Spiritual Subterfuge

Read, read, read is what I preach to my children. Almost daily they hear this chorus about the necessity of reading. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Our society’s lack of reading clearly explains why people are so spiritually gullible and unaware. As a whole, we refuse to read. When and if we do read it's limited to the bible, a love story, or some other work of fiction (bible excluded).

Let's look at death; most people fear the "grim reaper." Why? Fear and Ignorance are the culprits. We fear an eternal damnation. The prophecies in the book of Revelation tend to scare the hell out of people (pardon the pun). You would be surprised the burden that's lifted when/if you ever realize that hell is just a story created by man. A story created in order to intimidate you into giving a good portion of your income to the church. It was true thousands of years ago, and it is true today. Don't believe me? You think I'm a "blasphemer?"

Let's break the "tithes" or "tithing" down and analyze this religious phenomenon. The median household income in the United States is about $50,000 annually. That averages out to $4166 per month, multiplied by 10% for tithing, equals $416 per month. This is the amount that should go to the church. That's a car note. And I won't mention one thing about gas prices. Bear in mind, most middle income couples make at least 20k to 30k more than the medium income. If you give less than your allotted 10% you're going to hell, right? Or does God give you a pass? Or can you make it up in other ways?

I was in the Dollar store today and this particular store always plays gospel music. That's fine; I have no problem with gospel music. Today, however, something came over me when I heard what sounded like an "Old Negro Spiritual." It sounded like one of those very soulful, religious, Mahalia Jackson songs from decades ago. By the way, I have the utmost respect for the late Ms. Jackson. Anyway, as I listened it dawned on me that, these are the type songs that were sang in, and originated from the cotton fields, from the slave quarters centuries ago.

Look back on the history of Black People in America you'll realize that the majority of Black America today are the descendants of slaves brought to America on slave ships. You know the story. Once on American soil, those slaves were forbidden to read. Their masters clearly enforced the law, "You cannot read. It is illegal for you to read." The slave master did all the reading, mostly from the bible, and it was solely up to the him to interpret what was read. It was the slave masters responsibility to interpret the "good book" for your ancestors. This is the religion that has been passed down to the African American of today. This applies to the European American as well; your ancestors passed your religion down to you as well. The difference is, those unwilling pioneers from Africa did not practice the Christian religion that was forced upon them. If you are ok with this concept then you have to be ok with the belief that the genocidal atrocity that was slavery was necessary to save the souls of black people.

I look back on my Baptist upbringing and take myself back to the Sunday morning church service. I think about Ms. Daniels, a lifetime member of Greater Bethlehem Baptist Church. She would sit in the same seat and instead of saying "Amen" from time to time, her words of approval were, "Sho-nough, Sho-nough." I'll translate that for the ebonically challenged, she was saying, "Sure enough, sure enough." What I see clearly now is that Ms. Daniels and the majority of the older members of the church could not read. Thus, their interpretation of the bible, religion, and spirituality came almost entirely from the philandering, pedophiliac minister (not all the ministers of G.B.B.C. were pedophiles but that's another subject). Well, guess what, Ms. Daniels, and many others passed their religious interpretation on to you! Sho-nough, sho-nough!

Remember in church when "the spirit" would move people to "shout." Remember the "shouting" in church? This is when an individual (usually female) would be "touched by the Holy Spirit" in a way that would make them scream uncontrollably and they would have to be restrained by members of the church, or be ushered out into the hall. Where is that "shouting" today? You don't see that in the churches today. The shouting has been replaced by "speaking in tongues" (ecstatic speech or prayer using an unintelligible language that is considered a gift of the Holy Spirit). Back-in-the-day, shouting, or being "happy" in church, was also considered a "gift of the Holy Spirit." Did God or the Holy Spirit alter his gift-giving or did Man alter it?

As stated in the movie Zeitgeist:

The more you begin to investigate, what we think we understand, where we came from, what we think we're doing, the more you begin to see we've been lied to. We've been lied to by every institution, what makes you think for one minute that the Religious Institution is the only one that' never been touched? The Religious Institution's of this world are at the bottom of the dirt. The Religious Institutions in this world are put there by the same people who gave you your government, your corrupt education, who set up your International Banking Cartels ...

It's about Control .. about controlling your mind!

As stated in the book NDE (Near Death Experiences) by Kevin R. Williams

Some people erroneously believe one must have a certain religious affiliation or believe in God to have a pleasant afterlife experience. However, even in this physical world, one does not have to be religious to experience love and happiness. In the same vein, to have a pleasant afterlife experience, one does not have to be religious. Experiencers say it is not the religion one professes which matters. It is the spiritual condition of their inner nature that matters. People primarily motivated by fear, anger, hatred and evil, will generally find themselves together with like-minded people after their death.

Simple logic suggest that a loving, merciful, caring God would not demand of its' progeny, "Give me - the church, your pastor, Jesus, whomever - 10 % of your earnings, off the top, before taxes, before anything you do, or plan on doing with your hard-earned income, to prove your love and obedience to me. If you do not do this, I still love you, but the consequences of not doing so are eternal damnation in a place of unremitting pain and suffering until the end of time and beyond. A loving Creator would not offer such a scenario because the origins of the aforementioned quagmire are rooted in greed and evil. Greed and Evil are characteristics of Man, not God. To adhere to a doctrine of forcible love and obedience would be perpetual blackmail at the highest degree.

B.E.S.

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