THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD AND RELIGION

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD AND RELIGION
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GOD TAUGHT US TO LOVE.  RELIGION TEACHES US

TO HATE ANYONE WHO DOESN'T LOOK, THINK, AND

ACT LIKE OURSELVES - AND THEN LIE ABOUT IT. 

God created us to love. Then man came right behind him and gave us religion, which taught us to hate everyone who doesn’t look, think, and act like ourselves. For that reason the very same man who is a devout Christian in Georgia would be a devout Jew if he'd been born in Israel, a devout Muslim if he’d been born in Iraq, or a Buddhist if he’d been born in China.
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This is a very important fact to take into account, because it clearly demonstrates that in spite of what the many self-serving  preachers and theologians try to say, religion is not from God, it's merely a form of cultural indoctrination by man in order to control other men.  Clear evidence of that is the fact that 81% of White evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in spite of the fact that he's been married three times and bragged about grabbing women's genitals, all of which is diametrically opposed to their professed Christian values. Yet, for years I've heard these so-called “anointed men of God" recite the mantra that “I was called by God to spread his word.” But obviously, as these polls suggest, they consider "God's word" whatever is convenient for them at the time.
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So I've always been suspect of such men, but unlike them, I've never considered myself to be a part of God's inner circle, so I never thought it my place to directly accuse them of lying - at least, out loud.  But I think the world is currently in such dire straits that it's time to seriously examine the contention of these men.  In that regard, every since I was a child I've always wanted to ask such people (generally men) two questions - first, what makes them think they're so special that God would choose them to speak on his behalf, and secondly, how did they know it was God calling and not simply their desire to make a dollar without having to go to work like everybody else? 
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Thus, it has always been my view that most of these "men of God" share three things in common - they're arrogant, they're presumptuous, and they're less than trustworthy.  They're arrogant to assume they know what's on God's mind; presumptuous to think he needs their help to carry out his will; and they're less than trustworthy to even make such claims.  I mean, would God choose Pat Robertson to speak on his behalf?  Somehow, I don't think so.
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WOULD GOD CHOOSE PAT ROBERTSON

TO SPEAK ON HIS BEHALF? 

God doesn't need man's help to either spread his word, or to express his will, any more than he needed to anoint a "holy pigeon" to teach other pigeons that it's his will for them to fly.  He incorporated both his will, and his word, into everything he created at the moment of creation just as he willed the Sun to shine and the billions of galaxies to hurl through space in search of the center of the universe.  So if God didn't need man's help to create the universe or to send our galaxy of over 200 billion stars hurling through the emptiness of outer space, he certainly doesn't need the help of a mentally challenged preacher to teach us how to live our lives.
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The fact is, the so-called clergy is more of an impediment to living a Godly life than anything else.  Just imagine how much more Godly this world would be if we didn’t have Christians, Muslims, and Jews killing one another over their varying interpretations of "God's will."  When I was in the Marine Corps I found it completely ironic that we had military chaplains praying for God to help us kill more of "them" than they killed of us.  Thus, these people are so delusional that they think they can actually draft God to help them in their fight to steal oil from the Middle East.
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BLESS YOU, MY CHILDREN

So what we often refer to as "the word of God" is nothing more than man's attempt to control the lives, votes, and bank accounts of other men.  Therefore, if we take the time to look closely enough, we'll find religion at the very root of all of the murder, hatred, bigotry, and destructive mayhem on the face of the Earth.  Think about it - virtually every war and act of terrorism throughout the world is based on religion, and there's a very good reason for that - because the very purpose of religion (ALL RELIGION) is to promote man's selfishness, greed, and false sense of superiority.  That's why the primary pitch of these so-called "anointed men of God" is that they're God's best friend, so unless we want God to do something horrible to us, we have to pay homage to them with our money, loyalty, and through our absolute and unwavering "faith" in every form of idiocy that spews from their mouth.
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To the average person with common sense, the idiotic demands that these "men of God" make as a requirement for "everlasting life" is immediately recognized as complete lunacy, but what's so unbelievable about it is how effective preachers have been in convincing so many highly educated, and normally intelligent people, to embrace their nonsense.  Even my own brother, who I've always considered a pretty smart guy, told me, "You're gonna be sorry about what you said when you have to face God."  I couldn't believe it.  Since when do we have to be sorry about speaking the truth and not being a fool?  Do Christian values impose a moral obligation upon us to be absolute idiots?  Unfortunately, they do - that's what they're designed to do.  That's why Christians are often referred to as "sheep," and the Lord as their shepherd -  but since the Lord is not around, the preacher steps in to take his place.  There's a phrase to describe that technique - it's called "mind control," and that's why the word "faith" plays such an important role in Christianity.  Christians are required to have unwavering faith, not in God, but in what they're being told about God.
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A perfect example of the hypocrisy inherent in this epidemic of backward-thinking can be seen in the fact that women are virtually NEVER allowed to lead any church or religious cult, because

