Blind Faith: Contradictions & No Faith

Written by Conception Johnson Sunday, 15 November 2009 16:56

Editorials - Progressive Muse

Disclaimer: "FAITH IS UNVERISAL," and a lot of hate & misunderstandings come from political propaganda, misinterpretation and mistranslation. Forced blind-faith leads to no faith and non-believers! With that being said, READ. Disagree or agree it doesn’t matter, but THINK!! “We need to go back to the drawing board to determine the commonality of ALL major religions … there lies the mystery of our co-existence in harmony.” ~ Mariposa Mukti

Religion going once, twice, SOLD! To the highest hell-feared bidder! Please go to the right of the room to pay for your Atheist, Monotheist or Polytheist salvation.

Sounds weird doesn’t it? It shouldn’t. When you really look at society, and how we choose to pick a faith … it’s like going to an auction. Bidding on something you hope has been thoroughly inspected and going off of the inspector's recommendation. A blind purchase ... having blind faith.

A lot of people don't realize this is how they pick their own religions. In turn, many religious people don't realize they make "non-believers" feel this is how they have to pick their faith; blind-faith with no questioning of the Word. Because of this, the non-believer chooses not to pick any religion. So, they live with "no religion" and often no faith.

Many can’t even fathom the idea of no religion; it’s blasphemy and without religion … many people will have “no purpose” in life. So, the fastest rebuttal is always often, “Because God said so! Praise _____! The ____ book is 100% flawless and accurate.” This statement is also often made without any thorough investigation of one’s faith outside of the pulpit. Some may say anything outside of the pulpit is evil and placed to deter a person from faith … oh quite the contrary I say! If anything, it will bring more people to “wholesome” faiths; forced blind-faith leads to no faith and non-believers!

Many people are turned away from religion for a number of reasons. One major reason is that there are so many religious faiths; therefore, they think religion is fake and superstitious. They ask why is there such a great fuss over who worships the real “God?" Who follows the real “messiah” or the “real” teacher? Why do so many people say “my religion is the only TRUE religion,” discounting all other positive faiths that teach the same moral code & sometimes teach an even STRICTER moral code? Being faced with all these questions, ultimately, they deem religion as unimportant and become a non-believer, have no faith at all.

The Contradictions

This contradictory nature of religion is shown in some questions I have even asked in my studies:

• Why do many Christians hate Jews because they crucified Jesus? Wasn’t Jesus sent to die for our sins? Hmmmm …

• Why do Jews preach separatism by pointing out in the Bible (The Old Testament) that God says his chosen people are the Jews? Doesn’t this go against all moral teachings that ALL men are equal in the eyes of the Lord? Hmmmm …

• Why do so many dislike monks of Hinduism and Buddhism? Some of these people are the most peaceful and compassionate humans. They don’t even kill insects because they value the life force of every living creature. Now many other folks of religious faiths like in Christianity, Judaism and Islam will stomp an insect or swat and kill a fly in an instant. Aren't these also God’s creations, that we are to not harm? Hmmmm …

• It is said that the “Anti-Christ” will bring false world peace & togetherness, but out of all the “TRUE” religions out there ... you mean to tell me the “Anti-Christ” is going to be the 1st to accomplish world peace, bringing all the world together, something that many other divine religions can’t do. Don't we all strive for world peace? So does that mean we are evil too?  Hmmmm…

• Why are we still to be judged on Judgement Day if the Word says we are forgiven of our sins by believing and proclaiming that Jesus is the son of God and died for our sins? If you refer to Revelation 7:1 - 4, it states disaster was halted until a seal was placed on the foreheads of 144,000 servants of God. In Revelation 20:11- 15, it states "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." The rest of Revelations describes the 144,000 as virginal, blameless and pure. Everyone else is tortured, killed off by plagues etc ... Hmmm...

As you can see, there are religious discrepancies to make someone not want to have faith in God, a Creator, or Supreme Energy. I suggest instead of people turning away from faith, one should do research and find a faith that calls your heart. Faith is a very important purpose in everyone's life regardless of religious affiliation. Let’s take a deeper look.

