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a new way of looking at... religion >> comments - 2 |
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Back to the rant. Your street preacher is simply a descendant of the shaman who discovered that he could exert power and leadership over his tribe by being right in his weather predictions somewhat more often than fifty per cent of the time. When he was wrong, it was because the tribe, or a member of the tribe, had offended the "gods". Usually that member had a mate who was attractive to the shaman. The shaman wanted to be finished with his solitary masturbatory practices, wanted the mate for his own, and simply had the offending member removed in one of several ways. Usually involving the death of that member. Ahhh, power. Somewhat akin to the exercise of power today in Washington? Ask Monica and Chandra. Those who would tell you that faith is the answer to "all" seem to miss one crucial point. If their god(s) created them with a mind (or allowed a mind to evolve) then why should they NOT accept the results of actually USING that mind? God gave it to them and then tells them (through faith) that the world their minds perceive is not real? Excuse me, but I think I missed something there. This might apply to several philosophers, also. Somewhat along the lines of, "If I have to explain it, you can't understand it". It is simply an excuse to NOT use their minds. It is too hard to really think. Too hard to understand that reality exists. Too upsetting to contemplate death as an actual ending. And those street preachers, and all who would tell you that faith is the answer, know this and prey (pun intended) on those who are too lazy or afraid to actually try to find out for themselves. It is easy to believe. Not so easy to question. You mention those who would purge themselves of all which is non-Christian. There is a major problem here, too. Almost everything in Christianity is borrowed from an older religion. That was done so that the "new" faith would be palatable to those who still wanted touches of their old faiths. When Christianity started digging its roots in Rome, the priests of the time understood that in order to attract new adherents, they MUST use some of the trappings and celebrations of the Roman gods. If you examine calendars which display a variety of religious holidays, you will be amazed at how many fall at the same times of the year. This is because the earliest religions followed a calendar which obeyed the movements of the sun, earth, and moon. Their various celebrations were tied to the seasons. And it is till going on today. Witness the new world blending of Christianity with the old world (African) faiths. So we get Santeria. Stay tuned to this channel. More to come." |