“This ain’t your Mama’s Church…….(& Candy Store)”

“The Death of Religions”. In the future, I believe rather than a death taking place, it’s will be an evolution and mixture of at least the main three or four religions of our world today, a morphing/combining of all the necessary parts of the top most popular religions plus potentially bits & pieces of other religions, that is going to take place over time……

Resulting in, golly gee-whiz, a new, PEACEFUL “RELIGION”. A religion that is not hypocritical, is not envious, IS truly LOVING of ALL people wither others may have clung on to their old faiths/doctrine/protocols, or they don’t believe in anything at all, like myself.

I believe that this Aquarian-Age “Religion” will be in the majority with possibly 57% of the people world/wide as “Members”, with 41% of us Atheists that really don’t care, and perhaps 2% of the people still clinging to, (and allowed to), maintain their own archaic beliefs, religious practices, and “Churches”.

I do foresee our species taking the “Right” road when we come to that “Fork in the Road” that some of us can see on the distant horizon. I believe that even though we will take the “Right Fork in the Road”, as a species, we AND our planet will still go through/see some really bad times as we transition fully into the Aquarium Age (purposely miss-spelled, as I often do).

I was inspired to write this essay based on a “Sit around the Campfire” sort of night with a few of my buddies. Most of our cannabis-fueled conversation was centered on (dare I use the word), “Religion”.

One tiny part of our conversation was based around a question Douglas asked me, that lasted one minute and forty-three seconds in its entirety, both question and answer.

Douglas: “Can you provide undeniable proof that there is no God?”, to which I responded, “I don’t care. I don’t feel the necessity of explaining my lack of belief to you or the need to answer your question. You see, I really don’t care if YOU are religious, in any way shape or form, as long as you allow ME to NOT believe, in ANY of what I consider to be man/made religions, thoughts/ dogma, etcetera…..We’ll be fine, and I know that both of us will respect each other’s rights to believe……or not”. Quite simple. End of THAT topic.

Now here’s where it gets REALLY interesting and the reason for this essay. Tonight, my friend Douglas proceeded to get into a lot more detail on the “What, the Why, and the How” of what he believes, and although I’m an atheist, I told Douglas that I would help and support him 100% in what he believes, as it is brilliant, it’s his beliefs and it’s only his, not part of some organized group…..AND, what I believe just MIGHT be the embryonic seed of what I envision for the future, as far as religiosity is concerned.

Mind-Blowing? For me yes, for you the reader, potentially and deservingly so. These are the three primary ingredients of this future belief system that came out our “Fire-Side” chat tonight (no longer will I use the word religion).

Now, sort of similar to the Trinity God thing, there are three distinct parts to this new way/idea/thought. The first is an ancient word in the Hebrew/Judaic faith called NASAH, to test, or be tested and in Christianity, basically is centered around…..Matthew 4:1: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil”. But wait! Was Jesus “Tempted” or “Tested”? Abraham’s faith was “Tested”, he wasn’t “tempted” by God. Many bible scholars now assert/believe that Jesus wasn’t “Tempted” by the Devil, he was “Tested”, i.e., God was “Testing” Jesus (himself?), that Satan, in that case, was only sent there BY God, to “Test” Jesus. Where it falls apart for me is soon as you say “God the Father, God the Son, God, this weed is awesome, etcetera”. IF Jesus was also God in the flesh, then he was testing himself, right? A “Self-Test”. That’s IT! Let’s always “Test” ourselves.

And this led me to the thought that if we “Self-Test”, ask ourselves in our daily lives, if what we are doing is, (in the case of religious folks), pleasing to God, then they/we are on the right track.

Just like for an Atheist like myself, I believe it is a part of our human nature to be loving and kind to ALL people, compassionate, charitable, in other words, following the basic principles of the “Golden Rule”, you know, that “KARMA” thing. Which in effect, is in direct opposition to being naturally sinful & evil, needing help from something external, like a God, only Atheists have eliminated God and any of his middle men like Satan.

Ancient Religious folks had added a few twists to it, like the going to Heaven or Hell part of their belief structure, and the Hebrew dogma Yetzer Harah (the “Evil” inclinations/tendencies) and the Yetzer Ha-Tov, (the”Good” Inclinations/tendencies), along with the Christian version, “Doctrine of Original Sin” (teachings by Augustine of Hippo).

As an example, I believe that a person is not born with “Original Sin” nor with Yetzer Harah. For example, the “evil” malignancy we call “Racism”, is taught, and generally learned from an early age. I always love to see the photos of two young children with different skin colors, embracing each other totally unaware of their physical differences. I think this blows these ancient “religious” teachings clear out of the “Holy” water.

Murderous behavior is a mental illness in my opinion. Violently raping another person (Man, Woman or Child) is an act of a deranged, mentally ill person in my opinion. Pick any abnormal deviant behavior and it’s either “Learned” and acceptable to those teaching it, or an illness of the mind. If we truly perform NASAH on ourselves as part of our constant Modis Operandi, we will eventually stop “testing”, judging others, and we can allow the “Yetzer Ha-Tov” to be manifested in all of us. If a person is “evil”, they are also “sick” and should be treated as such. Sometimes that “evil” is beyond treatment, think Hannibal Lecter, (that WAS a mental institution depicted in the movie).

