Ah, religion… the ultimate means of control. Why waste time policing people when you can give them a set of rules and they will police themselves. What’s more, they will be perfectly happy with their meager existence while you merrily prance all the way to Tahiti off their dime, with the blood, sweat and tears of your faithful minions safely stored in your vault.
I submit to you a story:
There was a family whose cistern had a hole in it. Not just any hole; mind you. It was a really big hole!
Wait a minute… what in the name of Todd is a cistern? For our purposes, we shall take Webster’s definition of a cistern as “an artificial reservoir (as an underground tank) for storing liquids and especially water (as rainwater).” That being said, I am actually referring to a reservoir from which a family can draw water after the city has shut off the water supply for the rest of the night. Yes, this kind of thing still happens in parts of the world. Not everyone is as privileged as you.
On with the story…
There was no water in the house. A quick peek into the cistern reveals that it is empty. This, in turn, leads the afflicted family to realize the cistern must have a hole in it. Upon closer inspection into the actual cistern, their fears are confirmed as a huge, gaping hole is discovered near the bottom.
Problem: there is a big hole in the cistern.
Solution: the family calls their friend and spiritual mentor in Christ, brother “Jessup.”
(* names have been changed to protect the stupid*)
Brother “Jessup” promptly gathers the entire family around the cistern. They hold hands and pray. After the prayer, “Jessup” utters, “I saw something come out of there. A demon came out of the cistern. Praise the Lord!” The whole family gives thanks to God and pats each other on the back.
“Jessup” tells them they can now fill the cistern without any problems.
I watch in shock as the cistern is filled, the family confident that it will hold. You’re talking about a cistern the size of a one-car garage. In order for that to completely empty within a day or two, it has to be a gigantic hole.
The next morning, as the family happily goes to check on their cistern, I can only think if that damn hole is fixed I will have no choice but to bow down to God and brother “Jessup.” If that hole is fixed, all that I thought I knew is wrong.
Sure enough, the cistern is almost completely empty, as logic would dictate.
Here is where it gets really funny… as everyone is scratching their heads trying to figure out why all the water poured out through the hole they all knew was there, the matriarch of the family walks over. She looks at the empty cistern and asks her husband, “Do you want to know why the cistern isn’t fixed?” The husband looks at her blankly; eyes occasionally shifting towards the empty cistern. At last, she tells him in a peevish voice, “God came to me in a dream last night. He said the reason he did not fix the cistern is because you used to be a mason and you can fix that hole yourself.”
I was shocked to the point of insanity!
Why would that not have been your first course of action?
If you cut yourself, do you stare at it and pray to God for help? Or do you clean the wound and but a fucking bandage on it?
And the best part of it... God never has to explain himself. If you get what you prayed for, the Lord is grand!!! Thank you, Jesus!! If not, then "the Lord works in mysterious ways."
Are you for real? Politicians would kill every first born son in the nation for that kind of impunity.
That is how religion controls people. It creates the myth of an all-knowing, all-powerful being that cannot be questioned as to His methods, for He knows what He is doing and as long as you believe that, yours will be the just reward in the end.
Who cares if you are poor and wretched in the meantime? You'll be in Heaven when you die.
Sure, that rich dude over there thinks he's having a grand ol' time now, with his money and his power and his huge house, luxury cars, fine clothes and throngs of women. But in the end, the rich will all be in Hell and all their wealth and material possessions will count for nothing!
Meanwhile, you live a crappy, wretched life while others - mainly the ones who control/organize the religion - live in the lap of luxury.
If anyone has an argument other than "the bible says ___," I welcome it. I will not entertain any quotes from the bible, however, because you cannot defend god with God's own words. If I don't believe in God, it would stand to reason that I do not believe in "His word" either... right...?
So, go ahead... convince me with something other than blind faith. I dare you. I double, triple, infinity dare you.
Hit me with your best shot.
~ ~ ~ Recommended Reading ~ ~ ~
1. Competitive Spirits: Latin America's New Religious Economy
by: Dr. R. Andrew Chestnut
2. http://www.jhuger.com/kisshank
by: Reverend James Huber
(this is an awesome story that I did not include in my initial writings due to time and space constrictions)
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