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Everyman's Prayer Book
Democratic Governments and Their Courts: The Other Great Religions
By H. Kenneth MacLennan iUniverse LLC
Copyright © 2014 H. Kenneth MacLennan
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4917-3891-7
CHAPTER 1
PART 1 THE PILLARS OF CHRISTIANITY IN SEEKING OFFERINGS FROM BELIEVERS
INTRODUCTION
Scientists estimate our world to be about 13 plus billion years old, and our planet Earth about 4.5 billion years old. Single cell life did not begin until about 3.7 billion years ago, shortly after the creation of our planet Earth. Complex multi-cellular life in the form of animals-our precursors, known as tetrapods, with four limbs, that end in a maximum of five fingers and toes, only arose about 400 million years ago; early man six million years ago, and modern man, homo sapiens, only came upon the scene about 200,000 years ago. (Appendix D)
It was only after Homo sapiens, started to move out of Africa, and within the last 10,000 years, after the last major ice age, with the invention of tools, and the domestication of plants and animals, that modern day society began in the fertile crescent (Middle East), and sections of eastern United States, Central and South America, India, China, and Africa, when hunters of fish, fowl, and animals, and gatherers of plants, and fruit, were able to establish small villages or communities, eventually leading to larger chiefdoms and empires. In the early Roman and Greek empires we find the first worship of Gods, such as- our Sun, and the other physical features of our universe.
It was only after the invention of writing about five thousand years ago, that we find the birth of Judaism- worship of one God, in the likeness of man. It was not until about two thousand years ago, that we find the birth and worship of Jesus, and the rise of Christianity, and about fourteen hundred years ago, a revelation from God to Muhammad, and the birth of the Islamic religion. It was only within the last five hundred years, with the invention of the printing press (1450), that the alleged sacred books of Judaism, Christianity and Islam- the Torah, Bible and Koran, became public knowledge to the masses in competition with each other for offerings from believers, based upon claims of revelations from God.
With the invention of the printing press, we find the spread of knowledge- the beginning of the enlightenment of the masses; the Protestant reformation (1517); Copernicus (1473-1543) plotting the movement of the planets in the heavens, where he believed that the Sun was the center of the universe, and not the Earth, enraging the early Christian Church. The Roman Catholic Church published the Index of Prohibited books to protect the faith and morals of the faithful from reading of immoral books, or works containing theological errors, of which such errors included some scientific works by leading astronomers, such as -Johannes Kepler on the work of Copernicus. In 1600 A.D. Giordano Bruni was burned at the stake by the early Christian Church for suggesting that there were planets and suns in the universe other than our Sun.
In 1609, with the invention of the telescope, and with the improvements made by Galileo in its lens, Galileo was able to plot the actual movement of our sun and planets, and was able to confirm the work of Copernicus that the Sun, indeed, was the center of our local universe, and not the Earth, further enraging the Church, and being placed under house arrest. It was during this same period that we find the colonization of North and South America by the English, French and Spanish, and the founding of the United States of America, Canada, Mexico, and the other countries of Central and South America.
In 1859 Charles Darwin published his work on the origin of species, providing a scientific explanation for the evolution of man by natural selection, and the Church's claim that the first man and woman was Adam and Eve, became to be questioned. It was during this same period in our history, that Sir Isaac Newton provided his theory of gravity. Later in the early 1900's Albert Einstein confirmed Newton's theory of gravity, but provided a different explanation of gravity- that gravity resulted from the motion of the stars and planets in the heavens warping the space of those same stars and planets.
It was not until 1923, when Edwin Hubble discovered that there were other constellations, galaxies, and suns outside of our local universe, and the world was much greater than originally thought, as Giordano Bruni had earlier speculated, and that the Church sinned in 1600 in burning Giordano Bruni at the stake for suggesting that there were other planets and suns in the universe. It was not until Hubble's later discovery that the universe was expanding, that it was determined that neither the Sun, nor Earth were at the center of the universe, as with an expanding universe there could be no center of the universe.
It was not until 1964 that scientists were able to find evidence that the universe had a beginning, known as the Big Bang, in the discovery of a faint radiation hiss throughout the whole universe, where it was theorized that the universe began as a tiny bubble at high temperature, experienced a burst of inflation, expanded, and as the universe expanded, it began to cool, currently to a temperature 2.73 degrees above absolute zero. It was only recently with improvements in the telescope that scientists have been able to see the light, that was emitted shortly after the Big Bang. Scientists now believe that they have found the Higg's boson, the "God particle" that provides mass to the electron and proton, and all the other particles in the universe, including life.
Does the evidence for the Big Bang mean that there is no basis for the speculation and make believe of Christianity, or any of the other religions on the existence of God? No!! Neither science, nor religion are able to explain how our world was created from nothing, how life was created based upon the carbon atom, and thought and emotion result from chemical or atomic processes. Until the causes of those three unknowns are found, religion will continue to be able to engage in its speculation and make believe on the existence of God, and science will be able to continue to search for the evidence that will explain the cause of the initial creation event, the cause for the origin of life based upon the carbon atom, and the atomic, or chemical processes giving rise to thought and emotion.
THE CHRISTIAN BUSINESS PLAN
There is a reasonable basis for the business of religion, as there are three unknowns- the cause of the creation of the universe, the cause for the origin of life from the carbon atom, and how thinking and emotion can result from the chemical interaction of atoms or elements within our bodies. My concern, however, is has Christianity's speculation and make believe, in the competition for offerings from believers, crossed the line between faith and fact, and by crossing that fine line encouraged religious fanaticism, resulting in many of the atrocities committed by religion in modern day society.
