YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BELIEVE IN GOD, BUDDHA, ETC., BUT TO DENY THAT THERE IS A PURPOSE FOR US AND EVERYTHING AROUND US, THAT THERE MUST BE SOME FORM OF INTELLIGENCE GUIDING ALL, IS TO DENY THAT YOU YOURSELF EXIST.
IF YOU ARE AN AGNOSTIC OR ATHEIST, AND DENY THE WORD "GOD", THEN JOIN US IN REFERRING TO THIS INTELLIGENCE AS "ALL THAT IS" WHICH IS ALL ENCOMPASSING AND UN-DENOMINATIONAL.
Now, God, Buddha, Jehovah or whomever you believe in, never said which, if any, of the religions on earth is THE true religion. Every religion 'believes' theirs is the true religion, but it is nothing but wishful thinking.
Before going any farther, let's look at a few of the various religions of the world and see how old they are in relation to us today (1998):
- 1. JEWISH.................................................(Founded by Abraham)..4,000 YEARS OLD
- 2. HINDU.........................(Developed in India around 1500 B.C.)..3,500 " "
- 3. BUDDHIST..................(Split from Hinduism around 500 B.C.)...2,500 " "
- 4. ROMAN CATHOLIC.(.Jesus Christ began religion in year 33)....1,966 " "
- 5. ISLAMIC..........(Mohammed started religion around 600 A.D.)...1,400 " "
- 6. EASTERN ORTHODOX..(Split from Roman Cath, 1000 A.D.)......998 " "
- 7. LUTHERAN......................(Founded by Martin Luther in 1517).....481 " "
- 8. ANGLICAN."Church of England "(by King Henry VIII...d1534)....464 " "
- 9. PRESBYTERIAN....................(Founded by John Knox in 1560).....438 " "
- 10. CONGREGATIONALIST............ (Left Puritanism in early 1600)...398 " "
- 11. BAPTIST...........................(John Smyth, in Amsterdam in 1607)....391 " "
- 12. METHODIST.........(John and Charles Wesley, England in 1744)....254 ‘’ "
- 13. EPISCOPALIAN..(Samuel Seabury, in the new Colonies... 1789)....209 " "
- 14. LATER DAY SAINTS "MORMON".........(Joseph Smith, 1830).....168 " "
- 15. SALVATION ARMY............ (William Booth, in London, 1865)....133 " "
- 16. JEHOVAH'S WITNESS.(Chas. T.Russell, Pennsylvania 1870s).....128 " "
- 17. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE................... (Mary Baker Eddy, in 1879)...119 . " "
- 18. PENTECOSTAL.................(Started in the United States in 1901).....97 " "
The majority of the above are Christian religions, and as such, believe in the Bible. Now in this century, our knowledge has exploded in a fashion and at a rate never before experienced since recorded history. Many of these things make some of the teachings in the bible questionable if not outright unbelievable, and translations of the Bible by Religions even more suspect.
At a very early age, we learn that we must have oxygen to survive. We also learn at an early age that the acids in the stomachs of most creatures are strong enough to dissolve metal. Then we go to Sunday school and are told a story about Jonah who was swallowed by a whale and lived. Then, we later learned that a whale couldn't even swallow a man.
Then there is the story of Noah who; we were told, built an Ark out of wood large enough to hold two of every creature on earth, with only hand tools. Then he filled the Ark with all of these creatures and stayed in the Ark for forty days and forty nights. Not only does the number of these creatures add up to a mighty sum, but some of these creatures are only found in certain parts of the world, many of them on different continents than the one where Noah built this huge boat. Then there was the food and water for all of these creatures. Let's not forget that many of these creatures were meat eaters so there would have had to be many more creatures than just two of each, because of those meant for food for the others. Now before we leave Noah, we are told that the Earth was 'covered' with water. If that were true, it had to have covered mountain ranges and mountain peaks. Where did all of this water go after the flood? The earth had been soaking for 40 days and nights so would have been saturated and evaporation would not have taken care of it. And we are led to believe this story is also true. Man is nowhere any nearer in solving the origin of man today, than they were two thousand years ago or more. Now, the originators of the Bible, not knowing the origin of man, had to come up with a form of enlightenment to show the multitudes that they knew everything, so along came Adam and Eve. Adam was made out of clay, and Eve was made from one of Adam’s ribs. Well, that was tricky, but why not make them both out of clay? (Is using Adams rib logical? Ooops, sorry! We are talking about the Bible, and that is not logic.)
We are told that God tossed Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden for partaking of fruit from the "Tree of Knowledge", which they were not supposed to touch. What good is a Tree of Knowledge if one can not partake of the knowledge from it? This makes no logical (There’s that word again) sense at all.
As children, some are told that a Serpent (?) persuaded Eve to get Adam to take a bite of this forbidden fruit. And as this was "Carnal Knowledge", it was against God’s word. They are led to believe, and presented by many (not all) that when they partook of the forbidden fruit, they were making 'ends meet' in the act of fornication and got caught, and for this Sin, they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Remember that this was the "Original Sin." Now, if man and woman were not supposed to copulate, why did this God make two different sexes? Without copulation, there would be no procreation. Of course, if we are to believe everything in the Bible, he didn't need a man, see what he did with Mary, therefore, Adam was a waste of clay. (Now we’re being facetious)
There are many other children's stories but let's get away from them now and look at some of the adult stories, in particular, 'eternity'. According to most religions, when we die we either go to Heaven or Hell for a time given as eternity. According to Webster, "Eternity is time without a beginning or end." Most of our lives we have been taught that there is a beginning, a middle and end to all things and the concept of something without a beginning or an end isn't something we have thought very much about, and most can’t comprehend. If you want to get an idea of what eternity is, go outside on a clear night and look into the sky. It is full of millions of stars in an ocean of black space. On the other side of the earth, the same thing is true. That is eternity, no beginning /no end.
