Back to 'Normal'

I often compare religion and belief in God to smoking cigarettes.  Let me explain.

Here's my summary of the Christian belief:

A god who is supposedly all powerful and that alledgedly creates all there is, creates this minuscule planet we call Earth and all things on it including us humans.  Why?  To toy with?

He gives us free will - then tells us how we must act in order not to be punished - i.e. he lets us choose but punishes us if we don't do the 'right' thing.  Free will?  Yes, I give you free will to choose to love and worship me, but if you don't I'll burn you in eternal hellfire forever.  Hell of a free will, that!

The only way he finds of communicating with us (apart from a few chosen ones... yeah right) is with an old book.  This book is then interpreted a thousand different ways and every one says my version is the correct one.  Good communication skills there Mr God.

In this book, he doesn't tell you how to solve important issues, how to build things, maths, or something useful.  No sir, rather he tells you how to treat your slaves, how to own them, beat them etc.  He commands you to kill, slaughter the innocent children and animals.  How to kill homosexuals too. Or to use unleavened bread and bitter herbs when eating lamb. Or in order for him not to kill your first born, that you paint blood all over your house, so that when he 'passes over' he will know that he mustn't take the life of your first born.  Wow! So much for a all powerful, sees all, hears all, knows all, LOVING entity.

Then, when his creation have really been very bad boys and girls and have sinned so much, you would think he would be able to forgive us just like that, you know, with the blink of a godly eye.  No sir!  Instead, he incarnates into human flesh and calls himself, his own son, Jesus and he sacrifices this son/himself by allowing 'us' mere mortals to bloodily (how gory!) crucify him on a cross after a serious bloody beating.  Yak!

Oh by the way, so much for a sacrifice.  When you and I we sacrifice something, we lose it forever, right?  It's gone.  And the loss is painful and that's why we call it 'sacrifice'.  So where's Jesus now?  Next to the father, I'm told.  So what has been sacrificed here?  I don't see a sacrifice.  Does this mean that our sins have not really been washed away after all? ;)

Oh, by the way, to go to heaven you have to abide by the law - The Old Testament.  Even Jesus says so numerous times.  (Matthew 5:18-19 / Luke 16:17 / Matthew 5:17 / 2 Timothy 3:16 / 2 Peter 20-21) Ooohhh, sorry.  Apparently, there's a new covenant... oooh  I see - the New Testament.  Oh forget everything and just turn the other cheek and give your life to Jesus.  So what happens to the atrocities in the Old Testament?  Forgotten? Ignored?  Has God changed his mind?  Was Jesus wrong in telling us to abide strictly by the law?

So now the only way to be saved is to give ourselves to Jesus.  Otherwise we will rot in hell?  What about babies?  Have they given themselves to Jesus? Good people that have not heard of Jesus like this kind Indian farmer in the middle of India who believes in Krishna.  Does he go to hell?

Wake up people! 

Read the above again and again until you open your eyes.  Do you realize what you believe in?  Can't you see that you believe in Jesus and this whole Christian affair because you happened to be born in  the 'Western' world?  That if you had been born in China you would have believed something totally different.

C'mon, isn't it obvious that the whole rigmarole was created by men:  Create the concept of sin.  Tell the masses that they are inherently bad and that they must be saved and here's the way to salvation.  i.e. invent the sickness and despatch the cure.

I stopped smoking when I realised that cigarettes do not calm you.  It's the smoking that causes the tension and nervousness in the first place and when you get your fix, you go back to normal.  So I got rid of cigarettes and I'm back to normal.

Same with religion.  When I finally opened my eyes, I realised that there's nothing wrong with me.  That I didn't need to be saved from anything.  This my friends is the true enlightenment.  That this whole god is probably made up.  Yes probably.  I don't know for sure.  This whole story could still be true.  But in my mind, after having considered it all, I think it is highly improbable.  We're told that we must have faith.  i.e. shut down our brains.  Do not think.  Do not be skeptical.  Do not think critically.  Just have blind faith.  There's no proof for any of this, but nevertheless, you have to have FAITH - TO BELIEVE FOR NO GOOD REASON, other than that it makes you feel good.  Just like the first drag of that cigarette that made me feel really good... yeah right.

Sorry people!  I'm going back to normal!

(Thierry Béchard- Floreal, Mauritius - August 7, 2012)