Is Organized Religion Evil?

Not per se. God is a wonderful being. To believe in God is a wonderful thing. To wonder about God is wonderful. The organized church is not so wonderful a lot of times. That doesn't mean it needs to be done away with. Any organization starts going downhill the moment it is created. It is up to the people of that organization to build it up more than it is torn down. Two major organizations that come to my mind are NOW and the NAACP. Both of these organizations had aspirations and lofty goals and were also wonderful when they began. Unfortunately, organizations have to have the means to function and attaining their needs sometimes causes the organizations to lose their sense of direction. NOW has certainly lost theirs. Churches also do this. My belief is that churches should be local just as government should. If they need help they can call neighboring churches. But don't join up with 5,000 churches and have a head office. That's the beginning of the end. Certain people love power and will do a lot of acting and lying to get it. From a distance they may seem to be doing well but things are prone to happen behind the backs of the people. How about those Crusades? How about the radical Muslim leaders? The American government, as well, was set up to honor local governance. The federal government wasn't supposed to do much - protect us from foreign countries and settle disputes between states and commonwealths and ... oh, that's about it - but look at the American government now. It's absolutely nothing like it began. This is not progress. It is loss of liberty. The American government should go back to its roots and let the states and counties and cities decide their matters. In the same manner, the little country church outside of town shouldn't be regulated and taxed by the home office. This takes a lot out of the entity of a neighborhood, friendly, free church where people are supposed to come together for one purpose - to be thankful to God, not to see what they can get. Nothing is wrong with a little bit of organization. It should be limited, though. The rest is about trust and relationship.

What is Prayer?

Believe it or not, this is a mysterious subject. It seems that it would be simple but if you ask someone to do it they might appear dazed and confused. Praying is one thing but understanding what it is is another. I have had conversations with pagans and their type on the Internet and they usually try to convince me that prayer and magic are the same thing. Not at all. In magic one tries to control his environment. Prayer is not magic in any way. It is asking God to help you. You ask God. He answers. The end. So you might be wondering why it doesn't seem that God answers prayers the way I just explained. It's because of the answer. Some people say that God always answers prayers but the answer is sometimes no. That's close to what I think but I have a much better answer. First of all, I must point out that I seldom pray for myself. I pray for others. I think that's what God wants. I don't think He likes ego trips where you "claim" something and it's yours. He wants us to pray for each other. Where two or three are gathered, there will He be in the midst of them. As for the answer to the prayer, I don't think it's ever No. There are many paths we can take at any given moment. When I pray for myself or for anyone else, I expect God to choose the best path. It isn't apparent to us that God has actually done anything but we have been influenced to make a more fitting choice. I don't think we should ever demand anything from God or ask Him to prove Himself. Then there are the other answers. People doubt that He can heal sickness. That's strange to me since He created us in the first place. It seems to me that He can do anything He wants in the universe He created. He speaks the word and it happens. Just like that. But mostly I think He just helps us by choosing our paths. And if He wants to heal someone He just does it.

Jesus' Bible

Most Americans have no idea what the Bible says, much less about whether or not they believe it. It stands to reason to thinking people that one would actually have to read it to disagree. Sadly, most people just don't have time to think about it in our age of distraction. I have actually talked to people who thought Jesus carried an English New Testament around with him. I just don't have the words to express my thoughts on that one.

Really, read this.