|
True truths Helping people find the truth about religion |
IN AMERICA, WE ARE FREE TO CHOOSE HOW WE BELIEVE |
WHY RELIGION PROSPERS But why would anyone make up the story of Jesus Christ? Zach read the opening line of the paper Jason Tinsley
had sent him. After Zach taped Jason’s “testimony,”
Jason asked if he could send Zach some of his thoughts he had written
down. Zach said sure, he would love to look at anything he had written.
Zach continued reading: Do you know how much power, how much wealth, and how
much control the religions of the world have? Look at the religions
most of us are familiar with - your Catholics and various Protestant
religions - Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Church of Christ,
Presbyterian, and so on. Look at the Jews, the Mormons, the Scientologists,
and others. They control over a billion people and billions of dollars
in cash, real estate and various businesses. You see, religion is a business. It’s sort of
like a franchise. Each religious faith has its central headquarters
which helps coordinate independent businessmen - preachers, pastors,
priests - who help expand the business to capture a bigger market share.
And by studying history and successful churches, they learn the best,
most effective business practices for expanding their churches, increasing
income, and maintaining current customers. Just like successful businesses, some franchise owners
or prospective owners want their own franchise, and they may leave to
form their own faith or branch of faith. Thus, Wesley left the Catholics
to found the Methodists, Joe Smith formed his own branch of religion
that he called Mormonism, Mohammed founded Islam, and many others have
formed their own separate sect or religion. Let there be no mistake about the enormous power and
wealth of religion. And the competition for recruiting and keeping members
is enormous. Many religions have been very successful in their conquests,
and continue to this day to grow and prosper. Look at the Pope and the
Vatican and the Catholic Church. Look at the Aga Khan, a leader of the
Muslim religion who is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world,
or look at the Moonies, or the Lutherans or Baptists. The money, the
wealth, and the power of religion is real. Look at the empires built by Jim and Tammy Faye Baker,
Billy Graham, Jimmy Swaggart, and other godly televangelists. Why doesn’t someone stop it if it’s all
a big scam? The profit motive. And the lack of reward for anyone
who would question the status quo. What does that mean? It simply means that the rewards for those who are
successful in perpetuating the myth of religion are great. Power. Money.
Status. Prestige. Control. Respect. And these rewards come for those
who actually believe in their faith as well as for those who know about
the lies and distortions perpetuated by their faith, but choose to deceive
their members anyway. But what is the reward for someone who seeks the truth?
Will someone give you ten percent of his wealth if you convince him
the story of Jesus is false? Will someone pray to you and seek your
guidance if you show them the Muslim religion is false? Will hundreds
of people build you a place of worship if you convince them the Jewish
religion is a scam? Will couples come to you to be married under your
name if you prove there is no religion that has the one and only answer? Of course not. Because the person who seeks the truth,
who doesn’t claim some special knowledge of the truth, or the
secret to eternal life, or that he knows how you can stay out of the
depths of hell, doesn’t have any control over people. The truth seeker isn’t going to make his living
off of other people's vulnerability and gullibility. He probably has
a real job, and probably spends most of his time earning a living and
providing for his family. He doesn’t have the time and resources
of religion, and even if he did, he's not into extortion to make his
living. Think about how many people earn a living from religion.
Obviously, there are millions of priests and pastors and preachers and
rabbis and bishops and cardinals and dalai lamas and clerics and youth
leaders and choir leaders and publishers. Billions and billions of dollars
have gone to contractors for building churches and support buildings.
