I know of at least one other ATS’er who has read Michael Tellinger’s “Slave Species of god” and I’d like to use this book as a springboard to open this thread to speak about and debate the issues raised in not only this book, but also many other similar books that have (thankfully) hit the shelves recently ... oh and, to be fair, lets not leave out one that has been around since ... well, only around 1,109 years ago.

However, I need to be honest and admit that I did start a blog, “Catchawakeup slave species of the gods!!”, for the same reason - a blog that soon succumbed to conversations between too few people … and that was not my vision … so I pulled the plug on the blog. I want more people to become involved in what I like to view as an awakening – so I have decided to include most of my thoughts that I posted on “Catchawakeup!!” here - under the same subject heading. While I know that I may be – no, probably am - ‘preaching’ to (mostly) a converted audience, I really hope that this thread will lead to a more varied and wider base of participants.

Ya ya ya ... I know speaking about religion and politics and the like is considered to be rude, or at best inappropriate – but [SNIP] that! ... we need to be speaking about this stuff!

Its probably already to late to mention this now – but be warned, I am extremely verbal and only slightly less opinionated … and I love writing … so my posts are guaranteed to be long ones – sorry – but, in the interest of keeping perspective and continuity, it is sometimes necessary to become quite elaborative
So … after reading “Slave Species of god” I am sure that many have been returned back to square one … do not pass Start – do not collect 200 bucks - just go straight back to square one … which, in my opinion is far better than being where we are at right now as a human race. If the god of The Bible is not God, then who or what is God?

We as a people should re-examine who or what God REALLY is in our lives. By this I mean that we should travel and explore this journey as a private and individual exercise and not simply take for granted that the dude on the pulpit has all the answers – because he doesn’t. Is God the god that reigns by instilling fear into us if we do or don't do this or that? Or is he indeed living within each and every one of us ... irrespective of how we live our lives? Remember that humans are fallible, greedy and mostly self-centered - and while remembering this, also remember that the stuff we read in the Bible was only translated and ‘canonized’ millennia after the tablets were actually written ... this, after having been sliced to bits by human editors and censors of course.

Now, try to remember what you were taught at school in the history class and think about what children are being taught in schools today. I don't know how old you are (and it really doesn’t matter) but the differences between what I was taught 30years ago, and what kids are being taught today are simply astounding … and so - I cannot, with my enquiring and rational mind (that God gave me) for one second accept that (a) the Bible is truth in its entirety and (b) that humans haven't edited (or at the very least, misinterpreted) it to suit their particular needs and/or greed at different times during the course of history. Speaking about South Africa now (but I know this is true for the rest of the world also) … Were blacks allowed in churches (especially the Dutch Reformed church) say 20 years ago? Were gays? Were drums and electric guitars?

Mod Edit: Removed censor circumvention

[edit on 30-7-2009 by Gemwolf]

Forget religious history for a moment and ask yourself what the first thing is that victors do after winning a war. They remove the statues of previous leaders, they change street names, they even change the names of cities, they rewrite the history books that our children are exposed to at school … the list goes on ... and in the process, large parts of the formative history of a nation is thrown out together with the bathwater … sometimes never to be preserved for future generations. So, how can we expect that the next generations would be in a position to make head or tail out of what really happened in the past? And we want to accept that our forefathers got it 100% correct … somehow I have a hard time accepting that it was possible!

Does the ritual of baptizing (or christening) infants come from the Bible? Or is it a Pagan ritual that was brought into the church towards the end of the Dark Ages ... specifically to draw people back into the church? ... as is the case with all the other foregoing questions regarding what was and wasn’t allowed in the ‘house of god’. Things that once were taboo and considered sinful, but have over the years been accepted and adopted into churches, purely to prop up the dwindling numbers of people going to church?

