Let's Be Frank

One thing I hear people say is, “God helps those who help themselves.”  That got me thinking.  If that is so then why do they need a God to help with their problems?  You are helping yourself, which sounds like your GOD is not helping you at all.  Therefore, you are looking within yourself for the answers.  Correct me if I am wrong but that sounds more like the teachings of Buddha. 

While having a conversation with friends the topic of religion comes up and one person said that the younger generation is fading away from religion and becoming atheists.  I would not go that far.  All though even atheists have beliefs and morals.  I don’t think they have gone totally away from religion.  I think they are becoming closer to the spiritual side of themselves and with that process; they transform into other beliefs.

After my research and many years of searching, I have finally figured it out.  I am not a religious man.  Religion seems to be more of a business and a corrupt structure.  I am a spiritual man.  That does not mean I am a heathen without any faith or beliefs.  Faith does not necessarily have to mean religious beliefs.  I do have beliefs and I do not have to belong to a certain religion to practice my beliefs.  I have faith but not in religion.  My faith is in the human spirit.  My belief is in something that is tangible not a mythical God.  I believe in the human species.  However, I do believe Jesus Christ died for our sins.  That is a given if you believe the story of Jesus Christ.

In Buddhism the Buddha is not some perfect, ideal being, but is rather an ordinary person living in rhythm with the law of the universe, taking wise, courageous and compassionate action for the benefit of others, through the functioning of the nine worlds in daily life.

The basis for all religions is the same…The Golden Rule.  That principle and more than sixty others are common to all religions.  The main difference is the teacher and how they express these principles.

I have to say that I relate to the teachings of Buddha.  The original intention of Buddhism is to alleviate suffering (and conflict).  I base my life on doing the right thing, good morals, a high standard of ethics, respecting my elders, being kind to other living creatures, having compassion, courage, vitality, keep an open mind, strive to achieve wisdom, and listen to what people have to say.  Everyone has a voice.  I do not suppress others words.  I want to hear them and maybe there will be wisdom in what they say.

The best analogy I have heard for life’s journey is the following paragraph that I read on a fellow bloggers post (I hope he does not mind if I use it here.  Here is his link: http://risinghawkspeaks.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/avoiding-confusion/)

Your life is a stream of experiences.  The stream of experiences that we call life is akin to an ocean wave.  In order to move toward wisdom, you must position yourself on the very crest of that wave and ride it.  If nothing else, one can see a lot farther from the crest than the trough.  If you fall behind the crest—living in the past—you will be confused and left behind.  And if you move ahead of the crest—attempting to guess the future—you risk being overcome, pounded and sucked under – again confused and left behind.  Stay present with the current experience.  Ride the crest and stay on top.  That is the place where freedom and wisdom proliferate.  (Thank you Rising Hawk)

Ever since I started my journey to enlightenment, I have acquired more peace and relaxation in my life.  I have never felt more at peace than right now.  I smile a lot more and in a happy state of mind.

Another good thing that has come from all my research is that I have more respect for all religions and the people that worship them.  That does not mean I agree with them I just respect them.

Not to make light of this topic but I wanted to quote a quip by George Carlin it went like this:

“Tell people that there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you.  Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.”

Why is that?  Is it because we are not supposed to question GOD but fear him?  Why fear GOD?  I thought with GOD in your life he guided you, helped you in difficult times in your life, carried you in times of tribulation, and all around you were happy.  It did not make any sense to me to fear anyone whether real, mythical, ghostly, or supernatural.

GOD, if I believed, had supposedly performed miracles.  The definition of miracle is a supernatural act or effect.  Miracles are supernatural so that means GOD is supernatural, meaning not of the living.  Ghosts are not of the living but supernatural and some people do not believe in ghosts but do believe in GOD.  With that been said that means GOD is the only ghost…how interesting and hypocritical.

