Thursday, March 28, 2024

Are Your Religious Beliefs Simply An Accident of Birth?

July 30, 2015 by  
Filed under Christian Talk, News, Opinion, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) A friend of mine, who’s a Christian and a very insightful writer, recently wrote an article that started me thinking about both Christianity and organized religion in general.  In his article he asked a pivotal question that I believe goes right to the core of Christianity – “What if Jesus was merely the teacher of a social gospel and moral philosophy . . .?”
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In my opinion, that question captured the essence of what Jesus was all about.  Jesus wasn’t a superhuman; he was simply a very intelligent and insightful human being, a philosopher. But after he espoused his philosophy, ignorant, self-serving, and superstitious people – people who believed in talking snakes – took his words out of context and turned him into some kind of superhuman being, and gave him powers that contradicted the laws of nature, the universe, common sense, and God.
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If we hadn’t been conditioned all our lives to believe in this counterintuitive nonsense it would be clear to us that the Christian belief system holds just about as much validity as voodoo: Dead men don’t walk.  No man can walk on the water. No man can tell the Red Sea to scoot over. And if Adam and Eve were the first people on Earth, where did the people come from that Cain went to live with after he slew Abel?
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Take a moment to consider the following.  All of your religious beliefs are merely an accident of birth?  If you’d been born in Israel, chances are you’d be a Jew; if you’d been born in Iran you’d be a Muslim, or China, a Buddhist.  So your religion isn’t so much God-inspired as it is a result of the environment that you were raised in. You were SOCIALIZED into believing what you believe. Thus, if you truly believe that a person born in Israel, Iran, or China is going to Hell because they weren’t socialized to believe what you believe, you’re stupid.
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This is a serious problem, because people are doing more “believing” than thinking. Hoards of people are taking MAN’S word for the fact that the Bible is “the word of God.” So they’re placing all of their “faith” in MAN, not God – and a very evil man, at that. On the other hand, we KNOW that God gave us our minds – and by “God,” I mean whatever force is responsible for the existence of the universe and what we consider reality –  so we need to start using it, because it religion-word-2015makes absolutely no sense to place more “faith” in what man TELLS us about God than what is obvious that God has clearly done. And man has clearly shown that he has more faith in the words of other men, than he does in the actual deeds of God.
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Take Black people for example. African Americans are some of the most devout Christians in the world, even though they were taught Christianity while they were tied up next to the mules – and every rule, law, and tenet of Christianity was being brutally violated while they were being indoctrinated – yet, they still believe it, that a blond haired, blue eyed Scandinavian was born in the desert with supernatural powers. God forbid that they would point out that if Jesus was born in the desert that chances are he was a man of color; and since they’re inclined to lie to us about what the man even looked like, how can we even begin to believe what they claim he said?
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No wonder so many Black people are finding it so hard to get their act together; they’re walking around in a state of zombie-like somnambulism, and it seems that the worse they’re treated, the more they cling to that ridiculous myth –  “Oh dear Lord, please forgive the White boy who walked into our church and blew nine of our church member’s brains out. He simply doesn’t understand your word.” What kind of insanity is that!!!?
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That racist cracker shouldn’t have gotten out of there alive, house of worship or not. But the reason he did is very simple. Black people have been conditioned to believe that no matter how bad they’re treated, they shouldn’t worry about it, because God is going to take care of them when they die.  OH, REALLY!!!?  Then why is everybody else killing one another trying to get theirs now – including the preachers? So it’s no accident that everyone who is willing to believe that nonsense are victims, at the bottom of the social chain, and unless they’re very lucky, suffering. Because they’re victims of the perfect hustle, where the hustlers (Black and White) don’t have to worry about nobody ever coming back to say they’re lying. How sweet is that!!!?
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Here’s another thing that should be considered. If God HAD decided to put religion on Earth to guide man, don’t you think he’d have had sense enough to create just ONE religion so religious dogma wouldn’t be the most hate-inspiring, murderous, and destructive forces on Earth? Look around you – here in America, in the Middle East, and literally all over the world – organized religion is THE  primary source of most of the  agony, pain, and misery on the planet. Thus, organized religion isn’t a blessing, it’s a curse. Would a loving God place a curse like that on  mankind?  I don’t think so. God gave us spirituality, which is found within. It’s a state if existence that’s only between you, God, and the universe. Man has absolutely nothing to do with it, because everything man touches, he corrupts. God made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to THINK, not to follow a users guide written by other men.
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Man is much too ignorant, self-serving, and greedy to write anything sacred.  Yes, man says the Bible was “inspired” by God, but he also said that God told him in the Manifest Destiny to slaughter the Native Americans and take their land, and Zionists are saying the very same thing with regard to the Palestinians today.  Do you actually believe that God is telling them to kill children? And what about Boko Haram, do you really believe God is telling them to kidnap young women and sell them into sexual slavery because he doesn’t want women to get an education? That’s not God saying that; that’s self-serving men placing their words and beliefs in God’s mouth, and the exact same thing is happening here in this country. Organized religion is man-made nonsense designed to manipulate the ignorance of the masses and promote the prejudice and greed of the elite.  You can trace virtually any form of bigotry in a straight line right back to some form of religious dogma. So again, organized religion is a curse on man, that’s been created by man, and it’s ultimately going to lead to our destruction – even global warming is being defended in the name of God.
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About the Bible
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The Bible that Christians Worship today was compiled and “bless” by the Catholic Church, not God. Any book that disagreed with the Catholic Church was banned. What Christians call “The Holy Bible,” and what these preachers run around thumping, wasn’t even put together until almost 400 years after the death of Jesus. So everything in it is hearsay. In terms of years, at the time the Bible was complied, they were twice as far away from the life and times of Jesus Christ as we are away from George Washington today. So in reality, they didn’t know fact from fiction, any more than we know whether or not George Washington really chopped down a cherry tree:
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“For the first 300 years of Christianity, there was no Bible as we know it today. Christians had the Old Testament Septuagint, and literally hundreds of other books from which to choose. The Catholic Church realized early on that it had to decide which of these books were inspired and which ones weren’t. The debates raged between theologians, Bishops, and Church Fathers for several centuries as to which books were inspired and which ones weren’t. In the meantime, several Church Councils or Synods, were convened to deal with the matter, notably, Rome in 382, Hippo in 393, and Carthage in 397 and 419.

