Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and don't do unto others what you wouldn't want done to you.
This should be applied figuratively, not literally.
Ok, nuff said. What follows is something I wrote at 3am after being tickled by a wild hair. It rambles, so bear with me...
The Beginning.
I was raised somewhere between Southern Baptist and Methodist.
I attended a private school called North Florida Christian School
in Tallahassee, Florida. I was quite zealous at one time about
my beliefs in the Christian faith.
As I grew older I began studying the origins of Christianity.
Not to great depths, mind you, so don't think I'll be prepared
for an extended discussion of that topic. But I discovered
enough to be thoroughly disenchanted.
A Good Thing Gone Bad.
I'm a thinking individual. I'm reasonably intelligent, and I
have a pretty difficult time believing that a Jewish man, who just
happened to go by the name Jesus, in Jordan
around 2000 years ago is going to have blond hair and blue eyes,
knowhatahmean? I have a tough time believing that Jesus would
EVER have preached hatred against ANYONE for ANY reason. And I really
don't think, after studying the New Testament up, down, left, right,
and backwards, that Jesus would have been caught alive, dead, or
newly arisen on any TV show begging for dollars and telling you
how giving your money is the only way you'll make it into heaven.
"My Way Is The Only Way".
And as long as I'm attacking televangalists, let's go ahead and
cover organized religion as a whole and it's greatest hypocrisy.
Call it what you like:
"My God is better then your God!"
And let's face it, it's a big competition anyway, so how about:
"My God can kick your God's butt!"
Big yawn...
I'm smart enough that I get the gist of the teachings of Jesus,
and just about every person who's life and teachings inspired
some half-witted but good-intentioned idiot to start a church
to keep those teachings alive. Jesus said,
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
The Jewish Torah says, and I'm quoting a rough translation,
"Don't do to others that which you wouldn't want done to you.
This is the whole law; all else is commentary."
These two together sum up my philosophy in life. That is my credo.
Now some of you Bible belt types will jump up foaming at the mouth,
brush cut bristling, nearly tearing your white short-sleeve
button down shirt and almost losing control of your black horn-rimmed
glasses, and you'll say, "You can't get into heaven by simply
living a good life -- you have to believe in Jesus Christ and
be baptized!"
{cough}...ok....Let's look at that for a moment...
Hell For The Ignorant?
What happens to all those people in the forests of Borneo that
haven't even seen a European, much less heard of a sickly pale
tribe that covers themselves in finely woven fibers from head
to toe and prays to a sickly pale god in the sky that can't be
seen, heard, or touched, and whose symbol is two sticks joined
in the middle? If you were one of them, would you believe that
you were going to burn forever/drift in limbo/cease to exist if
you didn't go around practicing rites that you and all your
ancestors throughout the time of memory and stories did just
fine without? Dunking yourself in water, saying you believe in
someone who's life and concerns bear no resemblance to yours,
and singing songs that mean nothing to you? And getting
everyone you meet to do the same? Would you be convinced that
you would be terribly punished, even though you had lived a
good life, cared for your family and friends, done all the
right and honorable things according to your people's customs?
I don't know. Maybe *you* would... If so, I sense a deep-seated
guilt complex your preacher won't do anything but increase. What
you need is not weekly penance, what you need is a psychiatrist...
HEY! You there! Yeah, the person feverishly flipping through
the Bible and preparing the quoted barbs that will surely
pierce right through my flimsy logic and show me the horrible
error of my ways... Hang on! Take a breather and answer me
this: Where's the rest of that book you're going to use to
support your arguments? I mean you wouldn't want me to use
a paraphrased, edited, revised and reworded version of the
Constitution to try to defend your rights in this country,
would you? Nope, you'd want the whole document. You'd want
the entire Library of Congress, dang it! Anything else
is a sham. Well, when you find the rest of it, take your
best shot...
The Bible.
Seminary students are taught things about the Christian Bible that
the preachers don't bother to teach you in Sunday school. Apparently
during the Dark Ages when monks were the only ones educated
enough to read the Latin verse the Bible was written in, the
Bible was heavily edited and revised to take out inconsistencies
and things that they didn't want taught to the masses.
