Choose Life

GOD2 1

Does religion and dogma serve as a foundation for rational life?  What is the impact of religious teaching and thought upon society and our personal effectiveness?  Many say this is simply beyond polite discussion, a personal matter not open to dialogue.  I intend to flagrantly violate that unwritten prohibition.  I ask that you accept my good intention in this endeavor on faith.  However, I encourage you to read and challenge my loosely connected and at times poorly supported premises along with those for any religion you espouse.

I am an agnostic.  I don't know if there is a god.  I doubt it matters greatly whether god exists.  However, I perceive that orthodox religions' propensity to demand we suspend rational thought and accept unlikely dogma is harmful.  If there is a god, according to the bible we are his mirror images.  This leads to the possible conclusion that we may possess many if not all of god's capabilities.  If this is true I for one wish to fully develop and exploit such capacities. 

God likely does not demand we deny reality and common sense.  Yet in almost all religions we are challenged to suspend disbelief in the absence of proof.  My guess is these exhortations are illusionists' diversions.  Unlikely dogmas from various religions include the following:  Someone killed in a holy war is whisked to heaven and set up with a harem of virgins.  Depending on our performance as humans, we are reincarnated to perfect our life experience.  Jesus was born of a virgin.  Jesus died and was resurrected three days later.  The God who created the universe in 7 days needs your money to further his ministry, etc.  Self delusions about cause and effect lead to poor choices and ineffective action.  If god loves us, he abhors delusion.

The majority of Judeo Christian religion is primarily accepted on the basis of avoidance of eternal punishment in hell.  So let's start there, at the root of the insanity, hell.  While I am agnostic, I am reasonably certain of one thing: There is no hell.  I also sincerely doubt that the Bible's divine inspiration.  However, since it is the source for teachings of hell, I will use it in refutation of doctrines of everlasting torment.  Eternal punishment directly contradicts Jesus' admonition to love ones enemies and certainly opposes kindness, mercy and forgiveness.  Hell is not "good news".  Hell creates fear not inner peace.  And, hell has no basis from accurate translation of the Bible.

The word hell is only used three times in the Old Testament.  In each case it is a mistranslation of Sheol the Hebrew word for grave, not hell.  Thus, there was no doctrine of eternal punishment in the Jewish scriptures Jesus advocated.  The doctrine of hell was apparently created by Emperor Constantine, the Catholic Church and continued to be promoted by self serving governments and leaders more intent on slavery than freedom.  Hell was brought to life during the inquisition by murders and torture perpetrated by the church.  The term hell does occur frequently in the New Testament. It is translated from three words: Sheol, Hades, and Gahenna.  None of these words can be interpreted to mean hell.

I have already addressed the first word Sheol.  Hades is a Greek word and is an addition of the Greek hell.  Jesus spoke Aramaic.  At the time of Jesus, the Greeks had no doctrine of hell in their religion but later adopted the Egyptian belief in hell.  This belief was not a Jewish belief or one that can properly be attributed to Jesus, because the Greek hell postdates Jesus existence. 

The third root word of hell, Gahenna, was Jerusalem's town dump where fires burned relatively constantly.  Worshippers of the pagan god Molech at Gahenna followed the insane logic of sacrifice to an extreme.  In an effort to protect themselves from the malevolent storm god Molech, they sacrificed their own children to their deity.  To encourage Molech's benevolence they incinerated their offspring.  This is not exactly the idea of a loving god supposedly promulgated by Jesus.  If this cursory analysis of the root word translated into hell is correct, there is also no mention of conventional "hell" in the New Testament.  So what is Hell?  Hell is a hoax! 

Hell is the incorporation of Egyptian beliefs from the Book of the Dead into a religion supposedly based upon Jesus teaching.  A casual reading of the bible suggests that it has been manipulated, mistranslated and misinterpreted.  I have considered conventional opinion in reaching mine, but recognize it as opinion so I can consider new facts as they become available.  The Jews incorporated pagan rituals of animal and human sacrifice that go against common sense.  "Thou shalt not kill" doesn't require much interpretation.  I believe that Jesus intended to undermine this doctrine of blood sacrifice.  He constantly derided the Pharisees and Sadducees that were proponents of sacrifice.   