The debates sometimes became bitter on both sides. One of the most famous was between St. Jerome, who felt the seven books were not canonical, and St. Augustine who said they were. Protestants who write about this will invariably mention St. Jerome and his opposition, and conveniently omit the support of St. Augustine. I must point out here that Church Father’s writings are not infallible statements, and their arguments are merely reflections of their own private opinions. When some say St. Jerome was against the inclusion of the seven books, they are merely showing his personal opinion of them. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion. However, A PERSONS PRIVATE OPINION DOES NOT CHANGE THE TRUTH AT ALL. There are always three sides to every story, this side, that side, and the side of truth. Whether Jerome’s position, or Augustine’s position was the correct position, had to be settled by a third party, and that third party was the Catholic Church.
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“Now the story had a dramatic change, as the Pope stepped in to settle the matter. In concurrence with the opinion of St. Augustine, and being prompted by the Holy Spirit, Pope St. Damasus I, at the Council of Rome in 382, issued a decree appropriately called, “The Decree of Damasus”, in which he listed the canonical books of both the Old and New Testaments. He then asked St. Jerome to use this canon and to write a new Bible translation which included an Old Testament of 46 books, which were all in the Septuagint, and a New Testament of 27 books” (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080928064041AATOZUD).
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SO THE POPE HAD SPOKEN, AND THE ISSUE WAS SETTLED. THUS, WHAT CHRISTIANS REFER TO AS “THE HOLY BIBLE” IS NOT THE WORD OF GOD, IT’S THE WORD OF POPE DAMASUS I.

Staff Writer; Eric L. Wattree

More thought provoking articles feel free to visit; The Wattree Chronicle.

