The Purpose of Religion
What is the primary purpose of your
religion? The ancient religions in general had many purposes, most of them
dealing with forming and maintaining relationships: with God or Goddess, with
gods and goddesses, with our ancestors, with the spirits of Nature, with our
families and communities. In essence
most religions of old were based upon the concept that we serve a higher order
by serving humanity, first within our established order, expanding into the community
and the world. The foundation of the
Hebrew religion was to care for the poor, the widows and the elderly. This task has been relegated to the government
and has become a burden on society as religion takes a back or side seat and
become bogged down in pious rhetoric, lavishing honor and praise upon its
leaders.
Right or wrong, religion in the
contemporary Western world is generally thought of as an individual thing. Emerging from the bloody battles of the
crusade and surviving the Salem witch hunts lacking the necessary controls of
the government, western world religion (Christianity) has digressed into a sea of confusing and separate
entities called denominations. The
freedom to establish a denomination, based upon a personal doctrine or belief
is held sacred and many of these denominations or religions serve no purpose
other than to create an emotional sense of spiritual security and enrich the
financial status of the creator. A point
that we will discuss later is that many feel that an element of the pagan
worship that invaded the religious arena during the rule of the Roman empire has
blossomed and now began to produce fruit.
Religious indoctrination has failed In
the Western world and now it is the intent of this once God fearing civilization
to blur the lines of separation and destroy the indoctrination of all
religions. The Middle Eastern world and other
regions seek world domination through the enforcement of religious
indoctrination. In certain parts of the world, people are still being
executed by the government of their country because of their religious
conviction.
There is a point to be made here, there
are many different religions. The best estimates put the number around
four thousand two hundred (4,200). A few years ago, a dozen of these
were classified as "major world religions". These twelve are:
(largest to smallest, rough numbers) Christianity - 2 billion, Islam - 1.3
billion, Hinduism - 900 million, Buddhism - 360 million, Sikhism -
23 million, Judaism - 14 million, Baha’i - 7 million,
Confucianism - 6 million, Jainism - 4 million, Shinto - 4 million,
Daoism - 2.7 million, Zoroastrianism - 150,000, This adds up
to roughly 4 billion 620.9 million of the world’s more than 6.7 billion souls!,
the rest could be classified as atheists.
In the "early enlightenment
period" scholars attempted to categorize the "world religions"
into three groups: (1) Christians (2) Jews (3) Pagans
From the numbers above it is clear
that no religious group comes close to enjoying a global majority. However, the
majority of the world's population believes in a Supreme Being or
God. This creates many more questions to ponder: Are religions just
so many creeks, streams, and rivers that all lead to one ocean? When the
native Americans prayed to the God of the sun and the God of the moon, where
they praying to the God of Abraham? Do all religions lead one “home” to
God? This is a question that noted preachers and talk show host have
begun to wrestle with. There is one problem with these debates, they are
based upon a platform of political correctness that teaches tolerance. Christianity,
the same as most other religions have never been a religion of tolerance. In its formative stage as a Hebrew or Jewish
religion, its advancement was by shedding
the blood of its enemies. The Old Testament
of the Hebrew Bible is filled with blood.
Is there just one “true” religion?
The indoctrination of Christianity
was to go into all of the world and spread the Gospel of Christ.
Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam
teaches that there is one God in the universe, giving Muslims a monotheistic world view Also like Judaism and Christianity,
Islam teaches about the ministerial office of the prophet, although not all of
these faiths agree on who is, and who isn't, a prophet. For example, Christians
believe John the Baptist was a prophet and Jews and Muslims don't. And Muslims
believe that Muhammad was a prophet, yet Jews and Christians don't. All three
faiths also believe in an afterlife, although the makeup of those destinations
can be immensely different from each other.
With the advancement of the knowledge
of good and evil, many have begun to question the value of religion in a
contemporary society. When we think of
Christianity in America what do we think of?
On any given Sunday, segregated
segments of society assemble in their respective places and express
their adoration for their creator in different manners, while singing songs of,
“Oh, when we all get to Heaven.” A
polluted interpretation of the sacred words, twisted scriptures and messages
out of context, men of “Skills” reaping huge rewards for delivering a simple
message that the creator gave freely. We go to church with the same expectations as that
when we go to a football game or a concert,
we are seeking to achieve an emotional high that will carry us over till the
next opportunity present itself. Thus can
we conclude, religion is about feeling good?
Religion is based upon indoctrination
and always have been. Indoctrination is based upon your locality, if you are Middle Eastern extraction your belief in Islam would
as great or greater as those of the Western world whose belief is Christianity. To continue this
dissertation, I must ask again, “you do believe in God, don’t you?” I use the English translated word God to
indicate or reference Genesis 1:1 In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
As the world population grew men began to create their own gods and
religions. As to the question of whether
you have a religion or not would be based upon your indoctrination. Whether you believe in the Bible or the Koran
or some other book is a matter of indoctrination. If your indoctrination has failed, then you will
be free to explore other options such as those that are taught in our schools.
This was a problem that was dealt with
in the Old Testament. Exodus 20:1-5 And God spake all these words, saying, I am
the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage. Thou shalt have no
other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to
them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me;. These verses, the
Ten Commandants set the stage for a profound religious indoctrination. Solomon said in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a
child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
God decided what was a true religion
and what was a false religion. 2
Chronicles 33:7 And he set a carved
image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said
to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have
chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 2 Chronicles 33:15 And he took away the strange gods, and the
idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the
mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the
city.
Acts 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and
offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. It seems as if false gods were constantly
infringing upon God’s territory.
The values of Christianity were once
heralded as high or higher than the values that made America a great country.
Today it is said America the same as Christianity is its worst
enemy. The one nation under God concept
has been cast aside. Has America become
as the salt that has lost it's power? What happen to that spark that caused the
patriot to say, "No" to taxation without representation? What
was it that caused the founders of this country to write,
“in God we trust”, as the foundation of their beliefs? Now ask yourself, what was it that cause man
to question the divine word of God?
Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in
the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Why do you believe, what
you believe and why do you do what you do? What is the purpose of your
religion? Do your beliefs and your
works make you a better person?
Next
The Failure of Christianity
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