Thought Twelve

Religion

There is a force that can break through the existing barriers that prevents the brotherhood among mankind. The animosity that exists between races can melt by this force. In the midst of mistrust due to language barriers comes understanding. Culture and traditions find appreciation instead of scorn because of the common bond it can bring. It gives a stage for common ground to find its path to trust and friendship.

That force is religion. Religion gives a place to fellowship and find the path to a better existence. A place where the ignorant can find higher truths, and the weak can be strengthened to obey higher laws. A place where the enlightened can serve, and the strong can strengthen.

By teaching higher truths religion nourishes the seeds of civilization. By inspiring obedience to higher laws it waters the trees of civilization. When scorned completely, then comes a drought and death to civilization.

Disobedience to the laws of a civilization brings destruction upon the civilization. With the source of inspiration gone, for obedience to law, comes the deterioration of the society. The fear of jail cannot hold back the chaos for long.

Religions leave much room for scorn. Often the mission of enlightenment and strengthening is tainted and sometimes overcome by other than pure motives. Many churches fall into different categories of formation and impurities.

One impurity is the use of religion to control the minds and hearts of people. The ruler of a people wants to strengthen his position. He wants his subjects to believe that his place and that of his posterity is by divine right. To do so, he simply starts a religion, placing himself as its divine leader. He uses well compensated spiritual leaders to strengthen his claim. They teach some eternal truths mixed with messages of the rulers divine right to rule. Anyone rejecting the claim as foolishness is branded a heretic and put to death. After a generation or two the religion strengthens and is universally accepted as truth in the land. This type of religion usually lasts hundreds and sometimes thousands of years because of State sponsorship.

Another version of this mind and heart control is to hijack an existing religion. The ruler sees a well accepted religion in the land. The ruler uses the religions well compensated spiritual leaders to preach eternal truths mixed with the message of his divine claim to power. If the spiritual leaders of the religion won't cooperate, he'll find one that will. Once he finds cooperation, all other religions are forbidden, because they are a threat to his claim. Any objections means your a heretic and your put to death. Both types come with manipulated literature to fulfill the rulers purposes.

The next impurity comes from the aspiring ruler. He starts a religion for the purpose of coming to power. The conspirator is wise to eternal truths, and has the charisma to preach them with force. Behind the scenes he gathers crowds by the message of his words. His charm inspires many to follow him. Often the conspirator is put to death by the ruler before his influence gains strength. But left unchecked, the aspiring ruler claims his divine appointment, and an army of followers raises at his word. The conspirator then overthrows the existing ruler, and converts all nonbelievers to his religion by the sword. A religion with many eternal truth's, yet is not genuine. And his divine right to rule is already secured by the religion he started. This type of religion can often last hundreds and thousands of years due to State sponsorship.

The next impurity is from any religion that is a break off from the above religions. If given the freedom to do so, the disgruntled spiritual man leaves his religion, but takes the impure literature and some of the traditions with him. His move might be a result of unrighteousness in the church he is leaving, or just the desire for power. The literature may have many eternal truths, yet is not genuine. And many of the traditions he brings with him are ideas from an impure source. He usually makes himself the head of the new church.

The next impurity comes from the desire to make money. The spiritual leader will start a religion with the primary reason to make money. Often his house is bigger than the house of worship, and transportation is the deluxe model. He whispers sweet nothings mixed with eternal truths in your ear while he reaches for your wallet. He'll base his religion on what he feels is well accepted in the area. His doctrine will be modified as he finds out what the folks want to hear. He wants to keep his customers coming back for more. Any other church is competition to his next pay check, so they are all misled and heretics.

The next impurity comes from the desire of glory and lust. He seeks out positions of power within an existing church for pride, not the love of God and truth. Or he gets his religion going mixing eternal truths and accepted traditions using his charisma so his followers will gaulk at his greatness. This conspirator is easy to like with lots of charm. He'll fan the flames of his divine appointment, basking in the attention he gets. He may then use the followers awe to get as many of their young and pure daughters in bed with him as possible. He'll reveal that it is Gods will that he takes their innocents. If he likes one of the sisters in the congregation, he'll reveal that it is God's will that her husband does divine work out of the area. Then he finds his way to her house to help her with feelings of loneliness. Any resistance to his will means disobedience to God, and the person is a heretic. He may use his position of trust to access the young boys as well for his sexual perversion.

