Terrorist or Fighting For Your Beliefs?

It's easy to call people terrorists when they act against your beliefs. But what about their beliefs, and the reason they do it? Should people not stand up for what the believe in? If that's the case, then we should still be under British control.

I was in the shower and I think I just realized what the "terrorists" are fighting for, or about, and honestly I have to agree now(assuming my idea is right anyway). I may not be at the point they are, blowing stuff up and killing for the beliefs, but if things keep going the way they are I probably will.

They are fighting against the spread of our culture. A culture of consumption and waste. A culture of people that don't actually care about anything. They are fighting to keep their freedom, the freedom we lost long ago. Freedom from greed, from the need to acquire material things needlessly. They are fighting against the spread of greedy capitalism. They fight against the spread of our culture that induces a drone like state of people within it. At least that's my new theory anyway...

I know that the conditions in foreign countries like Iraq and Afghanistan are not the same as we have. But if you see things the way I am, you realize that they are allowed to do things we are not. We can't defend ourselves without a lawsuit that takes everything you have. We are slaves to the wage because we are slaves to material things, things they don't have there. We consume forests and millions of animals incredibly wastefully. I know I don't actually know what it's like over in the middle east aside from what I see in movies, but it seems pretty desolate and the living conditions seem terrible. So obviously that part isn't so great, and I'm sure there are lots of other issues, but the point is that replacing one issue with another isn't the answer.

At one time though, America used to be a great place. A place you could live, grow your own food, build your own house, and live your life for yourself rather than spending the better part of your life learning to make money to buy things. You used to be able to stand up for what you believe and not be called a terrorist and thrown in jail. I know I've discussed some of these things in a previous post, but this is for a different reason this time.

http://www.declarepeace.org.uk/captain/murder_inc/site/workers.html

NO TRUE CHRISTIANS!- ExChristian.Net - Articles

NO TRUE CHRISTIANS!- ExChristian.Net - Articles

http://articles.exchristian.net/2002/06/no-true-christians.php

OMG! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS POST. My face hurts from laughter.


Epic.

The Church Part 3: The Church Evolution

This post is because of a comment that made me think about the evolution of the church, among other things. Hopefully I can keep it shorter to avoid tl:dr but that's not too likely.

First off, I shall define a few things. The church is not a building, but a group of people. The church building is the "temple". This is what they are in the bible. The building is a temple, the church is the people. Of course nobody calls a church building a temple these days, and consider church a building, but whatever.

The Bible, or the teachings of Jesus are not very popular among people. At least not the way it was originally intended. The only way that Jesus could have pulled off the stuff he did and we end up with the New Testament is if he did some pretty amazing things, Jesus like things. However, biblical Christianity never took off and doesn't exist today. What we have is a result of centuries of conformity and control via misinterpretations and force.

The first real adoption of Christianity was somewhere around 230ad(I watched a Discovery channel thing on this) by some empire, possibly Roman, that made Christianity their religion and built church buildings for the people to go to. The Christian religion is the perfect religion to have your people conform too. I'm not actually familiar with other religions, but the teachings of Jesus basically says to follow the governments laws and basically to be non-aggressive(ie: Just do what your leaders tell you). Couple that with the fact that religion is easy to twist and misinterpret, especially if it's in a language only the church leaders can read, it's a great way to convince people to do or be whatever you want. Having a church building just makes more sense to help spread your messages and control.

Over the centuries, Christianity was used to convince the masses to action. If you look at the history, it's how and why the crusades happened, its why inquisitions occurred even though they would be completely against the teachings of the bible and were used to force conformity to Christianity. They spread Christianity in order to spread control. Eventually, even though I really am not familiar with history, the Catholic church became one of the most powerful entities and remains fairly prominent in the world. The majority of people do not even question the Catholic church and follow it blindly from centuries of control and conformity to their form of Christianity. I think the U.S., thanks to a democratic government(which we no longer have but call it that anyway) and freedom's that they originally gave people, created the downfall of Christianity within the U.S. and up-rise of a society ran by greed. I almost want to go as far to consider society it's own religion, Societism(I'm guessing something is already written about this idea, I'm just not aware of it...).

As the church loses its appeal to modern science and knowledge, it's really changed its methods drastically to gather followers. This applies almost entirely to the U.S. because in Europe they don't care because they get paid regardless if people show up to their church buildings or not thanks to government enforced tithing. Originally, they used their political power and were able to force people into Christianity. With the freedom's in the US along with the pursuit of happiness(read: money and power) Christianity isn't very appealing considering it opposes money and power. But if you read the first two parts to my posts about the Church, that is the result; A business that uses cult tactics to gain a following in order to obtain money and power.