I think that the sacrificial interpretation of Jesus death is reversion to this silliness and contradicts everything that Jesus taught.  Jesus as the "ultimate sacrifice" for our sins is a continuation of previously flawed and patently foolish pagan beliefs.  Sacrifices do not atone for sins.  They remind supposed sinners of their supposed badness.  This diminishes believers self confidence.  The apparent goal is a society of sheep willing to follow others.  Sheep easily fleeced waiting for divine intervention of their fabricated deity. 

The New Testament was written after Jesus death.  It was "canonized" at the Council of Nicaea in 400 AD.   In essence, the New Testament was compiled by the Catholic Church and the Roman Emperor, Constantine.  Constantine was a worshiper of Mithras, one of many Sun Gods.  There were numerous Sun Gods with uncanny similarities to accepted beliefs about Jesus, despite having originated thousand of years previously. This similarity is particularly suspect given Constantine's role in adopting Christianity.  The following movie shows similarities of the Christ myth and various Sun Gods as well as other insanities based on primitive beliefs incorporated into modern society.  http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

Conventional interpretation of Jesus driving the money changers from the temple is that he rejected the economic fraud being perpetrated by the priests.  Perhaps more importantly he was also rejecting animal sacrifices and violence as a means of atoning for sin.  He refused to let the sacrificial vessels that were used to collect the sacrifical blood be moved throughout the temple.  If he rejected animal sacrifices, the whole sacrificial metaphor is flawed.

The religious doctrine of self and other human sacrifice is insanity.  How, would violence against an innocent victim correct a sinner's errors? To accept such irrationality requires that we suspend thought.  The emphasis on faith as a precursor to such beliefs is an anathema to truth, but assists irrationality.  Once we believe something it becomes unassailable.  Facts are useless.  Reality is irrelevant.  We have unsubstantiated belief to comfort our muddled ineffective lives based upon groundless lies and insane dogmas. 

Through threats of hell and twisting and fabrication of "gods word" based upon ancient pagan beliefs; Jesus message was twisted by the early Orthodox Church.  Truth is better supported by objective reality.  I think it reasonable to define good and bad as: Good - anything that promotes life.  Bad - anything that promotes death.  With this definition in mind we can better evaluate competing philosophies. 

I do not expect that one will find common sense from a conventional faith in twisted, irrational beliefs stemming from primitive man's attempt to appease violent gods with violence.  God, according to Jesus, is a god of love not judgment.  The Old Testament god is a murderous, vindictive, jealous psychopath; a god of death, destruction and fear.  Jesus' God was a forgiving God.  Which of these God's do you suppose advocated sacrifice?

The bible is full of confusion and contradiction because Jesus message was intended to undermine much believed true about God, sin, and sacrifice.  Love your enemies, and kill them.  The inherent contradictions are created by trying to mesh two opposing philosophies: Jesus philosophy of kindness and forgiveness with the Jewish and Orthodox philosophy of retaliation, punishment and retribution.  Paul - a man who never even met Jesus, Emperor Constantine, and the Catholic Church created sacrificial Christianity, not Jesus.  Jesus was murdered 5 days after running the money changers from the temple.  Jesus forgave sins and healed the sick without any blood sacrifice.  He was not a sacrifice for the world's sins.  He was a thorn in the side of religious leaders, threatened the status quo, and was simply eliminated.

It is my opinion that Jesus message was not given to start a religion but to cure humanity of mental illness created by religious guilt and shame, perpetuated by most religions then and today as well as irrational worry fear, anger, envy, self doubt, and conflict that are the result of not really believing Jesus' message about the good in mankind.