The next impurity may be noble, yet still impure. A secret society with many great minds, who understand eternal truth, desire the common man to have more truth. They have access to ancient, old and recent records hidden to the common man. As a group they have great understanding of the world through history, science, philosophy, and existing religion. They use their broad knowledge to start their religion, a project of the society. Only men found able to keep secrets are chosen to participate in the project. They use eternal truths mixed with the knowledge found in non accessible records to give their religion the extra truth. This gives it the appearance of divine, since the commoner would believe only God would know such things. The secret society then allows hidden documents to come into the common society, claiming them as newly discovered in some far land or research. The supposed newly discovered documents then prove the authenticity of the religion. The society is careful not to overload the commoner with truths they've been programmed not to accept, so they include aspects of existing religions to make theirs more palatable. They package the truth's as divine, as they might be rejected brought out directly due to the commoners programming. Or the commoner may reject the truth's, because it may require obedience to more truths. This type of religion may come under attack by those afraid of higher truth's and fear having to obey higher truth's. Because this type of religion is the work of man, it is not genuine, and also can fall prey to the other impurities of religion.

God has the power and does give divine truth's to man. His revelations to man are pure and authentic. All men and women can hear his inspiration if they will listen. His religion is pure and is based on pure eternal truth's. But not all truths, as man is not ready for all truths. As they become ready, he reveals more truths. He may chose a man to reestablish and lead his religion upon the earth. The pure aspects of religion is good, because it inspires obedience to higher laws. This man, or his heir to authority, may be imperfect. Imperfect men can lead to imperfect religion. Temptation may lead the man of authority to pollute God's religion with the impurities of other religions. Pure religion will not last long upon the Earth. A good man can easily be corrupted by power. Or killed for teaching truth by those in power.

With the use of religion to gain and keep power, attain fame and glory, and to get riches and pleasures, it is easy to see why the religions clash. With each religion fighting to keep its power base, and piece of the pie, the true purpose of religion can be lost. History's, traditions, and doctrines, which can be manipulated and never proven, can overpower pure eternal truths which are constant.

You can't prove someone did something hundreds or thousands of years ago. You can't prove their work was divine. You can only speculate and argue your belief. You can say your faith is true, but isn't your neighbors faith just as sure. These things lead only to division, which is contrary to the purpose of, and is not true religion.

Eternal truths need no proving. It is wrong to murder! Do you need proof? It is wrong to steal! Do you need proof? It is wrong to lie! Do you need proof? The list goes on. This is the doctrine of pure religion. Only the most hard case would argue against eternal truth.

If all religions left behind all that was not eternal truth, would they not all more easily unite and achieve the brotherhood of mankind? But that would require leaving behind the spoils of impure religions, starting with who would be the top leader.

Eternal truth's guide one to behavior's that make him trusted and worthy to live in a higher society. A society much greater than what we know upon the Earth. There will be technologies one must be trusted with before given. Disobedient people who refuse to obey higher truths would ruin the higher society and cannot be trusted with the technologies therein. One can choose to ignore the importance of eternal truth and all religion because of lack of desire to obey, and they will be sent to a society and place with that level of obedience.

Many turn from religion completely because of the impurities they see. Yet to scorn all religions because of impurities is the path to destruction. Most do teach some eternal principles, and inspire obedience to higher laws, the nourishment to a healthy society. Many divine acts of charity which strengthen society come at the hands of impure religion.

To turn from religion completely is to turn from God. God will inspire and work through the money loving, power seeking religious leader. As the evil preacher teaches eternal truth, his students will benefit and feel the power of the truth. This preacher may be the only one available to teach any truth to many. His religion may be the only one accepted in a home, a nation. How many would be left behind if God refused to use any but the pure?

All should participate in the strengthening of society. Have a pure heart while on an impure vessel. Be in constant search of more truth. The good work every religion does should be honored by all. Reverence for the followers of all religions should be given, because they are on the same search for a higher way as you, and are the children of God.

To shake a man out of his religion because of its imperfections is a grave sin. Without his religion he may lose all inspiration to do what is right. His family may follow him to destruction. The ready will find their way when its time. They will honor the religion that strengthened them, and will continue to strengthen in a worthy cause.

Do you help a chick out of its egg? What protects him today will be his cage tomorrow. He will fear to leave until he is strong and ready. The shell was necessary to his development. Why do some wish to smash all shells once they are out of their own? Might they be smashing the needed shell of their kindred? The egg should be incubated until the chick is ready!

What becomes of a caterpillar that has no cocoon? What becomes of the butterfly that is helped out of its cocoon? All things have a time, a season.

A person will immediately reject any truth they are not ready to accept, or be bored hearing about it. They feel safe where they are, and the truth would surely upset them. But they will accept the real truths with passion when they are ready.