Number 23 Hunger in the face of religion

I was raised up in a relatively common family environment. My dad always worked full time and I don't think we ever did without the necessities of life. I think our lifestyle would have been somewhere between the lower middle class and the middle of the middle class of folks.

My mother, at times, did work outside the home after we got up old enough to watch out for ourselves, however the durations of her employment were not long lived.

We went to the Landmark Baptist Church there in England, Arkansas most every Sunday and sometimes on Wednesday nights. I listened to the preacher a lot more than one would think a child would likely do. Most of the sermons dealt with hellfire and brimstone and the obedience to God. I heard the preacher preach about God the great provider, and the God of wrath. He preached about the God that hates and the God that loves.

I must admit that for many years I was both confused and afraid of this portrayal of God that I had heard preached for most of my youth, and from those days till now. I am 64 years old and most preachers of Christian churches still preach the same hellfire and brimstone and damnation to the non-believers that they preached back when I was a child. I have, over the years, grown to climb over that mountain of dogma. I can now see a more beautiful landscape of life.

It probably sounds as though I am a non-believer but that is to the contrary. I am a firm believer in a great provider, a God, but I am still confused about this entity. I find it hard to believe that a thinking, loving God could allow so much suffering to continue for thousands or maybe millions of years. I think that if I was God I would do away with the pain and suffering and I would eradicate hunger and the need for war. Do you think perhaps that I would make a too wimpy of a God, do you think a God needs to be wrathful and reek havoc on the world and whip us back into submission?

Religious leaders of every faith throughout the world claim that they practice the true way of life and are in favor with God or the powers that be, and that if you will only convert to their way, your life will at the very least become more meaningful to the world. 'If' you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could be a healer, you could move mountains, change water into wine, you could still the raging seas, and with a few fishes and a few loaves of bread you could feed the multitudes.

I've met a few 'Claim-to-be healers' but in my 64 years I've yet to witness any of their healing powers. Most of our health issues will resolve themselves in a short time if we will just use common sense in treating our bodies right. The only thing close to spiritual healing is a positive mental outlook on life, but even this will not prevent all of your health issues. Sometimes we need the advice of a doctor but even doctors have their limitations, as we all know.

I 'believe' that we have the technology to produce enough food to feed the world but we humans are too stupid to put aside religion and ideologies and focus on stamping out HUNGER, but
too many egos want to be THE BOSS.

Which of these religions or ideologies cannot see the good in focusing on feeding the many starving peoples of the world? Feeding the people of the world surely cannot be conceived as being anything other than an act of love, but, it seems that leadership is failing to ignite a spirit to feed the people rather than produce weapons of great destruction.

Some of these religions wage wars against the infidels and build great mosques while some religions want you to give a tenth of you earnings so that they can build grand churches, houses of God, to preach and pray in, and then buy some big buses to travel to other churches and visit and spread the word of God as they interpret it.

Ideologies are born out of religious influences and over-zealous egos that want people to follow their lead or be ostracized and left to fend for themselves. I don't remember ever hearing or reading about a religion that focuses only on loving your fellow man and feeding the world.

I must admit that most religions do teach some good and positive lessons of life, but, they also preach that having a great desire for the pleasures of life is sinful. They seem to indoctrinate a guilty mindset for seeking the pleasures of life, that we can better serve God by denying ourselves. Jesus supposedly said 'So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple'. Jesus wanted you to sever your focus on any material thing of the world and focus every fiber of your being on His life and purpose.

The one and only purpose that people choose to follow Jesus is to get to heaven and live the good life for eternity. Everyone would rather live forever in complete happiness rather than eternally in hellfire, even if they have been assholes all their life.

I could see merit in a religion that focused on loving your fellow man and feeding the world, and teaching the starving countries how to work and provide for themselves.

I know, I truly do know that the world is full of those that don't want to work and will work harder to avoid work, and unfortunately I do not know how to solve that problem, but I do believe that religious dogma is counter productive and is as criminal as criminal negligence or involuntary manslaughter, but, religious dogma is not illegal nor do I want it to be illegal. I just wish people could see through that smokescreen that religious leaders keep pumping into their faces and eyes. Perhaps then they could loose their chains of bondage.

The great creator of this world has provided us with all of our necessities of life but we will never be spoon fed by this great creative force. Religion will give you false hope. Right thinking and right actions will feed you and clothe you and put a roof over your head. Become the best person that you can be and your afterlife will be secure. The only hell you will ever experience is the hell that your ignorance or the ignorance of others and the laws of nature bring upon you.

Finton