Unplugged from the Matrix
By Nick Hargreaves --
Religion taught me more than anything else that it doesn’t matter what evidence you have , or what your calculations are, as long as it is stated in the bible it is true.
So when I read that dinosaur bones are dated to be as old as hundreds of millions of years (from studies that have taken place for decades, involving a lot of calculations and precariously crafted instruments), I told myself “the devil must have put the bones there to make them look like The Holy Bible is wrong”.
Then came astronomy, the big bang theory, stellar distances,…I said “Fuck it!” About the same time I realized something, all along I had taken the bible as the absolute truth. I never questioned where it came from, how it was written(though at sabbath school we were told the holy spirit used men to write it). I did my research, watched a few documentaries and behold! I became free!
When you wake up everyday praying for something that you never get, when you see innocent people and children out there dying of hunger, diseases and even religion inspired murders, when you see immoral people always having their way and what you are told is that no matter what happens, no matter who gets what, no matter how it goes always know that it is god’s will; you have to wake up and smell the coffee.
That god you pray to is the same god that people hundreds of decades back prayed to, a mythical creature that was invented when human knowledge was at its infancy, when the stars were believed to be gods, the earth was thought to be flat and that a fiery place beneath earth existed where the devil lives. You will need a lot of effort convincing yourself that evolution didn’t happen, or stars are 6,000 years old. In fact you will need so much less effort to believe in Santa than an omnipotent god who created self and everything else, who watches everything and every event that happens does so in his will. I just ain’t that creative with imaginary friends.
Religion taught me more than anything else that it doesn’t matter what evidence you have , or what your calculations are, as long as it is stated in the bible it is true.
Image via Wikipedia
So even though my knowledge continued to increase and even though science taught me that something can’t be said to be a fact unless you prove it, religion always had its way with me. My greatest solace came from the read:Proverbs 3:5 (New International Version)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
So when I read that dinosaur bones are dated to be as old as hundreds of millions of years (from studies that have taken place for decades, involving a lot of calculations and precariously crafted instruments), I told myself “the devil must have put the bones there to make them look like The Holy Bible is wrong”.
Then came astronomy, the big bang theory, stellar distances,…I said “Fuck it!” About the same time I realized something, all along I had taken the bible as the absolute truth. I never questioned where it came from, how it was written(though at sabbath school we were told the holy spirit used men to write it). I did my research, watched a few documentaries and behold! I became free!
When you wake up everyday praying for something that you never get, when you see innocent people and children out there dying of hunger, diseases and even religion inspired murders, when you see immoral people always having their way and what you are told is that no matter what happens, no matter who gets what, no matter how it goes always know that it is god’s will; you have to wake up and smell the coffee.
That god you pray to is the same god that people hundreds of decades back prayed to, a mythical creature that was invented when human knowledge was at its infancy, when the stars were believed to be gods, the earth was thought to be flat and that a fiery place beneath earth existed where the devil lives. You will need a lot of effort convincing yourself that evolution didn’t happen, or stars are 6,000 years old. In fact you will need so much less effort to believe in Santa than an omnipotent god who created self and everything else, who watches everything and every event that happens does so in his will. I just ain’t that creative with imaginary friends.
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