The Vatican has spent who knows how many millions on buildings and gold
and artwork and jewelry and other valuables through the years. People
know - religion pays, and pays big. The other incentive - and it is a very strong incentive
- is the incentive many people have because they truly believe. Many
people who devote their lives to doing “God’s work”
are honest, caring, hard working individuals. They truly believe in
the doctrines and teachings of their faith, and they truly feel they
are providing a service to mankind and to their god. They feel a certain
comfort and joy in sharing what they see as the truth. I know –
I was one of these people. So you see, the incentives for people to spread the
word of god, to evangelize to all corners of the earth, to be a good
Christian or whatever your faith is, are strong. There’s a lot
of self-interest. A lot of reward. But for the person who just wants the truth, there
is much less incentive for spreading the word of those who don't believe
in one of the organized religions. Yes, there is the satisfaction of
exposing the truth. There is the love of reason and power of right over
wrong. And there are a select few who will “spread the word.”
But these lovers of reason have to make a living since they don’t
get paid for showing other people the truth. Their counterparts, on
the other hand, can devote their days and careers and their lives to
their religion and support themselves with the many contributions from
members and their church. Who are these people who know the truth? Most are just
mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters - normal working class people
who see the truth. They may tell people what they think, but for the
most part they are busy working, raising families, and enjoying life
on our planet. A few are more outspoken and thus more well-known. Some
names of outspoken individuals that come to mind are: Thomas Paine,
Thomas Jefferson, Madelyn Murray O’Hare, George Bernard Shaw,
Robert Ingersoll, Albert Einstein and Acharya S. If you do a little
research and digging, you can find many more, but not many are household
names. Being against organized religion has never been very popular,
especially in the United States. On the other hand, being for religion has been popular. Here's a to do list for anyone interested in creating their own successful religion: 1. Appoint a leader (often "self-appoint") A great example is the Mormon religion. Because it
is a relatively recent religion, we can more easily trace the history
of its formation. Obviously, there are some people who believe Mormonism
is based on true stories and teachings. Most people, however, recognize
the lying, the deceit, and the incredible ridiculousness of this new
religion. Look at the steps above, and it is easy to identify how Joseph
Smith and the Mormons have succeeded. Every successful religion has
followed the same steps in its own way. Let's take a society with 1,000,000 people. In this
society, if a small percentage (say .01%, or 1 out of 10,000) decide
to form a religion, you would have 100 people to begin this fledgling
religion. Since these people would be supported by the tithes and gifts
of its followers, they can devote their time and efforts to the goals
of the organization. Imagine 100 people working full-time to create,
strengthen and perpetuate their religion. At just 40 hours per week
per person, that's 200,000 hours every year. You can write books and
scriptures, you can make up rules, conduct ceremonies, preach to thousands,
recruit new converts, and do other things to build your religion. Assuming
you can keep at least 100 religious leaders active at all times (and
it should be even more than 100 with growth), in 100 years, that's over
20,000,000 hours from this core of leaders! Imagine what you could do
with 20 million hours at your disposal. As the religion converts people and gets the members
to dutifully tithe "to God" by giving to the "religion,"
the religion gains not only the money but also the hearts and souls
of more people. Notable among all major religions is the emphasis on
early education, where preschoolers and young elementary age children
are relentlessly drilled with the 'truths' of their religion - also
known as brainwashing. Religious leaders know that if they can inundate
children with their beliefs and philosophies at an early age, the young
children will likely hold onto those beliefs for life. Those brainwashed as children as well as those who
are converted later in life in turn help convert others, help carry
forth the traditions, and support religious law. Continuous efforts
result in more and more people being converted as time goes on. The
result is a mix of people who know their religion is a farce and those
who genuinely believe the tenets of their religion. Conversely, you do not have any cohesive group of people
who have 200,000 hours a years to persuade people not to believe in
these religions. These nonbelievers are busy earning a living, improving
life on our planet, and enjoying life as they see it. What we typically see and hear are the great number
of religious "believers," relentlessly pushing their religion
and doing their best to convert the heathen non-believers. Meanwhile,
the non-believer quietly goes about his business, enjoying life and
wondering how so many people can be bamboozled into believing myths
and fables made up by man. |
|
|
To explore these issues and more, read the new mind-expanding, thought-provoking book, TrueTruths
We want to know what you think. Email us at truetruths@earthlink.net |
|
True truths Helping people find the truth about religion |