Religion

This is a guest column.


Religion

By Kirk Wentzel

I’ve studied the world’s religions for many years now. Many of them are known to most of us, some of them are known to very few of us. What I have found, interestingly, is that I can’t find a single one that really makes me feel good about believing in a higher power.

Every single belief system on the planet comes with a set of rules. Some of those belief systems rules are more restrictive than others. Some of the belief systems have, at their core, a book or a series of writings rife with contradiction.

Not a single one of these belief systems has “the answer” and some of the more popular seem bent on pitting man against his fellow man simply because they believe differently.

I’m fascinated by the Ten Commandments of the Christian belief systems. The first 3 deal with setting up God as THE supreme being.

Number 1: I am THE God, the big kahuna, ain’t nobody badder than me especially not that other God that those other people believe in.
Number 2: Do not use my name in a bad way.
Number 3: I want an entire day just for you to worship me.

Just for the record…ego, more ego and a bunch more ego…well it is God after all.

Number 4: Honor thy mom and dad. Oddly he doesn’t admonish the parents to honor their children which they banish and sell into slavery and do all sorts of nasty things to in the Bible. Today we verbally and sexually abuse them. We disown them if they’re gay. We do drugs in front of them and then tell them not to do drugs. Shall I go on?

Number 5: Don’t kill. Well on the surface that sounds great and yet throughout the Bible, God encourages the killing of thousands. People have continued to kill each other in the name of their God(s) even up to today. How many examples can you name?

Number 6: Don’t commit adultery. But it was OK to “go unto” your wife’s slave (hand maiden) if your wife was barren. It was ok to have multiple wives. How does one NOT commit adultery when one has 10 wives?

Number 7: Don’t steal. Not just material things but in the abstract like dignity and respect. Aren’t we stealing peoples dignity and respect in Iraq today? Don’t Christians steal the dignity and respect of gay folks every day? So much for that one.

Number 8: Don’t lie. People lie all the time. People tell lies to save others from hurt feelings. If we were truly honest with each other all the time, we’d hate each other. Tell you what, tomorrow, go to work and tell people there exactly what you think of their outfit, their hair and their perfume/cologne. You’ll be fired by noon. More often than not today, people tell lies to demonize and hurt other on purpose. Do you need examples?

Number 9: Don’t lust after your neighbor’s wife. Well this is just a re-worded number 6 because if you’re screwing your neighbor’s wife, at least one of you is committing adultery.

Number 10: Don’t lust after your neighbor’s goods. This is a reworded number 7 with the twist of making it bad just by wanting what someone else has. You don’t need to actually take it, just wanting it is bad. So if you are working really hard because you want that Jaguar, well that’s bad.

That’s the 10 rules for the Christians, the Muslims have their rules, the Hindus have their rules, the Buddhists have their rules and so on and so on.

Nobody even obeys their OWN rules yet alone looks around at other peoples rules. So why bother? Why bother practicing a belief system that you don’t really believe in?

Perhaps most people are too insecure in their own abilities that they need a belief system as a crutch. Maybe, they need something to blame when things go awry. Maybe they lack the courage to think for themselves and take responsibility for their own actions. Maybe we’re just not evolved enough to trust in our own damn selves.

I, for one, can’t believe in something I see no evidence of. People ask me what I believe in and I tell them that ‘No doubt the universe unfolds as it should’. People ask ‘How can you look and nature and think there’s not a hand guiding this?’ My answer is simple…I don’t see the hand.

Religion poses far more questions than answers. The Bible never mentions dinosaurs yet they existed. Do you really think all those bones are part of a giant dinosaur conspiracy? Too many things in the “natural” world are UNexplained by religion.

Some would say that I’m lost with nothing to believe in. They would be wrong. I have something to believe in. Me. I was given a brain and ability and conscience and senses and free will and I choose to live my life in a way that makes me and people around me happy. I choose to experience the world by educating myself and by meeting different people who believe in different things.

I choose. Somebody else does not think for me. I choose. I decide what I believe. I use my brain to reach my own conclusions. I decide whether this person or that person is ethical or moral or just or, more simply, good or bad. I choose to be compassionate and caring. I choose to try to understand the other person’s point of view. I choose to listen without judging. I choose.

Most importantly I choose to not let somebody else choose for me.

Time for you to choose. Choose wisely.