What with the Pope's death and everything, there's been a huge in-rush of religious based writings on the web. I have this weird obsession with a specific type of religious belief, and that is over-the-top evangelical (and in my opinion, typically hypocritical) christianity. Good examples of this sort of religious belief can be found on sites like Way of the Master (starring Kirk Cameron!), and at Jack Chick's inadvertently hilarious comics.
It's my own personal belief that if something as incredibly complicated, beautiful and unthinkingly vast as the universe was in fact set in motion by an intelligent (though not necessarily benevolent) creator, he surely couldn't be as petty and narrow-minded as these types of beliefs make him out to be.
If you read through some of those Chick tracts, you'll see he's even got a few comics that make points like this one: "Live as good a life as you like - if you don't welcome Jesus into your heart before you die, you're still going to hell". I just find it impossible to believe that an entity capable of creating our faculties of logic, reasoning and humour would then turn around and insist that we discard our use of them in favour of blind worship. Surely someone giving me the ability to be skeptical would want me to make use of that gift.
I choose not to believe in the type of god that this these types of beliefs are selling because I find him to be sadistic, malicious, narrow-minded, and unintelligent - not only that, but I think it's an insult to any being capable of this level of creation to be thought of in that light. My intelligence and reasoning refuses to let me believe that somethign fitting that description could be responsible for everything that I see around me. Above all that, it just seems so naive and ignorant to turn to people and say "Although there are literally thousands of interpretations out there, we're the only ones who have gotten it right, and if you don't follow our way, you will surely burn in hell for eternity".
In any case, I don't normally talk about my own belief's and spirtuality on here, for a number of reasons:
- Most people probably don't care
- It has a tendency to generate conflict
- I believe in practicing tolerance of other people's beliefs
- Most importantly - I don't like it when other people push their beliefs on me, and try to avoid doing the same thing
The last point may be moot, since this is my own blog, so I can pretty much say whatever the hell I want. Oh well.
So, cruising the net last night, looking for a new dose of crazy fundamentalist christianism, I came across some parodies of the Jack Chick tracts. Some of them sucked, some of them were hilarious, but I thought that this one writer made some really good points when posting about his own beliefs, and so I blatantly took it from his site and posted it here:
I believe the people that push their religion in others' faces go against the actual teachings and example of Jesus. This makes them hypocrites of their own faith.
I mean, do you honestly believe that Jesus was going around preaching the religion of the Old Testament? Do you mean to tell me, as an educated and wise individual with half a lick of sense, you can firmly sit there and tell me he was spreading the word of the god of the Old Testament?
Not a single thing that Jesus said, did, or preached in any way, shape, or form resembled anything out of the Bible at that time! The religion of the Old Testament and the "Christianity" of the New Testament are two completely different religions. One has nothing to do with the other. God changed, the ideals changed, the message changed.
Jesus was no more than the savior of a dying religion. Jesus' message was intended for everyone, not necessarily "Christians". Jesus' message was that everyone was a god, everyone could perform the miracles he did, all were one – and we should "do unto others as we would have them do unto us". Jesus' message, Pagan in foundation, was meant for all. I am positive it was never his intention for it to be a religious sect all its own that shuns non-participants. Jesus believed all were equal and none were better than another – the rich man and the poor man were equal, the man and the woman were equal.
Jesus was a prophet with a message – and a valid one. He went around and did his thing, not necessarily giving homage to one "god" or another. His "Father" was the "Father of us all". We choose to call it God. I believe Jesus meant that this "Father of us all" encompassed all people, all gods, all beliefs. He did not say that believing in another god would turn this Father away from you. That is a preaching of the Old Testament, mixed in erroneously with Jesus' teachings. If you take out the Old Testament "hellfire and damnation" principles – then it is plain to see that the teachings of Jesus had little to nothing to do with that particular belief system.
Jesus-freaks of today have it almost right. They take it to an unnecessary extreme, to be sure, but their message isn't all wrong. True, horrors and natural catastrophes have been wrought upon our present World, but this is not because our "sins" have caused us to lose the "protection of God and Heaven". If "sinner" is the word you choose to describe the vast majority of our current population, so be it. It is true that we have deviated from a good and ethically sound way of life. It is not that we have "turned away from God", however. It is simply because we, as a society, are being raised to be selfish, money and power-hungry, and have no respect nor empathy for our fellow man – or the planet that sustains us. In this age of negativity it is only natural that we are bringing negative forces against ourselves. We are responsible for all that happens to us. It is not our "finding God" that will save us. It is finding ourselves and taking responsibility for our actions, the actions of the world – and striving to make a change for the better. It is only when we realize that every thing we do affects the whole that we will begin to be "saved". We have not turned away from God – we have turned away from ourselves. And are we not all gods and goddesses? Is it not our combined light and love that is All That Is; or "God"? The Jesus-Freaks are right that we need to make a "change", it is only their direction of that change that is misguided. They only add to the negativity by pointing fingers, condemning and cursing.
"Forgive them, for they know not what they do." Jesus cried these words out as he lay dying at the hands of the people he had preached to. It is a similar cry we make now – we martyrs of the truth. We who understand that to stop the evil – we must stop the hate. We must join together, love one another – love our planet. By blaming other groups, people, organizations for the current state of our world, you are only adding to the problem. We must all take responsibility for the circumstances we find ourselves in. And we must join together to change them.
It's not the sinners, the homosexuals, or the New Agers fault we're going to "hell in a handbasket". It is the fault of each and every one of us. Those who point fingers, those who condemn, and those who ignore it all – and everyone in between. It is all of us. It is our problem and only "we" can fix it. Together.
Some of the facts that the author points out may or may not be accurate (I don't know if Jesus did or didn't preach the old testament), but that's beside the point - I think that the author really has it spot on in his belief that the literal interpretation isn't what is important. God may be a divine being, or it may simply be an abstract principle, but either way it helps represent a set of principles and values that we should try and live our lives by. Regardless of what the ultimate outcome is, and whether god is a he, she, magnificent goat-lord, or mathematical formula describing the unified theory of the universe, we should still be trying to make the most of the opportunity we are given when we enter this world.
That's all for now, other than that I should clarify that I'm not trying to pick on Christianity here - any religion (or doctrine of any sort) taken to extreme is a negative thing, in my opinion - it's just a lot easier to find this kind of material on Christianity because of how widespread it has become, and because it's the dominant western religion.
By the way, if you want to see some of my favorite Chick Tracts, I highly recommend Dark Dungeons (get out while you still can!), and The Sissy (great for truckers and bikers!). Very funny stuff.
Amen brother! I pretty much agree with the whole of your blog post there, and couldn't have articulated it better myself. Much that is wrong with religion today (imo) comes from the extremists. Living a good, morale and peaceful life isn't about forcing ideas and scaring other people to think like you. It's about understanding and openness. I've always been the type to embrace different cultures and ideas rather than force my ideals onto others.
Peace.
Graham.