Another thought and something else I looked into, is that if you do take away the church buildings, and meet in houses(see: house church), you take away the money and power that drives leaders to twist and manipulate people. Upon researching this, I found that some prominent names in the current Christian Church oppose the concept because of a number of reasons. Mostly because there is nobody to enforce control. (see Critisim on this wiki)

The Church Part 2: The Church Cult

I've been thinking about this stuff for a while now. I've had plenty of discussions with people that are very knowledgeable about the bible and church.

The tactics the church institution uses are manipulative and cult-ish. The messages or sermons they commonly give are not always within the context of what the bible tells. Bible verses are twisted and skewed to fit the message they want to tell. The latest verse I saw miss-used, Philippians 4:19 (http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=135435149843653&id=102470493134142) says that God will provide your needs according to His riches, however if you follow the link, the guy ignores the word "NEEDS" and says you are "RICH". Now I don't know what his definition or needs or rich is, but it certainly isn't the same as mine apparently. And this is becoming common place with pastors and church's. The even bigger issue I have with that is the number of positive comments about it, "Amen" this "Amen" that...seriously? Did anyone read the verse? It's not much different then a cult that tells it's followers of all the riches and greatness they will have for following the cult.

One of the best manipulative practices is prophecy. They have leaders that prophecy over their congregation of great things to lift you up and make you feel good. The prophecy doesn't have to come true. If it doesn't, it's easy to say it's because you're a sinner or something similar. Those that are more into it will even start to prophecy, because it makes them feel good, while possibly making someone else feel good. Prophesying isn't bad, and is biblical, the problem is that it's just being used for manipulative purposes by the church institution now.

The other tactics include enforced conformity. I'm not positive if EVERY church does this, but they more or less are set up to force you to become involved(integrated) into the church institution to actually be a part of it. In order to hang out with anyone in the church you have to go to the services, small groups, activities, etc. If you don't your simply an outcast that shows up every Sunday. Being a christian to an extent does require conformity to the bible, but the modern church institution involves conformity to the church institution itself instead of the bible, a lot like a cult does.

I've been doing it already, but I've been trying to differentiate the church from the church institution. A friend of mine describes the church building  and administration as the church institution, and the actual church as a group of people. This is another tactic that the church institution uses. As long as people think of the church as a building, people are more likely to think that being a christian involves going to a church building and being involved in the church institution. This also leads to the idea of God being more "present" in the church building. The bible speaks of the church, and the church in the bible is actually meaning the people and has nothing to do with a building or administration thereof. The disambiguation of the two is manipulative. I Cor 3:16 specifically tells people that THEY are God's temple, but the church institution would rather you believe in the church building and that God is only within it.

The other real problem, is that the church institution is like the government. It's there to serve itself and enjoys power. It puts a single person on a pedestal, and lifts them up to a Christ like status. It ingrains the idea that the church institution is required to reach God and Heaven. And even though it doesn't have a police force to beat you down, it works to make outcasts of those that do not conform and look down upon those outside of it's walls and ideals. Although, at one point in time it did have more control than Kings and Governments and beat and killed those that didn't conform...but that was a long time ago.

To prevent people from thinking the church institution is wrong, they employ the Satan tactic. If you are not able to be apart of the church it's because Satan is trying to convince you that it is bad and wrong so you will avoid it and not receive the message from God that the pastor has. I think this is possibly one of the institutions greatest manipulative weapons. It certainly worked on me for a while. If that doesn't work, then it's the fact that the church institution does a lot of good even if it's not perfect(or far from perfect). I think that's a terrible concept. Even baby strollers do a lot of good, even if some of them are possibly deadly and has been known to kill them. But when a product is capable of evil, they usually do a recall and fix the issue, unlike the church institution.

The church institution has become a machine much like the government that is out of control. It's not even that the modern church does it intentionally, but that the design and idea of the modern church is how we envision it, create it, and run it without even realizing how bad it is.

When I bring this up to people, they believe I've simply been hurt by the church and am biased, that not all church institutions are like this, or other excuses like it's Satan trying to separate me from the church. They also say that of my ideas about society and government too though. The modern church is one of the largest cults and grows more and more out of control all the time. However, I think if the church institution actually preached the true bible, they would have fewer followers than any other religion. As it says in the bible, sell everything you have and give to the poor(Luke 18:22), how many would be willing to do that? Who would want to live with only their needs being met while they are out there spreading the good word in dangerous areas and suffering in the name of God? The actual message isn't as appealing to people as the message the church institution provides...but I think it's definitely better.

This one makes me lol.

The Church Part 1: The Church Business

I went to church for a number of years and one thing I've realized is the modern church is really just a cookie cutter business selling a product that people have the option of paying for.

