Monday, May 25, 2009

STOP IT!


"STOP IT, FOR GOD'S SAKE, STOP IT!" GANDHI

Saturday, May 23, 2009

YOU ARE ALL GOING TO HELL!


The religious fundamentalists are fond of condemning people to hell or scaring people into submission by threatening that they will go to hell. What is sad is that the faithful rarely research concepts in order to gain a better understanding of their faith. As a result, they are led, misled, by those they deem as having some form of moral superiority. So sad. yes, we will all go to hell, unless you are cremated, and be hidden, covered up, when we die. The following is from a discussion on THE REASON PROJECT (http://www.reasonproject.org/) and reprinted with permission. The project was started by Sam Harris. It shows, as does WAKING GOD, that dogma has long help the masses in ignorance.

The old English word hell comes from helan, and means to cover or conceal. Similar words coming from the same root have a similar meaning.
Hill for example is a mound of dirt or stone that covers the level surface of earth. Hull is the covering of a nut or the covered part of a ship. Heal is the covering of a wound. Hall is a building space which is used to cover people or goods. Hole is an uncovering. Shell.
In the early days to hell potatoes meant to cover them, as to store them in a cellar or underground. To hel a house meant to cover a portion of it with tile. The term heling a house is still used in the New England portions of the United States.
At first the use of hell had no pagan meaning to it. It was simply used as the common grave of man. To go to hell in the old English language meant simply that one was dead and buried. It was in Germany and England that the word began to evolve into the pagan unscriptural meaning of eternal punishment.

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Poor Translation
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The original meaning of the word hell is not so much a poor translation of the Hebrew sheohl (English Transliteration sheol) and the Greek Haides (English transliteration hades), however, as the word has evolved into a pagan meaning the modern day translation of hell is misleading.
The Catholic Douay Version translates sheohl as hell 64 times and once as death. The King James Version translates sheohl 31 times as hell, 31 times as grave and 3 times as pit.
This is common in older translations as well, such as is used by the English Revised Version (1885) where sheohl is transliterated in many cases but most of the occurrences were translated as grave, or pit. Hell being used 14 times. The American Standard Version (1901) transliterated sheohl in all 65 occurrences and haides in all ten of its occurrences, though the Greek word Geenna (English Gehenna) is translated hell.

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The Hebrew Sheohl
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The Hebrew word sheohl is the unseen resting place of the dead. It is not to be mistaken for the Hebrew words for individual burial place ( qever - Judges 16:31 ), grave ( qevurah - Genesis 35:20 ), or individual tomb ( gadhish - Job 21:32 ) but rather the common grave of all mankind whatever the form of burial might be.
The Greek teaching of the immortality of the human soul and hell began to infiltrate Jewish teachings probably around the time of Alexander The Great. The Bible itself, however, is in stark contrast to the teachings of pagan origin regarding the soul, which is not immortal ( Ezekiel 18:4 ) and therefore can’t suffer forever in hell. The Bible also teaches that there is no consciousness in hell. ( Ecclesiastes 9:4-10 ).
Sheol corresponds with the Greek Haides, both being the unseen resting place of the dead. It is not a place of fire, but of darkness ( Job 10:21 ) a place of silence ( Psalm 115:17 ) rather than a place filled with tortured screams.

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The Greek Haides
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The Greek word Haides corresponds to the Hebrew Sheohl as is indicated by the apostle Peter’s reference to Psalm 16:10 at Acts 2:27-31 where Jesus had fulfilled David’s prophecy that Jesus would not be left in hell. Likewise Jesus himself said that like Jonah, he would spend three days in hell. ( Jonah 1:17 - Jonah 2:2 / Matthew 12:40 )
The Greek word Haides occurs 10 times in the Christian Greek scriptures. ( Matthew 11:23 / Matthew 16:18 / Luke 10:15 / Luke 16:23 / Acts 2:27 / Acts 2:31 / Revelation 1:18 / Revelation 6:8 / Revelation 20:13 / Revelation 20:14 ).
It means the unseen place. In ten of the occurrences of haides it is in reference to death. It is not to be confused with the Greek word for grave ( taphos ), tomb ( mnema ) or memorial tomb ( mnemeion ), but is rather the common resting place of the dead. The place of death.
Jesus also uses haides at Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15 in a figurative way to indicate the debasement of Capernaum compared to heaven.
Also see The Rich Man And Lazarus below.

