Posted by (+15536) 9 years ago
First, a notice that the following rant may offend some of you. I am going to say what is on my mind and if you don’t like it … well, “tough poop”.
When you boil modern day religion down to its most basic elements, it’s all about one issue. That one issue is “what happens the second after you die”. All of the other trappings such as doctrines, councils, ceremony, costumes, sermons, sacraments, and sanctimonious attitudes are present to manage one’s behavior. That “behavioral modification” occurs by self-management or by pastoral management, or some combination of the two, so the participant can “achieve” their particular understanding of “what happens the second after you die” and make “certain” those devotee’s arrive at their purposed destination.
At first blush that might seem that such belief is harmless, (neutral) and maybe even good. However, if you take a deeper look you will see that it is extremely harmful and disruptive. As a participant in religion, you are choosing to live your life in a way that you believe will gain you entrance into a realm whose existence has not been proven. If it were possible for each person to keep their beliefs to themselves, it might be an acceptable practice. But, religion has always happened in groups, and that is where the conflict begins.
In my view, the height of human stupidity is that people kill other people over what happens the second after you die!
Stop… And… Let… That… Sink… In!
I’ll say it again, people are killing other people over what happens the second after you die. People are losing their lives because they have a different view of “what happens the second after you die” and how you ought to behave to “get there” in the first place, than the surrounding society.
And not all of the “killing” results at first in physical death. We all die, but there are billions of people who are the walking dead because they are casualties of verbal wars and hostile sanctimonious acts of intolerance and injustice. Perhaps some examples are in order.
First, there is war. Killing others because they don’t worship your god, they don’t believe in your version of “what happens the second after you die”. So you send them “there” or maybe to the antithesis place of “existence”, or maybe they are just dead and you’ve robbed them of the potential difference they could have made on the earth. Truth is, none of us really know, so why kill them? Why kill them because their “behavior management and modification” is different than yours? It’s really, really stupid to rob others of their life because they behave differently.
Secondly, the “walking wounded”. Those who are excluded from the fullness of life because their biological composition and/or behavior is different. They, because of their biology, prefer procreateing and loving others of their same sex. But because of what religion believes about “what happens the second after you die”, these people, through no fault of their own, are castigated as “deviants”, “sinners” and left for dead. The behavior of the walking wounded is “contrary” to what religion states is “necessary” to arrive at some mythological celestial port-of-entry. Again, people are killing people over what happens when you die. What is gained by such castigation and “killing”? Abso-procreateing-lutely nothing. The act of war against the walking wounded is completely about behavior modification and management and what happens “the second after you die”. What if religion is wrong? Is the verbal and physical killing and acting in a sanctimonious “we’re star-bellied sneetches” manner justified?
There are a multitude of issues where the seminal problem is religion implementing it’s behavior management and modification program because of what it believes about “what happens the second after you die”.
For instance, the manner it which women are controlled, manipulated, and abused through teaching about sexuality, submission to male authority, the need for chastity belts and other genitalia “modification”. The way religion controls our youth. The basic functions of a “youth pastor” are 1.) go on a mission trip and manipulate the youth to tell others through the provision of manual labor that, the target being helped, are not “doing it right” and need to change their behavior if they what to arrive at the proper portal; 2). keep the youth from breeding. Religion is an expert at telling youth to deny their biology and sexual need exists and wait until marriage. They’ve created “purity balls” and other rites and rituals that shame humans about their sexual biological needs. As a result, we have millions of screwed up angry males drinking tea and walking around with AK-47’s thanks to open carry laws.
Do you want to know WHY there are incidents like Columbine and Sandy Hook? Two reasons: 1). Religion has procreateed up a lot of people with its teaching folks to ignore and deny their sexual need, so there is profound confusion about how to behave. The result is testosterone-laden males who become angry that their body is telling them one thing and the religious voices in their head are telling them something contrary. They attempt to solve the problem and seek release through violent behavior. Another result is females who feel ashamed of their bodies because religion shames the behavior of women who enjoy significant sexual passion, calling them sluts. 2.) The situation is compounded by the fact that many of the angry males have reading and comprehension issues, lack phonemic awareness and have undiagnosed conditions like dyslexia and dysgraphia. (This is a rant for another day). They have no critical thinking skills and can’t read to learn and resolve their problems.
An every last procreateing bit of it comes down to religion and its behavior management and modification programs directing people because of their beliefs about “what happens the second after you die”.
As a society, we need to decide that people killing others, whether it is physically or verbally, because of “what happens the second after you die” is flat-out wrong-assed thinking and needs to stop.
Ironically, if one rids themselves of the questions about an “after-life” and starts focusing on the here and now, the beauty and capacity of humanity, physically, emotionally, and mentally, shines forth. Life becomes more precious. The beauty of nature and its intricate detail captivates our imagination. The need to genuinely care for each other and our environment on this pale blue dot we call home becomes our most important mission. We need to focus on loving each other here and now and dismiss the question of “what happens the second after you die” and the associated behavior management and modification thinking brought to you by religious belief. The Beetles were abso-procreateing-lutly correct: “All we need is love”.
