In the Beginning …
GOD
… created the heavens and the Earth
You think I’m talking about the Christians? Or maybe it would be better to say, the Hebrews, after all, the Christians took the Jewish scriptures, added Jesus’s story, and called it their own. Come to think of it, Islam also shares the same ancestry as the Jews and claims the same God.
Some anxiety creeps into the back of my mind as I hear angry voices, horrified by the blasphemy that I would even dare to imply that the three major religions share the same Supreme Being, creator of All.
Silence…
The sound of a match being struck, the little puff as it lights, then burning, a great blazing fire, the force of it creating a wind that howls along with the shrieking. Human screams of terror are almost dwarfed by the roar of the crowd… “Blasphemer, Heretic! You will burn in Hell and we will send you there”.
Imagine, an authority that has the power to take any one of their people, tie them to a pole surrounded by firewood, then light the fire that burns them alive. People are tortured to death only because their ideas are contrary to those of the ruling authority.
That was done by the first Christian Church when it was about 1500 years old, though it wasn’t the first of its kind. The same 1500 years prior, saw a man named Jesus, tortured and nailed to a tree, because he dared to challenge the beliefs of the Jewish authorities. Ironically, this event marks the beginning of this same Christian Church.
Both before and after these historic events have been others, much the same, every place where humans have been. If you dare to have a divergent thought, you’ll be like the pigeon who, rising from the woodlands, is seized instantly by the hawk as it dives from the heights. Entrapped by its talons, the life is squeezed out of you, just because you rose too high.
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Religion is the practice of spirituality based on a set of shared beliefs or doctrine. A large group sharing these beliefs eventually will become organized into smaller groups, known as churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and so on. Contact between groups will become strained over time, so a methodology is needed to maintain religious unity. Being social, the human species form hierarchies, so as religions grow, they do the same.
Leaders and followers naturally fall into place. This behavior pattern is intrinsic to the human race. The pattern develops when a leader gathers followers more often than when a leader is chosen from among a group of followers. In the case of religion, this rule holds true. At some point, either at the beginning or later, a leader emerges or is chosen. Everyone is happy while they have a leader, but what happens when the leader dies? This is a critical moment for most groups, more so if they are unprepared for it.
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