Comments

15 Responses to “Are Your Religious Beliefs Simply An Accident of Birth?”
  1. Roger Nasier says:

    Chaka,

    I thank you for your insightful blessed light you have shed on this article. An article which clearly seeks to move us away from and definitely not closer too, the lord almighty! May god always be with you!!!

  2. Chaka says:

    As for the Pope, he and Catholicism have nothing to do with Christianity. In fact, in many ways Catholicism contradicts Christianity. John Calvin realized this. The Pope acts as if he is “Vicar of Christ”, but the Bible teaches there is ONE mediator between God and man – Christ.

    The Bible speaks of those not of God who will forbid others to marry. The catholic church does just that with its leaders, even though the Bible says marriage is holy in ALL.

    The Pope states there can be no personal relationship with God and that everyone must come through the catholic church. That is not what the Bible says. The catholic church uses similar terms as Christianity but it is “another gospel”, a false gospel with another doctrine spoke of in the Bible. The Bible warns against this.

    The Bible teaches our sins are forgiven by hat Christ has done and the acceptance of that sacrifice, along with repentance. The catholic church teaches that people have to get in a box and be absolved of their sins by a priest. WRONG AGAIN!

    These differences just scratch the surface.

  3. Chaka says:

    To The Author of This Article,

    Your assertions are not accurate. But the truth of who Yeshuah is goes far beyond the anglo-saxon version or diversion if you will. You will need to do a lot more research than a philosophical or existential analysis can provide.

    The “Messiah” was not from here and there is a ton of evidence to show just that, even evidence written by those who were not his followers.

  4. Steve,

    I take it from the crickets I’m hearing in response to my challenge that (“I’ll be waiting to hear from you with great anticipation”), that you’ve chosen not to assert your “a priori” convictions, but as I pointed out at the time, I anticipated as much. But, by the way, you never did answer my question – are you a first year philosophy student?

  5. TruthSurge,

    You’ve brought out much to be considered, but unfortunately, those who choose to be “believers” of man’s nonsense is allergic logic. They’ve already made the decision to believe the fairy tales manufactured by man rather than believing the creator’s greatest blessing to mankind – our logical mind. Thus, whenever the logic bestowed by God begins to kick in, the “believers” will listen to man instead, who tells them that God’s logic is “The Devil” trying to mislead them. As a result, it’s next to impossible to carve past the ignorance of man. That’s the primary source of all of our problems – man having more “faith” in what other men say, than what God has actually done.
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    I was listening to a preacher over the radio this past Sunday. The ignorance spewing made me want to throw up. He was quoting the Bible as though every syllable came directly from the mouth of God. How can Black people believe this stuff when the people who taught it to them obviously didn’t believe a word of it? They had us tied up next to the mules as they were teaching it to us, and they used to let church out early so the membership could get a good spot to watch lynchings. Black people will NEVER “overcome” until we get over the fear of going to Hell for using our minds.
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    KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE – John 8:32

  6. TruthSurge says:

    Interesting.

    1) When studying the map of Islamic and Christian population one notices that its credited by often-times violent expansions at the hands of European/Middle Eastern powers. There were many other local cultures that were virtually annihilated in a purely ‘Darwinistic’ fashion. Perhaps the real religion from God was wiped out many centuries ago

    A) Would God let faith such as these two spread in such a violent occupying matter? How are the Crusades, Inquisition, and Slavery just? Simply because God is “above it all”? Really?

    B) Why would God create two religions that spread not only in never-ending past violence BUT in many cases share many similarities, yet billions of people could enter hell because of their belief system (Christianity’s 2.2 billion vs Islam’s 1.5 billion)

    2)How do we know that religion HASNT been altered. Think of all the lies America and nation states around the world tell. Christianity and Islam started small then the Umyaad and Rome came into religion (essentially an equivalent of globalist banksters and how they pimped and corrupted capitalism)

    3)Does the rising of Christ from the dead sound real? Maybe Muhameeds (who was illerate) being spoken to in a cave also makes sense?

