Religion usually equals Cult

.....i know i know you might be mad..thinking something like :thats not true!!, MY religion isnt a cult" or "its a relationship!, not a religion!, well i got news for ya, no one in a cult , knows there in a cult, or else they wouldnt be lol, duh! also no plastic answers or accusations like "im not in a cult, we arent gonna kill ourselves" or "im not in a cult, cults are filled with weird people that always smile and do strange things"(apparently you havent been to some churches) those excuses are cop-outs, the word cult, like the word religion encompasses a variety of groups that are at their base the same but with different branches...let me explain further.... most of us have seen or read about cults...the big ones anyway, or maybe we have known someone that joined and got out....what are the symptoms...loneliness,naivety, desperation, weak willed, maybe their friends or family are a part of it and symptoms like desperation or naivety cause a person to make decisions....like join a group of people and think talk and act like them (sound familiar??) maybe you dont lose your whole self...but you start to only hang out with "other believers" or at the very least outside of work/school the vast majority of your time is spent with people from your group...im not talking about best friends, we all should have them, im talking about groups, gatherings that read and talk together but usually only about one thing...their religion/relationship/ceremonies...whatever, your aim is solely on one thing, you bring your collective power together to accomplish what everyone agree is best...sounds good right?? well not to go extremist on ya but that what the nazis did...think about it, not every Nazi during WW2 was insane or messed up, but enough were and enough other people followed and that allowed them to do considerable damage. I'm not saying the cults of today are committing genocide, but they are causing damage. Even if "just" psychological,making people follow the crowd,filling peoples head with lies, inhibiting the freedoms of their followers as well as others. Spreading their hive mentality to the four corners of the Earth under the guise of "wanting everyone to be saved", brainwashing is what it is, how bout you feed them and give them a decent place to live, not because they are believers or because you want them to be but because they are fellow creatures(yes Creatures, im counting all animals in that too, dont get me started on what i think of peoples self elevated egocentric view of our relationship to and with animals)...and no im not just talking about christianity , though i do think they are the most guilty of anyone, but everyone from wicca to jewish want everyone to be like them, and no all religious people are like what i am describing, but too many are. I have been going to church off and on my whole life... i spent years going 3-4 times a week, and that just to a building marked church, let alone the bible studies and random gatherings, i have probably been to over two dozen churches in my life, heard maybe over a thousand "lessons" if i add up all the sermons,bible studies,youth groups and prayer meetings , i can easily reach that number, i visited a christian college, with plans to go there and study the bible to go into the ministry, i have read the bible cover to cover, i have taught lessons out of the bible, so i know what im talking about. Yes i am pickin on christians the most because thats what i know about the most, i have spoken with christian who talk poorly about jehovahs witnesses and mormons for their beliefs and their door to door thing, well every christian church i know goes door to door with outlandish stories , most just do it in other countries. Despite what you may think, i am not anti-religion, i am however anti control, i am against making everyone alike, i am against making everyone follow rules that govern freedom( im fine with rules that protect,care for and make things fair for people) but not rules laws and "lifestyles" that create hardship,loss of rights or stupidity. I think its sad that in 2011 more people accuse science of getting things wrong then random books that are at best here-say, your god,your magic, your spirituality...are they so important o you that you are willing to hurt others and yourself, are you so content with your ways that you are unwilling to explore alternatives......if you are, thats sad, i pity you, you have a small and weak mind,no not all religious people, but far too many go through their lives not asking real questions, or changing what needs to be changed, faith can be a great thing, but it can also be one of the worst when misplaced.... think about this if nothing else...are you trying to convert or to love, are you trying to make people believe what you do, or are you trying to love them, there is a difference, a rather huge one too


and in closing the definition of religion and cult...compare the two definitions...notice what word is used a few times in the definition of cult?....

re·li·gion

noun \ri-ˈli-jən\

Definition of RELIGION

1

a : the state of a religious religion> b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2