I suggest that Jesus was simply a brilliant man. He was taught the Jewish Law in depth. I think he knew it was tragically flawed. But in those days and times if he had said anything contrary to accepted Jewish doctrines or God he would have been stoned to death. So he spoke in metaphor and parables. He couldn't say there is no God. He said that there is one true God. He lives inside of you. If you pray to him and have faith he will answer your prayers. I sense he was discussing self awareness, presence, meditation and the Law of Attraction.

I think he was using the term God metaphorically to refer to our genius, our subconscious mind or our right brain. In effect, he was turning people away from external authorities to get them to realize their own internal authority, an internal God. All the comments about believing in Jesus are stated in first person as I or me. I'd like a cheeseburger. "I am the truth and the way, no man cometh to the father but by me."

It's the same I.  Translation - if you believe in yourself, you will stand up for yourself and your own conscience.  If you follow Jesus' teachings of nonviolence, you will create "peace beyond all understanding".  Once you find peace, you have access to your genius, your kingdom comes and your will is done on earth as it is in heaven (your subconscious mind is the "Father in heaven")

The religious leaders of his time convinced the State to murder Jesus because he undermined their extortion racket, selling dove, sheep & goats at inflated prices to "forgive sins". He forgave sins for free - without needing a sacrifice. I would maintain that most churches today run the same extortion racket. The charge he was executed for was treason. He was also undermining Rome's extortion racket by reaching out to the common man.  He advocated the common man's connection and importance to god, a much higher authority than the state.  He was advocating justice based on nonviolence. 

People are not drawn to the message of sin, self sacrifice, poverty, shame, guilt and impotence taught by religious leaders then and now. I suspect that wasn't Jesus' message. It creates more heat than light: guilt, shame, and fear. Jesus was the Anthony Robbins of his time. People loved his message which perhaps best simplified to be kind to each other; god is within you and within everyone else.

I suggest that Jesus was attempting to explain that hell and heaven are here and now.  Hell is caused by a lack of belief in ourselves and others.  Thus, someone else's criticism, anger, jealousy, or our worry, sadness or emotional upset causes us to retaliate in self defense creating war, conflict, hatred, literally hell on earth.  By contrast being kind, considerate and respectful of others and seeing good even in our enemies reduces and eliminates conflict creating peace, harmony, prosperity - the Kingdom of Heaven which he repeatedly said "was at hand" i.e. here and now. 

The cornerstone of Christ's philosophy was forgiveness.  Forgiveness frees the forgiver as much as the one pardoned.  Hate harms its container as much or more than what it is applied to.  I believe that Jesus was simply trying to show people how to evolve to higher consciousness that allows peace, prosperity, and abundance. 

Unfortunately, many evils are still perpetrated in the name of Christianity.  I sense that all these evils violate Jesus' basic creed.  We all see the illusions in charity forced upon the givers, for example welfare.  Religions of all stripes create divisiveness of: we're right, you're wrong.  These judgments lead to wars and lesser conflict.  Violence and conflict are not kindness.  Most churches' concentration on sin and sacrifice leads to sanctimony and willingness to sacrifice and demean others.  Condemnation is not kindness.  This twisted rhetoric leads to the oxymoron of holy wars.  If God is love, there are no holy wars or justifiable violence other than self defense. 

We wear distorting glasses today developed by primitive man thousands of years ago.  We see businessmen and greed labeled evil.  Yet any honorable business man creates good by value creation without force or violence.  We believe we are evil and try to sacrifice ourselves on the alter of goodness.  We offer other human sacrifices today in the name of goodness.  Productive members of society are labeled as greedy because they resist armed robbery by jack booted thugs dressed as gentlemen and skilled at creating oratorical illusions of their concern for mankind. 

Our media sings the praises of thugs dressed as gentlemen and decries the greedy businessmen who employ thousand that the thugs rob.  Our ministers proclaim the sin of mankind and offer the salvation of self sacrifice.  Guilt and shame are created so that the guilty do willing penance and purchase indulgences to hopefully avoid eternal hell and damnation by a "loving" god. 