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The Greek Gehenna
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Unlike the Hebrew sheohl and the Greek haides, there is really no excuse for mistaking the Greek Geenna (Hebrew Geh Hinnom - English Transliteration Gehenna) with the notion of any hell, either the old English word meaning covered or the pagan hell of today’s Christianity.
The Christian Greek Gehenna is a literal place - a valley that lies South and South-West of ancient Jerusalem. It is the modern day Wadi er-Rababi ( Ge Ben Hinnom ), a deep, narrow valley.
Today it is a peaceful and pleasant valley, unlike the surrounding dry and rocky terrain, and most certainly unlike the pagan / apostate Christian hell.
In the days of unfaithful Kings Manasseh and Ahaz idolatrous worship of the pagan god Baal was conducted in the place which was then known as Geh Hinnom, ( the valley of Hinnom ) including human sacrifices to fire. It is ironic that the pagan custom burning in fire would have so clearly infiltrated the Christian teachings, considering that this practice was a detestable thing to Jehovah God, and his prophets spoke of a time when this place would be turned into a defiled and desolate place. ( 2 Chronicles 28:1-3 / 2 Chronicles 33:1-6 / Jeremiah 7:31-32 / Jeremiah 32:35 ).
The prophecy was fulfilled in the days of faithful King Josiah, who had the place, especially the area known as Topeth polluted into a refuse heap. ( 2 Kings 23:10 )
So it was that in the days of Jesus and the early Christian congregations, that the valley was known as a literal place where the carcasses of criminals and animals were thrown, having no hope for resurrection. The refuse there was kept burning with sulphur, which is abundant in the area. When Jesus used Gehenna as a figurative - a symbolic reference to the spiritually dead the people in the area knew what he was talking about.

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The Greek Tartarus
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The Greek word Tartarus is found only once in scripture, at 2 Peter 2:4. It is often mistranslated as hell. Tartarus in the Christian Greek scriptures refers to a condition of debasement, unlike the pre-Christian pagan tartarus ( Homer’s Iliad ) which is a mythological prison.
Peter refers to the angels who in the time of Noah foresook their original positions and became men in order to have relations with the women of earth. The result was their offspring being giants, the Nephilim, who caused so much trouble God had to bring forth the flood. ( Genesis 6:1-4 / Ephesians 6:10-12 / Jude 1:6 ).
It is interesting that this verse is often mistranslated because when Jesus was resurrected from Sheol / Hades ( Hell in some translations ) on earth, he first went to tartarus - that is to say the disobedient angels whom had been lowered in position - who happened to be in heaven. This means that if you don’t understand the mistranslation you would see Jesus go to hell on earth and then hell in heaven.

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The Pagan Hell
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The Pagan teaching of hell was adopted by the apostate Christian church. Today’s thinking of hell comes more from Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost, but the teaching of hellfire is much older than the English word hell or Dante and Milton. It comes from Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs of a nether world. A place where gods and demons of great strength and fierceness presided over the damned.
Ancient Egyptian beliefs considered the Other World to be a place of pits of fire for the damned though they didn’t think this lasted forever.
Islamic teaching considers hell as a place of everlasting punishment. Hindus and Buddhists think of hell as a place of spiritual cleansing and final restoration.

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Separation From God
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Hell ( as is often translated from the Hebrew Sheohl ) can’t be a separation from God, since God is in effect there - it is in front of him. He watches sheol for the time when the dead shall be resurrected. ( Proverbs 15:11 / Psalm 139:7-8 / Amos 9:1-2 )

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Lazarus And The Rich Man - Luke 16:19-31
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Jesus often taught people in a way which was easy for them to grasp. One way of doing this is through parables, or illustration. They are stories, which are not meant to be taken as literal accounts. Such is the case with the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Notice that the Rich man is buried in hades. If this account is to be taken literally then the Bible would contradict itself with all of the information being given in this post, but lets not leave it up to what may be thought to be my own personal interpretation.
Let it also be known that if this account is to be taken literally then that would make Jesus a liar. How so? How could Lazarus be at the bosom of Abraham in heaven when Jesus had already said that no man had ascended to heaven other than himself? ( John 3:13 )

