How Religion Killed Religion

I believe in God. I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we can get into Heaven. I also, to some extent, believe in some creationism. But would I call myself religious? No. And the reason is simple: Religion killed religion for me.

I was raised Catholic, and the more I attended Church, the more I didn’t agree with it. Now, I do not hate the Church, nor do I hate religion. I really tried to embrace the Church, and I truly tried to embrace organized religion. But the more I thought about it, the less I agreed with. Here’s the problems I have with religion:

God gives unconditional, non-judgmental, never-ending love to everyone. God commands us to love our enemies, and pray for them for they do not know what they are doing. Jesus Christ even hung out with criminals and sinners. But apparently there are conditions to unconditional love.

The Ten Commandments.

Sin.

Hell.

God gave us 10 specific actions he does not want us to do. If we do anything off of that list (The Ten Commandments), according to the Catholic Church (which is the original Church), we have to confess our wrongdoings to the priest (who is seen as “God on Earth”). These wrongdoings, sins, are seen as “bad” in God’s eye and will get you sent to Hell…which is the opposite of Heaven.

Now, if God is all-loving and non-judgmental, why does he deny those who “sin” to live with him? Shouldn’t he love them just as much as those who do follow the Ten Commandments perfectly? Kind of seems to go against what the Church preaches about God’s love. And these commandments, and sin, don’t these also undermine the idea that is Freewill?

God gives us Freewill. He wants us to live life how we want it…as long as it follows what he deems “acceptable.” It’s kind of like me saying there’s no such thing as an incorrect opinion as long as I agree with it.

And speaking of freewill, what about this whole “divine plan” God has for us? Actually, just keep that in the back of your head. More on that later. I’m not done with freewill.

God gave us freewill, and God, and everything he does and create, is supposed to be perfect (this is what the church, and the bible, tell us). So, by doing what WE choose to do, that should be considered divine, or at least God should be okay with it. This freewill God gave us is supposed to be the proof that he is all loving and non-judgmental. I kill a baby: It’s okay with God. I might get in trouble by the law and go to jail (and good-shit I should!), but I won’t go to Hell. So, if God gave us freewill, why does he punish us for sinning or breaking one of the ten commandments? Doesn’t that completely undermine our gift of freewill that GOD HIMSELF gave us?

This would make more sense: there’s no such thing as sin. There’s no such thing as Hell. The ten commandments are not “rules” but guidelines. They are basic moral principles for living a good life, and for treating others with compassion. You can choose to follow them, and you can also choose not to follow them. In the end your decision ultimately affects YOURSELF, so either way, God still loves you just as much as the day you were conceived.

NOW we’ll talk about the “divine plan.”

I’m not going to spend too long on this. But whenever something happens, good or bad, it’s “God’s will,” or “God had this happen for a reason.” Because, according to the church, God has a plan for everything and everyone. So, everything happens for a reason…or supposed to happen for a reason. If everything happens for a reason, does that mean God meant for certain people to sin? It must mean that God meant for certain people to break the ten commandments. This, in turn, would mean that God meant for certain people to go to Hell. That doesn’t seem like an all-loving and non-judgmental God. No one treats another person like shit and completely ruins their life out of love.

Another thing, how does freewill fit in with the divine plan? “You can do whatever you please…but it’s already pre-determined.” I don’t even feel like I need to explain this anymore. In short, I do not believe in the divine plan (I say “I don’t believe” and not simply “there is no” because religion is all one big theory…there’s no proving or disproving anything). Believing in the divine plan not only means that people do not have a choice in how they live their life, and that they rely on a higher authority telling them what to do, it also puts into question God’s love. Because yes, God is all loving and non-judgmental. He shows it by allowing us to make our own choices, whether it leads to good consequences or poor consequences. He allows us to take risks and suffer or enjoy the results of those risks. These decisions and consequences are how we grow as individuals, it’s how we learn. With freewill, we’ll learn that “speeding in a car is bad because it can seriously injure me.” With the divine plan, we’ll learn “speeding in a car is bad because God didn’t want me to do it.” Which one will ultimately improve your life in the long run? Not the divine plan.

And this is ultimately the goal of religion: To be better people. What do all religions have in common? Whether it’s Buddhism, or Judaism, Christianity, or Muslim? They teach morals. They teach right from wrong. Unfortunately, the church, nor any other religion, does not teach morals from a moral perspective. They teach it from a punishment/reward perspective, which DOES NOT WORK.

This is what I was talking about before. You learn to not to do something simply because God doesn’t want you to, and you’ll get punished. This doesn’t explain WHY something is moral or immoral, it just tells you it is or is not. It completely discredits religion being a basis for learning morals and living a moral life. In fact, it will make any moral action you do have a selfish, immoral reason. If you help your neighbor out because it is the right thing to do and it is kind, then yes, that is completely moral. Yet, if you help your neighbor out because it will get you into Heaven, then isn’t that a pretty selfish reason? The bible teaches us to love “thy neighbor,” not yourself. So while the action might be considered moral, the reasoning is not. But, if you helped your neighbor because it is kind and the right thing to do, not only is the action moral, but the reason is moral as well.

Similar to what I said before about sin and Hell, when it comes to God, there is no right or wrong; there is only moral and immoral. These are different. Right or wrong (at least to me) designates punishment/reward. If I want to do something that is considered “wrong,” I’ll still do it because I think it’s okay and as long as I don’t get caught, why do I care? But if what I want to do is immoral, and I was taught moral from immoral (as opposed to right from wrong), I would not do whatever it is I want to do because I know it’s wrong, and whether or not I get caught and punished is not even a part of the equation. Immoral verses moral, NOT wrong verses right.

Everything I have just described center around the major criticism I have on the church and religion: control. It is hypocritical for the Church and the bible to preach how God gave us freewill, and then talk about sin and “the divine plan.” God loves each and every one of us. He loves Morgan Freeman just as much as he loves Adolf Hitler. He loves Mother Theresa just as much as he loves Osama Bin Laden. All of them, are either in Heaven, or (in Morgan Freeman’s case) will go to Heaven. God does not punish, nor does he reward. He just loves.

In the beginning was the word, and that word was love and light. Infinite, unconditional, and without judgment.

If the Church preached that, then I would start going again.