Other thoughts
It's been a while since I had vigorous debate, and I wish to thank all who engaged me, most notably my room mates :)
If God is looking for us all, then why is there no religion that claims even 40% of the world's population? It seems that the majority of the world is damned.
One reason why this retreat was supposed to be so �powerful� was that there were many people praying and fasting for it and interceding on behalf of the retreatants. That brings to mind the question of why this god requires people to fast and pray to him to work his stuff. If he is so good, kind and benevolent, would he not do the same regardless of the number of intercessors? This all puts me in the mind of magical rituals, where dozens of channelers are needed to power the sorcerer, and once the Mana is depleted, nothing can be done.
Didn't the descendants of Adam and Eve, and Noah and friends commit Incest? Ooh.
It seems that a lot of people go through their own crises of faith. I'm hardly unique. How dismaying :)
Supposedly, we should praise our Creator because he created us and provides for us and is good to us. However, while the priest was admonishing parents who merely provide for their children - they are merely doing their duty, not loving them - it occurred to me that if we were created, our Creator has the same duty to provide and care for us that our parents has. We should be grateful, yes, but while keeping it in perspective.
There seems to be power in numbers - if you have few adherents, you're a cult. If you have many followers, you have a religion. Just look how the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Raelians are laughed at. All religion involves a degree of incredulity and suspension of disbelief - so why should some be more derided than others? If we really were created by Aliens who came from UFOs, well. The Raelians would be laughing all the way to the bank.
The priest talked about this guy who killed a Japanese soldier who was raping a villager, and related how this tormented him for 40 years. I got the impression he didn't condone the killing, but I would think that not stopping the rape would have been worse - and a worse sin.
We were told that St Paul said we should have no more anger - but we were continually railed at. Hmm.
Since sexual sins are evil, guitars should not be used in Praise and Worship, since the guitar is meant to be shaped like the body of a woman.
I could have jotted many quotes down, mainly of Bad English, as I am wont to do, but I already had too many notes for this essay, so to have gotten the quotes would have driven me crazy. :0
People went there to get healed. I got injured - my right shoulder and my lower back hurt for a few days after carrying the biggest cross (there *are* disadvantages to being big).
The puritan strain of Catholicism preached caused a great reaction in me, but apparently other religions are not as obsessed with sin as Catholicism, and Catholicism has the problem of having to uphold what all the past popes have said, even if they are patently ridiculous. The damage, of sorts, is done already, (un)fortunately. I guess that�s the way the cookie crumbles.
Christ supposedly died for us, but isn�t it very easy to die, and harder to live? Just like it is easy to get married but harder to live married past the Silver Jubilee.
One Indian Priest said that we should choose the religion most comfortable for us. For example Gandhi wanted to become Christian, but was disgusted by Apartheid in South Africa, but he included elements of Christianity into Hinduism. So I ask - what�s the point of religion, and of doctrine, then, if we go shopping for one and choose the least ascetic one, say? Especially since most religions are exclusive and condemn the others.
Perhaps if we were create by a god, this god didn�t care much for us after initiating the Big Bang and setting in place the laws of the Universe. Who knows, this god may even hate being worshipped, like the Lady of Pain.
10) So what happens now?
And now, the part we�ve all been waiting for. The end. I hope I didn�t confuse anyone too badly, and I assure you, it hurt me a lot more than it hurt you! I got a splitting headache after every writing session.
If you�ve got to here, then I encourage you to think upon some of the issues raised with an open mind.
Most people, however, are already entrenched in one school of thought or another, though, so all this might not have any effect. It's rather sad to talk to people who won't even give alternate truths a thought, and carry on the way they are blindly - indeed deliberately, because they are addicted to this drug. "I'm happier with faith, so there". Right. I could be happier with marijuana, but does that mean I should consume it? (I don't think soft drugs are all that bad, but for the sake of argument I'll assume that I am) People refuse to challenge their faith, because, deep down inside, they have a nagging suspicion that they might be wrong.
It's good to try to spread the gospel of truth though, nonetheless.
I did learn some things about forgiveness, letting go and reflection at the retreat, but that wasn�t really the purpose of it. The feeling of liberation is, however, quite unique.
My beef isn't really with the putative god or his existence. More, it's the vagaries of man-made, organised and interpreted religion, which often is used to manipulate people, imbibe them with illiberal and/or conservative beliefs and use their money for questionable causes, all under the guise of following the will of this god. I am revolted. So if you have to follow a religion, keep an open mind and do not follow unquestioningly whatever the demagogue at the pulpit is yelling about. What makes their opinions and views any more right than yours?
So as of now, I leave open the possibility that there might be a divine being, but I do not profess to know how he works, or believe that anybody might; I doubt that he is especially benevolent, loving, have any ideas as to what he might want us to do and perhaps most pertinently, that he wants all of us to worship him and is looking for all of us. So I will carry on living freely, unbound by (m)any superstitions. Perhaps this state of existence for the world is for the best.
What was suggested to me was that God reveals himself in his own way to each of us, and for those who can't feel his presence or don't get touched, he grants them his grace in another way. Sincere, upright people are supposedly taken care of by him even if they are not believers. I was assured that I'd find eventually - but what about the tonnes of people who don't, and die without having done so? There was no satisfactory answer to that.
So do you choose to take the Blue Pill, or the Red Pill? (Yeah, the Matrix is overrated, but this was appropriate, so) Life inside the Matrix may be more palatable, but it isn�t real.
The truth shall set you free.
Further reading � some sites I found useful:
http://members.tripod.com/~rhatheist/quotes2.html
http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/
http://whatsthisthen.netfirms.com/bob.html
http://mythofjesus.org.uk
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com
http://www.daltonator.net/durandal/religion/
http://www.godlovesfags.com
http://mindprod.com/noah.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/christ.htm
http://www.answering-christianity.com/jeremiah8_8.htm