Why religious institutions are man-made. (hell, America, myth, churches)
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Of course I'm a heathen apostate unbeliever, but pretend I'm not for moment.
What I'm trying to figure out is that if there was a god, why would he/she/it create, nurture and profligate religious institutions?
Obviously, said god gets nothing himself physically from a religious institution. You've probably heard the joke about the pastors trying to decide what to do with all their tithing donations. The suggestion is made: "Lets throw it all up into the air; whatever god wants, he keeps!" The results of that solution haven't changed in the thousands of years people have been practicing religion.
So it isn't about the money... does that mean god is just into adoration? If so, why would god need/want us to worship him/her/it? If you take the omnipotent, impartial and distant god stance, god would essentially see us a we do ants in an ant farm; we maybe interesting to watch, poke, burn with a magnifying glass, but not to worship us. What kind of rise would we get if the residents of our ant farm prayed to us and left us offerings of food and shiny pieces of sand that we ourselves put there in the first place? How different could it possibly be for a true master of the universe, creator of sextillions (that's 10 w/21 zeros, BTW) of planets? I'd be honestly surprised if he noticed us at all! Yet most all religions claim god is watching and it's in everyone's best interest to please him.
If god is a loving parental figure on the other hand, he'd want us to grow, progress and be like him. If that is true, why does religion consistently stifle new thought, progression or scientific advancement? It's not like we can discover something god doesn't already know, right? Such a god (and by extension, his institutions) would reflect a desire and will to progress, yet the opposite is true of every religion I can think of. Plus, if it is a "parental relationship" I'd have a hard time with a parent who expected me to grovel, serve him/her and generally keep me as their servant (i.e. on a subordinate, inferior level) for my entire life and I could never do that to my own children. An existence as one of "god's children" according to the institution is exactly that, however.
There is always the unknown, I guess. "No one can understand the will of god" is commonly thrown out saying...
But if that is so, why do all religious institutions regularly attempt to interpret and spread "god's will" upon the people? If god didn't want us to understand what he was doing, he wouldn't have given us concise explanations of what happens after our lives, how he (supposedly) created the world and how we should behave if we want to be rewarded. Again, that's what religions regularly tell is is the way of things...
I could go on for a while (and still might), but one thing comes clear to me. If there is a god, he's never made a church.
There have been plenty of malevolent gods in past mythologies, but religions built around evil, self-serving bastard deities never tend to last very long for some strange reason.
Currently there are no serious evil-god religious institutions that would ever hope to even become a tiny minority of the population. A real evil god would have the power and the motivation to keep his institution going against the laws of physics, so that can't be the case either.
I believe we have collectively agreed that religious institutions are manmade. Your argument is flawed by the assertion that God did anything to support or even suggest the establishmrnt of any institution.
Proclamations such as "God said" or "God commands" is an old, well-established literary device to give credence to the philosophy being presented (as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth).
You're right on the money (no pun intended) when you state that God does not benefit from organized efforts to raise cash, canvas neighborhoods, and otherwise upset people's lives with religous rigamorole, etc.
God isn't supposed to be the one benefitting. People are supposed to be the ones getting the benefit: mostly social, a little psychological, and even a dash of the spiritual.
It is rather fascinating to observe non-Christian rituals and ceremonies, to witness firsthand the spiritual rewards the participants receive through these rites. I suppose that one could offer an alternative of some drug usage to achieve a similar "high." The difference, however, is that in a social religious setting, there is a sharing of spiritual experience; taking a pill or smoking a halucinagenic substance is very Me-centered. Social religious rites last a lifetime; drug-induced highs are fleetingly enjoyed with great disappointment at the end.
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As to your further argument:
Religiousness (if I may use the word) is designed to be personal, a means by which a person can come to grapple the difficulties in life in a more sane manner.
Religious institutions, on the other hand, have endeavored to make sure that all adherents go through a process that will eventually cookie-cutter them into look-alike followers.
A short history of the world shows that religion and government have been strange bedfellows for a very long time. In fact, even up to and a bit into the 20th Century, religion has been an important factor in governing people.
Not only has religious institutions sought to control thought, but they also sought to control government as well. I'm not saying that this was necessarily bad, but in too many instances it has held back the progress of human society.
Regarding of whether God is good or bad (evil): that, too, is a manmade invention. Such notions harken back to the roots of religious thought, whereby God is "up there" somewhere, uncaring (except when It feels that an adjustment needs to be taken) and unresponsive. In more enlightened times when God can be felt, experienced, and understood as being among the people, we still have too many dunderheads who insist on a Platonic-styled cosmos, who endeavor to control religious thoughts, to maintain an increasingly unstable mythological universe revolving around ancient concepts and interpretations.
ON the other hand, if everyone were able to think for themselves, we might be inviting chaos and complete collapse. We already have splintering groups within the global social community that are attempting to rip apart at the seams any kind of social integrity.
Arab Spring was inevitable, given the unrest that fueled it from outdated monarchial/dictatorial institutions and even from the Al Qaida. Interesting that religious institutions played a very small part in this phenomenon.
In America, if rumor is to be believed, there are signs indicating violent and terrible misdeeds in the offering, an explosion of racial hatred fueled by a different kind of religious institution. This malevolent force is akin to what you were possibly referring to as an evil God, forcing its manaical will upon the people and savoring the misery of humankind.
Bottom line, in my opinion, is that we stop praying for an deus ex machina to get us out of this morass of our own making. Rather, if we are going to pray, we should be praying for the strength and resolve to pull our own weight and solve our problems collectively. We have the power! We just don't want to do it.
Churches are the monuments that irrational fear built. Must appease the manically vengeful god and perhaps this monument to an ancient superstition will save us from hell.
There have been plenty of malevolent gods in past mythologies, but religions built around evil, self-serving bastard deities never tend to last very long for some strange reason.
Currently there are no serious evil-god religious institutions that would ever hope to even become a tiny minority of the population. A real evil god would have the power and the motivation to keep his institution going against the laws of physics, so that can't be the case either.
I take it you are not familiar with the gods of the major religions that are going to torture the majority of humanity who either don't believe and/or do the right things? Or did you just forget about them?
I believe there is a creator, but I cannot explain what it is (I don't think it's a he, she, or even an "it"). Some kind a consiousness or awareness beyond our ability to explain.
Religion seems to be something humankind has cobbled together through the ages to try to explain the unknown. And that includes all churchy-type things. Of things of a religious nature, the video below is what I've found to be closest to a reasonable description of "God"
Yes, it's of Islamic nature, so if that's not your bag, skip to .40 or so and then follow the translated words. I'm not saying this is the way, period; just that's what I personally think of when I try to understand what God is.
The church is a man made control tool. Real Gods don't need churches - whether brick and stone or "spirit" based.
Jesus founded one before He went home.
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I take it you are not familiar with the gods of the major religions that are going to torture the majority of humanity who either don't believe and/or do the right things? Or did you just forget about them?