: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

3

archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness

4

: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

— re·li·gion·less adjective

cult

noun, often attributive \ˈkəlt\

Definition of CULT

1

: formal religious veneration : worship

2

: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents

3

: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents

4

: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator cults>

5

a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

Generational Battle

i recently fell into a discussion of generations, with the older generation and even some of mine claiming that this "younger generation" are spoiled,selfish,entitled and not very kind or smart, well i of course being part of this generation have a problem with that.....one being the generations before us had plenty of problems too, and two, they raised us!! so if there is a problem with us, they started it, and i was told that when children grow up they are responsible for their own actions, that true but see it is a parents responsibilty, at least partially, how come everyone seems to agree that that we are spoiled and entitled...who instilled that in us??? our parents! also idk who you know but i meet just as many selfish old people as i do young, i at least have hope that the young can/will change, older people have a much harder time getting out of their own head, the older generations love to preach responsibility, and yet blame alot of things solely on the younger, if parents arent responsible for how their children are raised, then who is?? but again, the older generations had/have their problems too, and if you asked their parents they would say the same thing about them that they do about us, its all perception, but it does start with parents, i am intelligent,kind and responsible because thats what my mother instilled in me at a young age, it wasnt easy but she worked hard, whats a copout is, if your children decide not to live with kindness that "it wasnt my fault, i tried" ,parents to a point cant be held responsible, but they are at least a little responsible, in almost all cases...its hypocritical to say that parents need to raise their kids right and give credit to the parents when the child turns out good, but then dismiss them as rebels if they act differently...o and i know plenty of kids who grew up to be better than their parents...like me, raised without a father , im already 10 times the man he is.

My mother wouldnt call me spoiled or entitled because she raised me right for the most part, but alot of older people that dont even know me lump my entire generation into the glob of selfish idiots..not fair at all, and most dont want to take any responsibility for their role, my mom didnt let me get away with murder, quite a few of the older generation let their children get away with stuff or didnt educate them about others,  like.. alot of parents just set up rules and expect things to happen, without talking with their children about the why of things, do this, dont do that..but why? values are not rules, they are a guiding force that people have to understand to use throughout their lives, there is a common attitude that children are to be seen and not heard, that creates alot of problems, like anger and frustration, are you going to listen to someone that makes you mad?? no you arent... i get told that theres no parenting handbook, actually there are thousands but i get what people mean...there is also no report card though..most parents claim that they did their best, gave their kids more than they ever had...but some are lying and some just dont know,  in school, say 5th grade, did you get to fill out the grades and reports on your own report card, no i dont think so,the teachers did, so they could tell your guardians what kind of student you are and how you perform... but parents want to tell me what kind of parents they are/were, isnt their perspective going to be skewed? Answer is yes, to those that think they did their best even if they didnt will say they did everything they could though thats a lie, and others that just didnt know or didnt execute properly will think the same. My father for instance, he probably thinks i didnt turn out that good because i have my own mind and i question his version of things. Well boo hoo, the only things he ever taught me were how not to be.  I get told that young people dont understand respect and think they know everything, thats true about some, but not me and many others i know, if you think about it, things like racism,sexism and stubbornness (the refusal to accept new ideas) are way more prevalent in the older generations, my generation not without our flaws, are easily more open minded, id like to see you question that fact.

real fairness and Balance

in the interest of fairness, i try my best to be balanced, though i fall short sometimes, i still try, actually try...i dont see most people even think about trying, so here are some things i think people dont do/think/treat fairly and a little of what i think about em'......
hard to rank these in order of "importance" so im jus gonna write it as it comes to me.....

well since this was brought up recently ill start with welfare...a new law was passed in Florida that will require people on welfare to pass drug tests, i like this law, however the fervor of the positive reaction worries me..no pisses me off actually, if i believed for a an instant it was done out of love for the ones that truly need it and with this new law would come more and better resources for the ones that really need because the ones that abuse it would be cut off then id be really happy, but thats not how it is, people are happy they wont be "paying for losers"...also there are people who want to control what people on food stamps buy (there is already alot of control, you cant buy hot foods, which is stupid, but you also cant buy cigarettes or alcohol, both bans are good ideas) but some want to expand the bans to include soda and items high in sugar,fat and calories and also ban the purchase of brand name items...well first off, food stamps arent given in mass quanities so buying cheap is what most people do, secondly, teachers,firefighters,policeman,politicians and many others are allso payed with tax dollars so why dont we tell them what do with their money, yea i know they "earned" it and if you think people dont deserve help then you are a heartless moron.

next up is proof,faith,research,hope,destiny....

