Religion...What If...

I will not express my personal beliefs religion-wise tonight. I will however, talk about a possible explanation as to how they came to be. Ok yes this is a controversial topic, and yes you will think of this as blasphemous but I couldn't help but wonder...

Maybe religions were initially intended to just give people hope and something to live for. Maybe they were made to give people strength and to encourage them to do right by others. I'd like to think that at one time we did have some type of humanity and attempted to give people hope in times of turmoil. If that meant lying to people, well then so be it. We do it to ourselves and to each other all the time.

Sometimes we deem something "lucky" and believe it has some type of way of making things go the way we want it to. But really, holding that charm just gives you the extra boost of confidence you needed in the first place. Or it could be possible that you believed it would help so much, it actually did. We give people and objects the power we put into them. Look at the crucifix. Many people believe it will protect them from evil along with prayers or Holy Water, when it could just be the power they put into those things. I think that belief is an incredibly powerful thing.

I think that The Bible may not have been literal but was intended to inspire people to believe in themselves. Maybe the story of David and Goliath was meant to symbolize David as us and Goliath as our troubles and worries. The Bible may have been made to promote doing right by others and that karma always has a way of coming back to you. I think that Heaven and Hell could actually be karma; you know how many people believe Heaven and Hell exist on Earth? So when you do right by others, it may not pay off quickly, but it sure will in the long run. Or when you do something horrible and bad things keep happening to you... Some may say, "Oh, I know a ton of bad people who have great lives," but you can't possibly know that unless you are those people. Everyone has their demons. People put façades on all the time and may act like everything is going great when really, they're not. After all, doing wrong by people will work your conscience eventually. If your conscience doesn't get the better of you, I would never envy you or want your life because that would make you numb. And being numb may sound good sometimes, but believe me, feeling nothing is worse than feeling all the pain in the world.
I thought about God and the forgiveness of sins and I think maybe that was intended to help people for when they make mistakes and guilt gets the better of them. Sometimes it can be very taxing to hold guilt in for a long time, but this way we can feel that we are forgiven and are able to expel our guilt and keep living our lives. Forgiveness is also a very powerful thing that can make the most tortured person feel some type of relief.

That being said, the church (like The Bible) may have been intended to inspire people and bring them together. I attended a private school when I was younger and it felt good to hear inspiring sermons the pastor gave us. Those sermons helped me and made me feel better about Life. That is how church should be. But most churches now seem very hierarchical and hypocritical. Which will bring me to the next topic of the perversion of The Bible and church.

-Keep in mind, this was just something I thought of last night and by no means am I saying that this is the absolute truth and there is no God and yadda yadda yadda. Notice how I keep saying "maybe." It is just something that popped into my head.-
Now, on with how The Bible and church got screwed up lol. Maybe (lol even though I actually do believe in this) people who sought power decided to take advantage of religions by acting like they were messengers of God. They decided to build their churches and scare people into giving them money in order to be saved, such as the Roman Catholic Church during the 1500s (which sparked the Protestant Reformation). And speaking of the Catholic Church, they support this point with their pope. The pope is the head of the Catholic Church and not only that, but the leader of Vatican City. The church has absolute elective monarchy over Vatican City, which means they pretty much run the lives of everyone that lives there. Over history, how many churches advised monarchs and pretty much ran countries and governments?
This brings me to how The Bible got screwed up too. Of course, with The Bible passing through so many people's hands, things are going to get changed and switched around. No matter what anyone says, The Bible is not the same Bible as the one first created. People changed it over time to their liking and to give them power accordingly. Look at 1 Timothy 2:12 for example: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." Are you serious? If according to The Bible that we are "all equal in God's eyes" than why shouldn't women be able to teach and why must she remain silent? Hypocrites I tell you!!!

I will try to end this on a good note though because I could go on and on about this topic but I am not. It was just a thought I had, so don't get mad and say that I'm saying God isn't real. I was just saying what if this was how things started with religion. I do feel that all of The Bible isn't true and churches have and still are taking advantage of people. But what if God and Lucifer may not be external forces, but forces within us. There is a Buddhist belief that Buddha isn't someone to worship or some big bald dude that's always smiling; but that Buddha is within us and that it is up to us to channel him and our happiness. Buddha can be symbolic of goodwill and happiness within us. Lucifer can be symbolic of sin/wrong doings within us. God can be symbolic of the love and good in our hearts. Maybe it's just up to us to choose to channel those things through "The God in us" to obtain happiness and our Heaven here on Earth. After all, don't they say God and Lucifer live within us all? What do you guys think?
I think that this is the end of this blog, so goodnight bloggers,
Luna