Please know that I'm not slating Christianity, any particular gods or any belief system anyone might have. All I'm asking is: Do we not suck in and make our own too much of what is fed to us as gospel and should we not use our God-given RIGHTS and TALENTS to question, examine and make up our minds about what is right, just and good in this world? I believe that we all have the spirit of God within us - and if we open our spiritual ears, we will hear that voice talking to us all the time. But methinks this voice has been somewhat drowned out by all the BS that people are fed these days ... and unfortunately a lot of it is being served up from our pulpits. It has become a tussle for bums in seats and coins in the collection plate - while our spiritual connectedness to everything and everybody seems to have been forgotten and lost along the way.

The God I serve and believe in is indeed omnipresent ... but have you ever wondered how this can be? It’s quite simple really ... precisely because he/she/it lives within all of us ... within everything you see around you … so, just like we can’t escape our shadows, so we cannot escape God. But the beauty of serving and answering only to the Universal God … the REAL creator of all things (including the gods of the Bible) … is that I have no desire to escape my God. You see, my God is not a God of vengeance, jealousy, anger or punishment who enforces his demands by threatening all kinds of terrible things against my person.

This is a very important statement to ponder on … the threats and promises of all manner of pain and suffering that the god of the Bible threatens us with, frightens the living daylights out of us.

Why?

The answer is simple. It is because they are very cleverly worded threats so as to instill fear into us as physical beings. None of us like burning our fingers on the stove, I’m sure – let alone our whole darn body for eternity!! The god of the Bible physically dealt with anyone who crossed him … there is oodles of evidence of this in both the Old and the New Testament … nowhere do we read about any spiritual punishment that he meted out – why? Again the answer is simple. Because the god of the Bible has no jurisdiction over the spiritual aspects of our lives - in fact, he is also subject to that higher power who does. So there you have it … the god of the Bible can hurt and maim our physical bodies, but he cannot touch us at a spiritual level ... ... ...

Think about it for a moment. The god of the Bible managed to keep ‘his’ servants subservient by threatening and carrying out the most terrible acts of violence against defenseless human beings - ruling them with an iron fist … but nowhere do we find evidence that he ever managed to carry out the spiritual threats that he made against us (go ahead, correct me if I am wrong). Think long and hard on this one. If the Biblical god had dominion over our spiritual beings and was so set on (if not fanatical about) absolute subservience to him, surely he would have “flicked the switch” and presto, we would all be the blithering idiot zombies he so desired? Yet here we are … er … um … here I am still trying to ignite a debate about these issues millennia down the line! In fact, I would not be surprised if this is part of the reason why we don’t see these ‘angels of doom’ around anymore. Perhaps there are just too many spiritually evolved beings on this planet to be frightened by such barbaric tyrants and their primitive ways of dealing with people.

I love and accept myself and therefore I love and accept God and everything he/she/it has (we have?) created. In my opinion, we are God living out his/her/its dream. Think on that for a second ... if we humans didn’t exist, would God still be omnipresent? ... would he/she/it even exist? ... or is it only through our recognition of God that God has a place in our lives, on Earth and in the Universe? I guess it’s a little like that falling tree in the forest ... If nobody is there to hear it fall, does it still make a noise?

We should never forget … "We are not human beings experiencing a spiritual experience - we are spiritual beings experiencing a human experience" ... I can’t remember where I first read or heard this statement, but it stuck with me … moreover, it’s true!

Phew ... OK ... sermon's over ... leave all your belongings at the door and go forth and spread the word to your friends and family. Ya, ya, ya … My God also has sense of humor you know ... and a great one at that!! Just look at English Bull Dogs ... you just have to laugh when you see one of those … no?

Thank you for your thoughts Eitimzevinten ... The Roman Catholic church (for one) is rife of adaptations that are geared to keeping or luring bums in seats ... er ... or in the confessional. How much more power can you exert on someone who has not only paid money for the 'privilege', but who has also spilled their guts on their “wrongdoings” ... psychologically that is (pseudo-respect to the dudes who thought this one out) a prison of note!! ... and so the adaptations continue and thrive on the mindset of the sheeple … bums in seats = money in the plate.