I don't post here often but read frequently. Lately something dark and evil has been creeping into my mind and that thing is religion. Now from my point of view that any organize religion be it whatever it is, is nothing more than a cult. My wife and I got kick out of a church for having stated that we read the harry potter books. Now I've looking to the eyes of the beast and seen that it is not what God intended. Step into my mad world for a minute and let me try to explain my point of view. God created man, Man is naturely perfect for it's enviroment. Man gives thanks to God (by one name or another) everything is happy go luck. Mankind becomes more effecient, So at one point somebody starts the whole God complex in which shame and such things rise. Religion become the form of goverment in which if one "sins" one will be punished. Now God gave us only 10 commandments to follow. However in order to control people more laws and other vises are created. God is used as a tool for self gain. He "commands" us to kill this group or that group because our priest/leaders said so. When someone challenges this they are called sinners. From my reading of the bible I found that 90% of it to be crap and the only 10% that to me is true is the 10 commandments, the golden rule (which is the 10 summed up into a nice easy passage) and having prayer in a private personnel space. Group religion in all its forms is a curse that has brought shame unto the name of God, divine creator, mother goddess, or what name has been given.

What is it about the Harry Potter books that gets people so wound up?

Don't forget the New Testement was written by the Greeks. Communion to the Greeks was drinking the blood of the bull to inherit its stregnth. New testement is a joke perpertrated on mankind by the priesthood to control the masses. Science teaches us to think, religion teaches us not to.
Welcome to the world of real religion and all that it stands for.
Some people are not as lucky as yourself, the get to stay in churches.
Now the only one you have to keep happy is yourself.

Welcome to the world of human beings .

On one hand , Religion (to me) is a Concept . A Notion of Reality . The very Knowledge of myself , and my Connection to my creator . It is a pure Thought . Just a Thought .


On the other hand , all the endless rituals , carnavals , cults , or any " symptoms " of religions are constructed systems . Sometimes benefitting a group over some other groups .

Sama

That's not true. It was written in Greek, but not by the Greeks. It tells you in the Bible who wrote each book. Just read the beginning of that book. Greek was an international language in that region at the time the New Testament was written.



Actually Christians and Jews believe the ten commandments were just some of the rules God gave to Moses. The Bible mentions more rules than just the ten commandments. Read the book of Deuteronomy. If I remember correctly that's the book that gives the rules Christians and Jews believe God gave to Moses.

I'm not a Christian, so I believe the Bible is mostly crap. I used to be a Christian, so I read the Bible. Amoungst the crap there is some wisdom. Try reading Proverbs and Eclesiastes. I found those two books to be pretty good.



Sounds like the church you were going to has gotten some crazy ideas. I have a pretty good idea why they think Harry Potter books are bad. It is because the Bible forbids the practicing of witchcraft and sorcery. It doesn't say you can't read fiction about a wizard though. I don't know why they think that's so bad.

Maybe you ought to try a different church or try a different religion. Not all religions are the same as Christianity. You seem to be judging all organized religions by what the Christian churches have done and do.

[quote] QUOTE
My wife and I got kick out of a church for having stated that we read the harry potter books.


Sounds like the church you were going to has gotten some crazy ideas. I have a pretty good idea why they think Harry Potter books are bad. It is because the Bible forbids the practicing of witchcraft and sorcery. It doesn't say you can't read fiction about a wizard though. I don't know why they think that's so bad.

Maybe you ought to try a different church or try a different religion. Not all religions are the same as Christianity. You seem to be judging all organized religions by what the Christian churches have done and do.[QUOTE]

Jim 88 is right the church you got kicked out of has crazy ideas ,if you were to take their ideas to their logical conclusions then all children who had read any
fairy stories would also be barred because has I remember they are all full of tales of magic spells and witches .it's just proof if you needed any, of the inane rules and beliefs of some so called christian communities

fullywired

Wow, most of the Congregation of my church, including the pastor would have been kicked out of this church!

There is a difference between seeking God and religion. Religion was born out of man's seeking. Don't be forelorned about the church though. It has only been recently [last couple of years]that I have come to understand that it is not my job to 'judge' the churches....God already has. It's His job. As described in warnings to the churches in Revelations.

Just be aware that we are in the days of Prophecy and Fulfillment. Jesus said in the latter days that many would come in His name, saying that He was Christ and would deceive many. Remember also that it was the Church of the day that was the main focus of evil in the Jewish World. It was the Church that had Jesus crucified. Don't let organized religion destroy your faith. Your faith is your faith and the judgement of the churches has already been dealt with by the Almighty.

to me, true religion is Haneef Religion of Abraham -not what people make of it.
i sent the article about it here:

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...showtopic=95618

love shall rule. even the word "tolerate" is not friendly.
are you a peacemaker? then you're my brother and that would be all IMO.

To each his own. Any religious group can get ugly, usually cause someone wants to control everyone else. The best thing to do is walk away and follow your own heart.

Do what you know in your heart is true...believe in what you will.

True religion is that which comes when one renounces religion.

I take that as a call to click here.

and that is one loyal man!

excuse me Jim but no one knows for sure who wrote the new testament. It was not the apostles however .



http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbible4.html

they weren't even sure on the subject of Jesus' resurrection.