Now according to some of these Christian beliefs, if you are not a believer of God, then you are not going to that wonderful, eternal "Club Heaven", but will spend your eternity in "Club Hell". Some of these wonderful religions add another "IF". If you don’t believe in their particular religion you will also go to "Club Hell", or at least will not be permitted into "Club Heaven". Now let’s just think for a moment, if all of those believers in Buddha and Allah of which there are millions, will not be permitted to go to "Club Heaven", then they must be banned to "Club Hell".
Also, there have been millions of Indians, Aborigines and other native cultures all over the world since before recorded history, who never heard of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost. Where did they go? It must be, to "Club Hell" according to our learned Theologians. That is a pretty stiff penalty for not hearing of, or believing in.
Are these the same people who believe in a forgiving God? All of this is supposed to happen on judgment day. We are uncertain when judgment day is. Is this on the day you die, or some other time?
Question: Why would God destroy his own creations, that were alleged to have been "Made in his likeness"?
Then there is "Resurrection Day" at what they call, "The Second Coming of Christ". All of the dead are supposed to arise. All of the good Christians await the "Resurrection" so they can be with their loved ones again. They will be with lost Spouses, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, children and even, aunts and uncles, etc. I don't think anyone has ever tried to rationalize this. If you have one couple who have but two children, they marry and each couple have two children who also marry etc., and you go for five generations, you wind up with 62 persons and you have not counted the spouses family members.
Now there are at least two religions where large families are encouraged. In those two religions, if you go back only two generations in many families, you wind up with more than 32. If you go back to the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church, that's 1,965 years, I wouldn't begin to speculate on how many people that would entail. Is Resurrection logical? Ooops, there’s that word again.
We don’t believe our reason for being, should be so difficult to understand that you need a degree in Theology. Even the most illiterate should be able to understand, yet what do we find in the Bible?
Right in the beginning of the King James version of the Bible in the "Encyclical Letter" under "Scripture in Theology", it says: "In addition to the usual reasons which make ancient writings more or less difficult to understand, there are some which are particular to the Bible, for the language of the Bible is employed to express under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, many things which are beyond the power and scope of the reason of man, that is to say, devine mysteries and all that is related to them. There is sometimes in some passages, a fulllness and hidden depth of meaning which the letter hardly expresses and the laws of interpretation hardly warrant.
You do not need a Theologian to interpret this. In other words, if you come across something in the Bible you don’t understand, or it doesn’t make sense, don’t worry about it, just pass it by. You may find someone in the Clergy who can interpret it for you, but don’t bet on it. There are standard replies to any question presented to a man of the cloth that he can not answer or has no logical explanation for, "IT’S GOD’S WILL", or "WITH GOD EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE". In other words, don’t question it, just accept it without doubt.
Now let’s go into something else Churches preach about. The "Ten Commandments". Do Christian religions practice what they preach? Let’s look into just one Commandment, "Thou Shall Not Kill".
They don’t have Baseball, Football or Basketball in Ireland. The score you read in the papers is Catholics 7, Protestants 5. Going back into history, the Crusades were carried out in the name of "Christ", carrying the banners of the sign of the "Cross", and lasted for over one hundred years. Then there was the Spanish Inquisition, the Witch-hunts in France and even here in Salem, Massachusetts. And not to leave anyone out for fear of being criticized for singling out one Church, there is the matter of the "Mountain Meadow Massacre" that took place in the very late 1800s near St. George, Utah. One entire wagon train of Pioneers heading for California was slaughtered by religious Saints with the assist of some local Indians, under the orders of the Church. All of the above, under the name of Christianity and God, and there were many more.
How do Religions condone their own activities without fear of being condemned to "Club Hell"? Do they believe what they preach? Is it any wonder why people are leaving these churches? Hypocrisy!
People are constantly asking, Why? Why does God permit this? Why doesn’t God prevent that? Why me? God allows men to make their own stupid mistakes. That’s why you have a free will. Think about it. Only man permits and prevents.
There are also two very important questions that have been asked for ages, and the proverbial "Heaven " and "Hell" destinations do not answer them to the satisfaction of most logical thinking people.
Who am I? And Why am I here?
Well....... so far we have cast doubt or total disbelief on stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Heaven and Hell, Resurrection, Judgment Day and maybe a shadow on Mary’s virginity. You may ask at this point, is there anything in the Bible that does make sense or that we can believe in? The answer is "Yes" many things. There are things in the Bible that we tend to ignore because we don’t see them happening. These are some truths you can believe in:
WHAT EVER YE SOW, SOW SHALL YE REAP
AN EYE FOR AN EYE, A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH
HE WHO LIVES BY THE SWORD, SHALL DIE BY THE SWORDIn our next letter, we will explain how and why man permits and prevents, as well as the answers to many questions that the clergy can't answer with logic. Why we never witness "He who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword" and "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth". Also, the answer to a question that you’re own Priest can't give you a logical answer to, "Why is a child, without Sin, born deformed? And we answer the questions, " Who am I?" and "Why am I Here?" Using logic!
Our purpose is not to turn you against the religion of your choice. Our purpose is to add another facet to your beliefs which we believe, will enhance what you believe in at the present. For those of you for whatever reason, choose to be Agnostic or Atheist, we feel that this is more along the lines of where your thinking should be. Don’t hang a name on it such as God or Buddha, just call it:
"ALL THAT IS"
