CHRISTIANITY: IS IT REALLY ABOUT GOD, OR MANIPULATION AND GREED?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

CHRISTIANITY: IS IT REALLY ABOUT GOD, OR MANIPULATION AND GREED?

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I give truth and common sense priority over any kind of political or religious ideology, because politics and religion are one and the same, they both deal in manipulating the naïve, gullible and uninformed for money and power. So my one and only philosophy is to follow truth wherever it leads and regardless to whose ox it gores.
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With that, most Christians would say, but "the word of God" is truth, and then immediately start quoting the Bible to prove their point and suggest that I'm a closed-minded heathen destined to go to Hell if I don't change my thinking. But these people have been so completely indoctrinated in Christian dogma throughout their lives that they completely fail to recognize that the only reason they accept the Bible as "the word of God" is because the Bible says it is, and they have absolutely no other evidence of that fact other than the Bible itself.
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But that's where "faith" and/or gullibility comes in, and why faith plays such an important role in ALL religions. Even though Jesus was born in the desert, and even the Bible describes him differently, Christians portray him as a White Scandinavian with blue eyes. If that were true they wouldn’t have had to crucify him, he would have died of Sunburn.  So if they even lied about what the man looked like, what are the chances that they're telling us the truth about what he, or anybody else said? It's not very likely. So I view Jesus as an enlightened philosopher - period. He wasn’t God, or any more supernatural than the rest of us. That’s why when they stabbed him, he died just like the rest of us are going to - and he's not coming back, so we need to give that Hocus-Pocus nonsense a rest. This is real life, not Mother Goose, and we're adults, not children.
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In a 1841 speech, Frederick Douglass said he was in church and witnessed a young Christian White woman go into a trance. When she came out of it she claimed to have visited Heaven.  When she was asked were there any Black people there, she hesitated, and then said, “I don’t know.  I didn’t go into the kitchen.”  Can you believe that any person who is that far out of touch with reality is being informed by God? 
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Nevertheless, one of the main tenets of Christianity is that its adherents maintain absolute and unwavering "faith" in what they are told.  One of the worst sins that can be committed by a Christian is to lose faith - not just faith in God, but faith in what they're being told about God. This serves two very important purposes.  First, it prevents people from even thinking about whether or not what they're being told makes sense, and secondly, it allows preachers - or "men of God" - to step into God's place as his surrogate.  So essentially, they become God, and speak on his behalf. As a result, many Christians are not actually worshipping God, but their preachers. That's why they make them so rich.
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When Christians give to the church, subconsciously, they think they're buying their way into Heaven. For a mere 10% of their earnings they can receive absolution for all of the dirt and abuse of others they've committed that week. That leaves them perfectly free to go out and commit more social atrocities the following week - like firing people from badly needed jobs, mowing down unarmed Black people on the street, or letting the people who commit said murders go free - and all in good conscience, and with God's blessing. So it's the perfect solution for everybody - it keeps scoundrels free to commit sin, and the "men of God" in big homes and fancy cars.  And they do all of these things in the name of God, and with the ardent support of the very people who are the most negatively impacted by it. 
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But truth and common sense dictates that it's all nonsense. If a devout Christian born in Georgia had been born in Israel, he would be a devout Jew, or if in Iran, a devout Muslim, or if he’d been born in China he would be a devoted Buddhist. That clearly demonstrates that religion is not of God, but of man. People are actually socialized into believing what they believe. If God had created religion to guide us, would he have created so many of them that they would cause man to hate, brutalize and murder one another?  I don't think so, not a loving God. 
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PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MIND 

GOD GAVE YOU, JUST LISTEN TO ME.

So although it is claimed that religion was placed on Earth as a blessing to mankind from a loving God, in reality, organized religion is without a doubt the most evil and destructive force on the face of the Earth.  It’s the primary source of all manner of hatred, bigotry, and misery in the world, and that's an indisputable fact. 
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Nevertheless, if a person chooses to be a "Believer" that's up to them.  Ordinarily there would be no problem with that if people would simply believed what they believed and go on about their business. But that's not good enough for people who are prone to be religious fanatics.  They're convinced that they're carrying out God's will, so they want to proselytize, and shove their religious beliefs down everybody else's throats, and then, go on to demand that laws be passed to institutionalize their beliefs. A perfect example of that mindset at work was senatorial candidate, Roy Moore. He wanted to make it against the law for gay people to marry, but thought it was perfectly alright to molest 14-year-old girls. We have the same problem with Donald Trump, who routinely uses narrow-minded religious bigotry to gain support for mean-spirited social policies. So instead of the people's so-called love of God spreading love and enlightenment throughout the world, it's being used to sew hatred, misery, and division among the people.
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The fact is, God is whatever force, entity, or process that’s responsible for what we refer to as existence, so if we exist, God exists, regardless of whether God is a he, she, or it - but he hasn't said a word to nobody. The mere fact that we’re here to question God’s existence, however, proves God’s existence. But that’s all we know, and that's all we have to know - period.
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I recognized these facts as a mere child, and I also recognized that I didn't have to be religious to be Godly.  I'm one of the most God-loving people I know, but I don't feel that I have to believe in walkin’ dead men, talkin' snakes, or have to put up with foolish preachers struttin' around on stage giving paid spoken-word concerts every Sunday morning to prove I love God. Embracing that nonsense is where loving God crosses over into brainwashing and Voodoo, and it's shocking to me how many otherwise intelligent people buy into it.
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As a rule, the more undereducated people are, the more religious and bigoted they tend to be, and if they're Black, they tend to be more conservative, critical of other Blacks, and eager-to-please and submissive toward Whites. I could never identify with such people, so as a young adult I came up with my own religion.  I guess you could call it the Gospel of Wattreeism. My Bible is only one page long, and has only three Commandments:
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1). LIVE THE BEST LIFE YOU CAN.
2). HELP OTHERS WHENEVER YOU CAN.
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3). MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS.
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Now, that's Godly, because it doesn't create hatred, hostility, mayhem, or chaos, and I think God would agree with my basic theology, because God’s where I got it, not from some money-hungry and fanatical preacher. It's important to remember that Jesus didn't have any "faith" in the word of any man. He found God within himself, because that's where God resides, and when I seek God’s council, that’s where I look.  On the other hand, the video below portrays what you get from organized religion - maybe not always so blatant, but the end-game is always the same - money:

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CHRISTIANITY: IS IT ABOUT GOD, OR GREED?

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Eric L. Wattree 

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.