My parents are very Christian people. Good People, and i love them very much. I spent the first 16 years of my life steadily going to church, serving as an alter boy and in the choir, and aside from a private, Catholic education, my parents had bible study every Thursday, and two "retreats" a year. I spent my life with this Jesus guy following me around everywhere.

Now, when I hit my teenage years, I went through a faze where I didn't believe in God, and I hated religion. Over the years I found that my 'not believing in God' was more about the crazy double speak and hypocrisies that I perceived in the Church, and my disdain for religion was really just part of my own spiritual breaking away from the herd I had been born into.

One of the things that really confounds me about Christians is that they have this sort of self-destruct clause written into their law. See, much discussion is based on bringing the Kingdom of God to Earth, where we shall all live in peace. But then, in that final chapter, Revelations, it speaks of a charming man who will come and bring peace to the Earth, and that person who unites the great nations will turn out to be the anti-Christ.
So, they are working towards peace on Earth, but the sign to us all that the devil has arrived is that he will bring peace to Earth???

Please. I know that the Christian faith has brought a lot of joy and comfort to millions, and based on what it says in the Gospels, well, I'd vote for Jesus--he was a great guy. He spoke of loving your enemies, overcoming obstacles by faith and resolve, and reminded us that we can always be forgiven if we forgive.

I wish we could pretend, just for sake of argument, that there never was a Jesus of Nazareth, no water into wine, just a collection of current myths about a god figure circulating at that time, pulled together in story form to speak to the Jewish and Greek community. They slapped together the myths of the Syrians, the Mithras cult, the Osiris Cult, and several other eastern and Gnostic ideals and attributed to a carpenter named Jesus.

See, some people cannot even entertain that thought, that there never was a Jesus. But to those people I say that if there wasn't a Jesus, does that make his words any less meaningful? If the whole thing was a fake, does that mean I shouldn't still love my neighbor?

Of course not. It's just that some people get so hung up on their specific landline to God that they forget that no man can know the mind of God. Maybe God made us all differently because he knew how to talk to each one of us in our own way, and maybe that's the way he wants it.

I don't know that answer; no one does. One of my favorite quotes from the gospels is John 3:12 where this guy Nicodemus is asking Jesus about the rewards in the next life, and Jesus says,: "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?"

It's like so many Christians are focused on when they get to die and meet Jesus in person at that Country Club in the Sky, rather than finding the pieces of Heaven that are here on Earth. They don't seem to want to make peace with others, unless that peace is a form of assimilation from others. Believe in this guy, don't worry what he said, because he's watching you and he doesn't like doubters. So you'd better not pout, you'd better not cry, you'd better watch out, cause they're telling you why...

Christians spout Love and Compassion, and I have to say that my Mom is both a Christian and a damn good woman, so I know it isn't everybody. However, the fundamentalists who cling to the Word rather than the Meaning are just diluted at best and evil at worst. For example, they say being gay isn't allowed because it's written in the Bible, but the Bible also condones slavery, domestic abuse and child murder. If you want scripture and verse to back me up, ask, I'll quote. My point is that you can't say one thing is Law because "it's in the Book" and then not take ALL of it as Law.
I don't want to offend any Christians, but if I do, well, too bad. I just have spent a good deal of my life looking closely at these words I was told to live by. I believe some of those words, but I, like many people nowadays, see the Bible as a book crafted and edited by a lot of people with a lot of political agendas, and it cannot be taken literally, at all. I think believing in Jesus, like the smiling eyes above me, footsteps in the sand Jesus, is great if it works for you. And honestly, when someone prays to Jesus, I believe that something out in the Universe does hear that prayer and responds. It's just that I fear people who believe in something without questioning constantly, and I get frustrated when I hear people use a book made to bring people together, in a way that separates us and justifies the institutions of dogma and exclusion.