I used to have a couple of examples here, but for brevity I took
them out. If you're interested, email me and I'll send them to
you.
In a nutshell, the King James text amounts to about a third of the original
text.
Not only that, but some of the original text apparently omitted
certain facts regarding Jesus' life. The
Dead Sea Scrolls
elude to an ending not entirely in keeping with the old story of
being crucified and rising from the dead to then ascend into heaven.
In fact, according to some scholars, the reference to "ascending into
heaven", at the time of Jesus, meant joining a monastery, something the
Dead Sea Scrolls
verifies. I seem to recall they also fill in some of the 30 years
between his childhood meeting with the priests of the temple and his
baptism by John, but if I'm going to be putting this information into
a web page, I'd better make sure I've got the story straight. I'll write
more about this later.
It's a well known fact that the Bible is highly self-contradictory, in
spite of the heavy editing it has undergone in the last couple of
millenia. Check out this web site
for some classic examples. I got out my King James version of the Bible
and went down the list, and this list was dead-on.
The upshot of all this is, the Bible so many evangelists use to
pound out the uneven spots on the top of the podium as they yell
about how your soul can be saved from eternal damnation and oh would
you mind sending us a few dollars, the Bible quoted so vehemently
by people to condemn those things they don't understand or just
don't like but can't find any real reason to be against, the Bible
in whose name as the One Word of the Almighty God huge and
unjustifiable wars and heinous acts against humanity were committed,
that same Bible is merely the Cliff Notes of the original text,
edited so that it's content is a mere misconstrued shadow of the
text originally entrusted to the Church, and yet in spite of that
it's still not consistent.
You may be thinking of the scripture that promises horrible punishment
for those that modify the Word of God.
Give me a break.
Where do you suppose Mormonism came from? Where do you suppose
the Jehovah's Witnesses came from? Where do you suppose
CATHOLICISM in it's current form came from? (It's my understanding
that the Greek Orthodox Church is about as close to the original
"Church" as you can get. I don't know much about the difference
between it and the Catholic church except that I've been told
Catholicism is Greek Orthodox Lite. Which tells me there are
even more rites and ceremonies glommed onto the religion than
you'd find in a Catholic church. Having been to a mass and a
wedding in a Catholic church, I find this impressive...)
My point is, the very book you're looking to protect from
modifications by unqualified people has already been modified
heavily. Books and passages have been added, modified, and deleted
with impunity. So what's to stop me from saying,
"I have had a vision! God spoke to me! I wrote it down, here it
is, follow me and I'll show you the One True Way!"
Nothing, that's what. In fact, I feel a wave of divine inspiration
coming on...
The Book of Todd.
This book deals strictly with the genesis of the Christian
religion, but in it's abstract sense it could be applied to
almost any religion:
In the beginning, the Writings
started out as a collection of myths and history. Guidelines
for living a better life were eventually included. The foundations
for the law were recorded there. Then predictions of things to come.
And this was the Word of God. In this case it was also
known as the Jewish Torah.
It taught that you are the sum of your actions, and that
your conduct decides your fate in the hereafter.
Religious factions were built up around these writings. They
pushed people to adhere to the guidelines found in the writings,
to believe in the predictions, to argue the finer applications of
the laws therein. Some of these people were unscrupulous, power
hungry. But we'll assume that most really believed in the good
they thought they were doing.
Then this rabbi comes along, turns
a religious system that is being used to control people on it's
head, questioning the rules and tenets created and wielded by a
power hungry ruling structure. What he said made sense, a lot of
sense. He taught that your conduct
is not the sum of your goodness, but your intentions are. He
pointed out that people can have a change of heart, and in effect
become good people. He taught that no one has a right to judge
another. He taught that one should be good for one's own sake
and teach others by example, rather than judge and persecute.
And he accumulated a following. And when it looked as though
he was also also accruing a certain measure of political muscle
that threatened the existing
system, he was set up, arrested, convicted, and killed, all within
days.
Like any good teacher, his teachings stayed with his followers.