it has come to my attention that no one agrees with me, but thats fine, because people cant even tell me why they believe what they do... faith can be a good thing, unless it becomes a crutch and keeps you from seeking answers. i get told that "everything happens for a reason" which i think is a cop out to make ourselves feel better, i get told God has a plan and that we have a destiny, and things are meant to be and i have to have faith, well what good is hope if everything is already written??and if we have a destiny and God has a plan and already knows what is going to happen, then do we really have free will?? and alot of those same people that rely solely on faith, tell me some of my beliefs are wrong because i cant prove them (like evolution, even though there is proof , just not proof they understand or like) you cant have faith as your base and attack a "lack" of evidence of someone elses beliefs, because you yourself rely on something that cant be proven. I get told that living without hope and faith scares people, yes it does , but doesnt that say that maybe , just maybe fear could be the guiding force of "faith" and that wanting to believe something doesnt make it true, religion pretends to be all knowing (yes all religion claims to know just about everything) and yet the basis for them is faith, unprovable,unquestionable faith, its really convenient to believe in something no one can prove wrong, but you have to realize you cant prove it right either.

next is freedom...of religon and speech and touches things like worship,practice and censorship and freedom in general like equal rights...

people demand freedom of religion and they deserve it, thats not at issue here, what is , is that in the US there is a large movment (not as small or abused or "attacked" as they like to think) that wants bible and prayer to be required, that wants intelligent design taught in science class (just a renamed version of creation) how is a government sponsored religion freedom of it?? as for speech, this is something people love to whine about, they want to be able to say whatever they want, and i do too, to a point at least...hate to me is never ok, so i dont think people have the right to say certain things, but anyways considering this country loves its free speech always yelling about their first amendment rights, they still want to censor music and movies and books and even if you arent part of that group im willing to bet you wouldnt support pornography in public..right? well earlier i said hate is never ok and music gets censored and im sure some of you said " well they have a right to say what they think (even if it hurts or scares people?) or you said thats to protect people from something they dont want their children to her...so porn is evil, we are all naked sometimes but its evil right?? you are aloud to stand outside a funeral with a sign that says "god hates fags" but heaven forbid a kid sees a boob omg!!! its hypocritical, everyone wants something censored , so quit bitching about it just because you and the person next to you want different things blurred out, you are both prudes , just on different levels. Also involved in freedom is voting, if you dont vote, dont bitch about anything at all, because you have no voice you chose to be silent, freedom was helped along with voting, you can say soldiers did it if u want, they did, but they did what was voted on first, i know government is corrupt and full of lies boo hoo, everyone has lied, doesnt make it right, but if you arent gonna trust someone based on one lie you are going to be lonely, better not trust yourself either, there are no more lies and corruption in government than they're are business, not just big business, if you have 10 employees or 10000, then there are politics involved,and most families,churches and organizations are run the same way, by people.. so, flawed, yes they are but they arent without good points, i personally try to only support companies that openly support my ideals, its difficult because you cant be sure, but you cant be much more sure about the people you live with , so are you gonna just live your entore life calling everyone liars? which brings to me this, i refuse to go to Chick Fil A anymore due to their stance on some things like homosexuality, which christians like the owner of chick fil a openly oppose, they want to ban gay marriage(because they think being gay is a sin..well why arent there just as many christians trying to make adultery illegal?? o thats right cuz that would be fair!!) and chick fil itself lobbied against an effort in PA to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, so wait you want to be able to worship who ,what where and how you want but they cant marry or like who they want? hows that freedom, it isnt, its people demanding their freedom while trying to deny it to others, its wrong. equal rights means equla, for ALL if it isnt for ALL it isnt equal, i dont fight for blacks or gays or women or the poor seperately, we are all people , i dont like fighting for just one thing that happens to affect me, i fight for all, all creatures from people to trees to insects and dogs.

