Before you read this, you should know that I respect the opinions and beliefs of any religious individual and I hope that you can do the same for me. Otherwise you might find a bag of burning dogie poo on your doorstep.
All religious symbols. The Mormon temple, the Christian/Catholic crosses, The Jewish star and the Buddhist statue. Of course there's many more religions out there (Scientology for example :D) but you get the idea. Each religion is of course, united in believing that their particular religion is true while all the others fall short. But who's right, anyway? I mean, Almost all of the big religions believe in that Jesus guy. Why can't they just get along? So what if some high up catholic priest guys raped a couple little boys? Who cares if the Mormons think that they have a new, improved bible called the book of Mormon that everyone should be reading. Aren't we all aiming for the same thing? I mean, c'mon? What's the one REAL thing that all these religions have in common?
I myself am in a Mormon Church and from what I've seen, you're baptized at the very young age of 8. Now when you're young, you're very persceptable into believing whatever you're told to believe in. Hitler managed to do it to a bunch of adults, can you imagine the kind of pressure it'd be like to have your own parents telling you that coming to this church in particular is what you should do. Then baptizing you at 8 and dropping all of these responsibilities on you like covenants and decanships, etc. BRAINWASHING. Not mind control. Mormons aren't zombies...though they certainly act like drones. Dressing up in white and doing everything the same. Where's the individuality? Does religion even have individuality?
Buddhists wears robes and shave their heads. Jews have to eat kosher meals (on top of a huge selection of rediculous things they can't do). All these rules telling people how they should live their lives. Mormons follow a metaphorical "iron rod" that supposedly leads them through their lives unscathed and into the open arms of Heaven's gates.
In the end, what they're all doing is CLINGING onto this idea that there's a simple and easy way to go through life with as little pain as possible. As if life were that simple? You followed the rules, you'll be fine. If you don't, well...that brings me into my next point.
Another major connection between the Nazi's and the Religious community (especially with Catholics from what I've witnessed) Is this: If you don't follow these certain rules, then you're going to suffer. Hell is perhaps the biggest, scariest thing we as humans created (Notice how I say we created Hell, not God). An eternal wasteland of death, pain, and horrors that we can't even imagine. Every single one of us is afraid of that kind of place, whethere you realize it or not, and in my opinion the reason so many people join a religion is because they're deathly afraid of winding up in a place like that. They trick themselves into believing that the religion they chose has changed their lives and that they're living a better life. What they're really doing is wasting their lives away.
"Do what I say, or you're screwed" Is incorporated into every religion.
Christians, for example, don't believe in gay marriage because a book called the bible tells them that the almighty God says that being gay is sinful. Same with Abortions, in fact. It's not enough that they suck the lives out of everyone who goes to their churches, but they have to try and ruin the lives of everyone else as well. And for what? Because a book says so? A book written by man. Man.
Now what are we as Humans notorious for? Telling the truth? Writing down great prophecies in the beginning of time that everyone should follow till the end of days? Like life is some television show with the pilot introducing the main character, Jesus, and then millions of seasons later the series finale comes out of nowhere and it turns out that Jesus was actually the good guy and that everyone in the show who was good goes to heaven and the bad suffer in hell. What a grand spectacle that would be!
I find it hard to believe in a book that was written by men. Men are liars. Or perhaps they really did believe what they were saying and claimed to talk with angels and see Jesus heal the sick and the blind and walk on water and yadda yadda yadda. Maybe they were all just high on glue! I DON'T KNOW! And I just can't honestly believe in something like the bible or anything else that pretends to be the bible. It doesn't sit well with me. I've tried, believe me. I used to be a man of faith and think that if I just held onto that faith, I'd be OK. But what is faith anyway? It's an excuse we use that tricks our weak little brains into thinking that our hearts are telling us to believe this bullspit. Faith is not real. It's just an excuse, a distraction, and an act of desperation.
To be in a religion, you've got to be depressed. Here's why. Depression leads to Desperation. Desperation equals faith. When you're sad and alone and feeling like the world is against you but then you come across a church that appears to have all the answers to your questions and provies a comfortable home to heal your wounds. Would you turn that kind of place down? Of course not. It'd be like a homeless person turning down a million dollars. Little does he know it's Monopoly money. People have the power to believe whatever they want and actually BELIEVE that they believe it. How else do you think so many Nazi's could capture, rape, and murder so many jewish people who did nothing to harm them. I came to believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was the true church and I was so convinced of my faith that I got baptized. I thought that I'd finally found a place where I could leave my wounded heart behind me and begin anew. For a while it worked. But then the suffering came back and I tried to pray. But praying is nothing but a tool we as humans created in order to make ourselves feel a little better when facing our fears. I would pray to have God take my pain away and to help me through, and then the fear I faced would swallow me and my suffering would only get worse. But I never gave up. I prayed. I fasted. I paid my tithing. I went to church and I put on a smile in front of everyone so that they couldn't see me for what I really was. But it never got better. Not even once.