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"Only the unsophisticated continue to believe that cannabis leads to violence and crime. Indeed, instead of inciting criminal behavior, cannabis may tend to suppress it."-Substance Abuse, a Comprehensive Textbook,
Edited by Joyce Lowinson and Published by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins

I think all things in this world are beautiful. It's just people that make them ugly. In my opinion the primary message in all religion is about being good to yourself and other people.

you should read the Qu'ran. I have read the Bible, as well as the Torah. i agree that the Bible is a patchwork of stories assembled by those with agendas. even the Jews lost their original texts, but the Qu'ran has been in the same form since its inception.

i think that it is very important to go into these things with an open mind, otherwise you will lose the point. there is nothing fundamentally wrong with religion, it's only fault is that man has diluted and contorted the message to meet his own needs from time to time. unfortunately, this is going to cost millions of souls.

i've been looking for God for years now, and while i'm very close, i still don't have all the answers i seek. i know that with patience and faith, i will eventually find them. no man can tell you your path to God, because it is an individual journey.

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"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day." - Thomas Jefferson

"Every generation needs a new revolution." - Thomas Jefferson

Watch this:
Zeitgeist

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"We have wasted history like a bunch of drunks shooting dice back in the men's crapper of the local bar."~Charles Bukowski
Rubber Johnny

I consider myself to have faith. But i believe some christians are so caught up in judging other people that they actually misconstrue the true meaning of christianity. They become the biggest hypocrites of all. No human should judge any other human. But of course we are all human and are not perfect. my life is ever evolving, and i am trying to be more compassionate and understanding of everyone. As garden knowm has stated i am trying to quiet the inner dialogue. Also some christians are the nicest most understanding people i have ever met.

"Why is it that a lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks? Do you think when God comes back he's gonna ever want to see another fuckin cross man? It's like walking up to Jackie Onassis with a rifle pendent on, just thinking of John."

Bill Hicks, another dead hero!

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What you're tryin to say, is you don't want to play, what you want and what you need, don't mean a fuck to me, I-can-see-your, back-is-turning, if-I-could-I'd, stick-a-knife-in!

Which version? I need English and unabridged.

religion is the acception of death, it gives people the willpower to endure. it brings change through the direction of consciousness. someone thought that the human condition was to hard to face, so they created a religion that allows people to live a 'fuller' life and not worry about their own demise.....as socrates did....live outside the cave...nothing is better than self enlightment...i will strive my entire life for it

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IMPORTANT: I do not condone, under any circumstance, any illegal activities. But, i do condone all things natural... oh ya! i steal all my pictures too

I learned from an early age, that people will ruin religion. I've been a Christian since the day I was born but not really because my parents pushed it upon me, but because I recognized the purity of it and I dunno I could just feel something. I've had my doubts about it since I was young enough to think, but I have always placed my doubts on people, not the religion. The only time I have changed my religious beliefs somewhat was when I started experimenting with drugs, even though I still consider myself a Christian but Religion should be personal because if it's not everyone goes around trying to prove how "theirs" is the best...

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FREE MAN, ARE YOU?

i personally find something very fundamentally wrong with religion. and this guys problem is not new.

the fundamental problem with religion is that certain people have addictive personalities. they get addicted to church and take their beliefs to the extream nature where there is no debate anymore. you either believe the way they do or you're going to die because that's what the holy book says. and if it wasn't church maybe they'd be deep into the occult or drugs or politics or environmentalism. they just need to cling or fight for a cause i guess.

and you can find these people in every religion. they are the 'radicals' or 'fundamentalists'. they are very common.

when they reach that point, they turn off their reasoning faculties and rely strickly on faith. and if the feelings are not encouraged in wholesome ways by moderate preachers these people grow to despise their fellow humans who live and believe differently then them. that is the problem with religion. it breeds at first devout followers and them some poeple turn extreamist.

however, some people have been so brainwashed by religion that if you could somehow prove to them that god doesn't exist and all religions are wrong, they would go mad and do all the horrible things that their fear of hell has been preventing them from doing. those people need to keep going to church. they just dont need to come knocking on my door.