The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Dem Religions

Dem Religions

Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Sunday, June 29 2008, 22:14:33 (CEST)
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Dem Religions,

Nothing is more certain than that people invent religions. Obviously there is no “one” God. There are several and there always were and always will be...same reason there will never be only one cheese...or bread. People are different, they have different tastes, and they like it that way. We just have people willing to kill others who refuse to accept their god as the only one. That’s all that’s changed from pagan days until the advent of these murderous “one-god” religions. Pagans killed people too, but not over their gods.

Christianity accepted human frailties...the ideal may have been to imitate Christ, but the church knew people are weak...a human can’t aspire to be a god. So the church absolved people, forgave them their sins, if they were penitent, no matter how many they committed as long as with their last breath they asked forgiveness. A marvelous system taking into account the natural laziness and weakness of the human animal.

Then the church abused forgiveness...started selling it and buying it for those who died damned to hell, making relatives pay to get them out etc. But on the other hand, people’s frailties weren’t held against them forever and ever...there was a way out of perdition if you woke up and were truly sorry for what you’d done in your ignorance...there was hope.

Martin Luther attacked the abuses, not the church. But by that time things had gotten so out of hand that it amounted to the same thing. The Church couldn’t reform itself enough. To do away with the scam of selling salvation and all the abuses it had led to, Luther put, in place of good works leading to forgiveness, predestinarianism...the idea that from the beginning of time God had decided with of us was damned to hell and who was to be saved...meaning there wasn’t a thing you could do about it, either way. If you were among the damned, and most of us would be, you were going to hell no matter how many good and decent things you did in your lifetime. If you were among the few elect, you could squeeze your tenants, beat your wife and rob the poor box secure in the knowledge that you were going to heaven anyway...because that’s the way God wanted it.

Of course the idea was that the Chosen would, by virtue of their virtue, be good people. But then materialism snuck in so that the wealthy considered their gains, and the power that went with it, a mark of God’s favor...for it was good to be rich and powerful. And if your wealth came from taking a penny here and there from multitudes of people...well, they were more than likely the damned anyway, so why worry? The very fact that they were poor meant God hadn’t favored them. You can see that play out most grossly in teevee evangelism which comes out and says that wealth will come to you if you send them some, on account...because that’s the way God will really show you he expects to see you, personally, in heaven.

Protestants didn’t have to buy salvation from the pope...it was already their’s...deeded to them eons ago. And, since there was no way to avoid hell, if you were among the damned, and you knew who you were just by the way your life was playing out, you didn’t need to do any good either because it wouldn’t make any difference...might as well sin up a storm while you’re able cause you’re going to be paying for an eternity anyway, so enjoy now while you can. An odd way to run a society.

People who believe in heaven and hell and are convinced that their behavior will get them into one or the other, don’t seem very reassured as they approach death. It’s a stark contrast between the way atheists face death and the way believers contemplate the big moment. Most believers are filled with doubts...will they really get into the better place? Most of them know they held back from the confessional all their lives and aren’t sure that every last sin and crime will be forgiven...those who believe in predestination naturally console themselves by thinking they are among the chosen...who would think otherwise? But doubts must creep in...and having had the living daylights scared out of them since they were babes...they shuffle off more than half-convinced they’re not going to like where they wind up. Pagans seem to die more easily and restfully than Christians. They have no terrors to face...and no yearnings and anxieties about making it to heaven...they’ve known all along that there’s no such place. They just.....................die, and don’t fuss about it.

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