I humbly waited in pain and suffering because of a few things that had been haunting me, just barely holding on when one day I realized something. Maybe the reason I wasn't getting better, wasn't because God was testing me, but because he wanted me to let go. Maybe, if there is a God, he wanted me to see that this religion, along with every other religion in the world, is actually a farce. Or perhaps it's simply not my destiny to be apart of that kind of place anymore.
For the first time in a very long time, I felt a little better. I felt better believing that I didn't know what was next rather than trying to follow something that, when it came down to it, I never truly believed in.
This life is not worth abiding by some rules that we as men created in order to try and make ourselves feel better. Life fucking sucks. Reality doesn't let us escape that easily. If there is a God, if there is a Heaven and Hell, if there is anything beyond death, I'll meet it when I get there. Because the way I see it, my life is the only thing that I truly have. As far as I know it's the only one I'm ever going to have. I don't want to waste another single second of it sitting in a church pretending to follow the rules and guidelines that I don't believe in. I've tried. I've listened to hundreds of people give their testamonies and I remain unconvinced.
I will live life my own way, even if it means enduring through pains and tribulations without turning to God (Because we all know praying doesn't do a damn thing) and I'm going to make my own Happiness instead of the fake, sterile happiness that Religion represents. I'd suggest that you all do the same.
17 comments:
Okay, this may be a long comment, but since my blog is generally light hearted, I didn’t want to post a reply there.
While Hitler used some religious rhetoric to gain support for the Holocaust, he himself was not a religious man. He is a prime example of leading a “cult” of eugenics. They were being killed primarily for their race, not religion (though in Judaism it’s a blurred line).
By thinking that all people of various religions are the same, you are making quite a mistake. The easiest example to spot can be found in the Muslim world. Sure, some people want to blow you up and will use religious Hadith to justify that belief, however, many are peaceful and just want to have jobs and raise their kids like everyone else (and use their fair share of Hadith to prove they are right). While for some, originality will be in how they dress for talk, those people never have true originality. I’m at BYU and nearly everyone I encounter on a day to day basis is LDS, like me. Does that mean that everyone is the same? No. Everyone still has different trials, unique situations and their own minds and personalities that make them who they are. The same could be said of any religion.
While most religions have a conception of hell, I don’t think that’s what drives people to religion. Maybe in the 1600s, but now, people are looking for peace and comfort in an ever confusing world.
I’m sorry that you don’t want to be part of the church any more, and if that’s the case I recommend you stop telling people you are Mormon because it is an insult to everyone who actually is (and believes it). I’m not going to share my testimony here, because this isn’t the venue, but I know that the LDS church is God’s church on the earth today. While you should have done this more before you got baptized (but believed me, I know how eager missionaries can be), you should really consider studying more about religions in general. Even if you don’t have an interest in any particular one, your could obviously gain a lot from at least learning how other religions feel about things (believe me, I’m taking intro to Islam, Hebrew and plenty of other religion and history classes and your knowledge is obviously lacking).
But I enjoyed reading this. Don’t take my comment the wrong way. It’s just constructive criticism of life, man. Keep posting because I enjoyed reading this and writing this freaking long comment! :D
I know nothing of the whole hebrew islam situation nor what they generally believe in. I do know, however, that there is some sort of conflict going on with them muslims. As for the rest, of the religions, I didn't want to go to in depth and totally bash on them. I've only been in one church therefor I felt like I should focus most of my blog on that religion in particular. So yes, my knowledge is lacking in other areas. The main focus of my blog wasn't to hate and pick at each religion though, but rather to express how I felt about religion in general.
I haven't been telling people I'm mormon. When people ask me what religion I belong to I usually just say Christian but now I'm just gonna say Agnostic.
When I go to college I plan on studying religion and religious history cus I do believe that knowledge and experience is always a good thing, even if I don't believe in it.
I also understand that not everyone in a religion is the same. Such thinking would be ignorant. Not all Muslims are hypocritical killers, for example. But when I look at the mormon church, I see everyone and I fail too see anything unique...about any of them. It feels like they've all been built and manufactured into being what they're expected to be. I don't see them being themselves. It's so...predictable and sad. That's just me though...
Correction, sorry. Judaism is not a race per say, just a nationality. There are technically only three races, but that doesn’t really make a difference to the conversation. I just don’t want anyone to be like, “no they are the same race and so-and-so.” ;D
Well I did not know that about Judaism. It's on of the religions that does make me curious so I would like to study their history in particular someday. Thank you for correcting me on that point.
I haven't met any mormons outside of Renton except for you and the ones that come from missions. Missionaries are even worse than the mormons I've seen in my church. But Utah is a place I want to visit someday along with hawaii and Costa Rica so maybe I'll get the chance to meet more mormons who aren't...well, strange. @_@ Though I can't say for sure.
Haha, well missionaries are a special case. They aren’t supposed to be normal because they are living very abnormal lives, if you think about it.
You should come to Utah when you get the chance and some money. There’s tons of stuff to see, especially in Salt Lake. Heck if you were to come during the school year you can even tag along and visit some of my classes and campus. *hinthint*
Hawaii is awesome too. It’s beautiful, and of course you can go to Dog the Bounty Hunter’s office. LOL.
