"Worship is a humbling denial of your own value in order to inflate someone else's worth."
Dan Barker - The Good Atheist
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| http://thesetapartadventure.blogspot.com/2011/05/living-worship.html |
We've all seen the videos of quivering bodies, hands raised, full on "I'm so into you jesus" worship. It makes me feel so sad for these people and especially the multitude of children who are pushed into that behavior.
The adults want to feel a connection to their lord so bad they create this fever-pitched ritual and call it real. The children emulate and then hope for praise. "Was that good mommy?" understandably the subconscious reaction to what is going on around them.
The adults want to feel a connection to their lord so bad they create this fever-pitched ritual and call it real. The children emulate and then hope for praise. "Was that good mommy?" understandably the subconscious reaction to what is going on around them.
The other troubling aspect of this is the complete denial of their own personhood. Over and over again, this steady mantra believers insist on - we're sinners, we're evil, only god is awesome - this reinforces the lack of value they feel about themselves. They are but a shadow in the greatness of their one true god. Yuck. No wonder there are so many, the ones with low self-esteem to begin with, who fall into religion so smoothly; the rituals are designed for them in mind. Stockholm Syndrome, another version of slavery.
Church leaders who promote submission unto the lord understand what this means. It's power over their flock and they use it oh so well to their advantage. Look at the mega-billion super churches and those who run them. They are living the lifestyle while they watch the dutiful worshipers go ga-ga for jesus. They even egg them on further and deeper into this silliness. And they call it good. For who? Not the parishioners as their wallets are being emptied. The only thing they are left with are the endorphins they themselves brought into existence. They are happy... for the moment.
The faithful will tell you that all this is worth it, but is it really? Well, some would say that he has made it abundantly clear to them. Of course he has. Right and if I believe that then I'll buy any bullshit story... like the truly faithful do, over and over, in so many different religions, sects and cults.
What does worship of an imaginary figure actually do for their one existence here on earth? Nothing and that's the point. All they want so desperately is to be received by a figure that won't make themselves known to them until after this life has extinguished itself. They want the promised glorious after-life. "Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire." from The Complete Heretic's Guide to Western Religion: The Mormons by David Fitzgerald. Good book, I'd highly recommend it for further understanding. So, what he wants, nay demands, is complete and utter submission of his flock and dutiful worship of his being the grandest of them all. What a fucking narcissist.
My hope is more people would question this submission/domination relationship that is being encouraged. Think about this - who decided people have no value? For those who believe in god, well then, he did, actually. And this is the person they want to worship? He thinks people are beneath him and must be saved, but he's the one who created them. So doesn't that make him imperfect for creating something that has no value? If he decided to create imperfect people intentionally, well now he's seriously just fucking with people. How do followers not take a moment to question this whole set up? It boggles the mind. Makes me glad that I use mine.
Committing to worship fervently, allowing yourself to believe that you have less value only hinders you from fully enjoying and accepting yourself as you are, good and bad. It stymies real personal growth when you feel you will never be better than the one who created you. You are a slave to tradition, not stepping out of line and never questioning; faithful now and until you reach the goal of the after-life with the big guy. Ugh, what a waste of a life here and now.
A few years back, I wrote a piece about being self-led and independent, in actions and thought. It has served me well in this one life I am leading. I continue in this journey gaining more understanding with every event and connection I make in this world. It gives me personal strength knowing every challenge overcome is one I was able to master. This is value and every conflict or problem handled continues to add more. Handling life on its own terms does not require me to worship something else. Being here requires me to understand myself, my fellow inhabitants, nature and how to best navigate my short time in this life. It means being fully engaged, not down on my knees or submitting a puny version of its alleged creator in prayerful worship.
Church leaders who promote submission unto the lord understand what this means. It's power over their flock and they use it oh so well to their advantage. Look at the mega-billion super churches and those who run them. They are living the lifestyle while they watch the dutiful worshipers go ga-ga for jesus. They even egg them on further and deeper into this silliness. And they call it good. For who? Not the parishioners as their wallets are being emptied. The only thing they are left with are the endorphins they themselves brought into existence. They are happy... for the moment.
The faithful will tell you that all this is worth it, but is it really? Well, some would say that he has made it abundantly clear to them. Of course he has. Right and if I believe that then I'll buy any bullshit story... like the truly faithful do, over and over, in so many different religions, sects and cults.