"Will you get up off your knees and quit

beggin' - I did my part when I

gave you a brain, fool!"

as we all know, God doesn't speak to women - it's God's will that they just keep their mouths shut, stay in their place, and do what these "anointed" men tell them to do.  In fact, in many Muslim countries it's against the law for women to even drive a car or rent an apartment without being sponsored by a male - even if that male is their own son. They're treated like children, in spite of the fact that women gave birth to, and raise these young men and boys who are require to "sponsor" them.
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But if you're a Christian, before you begin to smirk, you need to take a look at your own "faith." According to what we see in the Bible, the White man reigns supreme in the eyes of God.  In fact, he occupies a status just beneath that of God himself.  The Bible says, "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear.  Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.” - Ephesians 6:5.   In other words, when Black people allowed themselves to be freed from their "masters" after the Civil War, they committed a sin.  Just like the Confederacy, the Bible considers the emancipation of Black people in the South the theft of private "property."
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Frederick Douglass had the following to say about Christianity and the jackleg preachers of his time:
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"The church of this country is not only indifferent to the . . . [bad treatment of] the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors.  It has made itself the . . . [defender] of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters.  Many of its most eloquent . . . [preachers], who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system.  They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world . . . [as] Christianity."
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In addition, the Catholic church - which was responsible for compiling the "Holy Bible" under Pope Damasus I - refuses to allow women to become priests.  That suggests that women are inferior to men.  So if the pope is truly suppose to be advancing the will of God, somebody must be a bigot, either the pope, or God himself.  So if we agree that God's not a bigot, that's prima facie evidence that the pope is lying about advancing God's will.  What he's actually doing is perpetuating man's bigotry toward women, and if that's true, we then have to ask ourselves where else is God and the truth slipping through the cracks?
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IF IT WEREN'T SO SAD IT WOULD BE A JOKE

And yes, I referred to the world's greatest religions as cults, because anyone who believes in walkin' dead men and talkin' snakes is, by definition, a part of a cult.  After all, how is what Pat Robertson and T.D. Jakes preaching any more credible than Voodoo?  The fact is, it's not. They all believe in zombies, so they'll never be able to convince me that being stupid, ignorant, and superstitious is a part God's will - and, to my brother I'd like to say, I'm prepared and more than willing to argue my case before God himself in the hereafter.
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So while I'm a firm believer in God, it's for intellectual reasons that I can defend, not because I believe in Voodoo, talkin' snakes, and walkin' dead men as a matter of blind faith - and I neither require, nor expect, God to do magic tricks for me in order to prove his existence.  In fact, why should God care whether or not man believes he exists?  If we don't believe in God after observing this wondrous universe around us, it simply means we're stupid.  So there's no reason for God to be fixated on us.  In terms of just this galaxy alone, man is about as significant as a germ under a toilet seat in Ozbekistan, so I doubt very seriously that God's walking around worried about whether or not we believe in him.  We're simply not that important, and the mere fact that we're under the delusion that we are clearly demonstrates that we're on the mother of all ego trips.
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So whenever I hear these preachers, witch doctors, and soothsayers talking about God like he's their next-door-neighbor, I have to scratch my head and ask myself, "What kind of idiot is this?"  And what's even more amazing is how they can look you directly in the eye and spew the most outrageous kind of nonsense, and then act like you're crazy if you refuse to believe that Moses commanded the Red Sea to scoot over and get out of his way.  So no wonder man is suffering.  Many of us are just as backward and superstitious as we were when we were living in caves - yet, I'm suppose to have faith in these men as God's valued confidants!!!?  I don't think so.  Even if I was so "God fearing" that I tried, I'd be lying, and God would know it.
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FIND EARTH
And we're just looking in one direction
of one galaxy in a universe that's filled with
hundreds of billions of them just like it. 

