Last night my nephew David went to an event sponsored by a christian church that sounded like a haunted house designed to scare kids into believing in Jesus. They had displays that emphasized the dangers of sin and how it could result in damnation. It was all about hell. My nephew came home and asked if we thought his mother, who died 10 years ago in a car accident, had gone to heaven.
This brought up a lot of feelings for me including disgust and anger. The dogma represented in telling children that if they don't believe the right things they could go to "hell" is the lowest for of religious madness that exists on this earth.
I was raised with the same kind of sentiment. I believed at about 8 years old that I was going to hell. In fact, I spent many nights gripped in fear that I had inadvertantly damned myself by having thoughts that maybe some of the things that I was being told in church were untrue. I was afraid of my own thoughts and afraid of a punishing "God" that would condemn a child to hell for questioning the irrational things spoken by the limited human clergy and adults in my life.
Studying the Bible in my twenties helped me a lot. It actually showed me how nonsensical that book is. I was able to quit believing in the God that I was raised with along with heaven, hell and all of the rest of the neurotic teachings of Christianity. I was able to develop the belief that nobody knows anything about what created this existence or where we go after death. Structured religious systems, in my opinion, were created to help their adherants feel more comfortable about the unknown and to feel superior to people who fall outside of their particular church, coven or congregation.
In the case of evangelical religions, the idea that one needs to bring people to God in order to gain favor is height of arrogance. I have known Cristians who make their mission to "save" Buddhists. Their ignorance about Buddhism is so ridiculous.
Anyway, I'm really just venting. I thank God that I am not a Christian. In fact, as part of my spiritual liberation, I quit labeling my beliefs. I see that beliefs about God are as individual as a fingerprint. Take a hundred people of any faith and investigate what they think is true and you see how different they all are.
To my nephew I say don't listen to anyone who talks about your mother not being "saved".
