Why I dislike religion.

Let me preface this by saying to what in this context I mean religion: dogma, legalism, rituals, ceremonies and liturgy, the view of insiders vs. outsiders, snobbery, deification of a man authored holy book, denominations, liturgy, demand for conformity of beliefs, the notion (which many hold and most deny) that you must think just like me to receive salvation, the passing down of belief systems without any thought or assessment from the receiver, the search for corroborating evidence instead of the search for truth. A final note before my original post is that I don't believe Christianity was ever supposed to be a religion, but a decision that transforms the way you treat others.

Religion is like train tracks for those trying to know God. It keeps everyone on the same track, going the same way, seeing the same scenery, leading to the same conclusions about God. It is following all the cars in front of you. But it is not people we want to follow; rather it is a God for which we search. It is inevitable for a few to get derailed, some of which crash, and never reach their destination, while others go out exploring, maybe taking a little longer to find God, but seeing and experiencing so much more. These latter have seen different things than the clones who have stuck to the tracks. So what leads some to derailing? Questions and fortitude. What keeps one from crashing? Even more fortitude. Stick to the tracks if you want, but do not say I cannot follow by foot; for I forsake the tracks when I see flaws, and wander when the lines are skewed.

A Jesus Question

So I've always held the notion that it is only fair for God to experience humanity. That is, if he expects us to be "good," he ought to come down here and give it a whirl himself, just to know what he's truly asking. However, if Jesus was that divine manifestation, then it wasn't exactly fair since he could do all the miracles he wanted. One could counter that he did them not for himself, but for others out of compassion and sympathy. OK, so if that's the case, then why isn't it happening now? Surely our God still feels compassion and sympathy, right? So why did he perform miracles then and not now, or before he came?