Posted by:
The 1st FreeAtLast
(
)
Date: January 19, 2011 02:01AM
God, Gods, angels, the Devil, evil spirits, etc. - they've all come from people's imaginations. Some are comforting (e.g., 'God' loves everyone), many are fear-inducing (e.g., not attending church makes you vulnerable to Satan's temptations), and plenty have the psychological effect of creating guilt and shame.
You're free to scrutinize all religious/spiritual beliefs and you have the right to reject any and all of them that do not agree with demonstrable/objective truth.
“It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.”— Thomas Paine, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, intellectual, philosopher, and writer.
The concept of 'faith' is, ultimately, for the intellectually lazy, people who are too mentally flabby to do critical thinking work. 'Faith' is about respecting objective truths, which withstand scrutiny, less than needing to remain in one's 'warm and fuzzy' emotional comfort zone (by reinforcing one's sloppy beliefs that don't withstand scrutiny).
Sooner or later, all religious people are challenged by one or more realities that do not agree with their spiritual beliefs. Are they going to mentally scurry back into their religious 'safe zone', or will they acknowledge 'faith-disrupting' realities (truths) and mature psychologically? In the final analysis, it comes down to choice. We can choose to psychologically mature or not.
In the past 17 years of the Internet, 100's of 1,000's of people have chosen to mature/grow as a person and leave cultic Mormonism (and other nonsensical religions). Many more will do so in the years ahead.
There's very good online info. about the religious mindset (in the context of Mormonism) and why it doesn't work in terms of personal growth at
http://members.shaw.ca/blair_watson/Humanity desperately needs people of REASON, not faith.
Re. Christianity, you might want to rent or buy the excellent 2005 documentary film, "The God Who Wasn't There" (ref.
http://www.thegodmovie.com/).