"No, No, Just Believe Because I Said So" - By Matty Jacobson

Matty Jacobson contributes to and edits The
Skewed Review. He's about to piss of a lot of
people. Well, even more than he usually does.

THE SKEWED REVIEW | ACTIVISM & RELIGION

I am taking a step back and looking at everything that is organized religion, and really, what the hell is going on here?

I was born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know the ins and outs of the whole shebang. I've had my disagreements with some of its members, and I've found some of the acts of said members a little on the incredulous side, but I've never really looked at the actual religion itself.

And I'm not speaking just about the LDS religion. I'm talking about all religions, everywhere.

Now I've always believed in a creator. Hands-down there has to be one. But my theory is evolving just like life evolved. Does the creator still exist? Is it this omnipotent being who is everywhere all the time? Is it constantly looking down upon us somehow? Does it answer prayers? Did it create time and space and then simply observe? Or did it even realize it created what we know as our universe? Are we just one giant accident?

Unfortunately, religion is a huge power play wrapped up in the guise of charity. I mean, look at The Bible. Can you, without a doubt, tell me who wrote it? Sure, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and all those other old world journalists were all contributors, right? There's absolutely no way a person in a position of power, say a corrupt pope for argument's sake, would write whole sections and pass them off as Biblical text, right?

As we live today, it's getting harder and harder to make stuff up. There's so many ways to corroborate evidence that I don't even have to tell you what I'm wearing right now. Chances are there's a satellite that's already taken my photo four times since I went running this morning, seven security cameras on my street alone, and most likely two or three nosy neighbors who can't help but peek outside and see me going in and out of my house.

I could tell you I'm wearing a He-Man outfit and I've been riding a giant green lion named Battlecat all day, and you might believe me until you figured out that I've been seen forty different times today, and exposing my lie would be simple (I am wearing the He-Man outfit. But I'm actually just riding around this Big Wheel I stole from my neighbor's kids).

So apply that to making up stories. In the olden days, one could make up stories without fear of having to prove them because, hell, who's going to prove you didn't talk to a burning bush all night and get divine command from it? After all, you were ordered to go up on that mountain alone.

Basically, I could write my own "Bible," but I'd be hard-pressed to get people to believe any fantastical stories I made up because, well, I would have to prove it.

But let's just say I'm some nomad in the ancient Middle East who's feeling down on my luck. What if, by chance, I learned how to write. So instead of writing a really cool screenplay (because the whole TV  and movie things are not, well, things), I decide to write up a bunch of commandments and then tell everyone that "God gave them to me."

And then, since it's fun to wield power, I make everyone believe that I have a special connection with God that nobody else can have, and therefore everyone must come to me in order to get the skinny on what each person must be doing.

Now I'm definitely not saying Bible stories aren't true, but I am saying they could be (and some of them most likely are) made up for the purpose of controlling people.

I look at everyone's religion and I start to wonder where exactly all these "traditions" and "prayers" and "basic sheep mentality" came from. Why again did Jesus have to be tortured to death in order to save all of us? I mean, God was the creator, right? He made up the rules, right? Those are some pretty screwed up rules.

The more I look at religious history, the less I believe it.

Here's what I believe as of right now: I believe there was a creator. I don't know if it even realizes it created something. Hell, all of us could be creating universes without even knowing it. I believe that prayer does have power, though, because we put that energy out there and make it happen ourselves. We "pray" to basically get our minds set on the thing we want/need most. Then (since God helps those who help themselves, apparently), we go out and get that stuff done!

This post could go on forever. I'm just having a hard time swallowing all this. And trust me, that's not usually an issue for me.