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The Lake Of Fire
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The lake of fire is sometimes referred to as hell. This isn’t even worth mentioning in my opinion because the lake of fire is obviously a symbolic reference to everlasting destruction. Since hell itself is cast into the lake of fire along with death and Satan, all of this ties up rather nicely in that Adam’s sin brought death. Had Adam not sinned therefore he wouldn’t have died. Jesus takes away sin so the meek shall inherit the earth and live forever upon it. Death will be no more. Sin will be no more. Hell (the common grave of mankind) will be no more and Satan will be no more.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

We did not sin and we were not punished

An interesting article!

http://deoxy. org/plurifrm. htm
c.1978 Exegesis by Philip K. Dick

The belief that we are pluriforms of God voluntarily descended to this prison world, voluntarily losing our memory, identity and supernatural powers (faculties), all of which can be regained through anamnesis (or, sometimes, the mystical conjunction) , is one of the most radical religious views known in the West. But it is known. It is regarded as the Great Blasphemy: replication of the original sin mentioned in the First Book of Adam and Eve and in Genesis. For this pride and aspiration (we are told by orthodoxy) our original fall and exile and punishment, our being taken from our home the gardenland and put into the prison, was inflicted on us. "They wish to be equal to - like - us," the Elohim say, and toss us down. Yet I have reason to believe that this, "the Great Satanic Blasphemy," is true.

First, we are here voluntarily. We did not sin and we were not punished; we elected to descend. Why? To infuse the divine into the lowest strata of creation in order to halt its decomposing - the sinking of its lower realm. This points to a primordial crisis in creation in the total macrocosm (hexagram 12, as illustrated here). The yin form two (dark, deterministic) part was splitting away from the yang or form one. In conventional terms, heaven (upper realm) and earth (lower realm) were separating, carrying the lives within the lower away from their form one (upper) counterparts (this can be viewed as the Godhead itself falling apart, into its yang and yin two halves, with the lower form universe as God expressed physically in time and space). The solution was for the divine (yang, light, form one) to follow the lower realm down, permeating it and thus reuniting the cosmos into one totality. To do this, elements (in ancient terms, sparks) of light advanced (descended) into the dark kingdom, the immutable prison world; upon doing so they shed (and knew they would shed) their bright nature, memory, identity, faculties, and powers, and fell under the dominion of the delusion that the dark kingdom is real (which when severed from the upper realm it is not; i.e. the world we presently live in doesn't exist). There they have lived as prisoners of the master magician, lord of the dark realm who poses as the creator (and who may not know of the light god, the true creator, his other half). But the light god and his pluriforms, the descending (invading) sparks, have cunningly distributed clues in the dark realm to recall to the drugged and intoxicated sparks of light their true nature and mission (and true source of home). Upon encountering these cryptic clues the forgetful sparks of the upper realm, now prisoners in and of the lower realm, remember, regain their powers and faculties, and link back up with the upper realm and the light god; they are the light god in pluriform, his way of invading the lower realm in disguise. The light god (the divine) has now crucially occupied critical stations in the sinking lower realm, and begins the reannexing of it back into the totality composed of both realms. The sinking ceases; the master magician is stripped of his autonomy and assimilated to the yang part of the Godhead as its passive counterpart, and once more there is one macrocosm ruled by the yang or active (creative) light god assisted by the now receptive yin (dark) side. The divine has triumphed at all levels; the prison is burst, and the vast, light-filled garden kingdom restored as the home of all creatures. These now whole creatures, composed equally of yin and yang, are what I term homoplasmates: The yin part is home (as we know ourselves to be now, only), and the light or yang part is the plasmate or energy part (vs. the physical). Thus renewed and complete microcosms mirroring the renewed and complete macrocosm are achieved. Reality is imparted to the otherwise irreal lower realm, and the upper realm now extends physically into the realm of matter. The integrity of the Godhead is restored; its two halves function in harmony; and the primordial split (or crisis) is resolved - healed.

This is a view compounded of Zoroastrianism, Brahmanism, Gnosticism, Taoism, the macro-microcosmos of Hermes Trismegistus and other mystery religions, and not very much of orthodox Christianity. Christianity can be added if the pluriform microsparks of light are considered plural saviors or Christs comprising a single mystical corpus that is distributed widely in time and space in the dark realm but possessing only one psyche that is somehow also God, the yang or light god.

