🤔 how could you differentiate between a true religion and a false one? Like, really... Objectively. Not by judging whether it conforms to your own indoctrination and set of criteria... For real. Like, if you're an alien 👽 and couldn't give a shit about some historical person or circumstance. In the now, what matters?
Imagine you're on a life raft. Your boat sank, the water is freezing, and there's sharks. There's one other person in your raft. Do you give a single shit about how they label themselves? Oh no, that persons a {insert whatever}, I have to judge them right here in this life raft, its important because a {}.
Or, its the last day of your life. What do you do? For real, not the make believe stuff. I ain't spending that day praying. Dial it up a notch : its not your last day - its your kid's last day, or your mom's. Last hour. Somehow you know. Are you gonna spend that last hour trying to **_make them_** believe what you believe? Like... Fuck off with this shit. The dogmatic nonsense. If you really believe - **_really really_** believe - then you've missed the point. Belief is garbage. When you get to that last scenario, whatever it looks like, belief is worth exactly *nothing*
But you believe, you're a believer. Hey, me too. But you haven't thought this out. Saying that your belief matters, **_in the face of the real,_** is the same as saying that only you matter. But what's real? You? But not the other person? They'll be more real when they believe the same way you do. Right? No, that's wrong. You are not real. They are. Not you. That other person in that lifeboat matters more than you do. Its not equal. Its more, and its inherently more, no matter what they believe.
That's the true religion. Call it whatever you want.
Now let's look at the exact opposite - false religion, and what most people are deceived by. Its the deception that rules the world. Its a magic spell that harvests your lusch. The false religion lures you in via ego and standards and images of purity. In the false religion (all of them), you are fixated on the ideal, the perfect, the end state and the ultimate. If there's a perfect being, then those who represent Him are more perfect than others, and their virtue is proven by their appearances. In some congregations, a leader wears a button down shirt, long pants, always has a book in hand, and very rarely smiles. Or if they do smile, its like God Himself is smiling. In others, they wear cool robes. And in others, they absolutely *must* sport a sick beard, and be based. Holy lumberjacks. Now, don't get sidetracked - the problem is not these paragons of piety, nor their message, nor their status. I'm only pointing out the image because the physical image matters to those who hold a mental image of the highest and best. If there's a highest and best, an omnipotent, a first and last cause, etc, then all things are measured against it, and all things fall short. That's just good theology - the image bearers would agree. Except not everything falls short. We let certain things pass. First its the leader with whatever title your group prefers, then its a certain political flavor, and of course those extra pious people who look just like the leader and seem so holy that they could be the leader if it were ever needed. You get a stratification, a hierarchy, and maybe this particular religion is special because it got rid of special people in the past, but now there's a new way to be special, and maybe the route to specialness is to "serve" in some authoritative way. This allure is the thing that keeps marrying religion and state - the imperfect need legitimacy, and the more imperfect require all the more legitimacy, so the false image of the religion lends legitimacy to the state. A marriage literally made in heaven. It happens over and over, and is 100% destined to happen again in your country because people by default **_want_** to bear the image.
If you have a religion, no matter what it is, I've just described it. Its false. They can say all the right words, quote all the verses, feed the orphans - its still false. Why? Because it measures itself against the perfect. That's the error.
Imagine you're on a life raft. Your boat sank, the water is freezing, and there's sharks. There's one other person in your raft. Do you give a single shit about how they label themselves? Oh no, that persons a {insert whatever}, I have to judge them right here in this life raft, its important because a {}.
Or, its the last day of your life. What do you do? For real, not the make believe stuff. I ain't spending that day praying. Dial it up a notch : its not your last day - its your kid's last day, or your mom's. Last hour. Somehow you know. Are you gonna spend that last hour trying to **_make them_** believe what you believe? Like... Fuck off with this shit. The dogmatic nonsense. If you really believe - **_really really_** believe - then you've missed the point. Belief is garbage. When you get to that last scenario, whatever it looks like, belief is worth exactly *nothing*
But you believe, you're a believer. Hey, me too. But you haven't thought this out. Saying that your belief matters, **_in the face of the real,_** is the same as saying that only you matter. But what's real? You? But not the other person? They'll be more real when they believe the same way you do. Right? No, that's wrong. You are not real. They are. Not you. That other person in that lifeboat matters more than you do. Its not equal. Its more, and its inherently more, no matter what they believe.
That's the true religion. Call it whatever you want.
Now let's look at the exact opposite - false religion, and what most people are deceived by. Its the deception that rules the world. Its a magic spell that harvests your lusch. The false religion lures you in via ego and standards and images of purity. In the false religion (all of them), you are fixated on the ideal, the perfect, the end state and the ultimate. If there's a perfect being, then those who represent Him are more perfect than others, and their virtue is proven by their appearances. In some congregations, a leader wears a button down shirt, long pants, always has a book in hand, and very rarely smiles. Or if they do smile, its like God Himself is smiling. In others, they wear cool robes. And in others, they absolutely *must* sport a sick beard, and be based. Holy lumberjacks. Now, don't get sidetracked - the problem is not these paragons of piety, nor their message, nor their status. I'm only pointing out the image because the physical image matters to those who hold a mental image of the highest and best. If there's a highest and best, an omnipotent, a first and last cause, etc, then all things are measured against it, and all things fall short. That's just good theology - the image bearers would agree. Except not everything falls short. We let certain things pass. First its the leader with whatever title your group prefers, then its a certain political flavor, and of course those extra pious people who look just like the leader and seem so holy that they could be the leader if it were ever needed. You get a stratification, a hierarchy, and maybe this particular religion is special because it got rid of special people in the past, but now there's a new way to be special, and maybe the route to specialness is to "serve" in some authoritative way. This allure is the thing that keeps marrying religion and state - the imperfect need legitimacy, and the more imperfect require all the more legitimacy, so the false image of the religion lends legitimacy to the state. A marriage literally made in heaven. It happens over and over, and is 100% destined to happen again in your country because people by default **_want_** to bear the image.
If you have a religion, no matter what it is, I've just described it. Its false. They can say all the right words, quote all the verses, feed the orphans - its still false. Why? Because it measures itself against the perfect. That's the error.
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