If we are not subjugated to, and/or “Taught” “Evil”, I believe that we can live a “Good” life, in that if we are looking internally to what I believe is a natural tendency to be “Good”, the Yetzer Ha-Tov, and have the ability to recognize the goodness we all have, internally “Spiritually” with looking internally at who we each are, the NASAH, our world WILL be a better place for ALL humans.  

The second part of the “Trinity” is the use of a “Bible” that does not include ANY of the Old Testament (sorry) and has eliminated several books in the New Testament as well, maybe added a few books that were taken out eons ago, still, a much shorter book to read.

Yes, certain stories of Jesus remain, so the new “Faith” still includes Jesus and he is still believed to be a “Savior and God’s Only Begotten”, but gone are the “You’re going to Hell if you don’t accept Jesus as your Savior” parts. Instead, his teachings of love and respect, charity and forgiveness are what is “Preached” on Thursdays, Tuesday, or another day, depending on the year (see section three of the Triad). Then again, there may not BE any “Jesus” in the new “Faith”. 

This much shortened “Book” leaves out all the blood & gore of the Old Testament and all the questionable things in the New Testament, like all the “End Times, Rapture” bullshit. No need to be reminded of all the nasty shit, plus it becomes a much healthier message to preach and share with others (that 3% still clinging to their old religions should hear). No need to preach to the Atheists, because they just don’t care.

 it sure makes a lot of sense to get rid of the “Hell, Fire & Brimstone” and replace it with the good shit. Think about it for a moment, wouldn’t it be awesome if you could include all the good stuff from the Koran, the New Testament, the Torah, and the good parts of other beliefs/writings, and throw away all the nasty shit? A dude by the name of Marcion of Sinope (in the year 144) may have been onto something. He totally rejected the Old Testament in it’s entirety. See the following:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism

What I believe might be the new belief system/ideology will be something very simple to understand and believe in. A simpler “Operating Manual”. As an Atheist however, I just don’t think it really matters, but I added the previous thoughts on what could be a “New” form of Christianity that MIGHT remain as a comparison. If one doesn’t believe in Heaven or Hell, and doesn’t believe some dude up in the sky created a creature with characteristics that include “Original Sin”, but follows the “Golden Rule”, what else is there to refute that? 

The third part of this “Trinity” of beliefs is based on some obscure-forgotten practice of selecting the “Sabbath” by making it the XX day after XX religious holiday, which changes every year. Here’s the info, just”click” on the “link”: https://www.thecreatorscalendar.com/?fbclid=IwAR1hCpg_0ekJMKp9qMS4ZF05Fn9_XB5QMvWn7PKd__5dyIiKhs6_v-QsP0o

How each year there’s a different day of Sabbath established. It could be a Wednesday it could be a Friday. I think we’re going to need a LOT more Golf Courses. Imagine all the men that HAD to go to church on Sundays with their families that NOW could join their buddies on the Golf Course on a , wait for it……a SUNDAY! Unless of course it just happened to be a year when the Sabbath was on a Sunday.

Name of this new belief/faith? Really, I have no clue and really don’t care, so, I have temporarily named it, “THIS AIN’T YOUR MAMA’S CHURCH…..(AND CANDY STORE)”. At the end of that name, instead of Candy Store for a moment I thought, “Homeless Shelter”, but in the future that I foresee, there will be no homelessness. Candy Store? Well, on days other than the Sabbath, the “Brick & Mortar” place of “Worship” will be a store with healthy, non-sugar-based candies and treats for the children, maybe even a Petting Zoo and Pony Rides, along with the adult part of the store with Herbal/Potion products, Cannabis-Based Oils, great Brownies and of course really good bud.

In conclusion, since the Age of Aquarius is referred to as the “Age of Technology & Peace” as opposed to the Age of Pisces, referred to as the “Age of Religions & Wars”, each “Age” lasting approximately 2,300 years (give or take a few), I  believe that “Religion” as we know it today will be non-existent at some point in time. So, the thought of something like I have described in this essay, a “Newer, more Friendly version of “Christianity”, will in all likelihood eventually fade into the Sunset, along with “God” AND “Jesus” who might be part of that one last phenomenon and attempt at religiosity. As an Atheist, I really don’t care.

P. S. I sometimes wonder if perhaps if there IS a “Creator”, he/she/it might be, at this very moment, gazing through a microscope of some sort, looking at our vast universe in a Petri Dish, saying, “Look at this! How cool is that. Hey! Let’s take a look at another Petri Dish, you know, that one filled with a Junga-Quad-Dillion other atoms.

P. S. S. As an additional somewhat related thought, inspired by a podcast interview this morning, I’ve added the following at 4:00PM the day after my original posting:

 “HERE I COME, TO SAVE THE DAY!”

If this appeals to you, and you feel like you could become a member of “THIS AIN’T YOUR MAMA’S CHURCH…..(AND CANDY STORE)”, get in touch with us.