He had changed their lives and the way they saw themselves and
others. So they wrote about him. They were determined to keep
his light alive, to spread his teachings. Their message was
simple, and those that didn't believe were simply pitied. They
formed organizations, wrote letters, letters that were
appended to the Book, and the organizations became a ....
Sect.
No, not a religion. A sect. For these were still Jewish
people. But over time this sect was too at odds with the popular
Jewish faith, and eventually they were barred from the synagogues.
They were thrust out, rejected. That's when they became
a religion. Thrown out, they began to see themselves as the
enlightened ones, and the other sects of Jews as the lost ones,
the chosen Children of God that had turned their eyes from the
truth.
Their teachings were those of this beloved and wondrously
open minded rabbi named Jesus.
And some began to attach to this legendary person a divine quality.
They attributed things to him that he may never have done, but that
reinforced his divine status. And he became synonymous with God.
Then, he became one with God. And then, He was God. At least,
according to the followers of this religion, who continued to update
the Book to reflect their beliefs. Because shouldn't a Holy Book
record the life and times of God's Son, born into flesh and passing
among men only to be sacrificed? And to what purpose shall we
assign the sacrifice of the Son of God? Surely God would not
allow his Son to die without reason. No, he did not actually
die. He arose! And his pain was suffered that we might be forgiven
for all the nameless sins -- which we will give name to -- so that
we may reap our final reward: Heaven.
And what of those who do not believe? Well, at first, we just
try to make them understand, but if they don't get it, we scorn
them. They will never make it into Heaven. They won't be
forgiven.
After a while, the organizations became large, and the followers
were many, and the political power was great. And there came
into the organizations men who were more enamored of power than
they were of God. For here, by simply commanding in the name
of God, they could instruct people to do *anything*, and they
would not only do it, they would *gladly* do it! Those that did
not bow to this God were scorned, reviled. And if the leaders of
a country did not give in to the religious leaders' wishes, well
then, it must be a country filled with pagans and heathens.
And out of this came the wars. Great and terrible wars, and
inquisitions, and the Dark Ages...
The Book was altered during the Dark Ages, this time of ignorance
and illiteracy,
for the keepers of the Book were the only ones that could read.
The keepers of the Book tightened up the plot a little, nipped
and tucked the loose ends, took out the controversial bits and
the parts that could be dangerous
if they got out, the parts that could adversely affect the grip
they had on the hearts and minds of the followers. And they
read to the followers only the parts they needed to hear...
Periodically there arose those people who questioned the Church.
There was a time when religion and sin and forgiveness were such
a shell game that the Church sold leniency for specific
lesser sins to finance the building of Church structures. And
one man stood up and said (in so many words), "Surely, this is
not right. One cannot purchase a free pass to sin as one chooses."
And he preached it as such, and even posted billets to that effect.
And when the Church found out, it issued a cease and desist order
against him. He burned the order, also known as a papal bull.
And for this he was excommunicated. His name was Martin Luther.
And out of this event arose Lutheranism. And great wars were
fought due to this schism in the Church.
Many other sects formed in an organization more dedicated to
controlling the people and profiting from that control than
they were in guiding people to live their lives in enlightenment.
These became the Protestant sects, many of which are now
religions in their own right.
All of them, in some form or another, extort money from their
practitioners through some promise or title that ensures the
donater a better lot in the afterlife. All of them seek to
demean the other sects as being flawed in philosophy or approach
or practice or, lacking anything else, degree of faith.
I'll stop there. At the time of this writing, I'm getting quite
tired. Holy work is hard work. Besides, I think you see where
I'm going. Organized Religion has little or nothing to do
with worshipping God or living a good life. It's about
control and power.
And lest anyone think me a heathen, know now: I do believe in God.
Jesus is another story. I reserve judgement on that one for now.
And I believe and attempt to live by the Golden Rule as I stated
above. But don't ask me to go to church and fall down and beg
to have a preacher lay hands upon me and pronounce me a godly man.
It ain't gonna happen, 'cause I can no longer buy into the scam...
"I'm going to heaven and you're not!"
"My religious text has the truth and yours if full of lies!"
"You might go to heaven, but I'll be sitting on the right hand of God!"