now something a bit lighter..sort of lol... people whine about orignality movies and music all the time , well books into movies may not be original but it can still be interesting and movies can do things books cant and vice versa, but this isnt new , remakes and adaptations have been happening since the 30s, so get over the "Hollywood nowadays" mentality, also scripts are basically books before they get filmed, and i dont know anyone who doesnt have a remake or an adaptation among their favorite movies , it all depends on what you like, which bring up another thing people like to talk about, popularity, if a movie is popular it doesnt mean its good, but it doesnt mean it sint good either, just because alot o people like something doesnt make it amazing but it also doesnt mean it sold out, you arent cool for hating popular things and you arent smart for liking what everyone else likes, it comes down to favoritism , we are aloud to like whatever we want, not because it is or isnt well known,or how intense,complicated,thought out,real ,sweet ,amazing or how much money it did or didnt cost, doesnt matter , just think for yourself, the money thing comes up quite a bit, how much money a movie made and all but it doesnt matter, yea i know it does, but only in the way that the makes are gonna be able to eat,live and make more, but so what either way, if i dont like the movie then i dont care at all and if i do then cool i get to see another, but thats it, its not the end or beginning of the world. Also money,popularity and "success" in sports, people love to love and hate lebron james, i dont like him myself, i dont hate him but i just dont like him, i was told that it didnt matter that people hated him because hes the best and has al ton of money and the number one selling jersey in the nba right now...really?? so what, if hes an arrogant asshole then money and fame shouldnt matter, and hell yes he is arrogant but dont hate him, he didnt kill anyone (that i know of) and even if he did that wouldn't be reason enough to hate him.

in closing i say that fairness is lacking...we need BALANCE people!!, look beyond your own nose, and start caring, and not just caring, but be logical, tit for tat ya know, stop being one sided, open your mind, expand your horizons, youll feel better , trust me, its no fun being one dimensional, why sell yourselves short or be selfish, its stupid , fairness is something everything deserves, balance is the way we need to live.

Bad rap for politics

politics have a bad rap, i cant tell you how many times i hear "politicians are all liars and crooks" or "voting doesn't matter, its not like my one vote counts" and those statements always piss me off. Here's why... first off not all politicians are liars, you can roll your eyes if you want and be cynical but that's an overblown statement, second, one vote does matter especially since not voting is an epidemic and no one has a good reason for not doing it. It seems to me people thinks its cool to knock the system, by not voting they are somehow protesting what they see as a broken system, well sorry to break the news to you but not voting is the least effective form of protest, by not voting you have no voice at all. It's not cool to be lazy or uninformed, i also know several people who vote blindly, because of their parents,friends,church or just what they hear from a single source without educating themselves on the whole picture. That is even worse than not voting at all.  Fact is people that don't vote because it "doesn't matter" are just too lazy or stupid to do any real investigation into things, and people who don't learn all sides and instead just listen to someone else's unfounded or ill informed views are again too lazy or stupid to do the work, and both are selfish.

Also, politics are a part of everything, from education to science to religion to business, to families, all are run politically, think about in all of those things i mentioned there is a pecking order, a hierarchy, someones in charge and some are members and others just do as their told. families,churches,schools all vote on things, whether formally or informally they all decide what to do either through democracy (e.g. a vote at church by leaders and members) or through a dictatorship (e.g. parents/teachers telling kids what to do) both are political systems, politics have been around longer than anything else, its the structure of things, and whether you are conformist or rebel you have  political structure you live by, yes rebels even you have rules, less rules are still rules.

I'm not saying politics are perfect, nothing in this world is because everything is run by people and we are flawed, but we cant throw out the baby with the bath water... if there is something we like or dont like we need to be vocal, not disrespectful, or overly quick to judge, but a healthy debate on things is lacking in today's world, i don't see many examples of people being able to question something without being condemned to hell or called "un-American" or accused of being a Nazi or a communist, what the hell, is this 40s/50s WWII /Sputnik paranoia all over again??? wake up people, politics aren't perfect but they are a vital tool of life, religion,science,politics,math cant save the world by themselves, that's not how it works, they all work together, its like a hammer,nails,screwdriver and saw, alone they can each do their jobs but together they can help build something bigger than themselves, don't you want that? don't you want to be more?

Hurt Heart

When your heart hurts, everything hurts.... your mind and body are thrown outta wack and you just wish it would end. I fall hard and fast, can be good but so far has mostly been bad. Recently i met someone that seems great, beautiful...funny, but as usual whatever light, whatever goodness, whatever dream i had has been replaced with hurt...the pain of not being wanted, the realization that no matter what i seem to do i always end up wrong, i remain alone, this time though, someone i love and trust a whole lot has in my mind betrayed me, right or wrong thats how i feel. Things have been said and done and cant be taken back but no one else seems to care but me and im so angry i can barely think about it without getting angrier. Im willing to bet money on the fact that neither of these people will read or even know this is how i feel in the slightest. Whats worse is i dont think they even thought about it at all or even care. I dont want these feelings, the love...the anger...the pain, i want it all to go away, i didnt choose any of these feelings but i have to live with them now, these loud voices inside my head telling me different things, and there is no one to drown out these voices. Ill still care about them both, and i still want them in my life, though right now that isnt a good thing, they are both happy without me which hurts, especially since they both affect my own happiness so much, what am i supposed to do, where do i go, do i try to tell them and risk further injury, or do i just push it down and hope it goes away.....RHJU%^E&YW@%$^*U$N^^EUD^*U^$&B^$N&W^$WRYUNSU^$SN^W&#@!@!@ $*

thats all i have to say about that......