Our poor are offered miserable degrading alms instead of actual help in making a life for themselves.  They are turned into parasites in the name of goodness.  I do not perceive this as good.  Alms for the poor demean the recipient. We dehumanize poverty's victims when we champion the case for welfare or other form of charity. In a way we are being insulting when we champion the incapacity of another human being. The poor have just as much potential as anyone else.  What they need is a hand up, not a handout that reduces the opportunity and wealth for everyone in society. 

Humans are fabulous.  True humility is accepting the reality that god lives within us not on some alien planet.  We diminish ourselves through self doubt created by false prophets fleecing humanity of its true potential. 

Things outside of us do not cause the problems in our lives. It is the irrationality within us that creates our outward problems. Negative emotions: shame, guilt, fear, anger, envy, judging and hatred are within us. Positive emotions: love, joy, bliss, peace, confidence, and self esteem also originate within us. Our response to external conditions creates our suffering or joy regardless the underlying circumstances.  It is insane and we are out of our minds to think external situations or external "Gods" are the solution for internal emotional problems.

People often look for a cure for these emotional problems in religion, and think of morality as a cure all.  However, the fear, guilt, and shame created by irrational, punitive, judgmental dogmas can exacerbate emotional upset.  We are told we are bad, and only by sacrifice can we purify our soul and reach God. We retaliate in kind judging others as worse than us and hand the dirty end of the stick quickly to someone else rather than recognize our ability to end this game of mutually assured self esteem destruction.  Demanding others sacrifice to us, god, or society, we diminish someone else in the name of common good.  Common good can not logically harm one member of society to benefit another, yet this is the flawed paradigm promulgated throughout history.

These standard religious paradigms of good that most of orthodox religion espouses lead us on a merry chase. Our political institutions and parties, even our business management paradigms are based on this foolishness. We try our best to be good and in doing so we are told we must sacrifice our self or others. Suicide and murder are good?  Hogwash!

I have always felt the error of this. And, despite my atheism/agnosticism, I started reading the Bible and spiritual material to try to see where it all went wrong. My mother had done her best in my childhood to infect me with this brain virus, but I rejected it. However throughout our society its acceptance is rampant. You can not avoid it. I saw this most clearly on New Years Day on a family visit. My mother, father and several siblings engaged in an animated discussion of God and the path to him. Their path is through repentance and sacrifice.

I know it's odd that an atheist/agnostic would engage in such a discussion. But, in my search for personal validation, meaning, truth, honesty, or whatever; God/good is a valid line of questioning. What is it that is so flawed in the idea of our sinfulness? I questioned the position that I should view myself as evil if "God" viewed me as valuable enough to send his son to earth for my salvation. This message was supposed to be good news.

Surely, I had inherent redeeming value. I questioned the religious concentration on this supposed badness, the deprecatory view these self righteous held of non-believers, and even redeemed believers, and the goodness of sacrifice.  Death is bad.  What was it that Jesus saw differently that led him to spend his time ministering to such a group of hopeless "sinners"? Not just ministering to them, but treating them honorably enough that they wanted to hear his message. I questioned the sacrificial underpinnings of their faith.

"If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me". Were they lifting up Christ or an Anti-Christ?  People aren't drawn to the message of sin, self sacrifice, poverty, shame, guilt and impotence? No they avoid it. That wasn't Jesus' message. It creates more heat than light, a literal hell on earth evidenced during the middle ages.

I saw that Jesus believed in people. I began to see that his message wouldn't advocate that I take up his cross, and sacrifice myself  for others benefit. Neither would I advocate others sacrifice for me. The twist is that this is bad. We are being told lies. Bad is not good. Someone is lying to take advantage of people. The Church is like the Mafia with a fire insurance extortion. I started questioning the origins of the Bible. I looked for other translations. In that search I found that the original followers of Jesus had disparate views on Jesus' message.