What does worship of an imaginary figure actually do for their one existence here on earth? Nothing and that's the point. All they want so desperately is to be received by a figure that won't make themselves known to them until after this life has extinguished itself. They want the promised glorious after-life. "Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire." from The Complete Heretic's Guide to Western Religion: The Mormons by David Fitzgerald. Good book, I'd highly recommend it for further understanding. So, what he wants, nay demands, is complete and utter submission of his flock and dutiful worship of his being the grandest of them all. What a fucking narcissist.
My hope is more people would question this submission/domination relationship that is being encouraged. Think about this - who decided people have no value? For those who believe in god, well then, he did, actually. And this is the person they want to worship? He thinks people are beneath him and must be saved, but he's the one who created them. So doesn't that make him imperfect for creating something that has no value? If he decided to create imperfect people intentionally, well now he's seriously just fucking with people. How do followers not take a moment to question this whole set up? It boggles the mind. Makes me glad that I use mine.
Committing to worship fervently, allowing yourself to believe that you have less value only hinders you from fully enjoying and accepting yourself as you are, good and bad. It stymies real personal growth when you feel you will never be better than the one who created you. You are a slave to tradition, not stepping out of line and never questioning; faithful now and until you reach the goal of the after-life with the big guy. Ugh, what a waste of a life here and now.
A few years back, I wrote a piece about being self-led and independent, in actions and thought. It has served me well in this one life I am leading. I continue in this journey gaining more understanding with every event and connection I make in this world. It gives me personal strength knowing every challenge overcome is one I was able to master. This is value and every conflict or problem handled continues to add more. Handling life on its own terms does not require me to worship something else. Being here requires me to understand myself, my fellow inhabitants, nature and how to best navigate my short time in this life. It means being fully engaged, not down on my knees or submitting a puny version of its alleged creator in prayerful worship.
As having been a Theist for my entire life, or at least until I was in my mid 40's and I now am over 50, one thing I can not get through to my Fundamentalist Baptist family whom has ended all ties with me is that they are being led by the force of guilt, of feeling the self loathing thought that something in themselves in not good enough, that they are inherently awful, bad, destined for hell.
ReplyDeleteThen, with the Revelation I had in my Journey to Secular Humanism, an epiphany, ant that epiphany is that I was a good person. I cared for others, that I had served my whole life, in both the Military as an Officer and a gentleman, and as a Spiritual leader, always trying to just talk about the Love of God and not this attitude about guilt, but NOW I realize that I, myself, was perpetuating this destructive lie.
We are not inherently evil. We are inherently people that want to reach out toward others. To comfort and love, and to receive comfort and love. The four most basic wants of the humans species is to 1. Live and be Happy 2. To love and be loved 3. To feel important in our own way 4. To have some variety in life.....after we have met the basics of food and housing.
Religion has separated societies and destroyed innocent people who so want to feel good about themselves, and this has been shown in the recent Suicide of Pastor Rick Warren's son at Saddleback Mega Church in I think, San Diego.
For, if anything is taught in churches, Christian, in most of the 32,000 different denominations is that we have ORIGINAL SIN, as it is technically called, that we are originally born into sin and need a God to save us from our ugly selves.
And now, with my self esteem and peace of mind intact, I can say I am finally free from the chains of religion, for religion never freed me from the chains of its dogma, but held me hostage and made me feel bad about myself, and that self loathing led me to want to die, because I could never attain the life Christian Pastors always talked about, and every church service brought me temporary comfort as first I was again reminded about my inherent evilness and then told the only way out was to follow Jesus, whom we have not one single solitary record from 0 to 99 A.D. on anything about his life, as I have studied this in depth, and know, at least for myself, that there were probably 1,000 people walking around this era fighting the Roman takeover of the "Holy Land" and fighting against the "Monopoly" the Religious Leadership had over their temples, teaching the same thing, that the poor are the ones being punished by God, and as my own mother just told me last week.....
That my knee surgery that is impending is God trying to teach me a lesson and to come back and follow him....
How much worse can one be than to assert that?
Sorry for such a long comment, but Susi, you are right on the mark!
Namaste
and the same to you, my friend. may all people finally escape the clutches of religion and enjoy the worth they bring to shared experiences and life in general. :)
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