less in magnitude. Simply put there are more sins but less consequences for committing such sins. When I was a child a sin was a sin. You covet your neighbors wife and the punishment was the same for murdering some one. As we add things as sins that were once acceptable, we decrease the accountability for those acts. (We decrease it; not God).

Each progressing year we move further from the intent of monotheistic religion. Most who go to church every Sunday can not even tell you what the founding religion is. "Zoo what?" I have heard 37 times this week when asking people I know to be devoutly religious. It is not taught in the church because those who teach in the church know just how far removed we are from it. It would be like admitting they are wrong - and we all know that does not sit well. It is likened to the fact that there are many passages in the bible that are not spoken of in many churches because of the vengeful and jealous nature of the words. Avoiding it does not remove it from the religion. Religion is not the buffet dinner that we have made it into where you pick and choose what you want and what you don't want. If it is there its there and you have to clean your plate before you get up to die.

Religion has brought a lot into my life. Faith has brought me up when I was down. It has given me the ability to be good when I really did not want to be. It has made me a very generous and compassionate person. Above all it has given me balance and perspective. That balance and perspective forces me to look at things for what they are and challenges me to look at my own religion and my own faith as I search for a clearer understanding of religion itself. What I see is a religious world agenda that has contaminated the truer purpose of its original grand design. In each slipping of world morals we step back in time towards Sodom and Gomorrah. What we fear in this is wrath and vengeance from Above - although it was not first written to be that way.

-T