I guess the best thing to compare religion to, in general, is the movie, The Matrix, because if you are convinced that something is real, and you believe it, how could it be false, just like the whole web of lies involved in the biggest cult movement ever.

Anyway, here goes . . .

One day, driving home from somewhere, it doesn't really matter where, and if it did, I could not remember anyway, as I was far too young; I saw a large billboard that had a very angelic picture of Jesus, and the words "God is Love". As are most children of that age, I was intrigued, "what is this god?" I thought to myself. I soon asked my mother if I could begin going to church, as my grandparents are Scotish, it seemed appropriate to go to the local Presbyterian church. It was also the closest, save the Babtist church (good thing I didn't end up there, they have the best brainwashing in the business). Anyway, I was the average student, I never questioned the teachings, and I always participated (though I was never fully involved). Before not too long, my mother began teaching the Kindergarden aged children at the church, it seemed we would be doomed to salvation for eternity (if that makes any sense at all, its late and I have had too many Mike's Hard Lemonades and Coca-Colas). I can't remember what year it was, maybe when I was around 12, so say 1994, my aunt remarried (she had been married many years before and had 1 daughter), of course the Babtist church she went to was not so cool with that, and she was given the boot. This began to sow the seeds of discontent within me. Once I was at that church, during a communion service, and since I was not a Babtist myself, I was denied communion. When I was in grade 8, I remember our class talking about Religion, the guy who sat across from me, Jade, said he didn't believe in God because he couldn't accept that any good god would allow such tradgedies to happen in the world. I didn't really like the guy, as I was still in brainwash mode. Then I began hearing about things such as the Spanish Inquisition, The Scopes Monkey Trial, Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. I now had serious doubts about the whole deal ... that night, I began reading the bible, it was a grueling process, but I eventually (a month or so) finished reading the entire bible. One element that helped in my deliberations within my own mind was the movie "Contact", with the whole Occum's Razor theory, "The simplest answer is often the right answer", and could I honestly say that some all powerful being, that seems to come out of nowhere, and create a world in 6 days and then appears to vanish is particularly likely, when compared to "over billions of years particles of hydrogen and helium built up until it reached some sort of nuclear critical mass and exploded"? No, I could not. The obvious Christian response to this is, "You have to have faith", and that is exactly what keeps their minds in check, faith. It is the seemingly unbreakable bindings, because when it all comes down to it, that is the only justifiable reason someone can believe, faith. And there is no way that I can justify to myself that I should believe in something of which there is no proof, simply because a book that has been written by (forgive me here) god-knows-who, tells me to. I mean, honestly, if people went around buying every Billy Blanke Tae-Bo video they see an ad for on TV, where would we be as a society? So as it stands now I am a believer in science so to speak, as it to me has the answers.

This is not to say that I hate Christians, in fact, at school, of the people I hang out with on a regular basis, 5 out of 9 of them are very religious, and I do not mind, that is one of the great things about living in a country where everyone can make their own desicions, everyone CAN make their own descions. In fact, my first 2 girlfriends, Melissa and Heather were both religous themselves, and I didn't mind, because they got to choose forthemselves, and they chose, as Karl Marx put it "Religion is opium for the masses" (or something like that)(and I am not a commie, though the idelas aren't bad, the only way it would work would be like in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World") And along those lines, nobody can force my mind to anything, I am my own free will, and I am liberated, if there was a bumber sticker I could create, it would be "Warning: The Driver of This Car is No Longer Bound by the Shackles of God". A few months ago I even went to Laser Quest (which is a laser tag game) with one of my friends, Rebekah's bible-youth group (you can tell she is religious just by her name, being that it is spelled like in the bible, being the wife of Issac (Genesis, around chapter 24), however some newer printings have her name as Rebecca, as it is common today. Unfortunatly for her, she was born into the bondage of religion and never really had a chance, as her name would suggest, and I do pity her for that, because as it stands, her mind is not her own.) Anyway, getting back to the story, we had a great time, despite our differnt beliefs, later, my current girlfriend, Lindsay, asked me how I could possible stand being with those babtists, here is my respones,

"Good people can be lead astray, some very easily, and in a free country they have the right to believe as they wish, and so do I, unlike them, I do not forcefully attempt to convert people, I allow them to see their light for the darkness it really is, I respect their beliefs, and I can only hope they can do the same for mine."

She was really quite stuned that I would actually defend them, in a way I suppose I was playing Angel's advocate (as opposed to Devil's advocate), but it all comes down to this, unlike some people, who just believe out of sheer ignorance, or do not believe out of the same ignorance, I can at least say, "I paid attention, I read the bible, and I know a lot about it, no one can call my desicion ignorant; simply, my desicion."

Aside from that, there really isn't much to tell, I would advise everyone (people of all beliefs) to read the bible, though you can skip the geneology part, at least then you will know what you are talking about. The stories within the bible can also be used as a source of great moral footing, or inspiration, as long as one remembers that they are just stories. A great source of inspiration for all those who are struggling with the bindings of God is a metaphorical story simply titled "HANK", found at http://www.angelfire.com/wi/godless/lit/hank.html

Summary: Heaven is a Reward for believing, Hell is to keep the masses in line

Thanks for reading, James Bone

P.S. Recently (last week), I visited Missouri, we stayed with some Catholic friends of my grandparents it was a long journey from here, (approx: 16 hours) and I drove my grandparents part of the way (around Des Moines, Iowa to our destination, Conception Junction, Missouri). We had a good debate on religion, and my grandfather even gave me a theory on how man invented god, and it is too bad I cannot remember it, since it was pretty good, he also gave me a quote from an Archbishop, who's name I cannot recall, who said "Religion is the greatest thing to ever happen to death", and it is true, everyone is secure in the knowledge that because of the whole John 3:16 thing that they get to live forever for accepting Christ as their saviour, and that of course goes right back to the whole opium thing. I'll tell you something else, I did not feel safe down in the bible belt, honestly, if I had expressed my own mind I think something might have happened, I know this is paranoid, but if killers can justify the death of an abortion doctor to save lives, then I could be killed to keep people from losing their way on the righteous path so to speak.

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