Quote Originally Posted by Hyfi
Just to throw out there where I stand on this, I "label" myself Spiritual, not Religious. The bible, and most other teachings of similar content from all cultures, basically say the same thing. The underlying message is pretty simple to understand and follow without being tunneled into any one religion of a single belief set. I am anti organized religion but I will never tell you that you should not believe whatever it is you believe. That is up to each individual to decide, on their own, not by following the crowd which is how I see many people. I know people who go to mass more because they are worried about who will notice they are not there and talk about them than because they will miss that days positive message. And when a certain church wants to give you envelopes with your name on it so they can tally up just how much you give, I call bullshit
ditto

I believe you can cherry pick the bible as it is just a book; a collection of stories and parables that's been retranslated, reinterpreted and agendized several times over the ages. Prolly the same can be said for other religious texts.

Organized religion's main objective (IMO) is the control of masses and the accumilation of revenue from its membership.

I believe individualism is the grandest expression of the human condition. Collectivism, while useful in many respects, eventually elevates and exhaults the status of a few, embuing a minority with power that eventually rivals that of the collective. Happens every time. Problem is, people like being sheep and individualists upset their sense of hiercy.

The over arching theme of the new testament was individualism and that was stressed over orgaization and ritual. If you read the new testament, that theme starts getting bastardized just a few chapters past the last gospel. It hasn't been fixed since.