God as a concept or as a reality should be the ultimate comfort. It should be what or who you turn to for reassurance in hard times. Religion in our societies on this planet are very much problematic when it comes to that. Our religious gods are mean, petty, and cruel. They judge for reasons that don’t make sense under scrutiny, and are used as tools of control by those institutions in power. And ironically at the same time seem to forgive the worst of atrocities without a second thought.
The Christian/Catholic god may be the most familiar, and is the one I grew up with. The misogyny and unfathomable cruelty of this version of god is the main reason so many young people abandon religion. These are religions that famously harbor known pedophiles and twist themselves into pretzel-shapes in order to avoid evolution or accountability. My main personal issue with these religions is how they glorify and flat-out worship a torture device rather than god’s love. Worse than that, they like to actually depict their savior being put through profound agony for unjust and stupid reasons while stripped of even the dignity of having clothes on. Then they use that image as jewelry (even for small children) or home décor that is usually not even thought about except for in the most surface-level ways. Execution of anyone, especially on that barbaric, let alone execution of a son of god, should not be celebrated or used as a way to get out of consequences for your own “sins”.
This is just one example but every religion is full of these examples of “god” being presented in a malformed and unholy way. We need to move past it.
There is a well of fear so deep with this that most cannot even face it. They believe questioning these teachings will bring down the wrath of divinity on them. Please consider that if we want to believe in something like God or Source as something to look up to for guidance, that ideal should be one of pure love and compassion. We as a people need to overcome these ancient, weird faiths that make little sense in modern life, except as a way to disempower and control. There is so much in life itself that warrants this remaking of our understanding of the energy existence comes from. It is possible to incorporate science, equality, diversity, and a total absence of cruelty into God and how we appreciate the divine.
God should be the most untainted source of love itself. God should not be the greatest weapon of fear of those looking to enslave the masses and make a profit off of that.
Personally, I hated going to church every Sunday for many reasons. The sermons never spoke to me. It was so repetitive in a ritualistic way that has nothing at all to do with our daily lives that I constantly felt like I was missing something crucial in the Why of it all. There were very few examples of women, and those there were were very obviously deformed in order to control and debase women as a concept. There are only two templates – whore or virgin. I also could not stand that there was a massive detailed crucifix in front of us showing a man being tortured to death with bloodstains and everything and nothing reflected of his agony other than a bored kind of sadness. Even as a small child, I knew that was wrong on so many levels. If you do love Jesus, please give him at least the most basic kind of respect we give even prisoners executed by the state for known crimes. Stop torturing him to death endlessly and let him be at peace. It is gross and evil to parade your savior in his moment of greatest vulnerability, in the least respectful way, for what? Your salvation? You kill him by wearing him as torture jewelry? You eat your meals with him hanging on your wall like that? If you believe that is god’s son, do you think he would appreciate that behavior? Please, please, please think about how you are portraying God. Think about how you even start to approach the concept of the force in existence that watches over us all in the most loving ways. Existence couldn’t survive at all if something that heartless and malicious was in charge of it. If you can only access heaven through the most gruesome of deaths, maybe go all the way back to the beginning and start again, because you’ve gone astray.
There is a lot of darkness in our lives on Earth. We deserve a God who is tender and wise in all directions, and not just a task-master eager to trip us up somehow. God should be accessible to everyone, and not just those looking to study ancient perverted texts in absolute celibacy.
My concept of God embraces everyone who is looking to do better. We all need to TRY. We need to be brave enough to try and escape those old ideas of higher levels of existence, in order to find more accurate ones. Really sit with it and ask yourself who or what God is to you. Who should God be? There is a time for judgment and every act of evil should have consequences, but this isn’t a game of gotcha. God shouldn’t be someone who lays traps in order to trick you into suffering. God is how you navigate a hard life in order to escape suffering and find real peace and joy.
The hard truth is we are very stressed out people, and we like to look for easy answers. Having someone well established in power tell you something like “all you need to do is say you’re sorry” feels like the easiest way out. But someone looking a little more closely might reveal that is a little too convenient. You shouldn’t be able to rape, torture, or murder and then say sorry to get out of consequences. Go on and believe judgement is real and you cannot escape it even with endless “I’m sorry”s. You need to actually have remorse, make amends, and then take steps to do better next time, at the very least. And even then, there are still consequences for your soul if you behave in a way that goes again love.
But the good news is that I do believe the key to salvation is just in making an effort to do better. To learn, grow, and evolve. Recognize choices that have led you astray, and stop making them. Take a step or extend a hand in a loving direction. We are all fully capable of this, even when stressed out. Fate is real. Faith is real. Have faith that fate has a hand in everything, and we are cared for on that divine level, even if the message gets distorted on its way to your heart and soul.
Love and blessings, friends.