“How happy can you be when you think every action and thought is being monitored by a judgmental ghost?”  The previous question is a referenced quote from a former evangelical Christian Dan Barker.  I did not want to always be second-guessing myself and wondered if what I had done will get me into a mythical land called heaven. 

Personally, I need proof.  If I am going to devote my life style to something then I need to be able to see, feel, and hear it.  You know something tangible.  It amazed me how so many people will base their life on the teachings of one book, The Bible.  How is that possible with so many inconsistencies proven in many verses of the bible?

In the churches that I went to, talk about suffering, peace, or how to combat the suffering was never talked about.  It was all about GOD.  He is the Almighty One no one questions his words.  That was not what I was looking for.

Just because I did not believe in your GOD does not make me a bad person.  Some religious people tried to make me think so.  My non-belief in GOD did not automatically make me a criminal but some people would look down upon me if I did not have GOD in my life.  Some people that I knew and met in my life are very religious people.  Nevertheless, they can be very hypocritical.  They preached one thing but when it comes down to their own life, they do the opposite.  What is up with that?  If you preached the Bible then you should live by it.  In my reading of the Bible, I found too many inconsistencies in it.

I heard someone say that religion provides structure.  It may be structure but it was corrupted.  Where is the structure in the Catholic Church when all the corrupted priests fondled young boys in their congregation?  Where is the structure in the U.S. Government; if congress is so religious then they should have structure?  Where is it?  Has religion corrupted our government?  That was not the path I wanted.  I guess the majority of people chose GOD, a mythical being, to follow.  I was not a follower like most of the sheep in the herd.  I followed no one.  I wanted to lead people out of suffering.  I needed to figure out a way to do that.

I continued my research outside Christianity.  Peace and to combat suffering should be promoted as the number one priority.  In my mind, our mission as human beings is to combat suffering and have it conquered in our lifetime.  The path looked brighter.  I may have found what I was looking for.

Follow the link below to read about other religious leaders who lost their faith:  http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/5_religious_leaders_who_became_outspoken_atheists_partner/

Most of my life I struggled with Christianity and religion.  I grew up in a family that rarely went to church.  We never talked about it, never went to church, and never prayed before a meal.  I never had an opinion on it until I was 18 and in the Marine Corps.  I witnessed my fellow Marines happy and talking with them, they attributed it to GOD.  I figured so many people could not be wrong.

I started my quest for enlightenment.  In the process, I visited many churches, many denominations—Methodist, Baptist, Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran, and others.  I met many people in all those churches.  All of them seemed nice at church.  They would introduce me to other people.  Before long, I shook many hands and made some friends.  Being the observant type, I noticed how they acted in church and when they were at home or out with friends.  A lot of them supposedly live their life by the bible but actually, they live by their interpretation of the bible, when it is convenient, or not at all.  In my opinion if you say you live by the bible then you are a Saint and commended for doing so.  However, as I pointed out previously the majority of people that I have met did not.  They went to church for forgiveness of their sins but then they went right back out and commit the same sins repeatedly.  If you were living by the bible then you strived to improve yourself not to commit the same sins.

I had to keep in mind that I did not meet all of the people in the congregations so I based my findings on a subset of them.  In my conclusion, it seemed that people that called themselves “very religious” that go to church every Sunday and practice their faith were mostly hypocrites.  After meeting all of them, it put a sour feeling within me.

I know I know…you’re going to say that we are not all like that.  That may be true and I commend you who are devoted to your religion.  Unfortunately, I have failed to see that.  I can honestly say that I have met only a handful of people that have wholeheartedly committed their lives to their GOD.  Some have said you cannot judge a mass by a few but I found that I could get a consensus from my findings.  Many people will defend their religion and try to get me to go to their church but I have done all that.  I had to find what is right for me.  The ferocious conflict continued inside my heart.

All that being said they all had one thing in common.  I felt that my heart and soul did not belong there.  I thought not everyone fits in to the conventional religious denominations.  It’s time I tried something else.  My quest continued.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2.