Who are you?

Stop for this post I chose to go with a more conservative title but the post content is, as I would like to think it is always, thought provoking. And I already know many people well try to denounce this immediately and not give it any thought but for those of you that for some reason read what I have to say on here just think about what I'm saying.

So the topic of this post is religion.If you're dead set on your religion and think there's nothing I can tell you you most likely won't care what I have to say but this is more for you than anyone. And I'll ask a lot of questions so if you have any answers please feel free to provide feedback because I'm just trying to be enlightened.

So the post title "Who are you?" is basically to these people who completely regard other religions as fictional. No matter what the religion it is that you count out, whether it be polytheism of the ancient Egyptian societies or it be Islam, this post is for you and the people who think like you.

Growing up in my Christian home, Methodist church, and Christian school during developing years in my life I was always very inquisitive. One question that I would always find myself asking is how can someone tell me that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Like no matter what, if you lived after Jesus died for our sins and didn't accept him you go to hell. Never bought into that whole thing whole heartedly, and I'll tell you all of my reasoning as to why.

When I was in 7th grade I did a project on Mohandas Gandhi. I studied how he held peaceful rebellions against the imperialist British government and how he sacrificed so much of himself for the peace of his nation, his homeland and his people. I admired the stories of him and all he did. Mind you this time I was in a Christian school, so one day I asked my teacher "Do you believe people such as Gandhi go to hell if they don't believe in Jesus?"

My teacher not ready for such a question at first would not answer. She was a sweet older lady, I won't expose her name but if you went to EDCS it was in history haha. Anyways after she didn't answer I asked her again. This time she replied, "Why yes. If he did not accept the Lord Jesus into his heart it unfortunately means he did."

If course this bothered me, right? Because how was he supposed to do such a thing when the people who were harassing his land had originally came in the name of Jesus? I'll digress on this point for the time being.

So this lead me to think, what about all off the people worldwide who had not even heard of Jesus? I mean after all Gutenberg didn't even make the printing press until the 1400's and by then I'm sure the Bible was not worldwide. So for these millions of people who died in this timeframe did they all go to hell too?

When I was in high school I was never allowed to get such questions out and always kept things like this under wraps, but in college I have relearned to question so this thinking emerged again. And now my question is who was the idiot that made religion an all or nothing thing? Yeah I said idiot.

Who became so blinded by this loosely translated Bible that we have today and said there's no other way. And I'm no master on Islam but who said that their religion is the only one which will get you to heaven? So to the point of the title I am saying "who are you?" To count out someone's religion as wrong, because these type of things are clearly for the gods and the passed spirits so how can anyone on this earth discount anything?

It is well known that many religions in today's society have very similar origins, and Islam even credits Jesus as a great profit if I'm not mistaken, so why did we ever turn to just discrediting a whole religion? Or was it a choice of the people? Digress.

Next question is what do you think about people in ancient societies thought about their religion off the time? Ancient Egypt, Greece, Babylon... what about them? The people whose spirit was of great purity and only believed in the religion of the time because it was what was spoon feed to them from birth, much like people's religion is now. Are all of these people burning in hell now because they were never reached by the God of Judah which had reached us all?

Who are we to count out their religions as well? And you might say but what about the dark ages and how their religions allowed kilos and stuff but just think about all the people that say they're Christians and do terrible things. We might be half way in a dark she right now foreal, but I'll save that for another day.

**Note: I'm writing this at midnight knowing I have to be up in six hours for work. I couldn't sleep and this has been on my mind for some time. Just laying here listening to classical music vibing and venting. So if this is a little different than my other posts know I'm in a more comfortable setting, digress.**

Lately I've been studying Hinduism, Buddhism, and other things of that nature and with comparing them to what I was taught growing in the Christian church I believe there is space for every religion. Above that I think religion is made to help teach morals to the masses. Even some more radical translations of the Bible place Yeshua, sometimes known as modern Jesus, as a man sent from God who was given to the earth to show people the way to live righteous. Whether he said he is the only way to heaven, that's debatable.

Idk man. I could go on for days about this so I'll probably wrap this up soon, but if you take anything from this just know there's many things about religion that many people will never know. You can study any of the holy texts that are in this world, but at the end of the day religion should never be used to tear people of the Almighty's creation away from each other. It should be to make us more aware of our neighbor and to make the Almighty pleased by bringing positive energy to this world while we inherit it and reaching those that come after us the same things. Not fuckin arguing about who's right like some stupid ass toddlers.

I just pray that everyone realizes what's at stake for the world if things continue this way and can start to change things from this cookie cutter process that's been outgrown.

No matter who you pray through, make sure it's with a whole heart and Godly intentions. And before you start to automatically disregard someone's view of the Almighty power in the universe, make sure you ask yourself "who am I to judge this?" or you might be what's actually wrong with the world today, not their beliefs.

It's late now, I've ranted enough, and I'll probably have to drink coffee at work tomorrow just to stay awake so I'm done.

As always, just conveying my thoughts to who cares to read them.

-Marcus J.