As with the Old Testament, we just don't know who wrote most of the New Testament. Tradition has assigned the Gospels and most of the Epistles to certain authors, all of whom were important figures in Jesus' life or the early days of the faith. It was important for the early church to believe the authors wrote the works attributed to them, since their eminence lent the writings authority. But since we don't have the original signatures, none can be verified except through textual clues.

The first generation of Christians didn't see any need for a permanent written record of the sayings and stories of Jesus. Jesus' return and the restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth were imminent--why bother preserving stories if the world was about to end? Stories were simply passed along orally, primarily as a means of preaching and convincing outsiders. But as the first generation began to die off and hopes for the Second Coming dimmed, there was a need to preserve Jesus' words and deeds for posterity.

Quite a few collections of stories about Jesus circulated in the early church, among them The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, and the Secret Book of John. Some of these gave very different and in some cases conflicting accounts of the gospel and, most importantly, of Jesus' alleged resurrection. Some argued for the physical resurrection, with the mantle of leadership falling on those who had experienced it firsthand: the apostles. Others said the resurrection was a spiritual event that anyone could experience. Some thought this latter "heresy" would have led the church away from an organized entity into a situation where anyone could judge the truth for themselves. As Elaine Pagels points out in The Gnostic Gospel, this was no trivial matter. The decision on which interpretation was "correct" was central to the future of the church.

There is NO such thing as the right religion. Religion is invented by man, and man is corrupt-- full of mistakes. The true religion is not of books or rituals but the sole connection b/t you and your creator. It's a spiritual connection and no religion , book, or rituals are required... Just you and your maker. It's rather simple.

Excellent way of putting it! i like that.

God doesn't exist. No proof, just ancient myths. No science back then.

Bible is so flawed. The future is a world full of atheists. The more we learn about our existence, the less impact religion will have. We will know so much 100's of years from now, everyone will have to accept there is no god.

Haha, like proof will make people stop believing. There is nothing, and there will never be anything that can make people stop believing that there's a God. Hundreds of years from now, we may know a lot more, I would wager that with this knowledge people will have to accept that there is a God. They might not follow it, they might hate it, but they will have to accept it.

eh..accept what exactly?

HEATHENS!

In my opinion, if you are going to participate in a religion you can't just pick and choose which parts of the religion you wish to acknowledge and which parts you wish to ignore, as if you do that the beliefs which have chosen only equate to a shell or portion of the intentions of the religions teachings.

there is no 'true ' religion.

I take it you know Fred Phelps ?

The more I learn about our existance makes me hope that we find God. Man made religion and God asked only for faith not religion. I'll keep my faith but screw religion. If this leads me straight to a Christian Hell I'll bring burn cream LOL. To be honest many of you have valid points. Religion has caused more harm than all the wars of this world combined. Religion breeds hatred, resentment, and strife. So I quess the point maybe that ones faith matters more than the religion they practice. I've found wiccans that are kinder than most christian. And yes most church's in the bible belt are mucked up. We are to love thy neighbor as thy self correct then why are religious groups so against everything. Take gays for instance. From my point of view it's to each their own. I had a friend that was gay and it never bothered me, it was his choice so I respected that. Life's just to short to fight about every thing. I want to let all you know that I respect your opinions. Test all things and prove that which is good.

Paging Mako or Shadow. Sounds like we may have another Deist.

you make no sence. if there was proof that there was no God and people still believed in a god they'd be idiots.

just like the ones who still believe Iraq/Saddam had something to do with 911.

That there's a God.


No I don't.


There isn't any evidence to indicate that God doesn't exist, there never has been and never will be. Besides that, to the believer who Knows there's a God, proof means nothing.

That's what I would like to know....Harry Potter?? I mean its childrens fiction for feeks sake lol

Sure there is, nobody knows what it is though.

How can they accept something, that can NEVER be proved to be real???


I only accept that there is a God, only through my OWN personal experience.....................thats how ALL believers accept it

thats how anyone can accept it........................so again, I ask you, how can others accept that there is a God, without personal experience??

I think that organized religion is the worst. They all have their flaws. I just have my own set of beliefs, and I am much happier that way than searching for the one true religion that sticks to me (which is what I did for quite some months).

I just feel that whichever God/Goddess exists out there, if it even has a name, we will never learn it. This presence will never come in contact with mankind. If anyone ever managed to come in contact with it, they would not be able to withstand its energy. It is not a single god, nor is it many gods. It is one in the same, a form of energy. There is no Hell, only Paradise. The form of punishment for those that live a bad life would be to go through reincarnation, and get another chance at life. Everyone has their own special Paradise that they go to, based on their beliefs. If one believes in reincarnation, then they will be reincarnated. For instance, I have always had this certain image of Paradise, where it is basically a giant city made of ivory-like stone. I believe that that is where I would go to. Even if everyone has their own heaven, they would still be able to see whomever they had wanted to, because we all would have an infinite number of manifestations in Paradise.

Sound crazy? Oh well

We shall only know which the true religion is when we cash our chips in ,if the believers are right, some are going to be very disappointed,for the likes of me we won't even know we were right


fullywired