What follows is simply an opinion, or a story, created by me, and is in no way intended to offend anyone, or be considered blasphemy. If you take issues regarding your own religion seriously, and take offense to alternate opinions on religion, I suggest you do not continue reading this....
Hmmm. Where shall I begin? I guess I shall start at the beginning.... I believe in the Big Bang Theory. Actually this brings up another issue. Isn't a bang a noise? Now, since there is no sound in space, the explosion that created the universe would have been silent, and therefore not a big bang at all. So for all future references of the subject, I recommend we use the term, The Big Blast. Anyways, this big explosion occurred and all the matter in the universe was created from a speck of dust. Granted, being an engineer, I have always wondered where the dust for the explosion came from, but for purposes of sanity, we shall ignore this tiny flaw in my theory.
Next, I believe in Darwin's theories of evolution. From the ameobas to man, we all just evolved from the elements following the blast. Eventually we started using our brains and communicating. Some people's brains evolved quicker than others and that is why we have some extremely smart people, as well as some blondes.
I believe in the supernatural. Since all creation was at one time a speck of dust, I believe we are all connected. You, me, the bum on the corner, the corpse rotting in the ground. And as such, we have the ability to be anywhere and with anyone at any time. Some call them crazy, and some believe that they are gifted, but I believe that anyone who can see the future, or speak to the deceased, has simply tapped into a part of his/her brain that few of us know how to use properly. (Either that or they are phonies out to make a buck.)
Now what would a religion discussion be without the mention of the man himself, Jesus. I believe that Jesus is an example of someone who was able to tap into his brain to its fullest extent. Think about that and let it sink in. He claimed to be one with God. Are we not all one with each other? (Recall my theory on the speck of dust in the previous paragraph.) He claimed that if you have faith and believe you too can have all the rewards of Heaven. Think about it. He cured the sick, rose the dead, and foresaw the future. I believe that if we learn to use our brains to their fullest, we can all do the same. You have heard of people who have performed miracles, or people who foresaw events. These people simply tapped into a portion of their brains that has not been used before.
They say that man uses 10% of his brain. Well then, imagine what the other 90% has in store for us........
As for organized religion. It is not much more than the practice of superstitions. Superstitions that say you will suffer if you do not do what God has told you to do. These so called "rules set by God" are merely rules that man has created. Think about it. Who wrote the Bible? I mean physically wrote it... Men did; that's who. Sure you can believe that it was through the intervention of a supreme being, or perhaps the "prophets" were stoned and conjured up a good story. I don't know. When the Bible was first created, some of the rules may have made sense for social reasons. But as we evolve as a species, isn't it time our ancient rules evolved as well?
Why do people go to church or the temple, or fast, or give things up for Lent? Because they have faith? No! It is because they are afraid of the unknown. They are afraid that if they do not do as they are told in this ancient book that their God will punish them in the after life. This, to me, is oxymoronic. Why would you worship a "great and powerful being" who is supposed to be the definition of love, if he is vengeful? I say eternal life is not located there. It's located within each and every one of us. And as soon as you accept the possibility that you are already God, the sooner you can get on with generating life.
Let us consider for a moment the history of religion. Man started out worshiping the unknown. Things and events that he could not explain. Things that frightened and excited him. There was a god for the sun and the moon. The fire, thunder, and rain. There was a god for everything. A god for day, for night. A god for the seasons. A god for love and a god for war! A central religious theme throughout all history however, seems to be that of a father figure and a mother figure. Zeus and Hera. Uranus and Gaia. Chronus and Rhea. God and Mary. I believe it was Freud who explained this. He claimed that from the time we are born we look to our parents for support and nurturing. Eventually we go out on our own, yet our desire for a mother and father figure remains. And voila, a male and female god is created... Notice that people tend to pray to god when they are in a time of need, similar to a child/parent relationship.
Eventually we lost the "false" gods and became monotheistic. However we still rely on this deity to save us. It is time to take responsibility for yourself. Stop relying on things outside of you and get on with making life happen for yourself. Evolve and you will never know death, such that you can enjoy life.
Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this. I look forward to continuing this discussion with anyone if they so desire.....
Pete 2/23/2000
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