I’m afraid you will probably think all of the Mormons you meet are strange (especially Utah ones) but they are certainly unique from one another and creative without being rebellious or anything. Also, I don’t know if you ever have, but if you ever get the chance, go to a temple open house. It’s amazing. I went to the one in Draper last year and since I’d only ever been in the basement of the Seattle and Provo temples for baptisms, I thought it was great to see the rest, and I learned a lot.
The temple is the only reason I want to go to Utah. I've heard it's quite the spectacle and I'd like to see it someday.
Back in high school there was a girl I met who was Mormon but she seemed so much more than that. She was definitely unique in a way I'd never seen before and it had nothing to do with her religion (and if it did then I didn't know her well enough to find out) but I understand that there are those who become stronger when they're in a certain religion because it does help them grow. But for me it feels like the religion is holding me back from who I want to be and what I believe in.
The Salt Lake temple is stunningly beautiful as are the grounds. It sits between the old Tabernacle and the new Conference Center as well, so everything in temple square is awesome.
But that’s the thing. You are reducing people to only being their religion just because they are religious. People have the same personality despite their religion, even though some aspects of their lives would be different. I think the LDS church makes people very strong, which is evident in numerous temples, schools, a welfare program and massive humanitarian aid that is all member supported. It helps people see the best in themselves (as long as they are willing to work hard and know what they are looking for, which is where patriarchal blessings come in handy) and the best in others. But it takes a lot of work. Arguably more is expected than from any other Christian faith.
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. They might have a strong testimony but when it comes down to it I don't believe in what they all believe in. Even if I met a thousand people who made the same impression on me as the girl from school did, my beliefs about the religion wouldn't change. My original point was that I found it frightening how dronish the people in my church were. If every other mormon outside of Renton was different then that's great, but it doesn't change anything. The religion, the beliefs, everything has made a personal impact on my life and leaving feels right. If anything, I have a testimony that I don't belong in this church...or any church for that matter. Unless there's a Gospel that preaches "I don't know"
I'm not trying to say that you should stay, because honestly, I knew you didn't know what you were getting into to begin with. I'm just saying that you are making judgments based on your very narrow and limited understanding of the world.
What I understand is that life is harsh. I joined the church for the wrong reasons, believing that I'd found a place I could be happy for a change. I don't think it's narrow minded to say that I would rather live and experience life my own way rather than to stick myself to something that I can't fully believe in. What I can fully believe in is that we will never know what happens after death until we die and no book written by man can convince me of that. In my opinion, that's open-mindedness. In yours it's narrow. It's just the way we are.
No, I didn’t say your religious beliefs are narrow. You can do what you want with that.
I’m just saying that you have narrow minded opinions of other people, not their beliefs, but they themselves. Obviously, you don't have the knowledge to make a widespread statement like that when you were factually wrong on most other points. That is what’s wrong and that's all I'm saying.
I agreed that my points on the jewish and Hitler things were wrong because I did not know that hitler was not religious and I assumed he'd attacked the jews for a religious reason.
And I understand that not everyone in the mormon church is exactly alike. All I was saying is that whether they were all drones or if they were all totally unique and different, it wouldn't change my actual beliefs. So far, I've seen a whole lot of creepy mormons with a few rare exceptions but that in itself has not fueled my disbelief in the religion. I just thought it was interesting to put out there.
As for understanding people themselves, I think it's impossible to actually KNOW somebody. I'm just waiting to experience the world right now and learn more about people in general and from what I've seen...well, people suck. I'm sorry if I've offended you or anything like that...
You haven't offended me. I just like to argue and prove my point. I don't normally do it with you, but Luke and I have been debating for years about everything…and I like that I can understand your typing. Major plus. XD
I just think that once you move on with your life (and out of your parents' house seeing as that is hindering everyone's lives at your age) you will change your mind about some things. Not necessarily, religious things, but change your mind about life and people in general.
I hope I can grow to be more optimistic. one of the things that gives me a headache is when I see happy people talking about how happy their lives are. Right now I look at people and I can't help but see negative things about them and I'm slowly afraid of becoming Luke. lol
But I absolutely agree with you that I need to move out of here pronto. I'd love to live in a big city or somewhere nice where I can just find a coffee shop and write books and flirt with the cute waitress. Maybe someday my perceptions will change, if not then I'm stuck with what I've got.
And your welcome for the typing. lol
That used to bug me too, mostly because of some things that had happened to me. I thought, "Can't you see?!? Everything is awful!" But now I don't feel that way at all. I'm still healing in some ways, but now I understand why there is still so much happiness even though I was personally hurt.
BTW, some of the best places, I've found, for flirting are as follows, they are simple, yet fool-proof:
Laundromat (for real...not joking)
The Doctor's Office (at least Provo is full of hot male nurses and doctors, anyway)
The Grocery Story
I'm glad we could come to an understanding. I am depressed, more than likely manic depressive. I want to be happy again but it feels like the only reason I was happy to begin with because I was so young and ignorant. And I'm still young and ignorant which makes me fear getting older because that just means more heartache and pain. I'm afraid of trying to be happy because every time I get close, something happens that makes it all seem to useless. The idea of Happiness is just so out of reach, and I hate it.
Post a Comment