/rant
[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr. (8/24/2014)]
When you boil modern day religion down to its most basic elements, it’s all about one issue. That one issue is “what happens the second after you die”. All of the other trappings such as doctrines, councils, ceremony, costumes, sermons, sacraments, and sanctimonious attitudes are present to manage one’s behavior. That “behavioral modification” occurs by self-management or by pastoral management, or some combination of the two, so the participant can “achieve” their particular understanding of “what happens the second after you die” and make “certain” those devotee’s arrive at their purposed destination.
At first blush that might seem that such belief is harmless, (neutral) and maybe even good. However, if you take a deeper look you will see that it is extremely harmful and disruptive. As a participant in religion, you are choosing to live your life in a way that you believe will gain you entrance into a realm whose existence has not been proven. If it were possible for each person to keep their beliefs to themselves, it might be an acceptable practice. But, religion has always happened in groups, and that is where the conflict begins.
In my view, the height of human stupidity is that people kill other people over what happens the second after you die!
Stop… And… Let… That… Sink… In!
I’ll say it again, people are killing other people over what happens the second after you die. People are losing their lives because they have a different view of “what happens the second after you die” and how you ought to behave to “get there” in the first place, than the surrounding society.
And not all of the “killing” results at first in physical death. We all die, but there are billions of people who are the walking dead because they are casualties of verbal wars and hostile sanctimonious acts of intolerance and injustice. Perhaps some examples are in order.
First, there is war. Killing others because they don’t worship your god, they don’t believe in your version of “what happens the second after you die”. So you send them “there” or maybe to the antithesis place of “existence”, or maybe they are just dead and you’ve robbed them of the potential difference they could have made on the earth. Truth is, none of us really know, so why kill them? Why kill them because their “behavior management and modification” is different than yours? It’s really, really stupid to rob others of their life because they behave differently.
Secondly, the “walking wounded”. Those who are excluded from the fullness of life because their biological composition and/or behavior is different. They, because of their biology, prefer procreateing and loving others of their same sex. But because of what religion believes about “what happens the second after you die”, these people, through no fault of their own, are castigated as “deviants”, “sinners” and left for dead. The behavior of the walking wounded is “contrary” to what religion states is “necessary” to arrive at some mythological celestial port-of-entry. Again, people are killing people over what happens when you die. What is gained by such castigation and “killing”? Abso-procreateing-lutely nothing. The act of war against the walking wounded is completely about behavior modification and management and what happens “the second after you die”. What if religion is wrong? Is the verbal and physical killing and acting in a sanctimonious “we’re star-bellied sneetches” manner justified?
There are a multitude of issues where the seminal problem is religion implementing it’s behavior management and modification program because of what it believes about “what happens the second after you die”.
For instance, the manner it which women are controlled, manipulated, and abused through teaching about sexuality, submission to male authority, the need for chastity belts and other genitalia “modification”. The way religion controls our youth. The basic functions of a “youth pastor” are 1.) go on a mission trip and manipulate the youth to tell others through the provision of manual labor that, the target being helped, are not “doing it right” and need to change their behavior if they what to arrive at the proper portal; 2). keep the youth from breeding. Religion is an expert at telling youth to deny their biology and sexual need exists and wait until marriage. They’ve created “purity balls” and other rites and rituals that shame humans about their sexual biological needs. As a result, we have millions of screwed up angry males drinking tea and walking around with AK-47’s thanks to open carry laws.
Do you want to know WHY there are incidents like Columbine and Sandy Hook? Two reasons: 1). Religion has procreateed up a lot of people with its teaching folks to ignore and deny their sexual need, so there is profound confusion about how to behave. The result is testosterone-laden males who become angry that their body is telling them one thing and the religious voices in their head are telling them something contrary. They attempt to solve the problem and seek release through violent behavior. Another result is females who feel ashamed of their bodies because religion shames the behavior of women who enjoy significant sexual passion, calling them sluts. 2.) The situation is compounded by the fact that many of the angry males have reading and comprehension issues, lack phonemic awareness and have undiagnosed conditions like dyslexia and dysgraphia. (This is a rant for another day). They have no critical thinking skills and can’t read to learn and resolve their problems.
An every last procreateing bit of it comes down to religion and its behavior management and modification programs directing people because of their beliefs about “what happens the second after you die”.
As a society, we need to decide that people killing others, whether it is physically or verbally, because of “what happens the second after you die” is flat-out wrong-assed thinking and needs to stop.
Ironically, if one rids themselves of the questions about an “after-life” and starts focusing on the here and now, the beauty and capacity of humanity, physically, emotionally, and mentally, shines forth. Life becomes more precious. The beauty of nature and its intricate detail captivates our imagination. The need to genuinely care for each other and our environment on this pale blue dot we call home becomes our most important mission. We need to focus on loving each other here and now and dismiss the question of “what happens the second after you die” and the associated behavior management and modification thinking brought to you by religious belief. The Beetles were abso-procreateing-lutly correct: “All we need is love”.
/rant
[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr. (8/24/2014)]