The Similarities

Each major religion: Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism began through profound moments in our ancient past when God revealed Himself to His earlier Messengers: when Moses stood before the Burning Bush; when the Buddha received enlightenment under the Bodhi tree; when the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended upon Jesus; or when the archangel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad. Just because you choose one religion, you shouldn't discount all of these profound moments. One should learn the lessons from all of these great men that had a divine purpose to educate the world on fundamental beliefs: love, compassion, charity, restraint, brotherhood, honor and self-worth. Yes, all of these points are taught in all major religions: Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism. "FAITH IS UNVERISAL," and a lot of hate & misunderstandings come from political propaganda, misinterpretation and mistranslation.

Bottomline, all religions are used to describe creation, the afterlife, and the values and morals that a society should adopt in order to remain in good favor with their Creator, God or the Universe. Let's look at some of these similarities:

• The world was created by one or more gods in a holy and sacred manner. The god or gods were responsible for the creation of the Universe.

• Your actions on earth determine your hereafter, whether you come back to earth or wind up in heaven or hell.

• All of the religions believe in treating others with respect and kindness.

The Raft

Buddhism gives a good analogy of the use of religion. All the schools of Buddhism believe Buddhism and all other religions should be used like a “raft” to cross the waters of spiritual enlightenment.

What is the use of a raft? It is used for crossing over a vast expanse of water which is difficult otherwise to cross over. Think about it.

Religion is the raft that helps us tread through the rough waters of spiritual enlightenment. There is no point to carry the raft with you when you cross the waters. It is the passionate clinging to “the raft,” that is believed to cause religious intolerance and hatred. Instead one should look at “the raft” to simply understand how it was used to gain spiritual enlightenment, feel oneness with the Creator and to analyze how it guides daily life in the right direction.

Buddha pointed out that if a man who, after crossing over the vast expanse of water by a raft, were to determine to carry the raft over his shoulders, thinking by doing so he would show his gratitude to the raft for helping him to save his life, he would be foolish.

Buddhist Monk, Bhante Gunaratana says, "The wrong grasp of religion can lead man to justify his greed, hatred and foolishness. His distorted views, distorted perception and distorted consciousness force him to grasp a religion wrongly and undermine its very foundation, causing more pain and suffering. A wrong grasp of religion can always be a passageway to defeat the very purpose of religion and encourage people to commit atrocities in the name of one’s faith.

People sometimes not only cling to religions but naively obey any man or woman who, being a persuasive speaker, may promote and justify violence and unethical practices in the name of religion. By supporting such a person with their time, skill or wealth, they only increase his or her greed and hatred and ignorance. Blinded by religious beliefs they may even try over-zealously to protect their religions not only by inculcating hatred and fear in many of their gullible followers’ minds, but also by advocating even murder in the name of their beliefs. Clinging to beliefs without practice can also easily make people religious fanatics who seek refuge in violence to resolve problems, for they are totally ignorant of what their religion teaches them. People who are unaware of the message of their religion may live in constant fear of criticism of their religion and wish to protect it by destroying people who have different beliefs. The fear of criticism arises in the mind ill-directed by the ambivalent belief system which cannot vouch for security and actuality."

Conclusion

In closing, all religions have been tampered with by man. If you look at every religion, you will see one of the major flaws of man, his ego: My God; My faith is the only true faith; My messiah has to be your savior to get into heaven; Only people of My faith will rule with God … on and on it goes. In the name of religion, people bicker, kill, segregate and shun those of different religions. Members within the same belief system can't even get along; they set up different divisions based on interpretations of writings that no one has written personally or has even read in it's original ancient language.

Out of all the thousands of years of man's existence we have NOT found a way for us to co-exist. This to me, or any other logical thinker will say this: "We need to go back to the drawing board to determine the commonality of ALL major religions … there lies the mystery of our co-existence in harmony on this planet. We cannot prove whether or not a deity’s name is God, Jah, Jehovah or Allah. We can't definitively say that there is a heaven or a hell. We can't definitively say reincarnation doesn't exist when we have never seen it for ourselves. Instead of everyone trying to convert each other ... just simply love one another ... use your religion to spread love across the world ... without fear of condemnation or separatism."

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