Some people need a set of rules to follow to keep them on the straight and narrow, as it were. And when you have a set of rules that possibly millions of others are following, it makes life a little easier.
The problem I do have is when the organized Religion someone is following causes that person to no longer think for themselves, or to never have an opinion other than the one pointed to in their book.
You probably need an example to understand my point, so I will provide you with just one.
A gentleman I work with surprised me at the lunch table the other day. We were discussing articles from the daily paper, and I mentioned one where a scientist claimed they had found a city under the sand in Iraq. The scientists had determined that the city was about 11,000 years old. Upon hearing that, the gentleman sneered and said, "there go those stupid scientists again!", and shook his head. I didn't understand what he meant and told him so. At that point, he stood up, his face became very angry looking and he said, "those guys make this stuff up just so they can continue traipsing around the World, making more money in a year than we make in ten."
Thinking that he must be kidding around, I asked him, " so do you think it might be older than they say?"
This is where things got a little strange. I knew this guy was reasonably intelligent, and had a normal education. But I was about to find out why he had been moved to the midnight shift where he could work alone. He got a look on his face like he was speaking to a little child who had no idea how the World worked and he was going to try his best to patiently explain it to me. "Have you ever read the Bible?" he asked me. But before I could answer he said, "in the Bible it clearly states that God created the heavens and the Earth, and then it tells the names of all the first people after Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden. If you follow the bloodlines of the families you will see very clearly that God made the Earth about 6,00 years ago."
I didn't know what to say! Clearly this guy couldn't believe that the Earth was six thousand years old? "So what about the dinosaurs?" I asked him. "Aren't they supposed to be a couple of million years old?" He sneered again and said "that's more of the crap these scientists want you to believe. Look, they make up all these weird animals, then their buddies from college who became teachers tell the children in school that it's all true, so they can have a job! Then they build museums and put skeletons made out of plaster in there and say, oooh look!, these giant animals lived millions of years ago. Now they can charge people to go see the plaster skeletons,so they make even more money. Why do you think these "dinosaurs" all have huge fangs? It's all showmanship!"
The real problem here was, this guy believed every word he was saying! If he was so sure about this, he had probably sat down with a group of other people and discussed it. That meant he wasn't just some individual looney tune - he was a member of an organized Religion. So, rather than getting involved in some ludicrous argument, I just said, "well, I guess we all have to believe in something", and got up and left.
I could hear it now -
Me: "How could you say a thing like that?
Him: "How could you think those monsters are real?"
Me: "But what about the bones? They've been finding those things for hundreds of years!"
Him: "Did you ever find one?"
Me: "No,.."
Him: "Aha!, So how do you know they're not lying?"
Me: "Oh, come on! What about the ancient Sumerians? They were here more than six thousand years ago!"
Him: "Says who?"
Me: "Says me! I've been reading stories about them. They are where we get mathematics and science and medicine. They were here even before the Egyptians."
Him: "You know, I feel sorry for you! You have been brainwashed to the point where you believe just about anything. Read the Bible. I've read it and it doesn't say anything about Sumerians. It talks about Egyptians, so a little of what you are saying might be true."
Me: "Oh, I see! If it's not in the Bible then it's not true!"
Him: "That's right. The Bible is the Word of God, (thunder rolls), passed down to Moses and other Saints.
Me: "Did you know that the Bible we read in English is much different than the actual writings. First of all, there were many things that didn't translate right to English so they changed the words around. Plus some of the books of the Bible were written 500 years after Jesus died. Try telling someone a fact and tell them to go downstairs and tell it to someone else. Watch what happens. Then try to tell me people passed the facts down 500 years without anybody getting it wrong.
Him: "I don't want to hear any more! You are going to burn in the fiery pits of Hell for eternity! And the worst part is, you don't even know it!"
Me: "Aaaah, the truth hurts doesn't it?"
Him: "You wouldn't know truth if it fell on your head! Who twisted your mind this way? You see? This is exactly what the devil wants. Now he is in the schools twisting people like you so you end up burning alongside him! You better start reading your Bible and praying for forgiveness."
Me: "Forgiveness? From who? From your so-called God who lets millions of people die from War, starvation, genocide? Where is your God when some animal is cutting the breasts off of a woman so she can't produce milk to feed her baby? Where is he when some psycho sets off a car bomb and blows the arms off a child? Why doesn't he reach down with his all - powerful hand and protect the innocent? Tell me that!"
Him: " Wow, you are really a demon posing as a man, aren't you? You're testing my faith aren't you? Be gone Satan! Get thee behind me!" With that he clasps his hands together, rolls his eyes up and starts babbling. They call it "speaking in tongues". Ha!