The modern church, whatever denomination or building you go to, are all the same. Each one has a different set of base beliefs that separate them from each other, but otherwise they are all from the same cookie cutter. They all boast about the great things the church is doing, play the same songs, and sell the same message.

The modern church, or institution since church is supposed to be a group of people and not a building, is not about God or the bible. It's sole purpose is to get people to show up and tithe(pay them) to hear the "message"(sermon) the pastor is preaching/teaching that Sunday(or Saturday if your a Seventh Day Adventist). The methods they use are straight from the business world, or more like a Starbucks. They provide an experience, an image, and nothing more. That is why it's a business. They dress up their building with well made logo's, flyers, displays, video's, big screen lcd tv's, projectors, high end audio equipment, comfortable seating, and even serve food and drinks among the other things they do in order to compel people into visiting(similar to how you like to look at shiny objects). Also, tithing isn't about giving the church institution money, it's about giving it to God which would mean wherever God would have you give or use it.

The church institution also drives the christian music and goods industry. They often play songs from christian music artists in their worship. The issue I have with the christian music industry is that it almost all sucks. But through excellent business practices, people ignore this fact and buy and listen to it almost exclusively. They also drive christian book stores. Often times, pastors will suggest a book they read about the bible, or suggest you read books because it can help you understand the bible better. Then you also end up buying christian bumper stickers, little angel figurines, those fish, and other christian memorabilia(which is actually contradictory of the bible like a lot of things the church does).

The church institution also has businesses that specialize in providing services and products just for church institutions. There are businesses that provide office equipment, web hosting, architectural, consultation, etc. I just looked this up...http://www.churchbuilding.com/expertise/design/ and if you look at the "presuppositions" section and look up the full context of the verses they use, it's completely out of context. The second verse they provide isn't, but the first and third are. To become a pastor though, you have to go to school(pay money) for it to learn(be brainwashed) how and get certified, you know, just like the 12 disciples did.

Like most things in life, it's ultimately about money and power. Maybe not at first though. At first, someone decides that they can do a better church because all the churches are lacking and starts one. If they become successful, the money or power can/will overcome them. So I'm not seen as biased, I don't believe that is the issue in every case, but more the fact that most people have already been trained(read: brainwashed) to believe in the cookie cutter church design and therefore follow the standard church design but implement their own message. I don't know any pastors who do it for free and work a day job, at least not once the church institution makes enough to pay them enough.

This is mostly about the cookie cutter church. There is so many more issues that come with the pay-per-view sermons, churches that actually accept corporate sponsorships, church workshops/events/conferences you need to pay to attend, etc. Seriously, they are just profiting off of people stupid enough to pay for what someone else believes about the bible.

It actually makes me think that maybe I should start a church. I really wouldn't mind setting up a church in a way that I can do one day of actual work and be paid more than most people. I wouldn't need to write my own sermons, there are tons of them available online. I could appoint someone to handle all the questions of the congregation during the week. The salary looks pretty good according to these 3 following sources:
http://www1.salary.com/Pastor-salary.html
http://www.dcvm.org/htm/Salary_Guidlines.htm
http://blogs.payscale.com/ask_dr_salary/2008/07/setting-pastor.html
Those three are much higher than this one http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Senior_Pastor/Salary so I'm not sure if the average is being skewed to create a biased against pastors in the above three or not...but in any case, it's pretty obvious that the more successful you are as a pastor the more you make regardless of need. But to make a point about money, when a business(church institution) is run on money, results(income) are more important than other aspects of the business. I've talked to someone who was a childrens pastor, and performance(how many seats are filled) is the real important aspect of your job. In a business model, that is the most profitable and logical way to run a business, but from a biblical viewpoint, Jesus only had 12 close followers and many many more people that walked away from Him, not to mention the ones that crucified Him.

I think you would get just as much out of Scientology as you would from the Christian Church. I want clarify that I'm talking about the Church Institution, the building and administration, not Christianity in general. Regardless if you believe in God or not, the bible provides a good way to live your life. It's not an easy way, but from a psychological view, it's the best way.

*EDIT*: Something I intended to bring up is the Church in Europe. The churches there, they sermons they give are more in line with the bible. Also note, the European churches are paid by the government which takes the tithes out of everyone's salary anyway, therefore they don't need to make everything positive and spend it on advertising and eye candy. Though the European church's are also typically empty...but I may be wrong. I don't live there.

tl:dr: The modern church is a business that sells a false message.

My Car Is Not A Boat

So this morning I drove to Denny's. There was lots of flooding everywhere, and I decided I wanted to park in the flooded area. I thought it was a lot shallower then it really was and drowned the engine. Lesson learned. Fortunately the car is running again after getting the water out of the cylinders and air filter.