Our galaxy alone is over 100,000 light years across, and has over 200 billion stars that are light years apart - and there's over 10 TRILLION galaxies in the universe just like it.  If you go and look out at the night sky (as I do every night as part of my personal spirituality) some of the light you see, just from stars near by, left its respective stars traveling through time and space at 186,000 MILES PER SECOND (7 1/2 times around the Earth in one second), for over 100,000 years before Jesus was born just to hit your eyeball, and our galaxy is just a dust particle in the universe.  There are thousands of billions of galaxies just like it, and billions of times more distant - and the universe is still expanding in every direction at the speed of light. There are a billion times more galaxies in the universe than there are grains of sand on every beach, desert, and particles of sand beneath the sea - and yet, man claims to know what's on God's mind!!!?  That's utterly ridiculous. So for me, "God" is simply whatever force that was responsible for creating what we refer to as "nature," "reality," and/or "the universe" - period, and case closed.  It's not my place to try to read God's mind, or define his nature, and I'm not arrogant enough to think I can.
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THE “HOLY” BIBLE

THIS IS WHAT RELIGION IS ALL ABOUT,
BUT SINCE GOD TOOK THE TIME TO BLESS ME
WITH A BRAIN,  DOESN'T THAT SUGGEST THAT
IT WAS HIS WILL FOR ME TO USE IT,
AND NOT SIMPLY HAVE "FAITH" IN THE
WORDS OF OTHER MEN? 

The word "faith" simply means that you've chosen to believe in what some other MAN has told you instead of what God has done. Nobody can speak for God, so your so-called "faith" is an agreement that you've entered into with man to ignore the common sense that God gave you and intended you to use, and replace it with what another man tells you.  Thus, your "faith" is not in God, it's in man.
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The Bible that Christians Worship today was compiled and “blessed” by the Catholic Church, not God.  At the time, any book that disagreed with the Catholic Church was banned.  What Christians call "The Holy Bible," and what preachers run around thumping, wasn’t even compiled until almost 400 years after the death of Jesus.  So everything in it is hearsay.  In terms of years, at the time the Bible was compiled they were twice as far away from the life and times of Jesus Christ as we are away from the life and times of George Washington today.  So in reality, they didn’t know fact from fiction any more than we know whether or not George Washington actually chopped down a cherry tree:
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"For the first 300 years of Christianity, there was no Bible as we know it today. Christians had the Old Testament Septuagint, and literally hundreds of other books from which to choose. The Catholic Church realized early on that it had to decide which of these books were inspired and which ones weren't. The debates raged between theologians, Bishops, and Church Fathers for several centuries as to which books were inspired and which ones weren't. In the meantime, several Church Councils or Synods, were convened to deal with the matter, notably, Rome in 382, Hippo in 393, and Carthage in 397 and 419. The debates sometimes became bitter on both sides. One of the most famous was between St. Jerome, who felt the seven books were not canonical, and St. Augustine who said they were. Protestants who write about this will invariably mention St. Jerome and his opposition, and conveniently omit the support of St. Augustine. I must point out here that Church Father's writings are not infallible statements, and their arguments are merely reflections of their own private opinions. When some say St. Jerome was against the inclusion of the seven books, they are merely showing his personal opinion of them. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion. However, A PERSON’S PRIVATE OPINION DOES NOT CHANGE THE TRUTH AT ALL. There are always three sides to every story, this side, that side, and the side of truth. Whether Jerome's position, or Augustine's position was the correct position, had to be settled by a third party, and that third party was the Catholic Church.
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"Now the story had a dramatic change, as the Pope stepped in to settle the matter. In concurrence with the opinion of St. Augustine, and being prompted by the Holy Spirit, Pope St. Damasus I, at the Council of Rome in 382, issued a decree appropriately called, "The Decree of Damasus," in which he listed the canonical books of both the Old and New Testaments. He then asked St. Jerome to use this canon and to write a new Bible translation which included an Old Testament of 46 books, which were all in the Septuagint, and a New Testament of 27 books"
(http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080928064041AATOZUD).
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SO THE POPE HAD SPOKEN, AND THE ISSUE WAS SETTLED. THUS, WHAT CHRISTIANS REFER TO AS "THE HOLY BIBLE" IS NOT THE WORD OF GOD AT ALL, IT'S THE WORD OF POPE DAMASUS I.
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So if you're waiting around for Jesus to come back and "save" you, you can forget it.  Dead men don’t come back. That’s why God blessed you with a mind, so you could handle your own problems. So believing in the Bible and believing in God are two different things. To believe in the Bible is to believe in the nonsense of man, where believing in God is to believe in the common sense that God bestowed upon you, which man claims is the Devil trying to mislead you.  Therefore, going around worshiping man’s nonsense is the source of our misery, not our salvation.  Just look around you!  If God blesses those he loves, based on the suffering that Black people have endured for the past 400 years, one would think he must hate our guts.  But that's not the case. We're suffering because we've been taught to fall on our knees instead of getting on our job.  God blessed us with the most powerful computer of any species on Earth, but instead of using it to move forward, we're wasting it analyzing football games, worshipping other men, and writing rhymes calling the very womb of our culture "bitches" and "hoes" - and then, we don't understand why we can't get any respect. We're the only group on Earth who denigrate our own mothers, sisters, and daughters worse than we would any dog.  That's the very definition of self-hatred, so why should anyone else respect us if we don't respect ourselves?  And here's how we got that way:
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The Conversion