What Once Was...Is

There once was a little boy
He desperately needed his dad to love him
Instead he was abandoned

There once was a boy
He wanted nothing more than to be accepted
Instead he was teased

There once was a young man
He searched for a best friend
Instead he was by himself

There once was a man
He desired to be in love
Instead he had his heart broken

And one day that man realized
that he was still a little boy
the pain of life saw to that

He is still afraid
He still feels alone
Huddled in a dark corner, wishing for comfort

Me (the facts of science and evolution) vs Drew Ross (opinions of science and evolution)

i just listened to a guy talk about evolution and he said and i quote "if you cant put forth an idea in an intelligible way on a cocktail napkin in a paragraph or two then it isnt a very clear idea"to that i say.. well the bible is alot longer than 2 paragraphs, and science itself is complex , its like saying surgery doesnt make sense because the average person cant do it.

he goes onto say, that in the 150 years since it was theorized that there is still no real evidence that its real...hm i guess millions of fossils and the discovery of several links and new and old species are nothing huh. I began to wonder how he would prove the bible, and what i have heard alot is the bible is true because its true basically, but that is actually the farthest thing from proof, saying "im right because im right" means less than nothing.

He also says that there are zero links between species to prove evolution and yet ive watched countless documentaries and read books and articles filled with transitional species that have traits from different species ,he also said no one has explained to him how certain things turn into certain other things , again he is trumpeting about proof, id love to see how he explains how a few people built a boat big enough to carry two of every animal on it. Also science and evolution dont claim to know everything unlike most religion, science is the study of the natural world and no evolution isnt 100% known but neither is surgery.

I also wonder how he believes in medical science which most of us dont understand and even the experts are learning new things.... perhaps Issac Newton didnt know what he was talking about.After all gravity is classified a "theory"

Maybe the early church was right when they said the Earth was flat and that the sun revolved around us, hmmm. They too couldnt fathom alot of things that were eventually proven to be facts.

My message to him and people that agree with him is...crack open a few science books and learn about it and the process , theories in true science unlike religion and politics and even history sadly are arduously and painstakingly researched and tested thats why we have medicine and technology, was the tv invented in 10 minutes.. nope, was the car immediately 100mph.. nope, did the light bulb come easy ,not even close, unlike religion , science takes its time to figure things out and doesnt just claim to be correct because it says so, you take a Tylenol and your headache goes away , you take a sleeping pill and you fall asleep, you plug something in and it turns on, thats all science, that was once not only not possible but most theories were at one time ridiculed especially by the church, mostly because alot of it was viewed as heresy and blasphemy.

He also claims that most people dont want there to be a God , really??... is that why 80% of the entire world believe in God in one name or another... dont believe me , look it up.

He then says that the cell is proven to be a tiny machine and that all machines have creators(paraphrased) well seems to me he believes what he wants about science and throws out what scares him or makes him nervous or what he doesnt understand or want to understand.

He claims to not be "anti-science" and yet he said in his podcast several times that alot of scientists lie and are atheists, well im sure glad Christians never lie, wake up!!!

Bottom line is we cant let our love of God blind us from the very world and things he created.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/christianwithabrain ...theres the link to his podcasts, the one i just wrote about is called the evolution of evolution, since i believe in giving people a fair shake, i wanted to include this so you can get both sides.

lately i havent had much to say, and though ive heard that even a fool knows when to keep his mouth shut i cant help it. In politics they are already ranting and raving about november elections which i can only pray go well for the country. but the the thing that stuck in my crawl was this news piece about how people in NYC dont want a mosque anywhere near the fallen towers. Sigh....its called FREEDOM OF RELIGION, the SAME freedom of religion that christians shout about and yet they r now discriminating against another religion...dont judge an entire race or religion by the acts of a few