It may be a correct action to consult with a religious leader. It may be a correct action only if he does not give answers to your questions. He should help you explore your values. You can create your own answers to your questions. This preserves your free will. Sin is that which interferes with God’s Plan. Remember that leaders of organized religions are skilled, practiced, and very often college trained at what they do. They have learned to use a constant stream of words to first numb your reason. Second they build a sense of guilt in your emotional brain. Third, they “set the hook” and drag you into the boat. Be careful around them. Watch out for the gaff. While you are flopping around and gasping for life in the bottom of the boat, your pockets will spill their contents. Eventually you, the essential you, will die. Or, maybe on a whim, once your pockets are empty, they’ll throw you back into the water. Allow you to fill your pockets again, for the next time they need a contribution. Preparing for the time when they want to build another wing on the church. Jesus said, “Follow Me. I will make you fishers of men.” Matt. 4:17-22. If you fish, you will understand the following. If you do not fish, you will need to prepare yourself with some study. Go on a field trip so that you can fully appreciate the art and science of fishing. At the most basic level, to fish you either cast a net, or cast a line with a hook. A net seems obvious, but in fact it is made with a great many fine filaments. It is most commonly not cast. It is set out in some fashion to surround a large area. It is then drawn tight to surround, encircle, and trap (netting) the desired fish. Casting a line with a hook has an infinite variety of possibilities. These are the choices which the fisherman makes depending upon the fish being sought. Choices include salt or fresh water. Bait or lure fishing. Live bait or dead bait. Lifelike lures or representations for spin casting and fly fishing. Wet, or dry fly fishing. These initial choices then lead to other choices of fishing poles, reels, tackle boxes, line, leader, and hooks. Dry fly fishermen consider themselves artists. The purists are those who tie their own flies. These are used to seek out and lure the wily predator fish out of its lair. Since this is to only be a short study of fishing, leave out any consideration of boats, motors, fish finders, anchors, boat trailers, hitches, and towing vehicles. Assume that you will fish from shore, or dock. As a part of your religious education, take the time to go to a large sporting goods store and wander the fishing department. Observe, ask questions, and take notes. There are hundreds of decisions (choices) that a fisherman has to make. There are hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, that are to be spent. Every choice is important. When you have done all of this leg work, there is still more to be done, because now you must decide where you will go to fish. As an illustration, when I decided to become a fresh water trout fisherman I was living near the Salton Sea in the desert of California. I didn’t catch any trout until I got to Alturas County in that state. Check the map of California. Why such a distance? Answer: other fishermen. There were streams on the east side of the Sierra with a fisherman on every six feet of stream bank! Fishermen have been chasing fish as a predator for a long time. At least as long as men have been seeking religious power over their fellow men. Hooking men and women with religion is at least as complicated. There are at least as many variations and subtleties as dry fly barbless trout fishing. And without the requirement for catch and release. The question is, what kind of fish are you? What kind of bait, or lure, or dry fly will cause you to rise? What pattern of feathers and glitter is required to get you to open your mouth and take a bite? What is the best kind of hook to use to snag your lip? What is the best technique to use to bring you to shore? Are you best put in the creel, or kept alive? What kind of fish are you? Your predator is here. It is a predator of predators. Answers to religious questions and actions of religious faith are the responsibility of the individual. You must decide what is, or is not appropriate for you to do. Always to be avoided are persons who presume to tell you what is “right”, what is “wrong”. Always to be avoided are persons who tell you what you should do. Always to be avoided are persons who attempt to entice you to do something for a religious reason. Always to be avoided are persons who attempt to entice you to do something which you have not previously decided to do. Stay away from them. Predators come in many forms. Most predators of humans have learned to smile, and soothe your fears. They have learned to tell you what they think you want to hear. They appeal to your basic instincts and fears. The most dangerous decisions are all those apparently small inconsequential choices. Choices which are made impromptu, “on the spot”, via “snap decisions”. Choices made without the careful thought of the conscious 10% of your brain. Choices made when you are tired. Choices made when you are stressed. Choices made when you are ill. Choices made when you are suffering from a headache. Choices made when you are grieving a loved one’s death. In any of these circumstances do not make decisions more important than what to have for lunch. The human vultures watch the newspaper's obituaries. Then the human vultures gather around for their share of the feast. Don’t buy anything at such a time in your life. Don’t sell anything at such a time in your life. Don’t make promises in writing. Don’t even make promises verbally. Don’t pledge anything to anyone in writing. Don’t pledge anything to anyone verbally. Don't pledge, or promise, anything to any group. Don't pledge, or promise, anything to any institution. Don't pledge, or promise, anything, even verbally, and especially not in writing. At these times, only the animal unconscious 90% of your brain is working. It is ticking along like a cold-blooded computer. It has no inhibitions. It has no morals. That brain is never shut off. Your normal natural inhibitions are at their lowest levels. Your normal natural cautious skepticism is at its lowest levels. The low-life human scavengers know this. The low-life human vultures are planning to take advantage of it. The low-life human hyenas are planning to take advantage of you. By their suits and smiles, you will know them. By their arrival, you will know them. By their signs, their tape recorders and their documents, you will know them. Don't be nice to them. Don't even be courteous to them. Don't smile and don't say please to them. Show them the door. Show them the exit gate to your property. Show them your 12 gauge pump shotgun. Pump a shell into the chamber. Now show them the end where the buckshot leaves the barrel.
(c) Copyright 2006: George Wallace recently published a book on religion which lashes out at nearly all of the comfortable ideas about God, the trappings of organized religion, and the priesthood. His pithy comments and suggestions for a return to a God-centered personal religion will interest everyone. This article may be freely reprinted so long as all copyright attributions, and the full content of this resource box are included. www.OhGodIsThatYou.com
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