The Orthodox Church edited the New Testament. In 200 AD they started branding people as heretics who followed Jesus or other spiritual leaders teaching instead of those of the church. They burned and banned many of the original gospels and possibly subverted the meanings of the rest. Whoever challenged that consensus, arguing instead for other forms of Christian teaching, was declared to be a heretic, and expelled. When the Orthodox Church gained military support, sometime after the Emperor Constantine became Christian in the fourth century, the penalty for heresy escalated. Bishop Irenaeus and his followers insisted that there could be only one church, and outside of that church there was no salvation.

What were the fruits of these religious leaders? During the Dark Ages the Orthodox Church slaughtered over 150 million "heretics."  The Church was responsible for more killing than Sadaam Hussein, Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot, and Stalin combined. This violence can not be reconciled with Jesus teaching of tolerance, love, kindness, forgiveness and mercy.

Prior to the full development of this religious intolerance in the first century AD, the term Gnostic denoted a prominent, if unconventional, segment of the diverse new Christian community. Among these early followers of Christ, it appears that an elite group delineated themselves from the greater household of the Church by claiming not simply a belief in Christ and his message, but a "special witness" or revelatory experience of the divine. It was this experience, this gnosis (knowing), which--so these Gnostics claimed--set the true follower of Christ apart from his fellows.

The Gnostic Gospels were destroyed and their followers murdered. In 1945 a copy of those gospels was found buried in a cave dating from 400 AD. These Gospels have a decidedly different message. What made them worth killing people to suppress? I was determined to see these heresies which necessitated church suppression for 1700 years.

The Gnostic Gospels were originally accepted by some members of the early Orthodox Church but were ultimately excluded by the Counsel of Nicaea.  However, these excluded works may more accurately represent Jesus actual teachings.  These gospels largely dismiss or fail to mention many of the accepted "magical" stories that are reported in the canonized gospels. They  say that Jesus was a man like you and I.  They say that we can be Jesus equal if we follow his teaching.

Gnosis derives from Greek, and connotes "knowledge" or the "act of knowing". (On first hearing, it is sometimes confused with another more common term of the same root but opposite sense: agnostic, literally "not knowing", a knower of nothing.) The Greek language differentiates between rational, propositional knowledge, and the distinct form of knowing obtained not by reason, but by personal experience or perception. It is this latter knowledge, gained from experience, from an interior spark of comprehension that constitutes gnosis.

Carl Gustav Jung, the great Swiss psychologist and a lifelong student of Gnosticism in its various historical permutations, affirms: we find in Gnosticism what was lacking in the centuries that followed: a belief in the efficacy of individual revelation and individual knowledge. This belief was rooted in the proud feeling of man's affinity with the gods...

The eminent scholar of Gnosticism, Elaine Pagels, comments in exegesis, "to know oneself, at the deepest level, is simultaneously to know God: this is the secret of gnosis.... Self knowledge is knowledge of God; the self and the divine are identical. The Gospel of Thomas, one of the Gnostic texts found preserved in the Nag Hammadi Library, gives these words of the living Jesus: Jesus said, 'I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become drunk from the bubbling stream which I have measured out... He who will drink from my mouth will become as I am: I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him.'

In short, Jesus original message appears to be that we find salvation by believing in ourselves, not a church's doctrine. We are good, not bad. Sins are simply mistakes that create negative consequences not justification for divine punishment.  Christ never judged or condemned sinners.  He forgave them.  This gift whether he was god or man was priceless.  He saw people's potential so clearly they began to see it themselves.   When we truly see this potential we become calm, and access our inner resources.  Our unified mind utilizes both hemispheres together. We access whole brained thinking, and stop being reactionary half wits. Our conscience and our vision become the guiding force in our lives.  External authorities' self serving illusions become readily apparent.

We are Gods and God is love.  The cure for the world's problems is the full evolution of humanity based upon freedom, self determinism, integrated honesty, reality, self love, and kindness.  In short, the basis of rational existence can be summarized simply with two words - Choose Life.

James T. Hitt

c 10/25/07