I have read the above cosmology over, and find no fault in it. In fact, I am amazed. It is in a sense acosmic, and certainly Gnostic, but the Taoist overlay is novel and pleasing; the Taoist overlay redeems it from the flaws of conventional dualist religions and the problems therein. Instead of stressing moral aspects ("good vs. bad"), it stresses epistemological ("real vs. irreal," which I can understand). The lower realm sinks not because it is corrupt or evil or somehow has rebelled but because, as shown in hexagram 12, it is the nature of yin to sink, as it is the nature of yang to rise. The pre-Socratics (and Plato in "Timaeus") were aware of this; v. the model of the winnowing fan and the concept of the vortex. Yang must assimilate yin to keep the totality intact; i.e. yang must renounce its natural tendency to rise and must descend. It cannot expect yin to rise, because yin is not wise; it is only noos that can understand that it must compensate against its own natural tendencies, and do what is unnatural to it. Yin is, so to speak, thick, unthinking, not noos [mind] but soma [body]; noos and soma (or psyche and soma) are the total universe organism. Descending into the yin realm is a sacrifice on yang's part, which through its bright or wise nature it realizes it must make, but it pays a great cost in terms of suffering: loss of memory and identity, abilities, and faculties: It becomes pseudoyin, literally disguised in the yin realm as if it were actually yin, even to the point of forgetting (until reminded), that it is not. This is the agony we face here in this irreal and dense yin realm, we yang traces: This is not our home. We are voluntary exiles here, alienated and alone, violating our own natures for a salvific purpose - a necessary purpose. Yin would not understand this, and until anamnesis sets in for us, we in our distress do not understand the reason either. Eventually it will be revealed to us; meanwhile we ache with longing for our proper home, dimly remembered but deeply felt for. Thus we suppose we are being punished; it feels like punishment, and we make the error of assuming we have sinned. On the contrary; we have renounced joy now, to produce greater joy later, for the good of all creation; we are the Godhead itself suffering the need to be what it is not, to ensure the ultimate stability of krasis (as Empedocles termed it): the unity of love.

Lest any Christian reject this, let him now read the Fourth Gospel in connection with this, and see for himself the similarities.

Lest any Taoist reject this, let him now see that hexagram 12

has turned to hexagram 11, Peace:

The upper trigram, in descending, has forced the lower trigram to rise. Disorder no longer reigns; heaven and earth are not pulling apart. There is harmony.

Moral: It is the ethical requirement placed on the yang traces by their own bright nature to abandon their natural tendency to rise, to escape what is heavy and dark and sinking; they must go in pursuit of the falling part of the cosmos, for the benefit of those and that which otherwise would be lost. This is the highest law: to violate one's own nature for another's good. And the most difficult - and painful - law to fulfill. Because of this need there is distress in the cosmos, distress for the innocent especially. My cosmology simply presents it as a fact. To escape it we would have to allow the cosmos to decompose. Could we do that? The tragedy is that by the very nature of the sacrifice we make we are occluded from knowing why. This is part of our sacrifices: our yang understanding. We must take on the dullness of yin to save the cosmos; we sacrifice the knowledge of why we sacrifice, and assume guilt - spurious guilt - in its place. This is asking a lot.

But consider who we really are. Or once were and will be again. Who else can do it? There is no one else. There is only yin, which does not know. The part of the organism that knows must help the part that doesn't know, but this means abandoning its own knowing. It becomes what it helps, a dreadful irony, one that hurts. But it is only temporary, just for a little while. And then we go home for all eternity.

SATAN AND LUCIFER



The popular Evangelical view of Satan owes more to John Milton than to the teachings of Scripture: indeed it difficult to approach the 'proof texts' used without reading them through a preconceived theological framework.

In the OT five main passages are cited: Genesis 3; Job 1:6-12; Isa.14:12-16; Eze.28:11-19; Zech.3:1-2. Of these the Genesis passage does not refer to 'Satan' by name, but to 'the Serpent'. Job.1:6-12 & Zech.3:1-2 tell us a little about his role as 'the accuser', but nothing whatever about his origin, except that as he approached God with 'the Sons of God' (Job 1:6) presumably he too was an angel.
Isaiah 14:12-16 in its context refers to the King of Babylon, the 'Lucifer' of the KJV being more accurately translated 'Morning Star'

It is Ezekiel 28 that has been most misused in an attempt to formulate a doctrine of Satan, and yet it is one of the most difficult passages in Ezekiel to interpret. A number of sections in this passage are used to point to a double referent to both the King of Tyre and to Satan. '

1) Just about everybody knows the word "Lucifer" as another name for Satan. The word "Lucifer" is found one time in the King James Bible.

Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!


(2) But what about the NIV? The word "Lucifer" is clean, bald-headed gone and now this creature is identified as the "morning star". Lucifer is the "morning star" in the NIV.

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!


(3) So we know that in the NIV the "morning star" is a negative, evil figure. Right? He was fallen from heaven. He was cast down to the earth. Can we find the "morning star" anywhere else in the NIV? Yes! The following passages in the NIV show the "morning star" as Jesus Christ! But the NIV just called the fallen creature of Isaiah 14:12 "morning star". Lucifer AND Jesus are ONE in the NIV! Lord have mercy, Jesus! Help me, Lord.

NIV: Revelation 22:16,
"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you [1] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."

NIV: 2 Peter 1:19,
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

NIV: Revelation 2:28--
I will also give him the morning star.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

LIVING EARTH COSMOLOGY AND CHRISTIAN DOGMA


I cam across a wonderful post, part of which is posted below. In the WAKING GOD series we talk about a 'god seed' that is part of our DNA. We talk about how religious dogma has kept humanity in mental chains and how it has hidden fundamental truths about the true nature of the Universe. WAKING GOD is about a great awakening, the rebirth of humanity, HUMANITY'S SECOND COMING. Read the article below and see if you do not feel that the writer's hypothesis makes more sense than the 'you are all condemned unless you bow down to god' dogma. As we approach 2012, do you want to see a world where the god seed is activated and we all live in peace and harmony, or do you want to believe that on 144,000 are saved out of 7 billion humans?

It is interesting that Christianity and Islam have long suppressed the Goddess and feminine wisdom in their dogma. The patriarchs have made a rather large mess of the world. Time for Wisdom to return.

Living Earth,
Living Relations

by Zacciah Blackburn
Director of Education at the International Sound Healing Network

Having a symbiotic relationship with the Earth as a living Conscious Being is an everyday part of life for most indigenous and wisdom based cultures of the world. Whether it is the Hindus, who state that "all is consciousness" (that which has the ability to directly perceive), the Tibetans, who say, "all is mind" (and, "the mind is in the heart,"), or the Qero Indians of central Peru, direct descendants and wisdom keepers of the Inca, who say, "all is living energy," indigenous cultures of the world honor and engage in living symbiotic relationship with the Earth, its elements, its stones, its waters, its trees and vast plant and animal life, in dynamic ways that defy the logic and normal sense of the Western rational view of the world. But even modern science has now been peering into the sub-atomic quantum world for decades, mystified that thought and expectation affect matter. The popular new science of Dr. Maseru Emoto, which suggests water either is conscious, or at least holds and is effected by consciousness, proves to us that the world is more than we imagined it to be in our modern pursuit of happiness according to the current consumer based society.

The reality is, that practically every culture alive today, still based in its ancient wisdom roots, is telling us that the Earth and Cosmos are vital living energies, and that we are in the midst of a vast awakening of human consciousness that is unlike anything this world, and possibly the universe, has seen before. This awakening is being made possible, in a large part, by the great re-alignment with the truths of the Divine Feminine, hidden and dormant through its suppression primarily by systems of male-based faith and logic of the past several centuries. The wisdom, intuition, and deep mysteries ready to reveal themselves to us, through the uncovered treasures of cultural wisdom and the Divine Feminine source of life itself, is here at our threshold. Since 1987, and the foreseen "Harmonic Convergence" (part of Maya prophecies), the alignment with, and awakening of, the Divine Feminine aspects of consciousness have especially become more readily accessible to human consciousness.

One aspect of that Feminine mystery and wisdom not yet fully understood or embraced, is in the Earth herself, and in all manifest creation. At all levels of our `physical' existence, from elemental consciousness (earth, air fire, water and ether/space, which compose all matter) to our sub-atomic structure, our DNA, and every cell, tree, rock, bird, earthworm, and human being on the planet, our body, and `bodily' consciousness are waiting to engage us in a symbiotic relationship of living consciousness, breathing vital life and energies between all forms of life in harmonic, resonant relations, in which we all can easily engage.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

LEAVE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ALONE


On May 6th, Governor Baldacci of Maine signed into law a bill allowing same sex marriage. The Governor said, “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.” He went on to say, “This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside of its beliefs, it does not require the church to perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation of church and state.”