To answer that question, I look specifically at the business of Christianity. As Roman Catholicism is the father of Christianity, and Christianity is the world's largest religion, and the Roman Catholic religion is the only religion that has an extensive written record in seeking offerings from believers, I use the Roman Catholic business plan as found in Matthew Bunson, General Editor, 2010 Catholic Almanac, as my main source of information, including information from the Christian Bible in outlining the pillars of Christianity in seeking offerings from believers.
You will find from Robert W. Funk, in book titled "The Acts of Jesus, The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus" a different story from that in the Bible, and the Roman Catholic Almanac. The seventy-nine internationally recognized biblical scholars, representative of the different Christian traditions, reporting as religious historians, and not as theologians, whose task it is to promote their business, and who must depend upon offerings in order to secure the food energy, necessities, and comforts of life, relocate the gospels to myths and stories. You will find that the Roman Catholic Church over time has also accepted much of the science on the creation of the universe and evolution of man, contrary to the stories as reported in the Bible.
The purpose of all businesses in society is to seek money from believers in order to secure the food energy necessary for life produced by our Sun. The business of religion is no different from other businesses, although believers may believe it is more special, as it deals with ethics and morals, and our salvation. Our forebears, as hunters and gatherers, secured their food energy by hunting for animals and fowl, and by fishing, and gathering of fruits and plants, and engaged in trading, or exchanging or sharing their food energy with others. With the invention of tools and domestication of animals, a more settled and complex society arose, where the work necessary to secure the food energy and shelter for life became subdivided among different segments of society, each performing a different task in order to secure this food energy and shelter.
In our early history it was the feudal system that served this purpose, where a chief or lord, in return for protection of his subjects, received that food energy from the toil of his subjects. Later with the development of property rights, individuals did not have to depend upon a chief, but could become a landholder, and provide their own shelter, and produce their own food energy, and sell any surplus food energy to those who had established other businesses in society, or exchange their products and services for the products and services of the other businesses. To facilitate the process of exchange or transfer of goods and services, coinage developed, including the use of paper money.
In modern times this transfer or exchange of goods and services becomes the lifeblood for the creation of different businesses in society. A grocery store owner uses the money received from your purchases to pay his employees for their service, cover the cost of products that you purchase, and to cover the costs of his operation as a business, including his life's shelter and food energy needs. In a similar fashion, a bank sells the service of depositing your money. You receive the product, or benefit from your deposit in the form of interest. The bank uses your deposited money to lend to other customers and receives the product, or the benefit of interest in return from other customers. The bank uses the proceeds, or interest from selling its product (your money) to provide its employees the reward of money for their service. Shareholders of the bank, in part, use the profits (interest and dividends) earned by the bank to secure the food energy and shelter necessary for life.
The business of religion has the same need for money or offerings from believers to secure the energy and shelter needs of clerics, as does the other businesses in society. In order for those in the business of religion to secure the food energy, clothing, shelter, and other essentials necessary for life, they seek offerings from their believers for providing the service of preparation for the Hereafter. Religion may have been our first great capitalist enterprise, competing with those in other religion businesses, and other non religion businesses for our offerings. In the competition among the different religion businesses for our offerings, each religion differentiates itself from other religious businesses, primarily in the content of their sacred books, and the type of sorcery, or magic, ritual and ceremony used to market their business.
At the core of religion's business plan is convincing believers in the existence of God, and that those in religion are agents of God. As no one has seen, or heard from God, religion needs some concrete evidence for God's existence. A revelation from God becomes that evidence, as the one supernatural God, external to the universe, all powerful, all perfect, and all knowing. Obeying God's Commands, becomes necessary, if one is to be saved, and enter the supernatural world- known in western society as Heaven.
For Judaism, the proof of God's existence is found in the revelation of the Torah from the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai, about 1600 B.C. where Jews would become God's chosen people. For Christianity, the revelation occurs in the New Testament, about two thousand years ago, with Christianity piggy backing its New Testament, on the Old Testament from the Jewish Torah, claiming Jesus to be the son of God. For Islam, the revelation of the Koran comes to the prophet Mohammed, as a messenger of God, about six hundred years after the beginning of Christianity - the true religion of Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. For Bahai, the revelation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas comes to the prophet Baha'u'llah, about two hundred years from the present in a dream in the dungeon of a black pit in Tehran, located in present day Iran. For Bahai, Moses is succeeded by Jesus Christ, who is succeeded by Muhammad, and Muhammad is succeeded by Baha'u'llah, making Bahai the true religion of God- the successor of all the religions.
It was not until the invention of the printing press, five hundred or so years ago, after earlier resistance of clerics, that the different revelations of the Bible, Torah, Koran, and Kitab-i-Aqdas became available to the masses. Over time those revelations, alleged from God, changed as a result of different interpretations of their original revelations, for example -Judaism becomes reform, conservative, and orthodox- Islam, as Sunni and Shia, and Christianity, as Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism, which further splinters into its many different sects reflecting different interpretations of the original revelation, or written word.
Central to instilling belief in each religion's business plan is the memorization of its particular catechism and creed. As the young are the future makers of offerings, each religion focuses on instilling belief in the young, that it is the true religion of God, through Sunday school, Bible schools, Bible camps, and journeys to the father. This includes establishing their own religious schools, if unable to convince the State to fund their religion. The goal of all religions is to recruit and convert those of other religions to support their business, in order to increase their offerings, and thereby enhance the quality of life of their workers. To do so they pretend to be agents of God, with special powers in providing the service of preparation for a hereafter in a make believe supernatural world.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Everyman's Prayer Book by H. Kenneth MacLennan. Copyright © 2014 H. Kenneth MacLennan. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse LLC.
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