 "Come here nigga and let me teach yo crazy, animal ass about the Lord. The first thing you got to learn is to Love thy Neighbor . . . especially me."

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"Yes sir, Massa. Why would anybody not love you, Sir? You so good to me, Massa. Anybody don't love you needs to have dey ass beat real good, Massa."

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"Shut up, nigga. I'm talkin'."
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"Listen, you been blessed already, and you don't even know the Lord. The Lord made it where you don't have to worry 'bout a thing. I feed you, I put clothes on yo nasty ass, and I give you a shed to sleep in, and all you have to do is whatever the hell I tell you to. Do you know how blessed you are?"
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"Oh, indeed I do, Massa. You take good care of me. I's so happy."
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"Now, listen real good 'cause dis impotant. God said, thou shalt not steal from me, thou shalt not kill (unless I tell you to), thou shalt not stick another coon's wife (unless we tryin' to make some mo niggas), and nigga, whatever you do, thou shalt not even look like you want to stick a white woman, or we gon lynch yo black ass. You here me, nigga?"
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"Oh yes, Massa. We know dat! But Massa, I thought you said thou shalt not kill?"
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"Dat means people, fool - real people!  Dat don't go for niggas. God wants us to keep you in yo place."
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"Dat's right, Massa. We sho gotta keep niggas in dey place. No tellin' what a happen if we let dese niggas git loose. God so smart."
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"I said shut up, nigga, and listen to the word."
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"The next thing you got to learn is, whatever happens on this plantation is God's will bein' done. And if you listen to me, you'll get to live like I do when you die and go to Heaven."
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"Live like you, massa? A nigga ain't got no business livin' dat good. What a Po nigga like me gon do with all this? You know I ain't got sense enough to run nothin' like this."
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"Just shut up, nigga!" When you dead you gon get some sense - the lord gon give it to you. The Lord can do anything, even give sense to a nigga. And he gon give you all the other niggas you gon need to help you in the fields, too."
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"Massa, you so good to me! Thank you for tellin' me all dis. I'm gon be a good nigga - the best nigga you ever seened. Look, I'm gon pray for you right now, and thank the Lord for givin' me so good a massa."
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"Shut up and get up off your knees, ya dumb nigga! The fields need tendin'! You pray to the Lord on your own time. God don't won't you talkin' to him when you s'pose to be workin'."
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"A couse, Massa. What I been thinkin'? I's so dumb. I don't know why you put up with me, Sir."
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"How many times I got to tell you to shut the hell up, nigga?"
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"Yes Sir, I's a shuttin', Massa. I's a shuttin', right now."
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"Now get yo ass out there in that field and let's get some work done around here . . . Oh, and Toby, have yo woman meet me in the barn. I need to tell her 'bout the Lord too."
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"Yes sir, Massa."
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"And another thing, Toby, if my momma come a lookin', tell her I'm playin' in my tree house."
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"Why you gon go fibbin' to yo momma, Mr. Tommy? She knows you like to sit wit Lou Ann."
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"Just shut up, nigga, and do what I said! And tell Lou Ann to wear that pretty dress I like, cause we gon be talkin' 'bout the Lord, so it's gon be like chuch."
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"Yes Sir, Mr. Tommy." . . .
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"Whaaaaaaat a friend we have in Jeeeeesus . . ."
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So that's how Black people - and many poor White  people - got where we are today, and we're gonna stay there until we learn to get off our knees and start thinking.  God helps those who help themselves. That’s why your preacher has a much bigger house than you do - and he worked a whole lot less to get it.
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Finally, there are only three commandments, and you don't have to read a "holy" user's manual to find them. You were born with this knowledge:
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1). Live the best life you can.
2). Help others whenever you can.
And most importantly,
3). Mind your own damn business.
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That came directly from God.  It’s called common sense.
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AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. 
81% OF WHITE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS
VOTED FOR DONALD TRUMP

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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.