Does this put the matter to rest in the State of Maine? Unfortunately, no. “We feel he kind of shortchanged us all,” said The Rev. Bob Emrich, pastor of Emmanuel Bible Baptist Church in Plymouth and a founder of the Maine Marriage Alliance, which opposes the law. “But that’s his prerogative. He’s the governor.” According to AP writer Glenn Adams, Marc Mutty of the Roman Catholic Diocese said challengers expect to get the go-ahead by May 21 to begin collecting signatures to get a referendum on the bill, which was signed Wednesday by Gov. John Baldacci. The Maine Jeremiah Project, a church based public policy group and The National Association of Marriage Enhancement are starting a petition drive to get the issue on the November ballot as a referendum question.

In my opinion, these church groups should really mind their own business! If church and state are to be separate, as provided by our Constitution, then they should stick to their own concerns rather than trying to foist their ‘worn out dogma’ on others. Nothing in this bill requires them to conduct same sex marriages. They can continue to do practice their faith as they so choose. The fact that they are trying to force their values on others is just another example of the evils of organized religion. Why must everyone live the way they want people to live? Why must they insist that they are right and everyone else is wrong? There are other religions belief systems and that is why separation is guaranteed. One could easily argue that the state should not accept religious marriage ceremonies as legal unless it is accompanied by a civil union as well. Why should marriage be only what these religious leaders claim it should be?

Yes, we are one nation under God, but we are not one nation under the Baptist or Catholic version of God. Christians need to get off this ‘everyone must believe as we do’ train. This attitude has caused the world way too much suffering and strife and division. Christianity is perhaps the only religion that purposely sets out to force others to act in its own image. Maybe if religions practiced the true meaning of their teachings and acted with tolerance, love and compassion towards others, the world just might be a safer place.

WAKING GOD EXPLAINS MORE ABOUT HOW RELIGION NEEDS TO GO AWAY! NOT GOD, JUST RELIGION.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Taliban Demolishes Homes

"Taliban demolishes 11 homes of Sikh community"

("PTI", April 30, 2009)

Islamabad, Pakistan - Taliban militants have demolished 11 homes of members of the minority Sikh community in Pakistan's troubled Aurakzai tribal region after they failed to pay 'jiziya' or a tax levied on non-Muslims.

The houses were destroyed on the orders of Taliban commander Hakeemullah Mehsud, the head of the militants in Aurakzai Agency and a deputy of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud.

The militants acted after a deadline set by them for payment of 'jiziya' by the Sikhs expired on Wednesday. The Sikhs held a meeting at Merozai on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of leaving the area but were unable to reach a decision, media reports said.

Though the Sikhs have been living in Aurakzai Agency for centuries, the Taliban asked them earlier this month to pay Rs 50 million a year as jiziya. The militants claimed this was being done as Shariah or Islamic law had been enforced in the area and all non-Muslims had to pay "protection money".

For more details go to http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=30841&con=26&sec=34

Saturday, May 2, 2009

WHILE I AM NOT PAGAN...

I LIKED THIS POST AND THOUGHT I WOULD PASS IT ALONG-IT SHOWS HOW RELIGION TRIES TO STIFLE ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL

www.everydaywitch.com


I do not seem to be able to create a link-techno challenged-so just paste this in your browser.

CHURCHGOERS SUPPORT TORTURE


This story was recently reported by CNN News:

Frequent churchgoers are more likely to support torture than their less devout brethren, a new Pew poll finds. Fifty-four percent of weekly churchgoers said torture of terror suspects is “often” or “sometimes” justified, compared to 42% of people who seldom or never attend services, reports CNN. White evangelical Protestants were especially likely to support the practice, with more than 60% behind it.

Among the religiously unaffiliated, only four in 10 supported torture, the least of any group. The survey asked whether torture against terror suspects is often, sometimes, rarely, or never justified. In total, 49% said it was often or sometimes justified, with 25% saying it was never justified. Mainline protestants—Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Presbyterians—were most likely to say “never.”
Source: CNN

If you read the WAKING GOD series, you would not be at all surprised by the above survey. religions are steeped in the blood of innocents. From the Inquisition, Crusades, the slaughter of the Cathars and Templars, to past and present witch burners, organized religion has little problem with torture. One of the reasons is obvious, when those who do not believe as you are demonized or cast or infidels or satan, it does not become too difficult to treat them as sub-human. When you are told that you have the monopoly on spiritual truth, there is little reason to not torture the unbelievers, they are probably just a tool of the devil anyway.