    4) Adding in Judiasm we are presented with even more trouble. Is the original correct or is the successor correct? Judiasm—Christianity–Islam. Given the variety of scriptures Christianity doesn’t completely throw away Muhammed (The Pope/Catholics) and some Jews don’t completely throw away Jesus. Why the complexity and at the same time does God use HUMANS to tell stories that are in part ripped off pagan and Indian religious stories?

    5) Christianity is the only religion that features a Man-God or exhibits traces of both God and individual Man, even worse this Man-God was written up hundreds of years AFTER he died, claiming he was brought back to life in a bizarre retcon storytelling by the romans. The Abrahamic religions are complex enough, but this is sheer insanity. This ‘trinity doctrine’ scares Muslims and Jews the same way Donald Trump scares progressives/independents.

    6)Virgin Births, talking snakes, giants, etc. I treat it like WTC7 if its the only documented official occurrence and its this incredulous. Chances are its not “official” and it was contrived/greatly altered.

    7) Why would Islam have to almost RETELL Biblical stories in a movie-like reboot of events. Why would God let this happen? Why would God need to retell stories that have no significant impact on the faith? Why would God let scriptures be ‘altered’ first of all as muslims/progressive christians claim (altered by the Romans) What scripture haven’t been altered then?

    8) Why did the Romans have the need to ‘dress up’ the New Testament while the Old Testament and the Koran read like war-books. (The Romans didn’t actually care for religion only power unlike the Jews or Muslims and preferred to write in pacifying tones in comparison) If Christians believe in the Old Testament to what extent is the belief shared by the Jews who believe in much more that Christianity doesn’t accept. (The Jews don’t even call it the Old Testament)

    9) God would never make the back-story to religion this human-oriented, contested, flawed, and war-like. By peaceful AND negative verses, the same book that powers a secular multi-faith tolerating muslim/good caring Christian also convincingly enough be used to embolden ISIS, the KKK, mass murders or pedophillia. Pedophillia in claiming that God created all men need to know back then, and nothing is actually wrong with having sex with an eight year old like what was practiced AND accepted in ancient times unlike Homosexuality. CLEARLY the battle between Good and Evil squaring off in say Christianity and Islam is illogical to the unity of God. Having Good and Evil simultaneously squaring off WITHIN the particular individual religious books nullifies whatever little meaning still exists.

    9A. If God TRULY wrote/’green lighted’ all the positive/negative verses in the Old Testament/Quaran he is beyond schizophrenic at best.

  7. Steve,

    I’ll be waiting to hear from you with great anticipation.

  8. jdgwisd says:

    Actually Steve, to buttress some of Mr. Wattree’s argument about the first known books of the Christian Bible, the Gospel of Thomas may have been the first recorded book of Christian history, written between 60-70 AD. The essay was clear and the point of view was an interesting one. I have no dog in this hunt. No matter what road someone takes to search for something greater than themselves, let be their concern. Let us not be so condensending of others point of view. I think Eric feels that organized religion is too much the “Opiate of the Masses.” It’s how one defines faith outside of their religion that defines them. Mr. Wattree may feel that religion has become a force unto itself, misleading believers into gullibility, while the priestly class becomes wealthy. On that front he is correct. But not all believers are gullible, and not all questioners of someone’s faith are devils.

  9. Steve says:

    Talkin’ snakes? Ha ha. That’s a good one.
    Just when I thought I didn’t have anything to write about, you’ve given me a great deal of inspiration. For that I am eternally grateful.
    Stay tuned…if you dare.

  10. Steve,

    This rant isn’t even worth addressing. And as I mentioned in my earlier response, I don’t acknowledge the intellect of people like you. It’s a waste of time, because it’s always more about pretentious strutting about than the legitimate search for knowledge.
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    Finally, when I wrote the article I said everything I had to say on the issue. I dotted every “i” and crossed every “t” so there’s nothing to debate. You have my position on the subject. If you want to challenge it, you write an article on the subject and I’ll be more than happy to take it apart on this very site. But until then – and I’ll be sure not to hold my breath until you publish it – you can continue to go about your life believing in talkin’ snakes.
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    Have a good day, my man.

