I’m
going to focus on Christianity for this topic because, as stated in previous
posts, I’m most familiar with it. I’ve
been trying to gain a better understanding of Christianity lately. I know all about the crazy, immoral parts of
the Bible but for some reason Christians still have faith regardless of the
facts. My personal quest is to try to
understand why this is. Why is it that
people can’t look at this religion the way that I do and see how crazy it all
is? I’ve come to some interesting
conclusions on this very subject from the little research I’ve done so far.
How has
Christianity endured through centuries?
Here’s what I think: Christianity has survived for so long because one
of its main principles is to not doubt God.
To not question God or his actions/inactions. To have blind faith that the world is the way
it is for some unknown reason. So even
those who might see how illogical it really is are forced (if they want to get
to heaven) to just except things for what they are and let it be. It has survived because it takes a tremendous
amount of courage to “defy God” and really search for the truth. If every Christian had that courage I would
bet that Christianity would die out sooner rather than later. Of course it requires less courage, though,
if you haven’t had religious doctrine shoved down your throat since before you
could walk or talk. Christians
indoctrinate their children before they reach the age of reason. Once those children do reach the age of
reason they have already been taught that “God works in mysterious ways” and
doubting him is a sure way to end up in Hell.
Amazing what that creates, isn’t it?
A steadfast doctrine that is immune to rational thought. Even if you can’t help but to question God it
all comes back to having enough faith to trust that God has a plan and
everything is all a part of that plan.
Which brings me to my next subject.
The
default position of all the horrible things that exist in our reality is that
we could never understand God’s intentions.
And to try and do so would be impossible because God is beyond our
comprehension. That is the most
frustrating thing I hear Christians say and I hear it all the time. The amount of ignorance it takes to except a
concept such as that is insurmountable.
If I told you that I was going to drink motor oil you would think I was
crazy ask question me as to why I would do such a thing, right? You wouldn’t just think that maybe I knew better
than you and trust my judgment on such a thing.
So why do so with God? I’ll bet
if you’re a Christian you just caught yourself saying something along the lines
of “Well, you’re not an all knowing, all powerful god” or something along those
lines, right? There’s no metaphor that
I could use to get you to see the point because you’ve been brainwashed into
thinking that your God is above and beyond anything and everything. There’s a saying that the “fastest way to
become an Atheist is to read the Bible”.
That book is full of contradictions, immorality, and fanciful
ideas. However, a Christian is indoctrinated
to somehow ignore such things. It’s
unfathomable from where I stand on the outside looking in but such is the case.
One
other thing I would just like to lightly touch on is the story of Jesus
itself. From what I have seen one of the
key points of this story preys upon one the greatest weaknesses of the Human
race; emotions. More specifically our
empathy. The very symbol of Christianity
is the cross. The object used to crucify
Jesus. We are bombarded with images of
Jesus on the cross, bloody and broken.
We are told that all he the pain he endured he did so for us. How ungrateful would we be if we rejected him
and his teachings? Instead we try so
hard to feel his pain to remind us of what he did to a point that we can’t help
but feel guilt for not believing in him.
It’s my
opinion that either Jesus was a con man who undoubtedly duped the first Christians
or he never even existed at all. Maybe
those who wrote the New Testament saw a chance to reform an already existing
religion into something more to their liking.
And throughout the years it was edited numerous times to conform to
others’ school of thought. The most expertly
crafted part being that to doubt the word of the Bible would mean eternal
damnation. And it is this very book (or
rather the ideas within) that people having been both killing for and dying for
centuries.
Now let’s
talk about one more aspect about Christianity.
The community that is so incorporated into this religion. The sense of belonging to something greater
than yourself. It’s yet another fact that
we Human Beings just can’t seem to avoid.
When you become part of a religious community it’s very hard to question
doctrine when you are surrounded by it. Outnumbered
would be how I describe it. It’s
difficult to doubt when you’re constantly being reassured that your faith is
all you need. It’s hard to break out of
something like that. So, those who are
forced into it when they are young know of no other way and see it as being the
only way. It becomes an “Us” against “Them”
and joining “them” seems like an outlandish act.
While
Christianity might die out eventually or maybe just evolve into some new religion
it’s not going to go without a fight. It
will endure until everyone finally has the courage to question everything. To except doubt as a possibility. Then and only then will our race be free from
the shackles of such oppressive doctrine.