  11. Steve says:

    So, you’re saying that all forms of religious expression are “voodoo”, or some other form of suspending our mental faculties for the sake of an emotional release?
    Gotcha!
    Actually a priori expressed what I wanted to say in the least amount of words. But, since an economy of words is not your thing, let me elaborate where I’m coming from.
    You claim that we have been socialized into believing what we believe. That is no great illumination. We are all socialized into believing what we believe. I was hoping that you were going to provide some deep illumination that would enforce your thesis.
    However this is exactly where your argument/rant goes wildly off the rails. When your claim that because large portions of the bible were written after Yeshua (historical or other) lived as being hearsay, and you then juxtapose that with the fairy tale that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree as a proof statement, that was very sloppy, and here’s why.
    Most of if not all of our knowledge base from antiquity comes from written sources that happened well after the actual events occurred. The proof text for the history of the reigns of the Pharoahs in Egypt was written by the historian Manetho, who may or may not have lived thousands of years afterwards. Modern academics debate this because the earliest mention of his name that we have is through another historian, Josephus, who lived well after Manetho died. Yet modern day Egyptologists and historians agree, and rely on the peer reviewed acceptance of the authenticity of his work. Our modern day knowledge of Alexander the Great? Written 500 years after his death by the historian Plutarch. All hearsay? Not according to historians who have dedicated their lives to studying the man. All fiction? I think not.
    You also conclude that because of how the canonical books of the bible were chosen that they are not the Word of God? Huh? The earliest text of the new testament, a fragment of Mark’s gospel, has recently been dated to have been from around 100 AD. That is the written fragment that we know of, which means that within 100 years of the actual historical event there was already written documentation of it. This is not twice as long as it has been since George Washington has been dead. In fact it is conceivable that eyewitnesses were still alive during this time, and we have no opposing documentation refuting those eye-witness accounts (not even from those who put him to death).
    Yet, according to your own words, because it was the catholic church that chose to include this book in the canon of scripture that somehow it is non-authentic? I’m not Catholic but that line of thought doesn’t make sense to me.
    Bottom line is this, if you’re gonna conclude that all forms of organized religion are the scourge of the earth, I would’ve liked to have read a more lucid argument other than the very old and tired insinuation that man somehow has the ability to de-rail the plans of a sovereign and almighty God, who throughout the biblical account takes credit for a multitude of horrific events committed by men against other men. If that Force can be sidetracked by the act of a created being then that Force is no force at all. If that’s your argument I would’ve loved to see you back it up.
    Finally, if you’re gonna get angry at the use of language, I don’t get it, but that’s your prerogative. I ain’t made at you. But, if you’re gonna write something don’t insult the reader with elementary level non-sequitor arguments (aka bullshit) and then throw up some smokescreen of cultural indignation because the critic used Latin.

  12. Steve,

    Are you a first year philosophy student, because you sure sound like one. Stop trying to speak the language of dead White men and speak contemporary English. What’s with all this “a priori expression” bullshit. Why didn’t you simply ask am I challenging the fact that faith is a result of deductive reason? – and I have no idea what you meant by that “ancestral worship” crap. But for the record, I’m saying that ANY form of “worship” is just another form of voodoo, “ancestral” or not.
    .
    Now you see how easily you can get right to the point when you speak everyday English? Here’s a good rule of thumb, Steve. I use it routinely in the tons of research I have to weed through daily as a writer. Whenever I run across a document where the author is obviously trying to sound unnecessarily intellectual, I know I can throw that document to the side, because the author is a “wannabe” and doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. The point of writing is to communicate, not to try to impress the reader with how many esoteric words you know. So, Steve, you turned me off before I got through your first sentence, and if you write like that all the time, you probably have people (who lack a sense of humor) throwing up all over the internet.

  13. Steve says:

    So is your argument that faith is not an a priori expression? That belief would exclude any expression of faith from the black experience other than ancestral worship. Is that what you’re saying?

  14. jdean says:

    Great article

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