Forum Post: Christianity is a control mechanism of the 1%
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 8, 2011, 8:59 a.m. EST by aquainted
(268)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I'm sure there are mythical truths behind Christianity, but it certainly seems it has been commandeered by the 1% and is now used as a pacification tool for the masses.
Point is: they use anything and everything to keep you working in their armies with your mouth shut.
Stop making it seem that all christians are brainwashed by the 1% and behave the way they want them to behave. I embrace this movement. This movement is about addressing the ever widening gap between the haves and have nots. It is about addressing the out of control greed of Wall Street and in Corporate America.
I am a christian, and as you can see I fully support the OWS movment. My eyes is wide opened to what is going on out there. So, the 1% failed to pacify me and other christians I know who are very tuned into what is going on. So, please don't for a minute think that all Christians are completely pacified and clueless as to what is going on out there. That is simply not the case.
Honestly, Christianity (or any religion for that matter) says what you want it to say and means what you want it to mean. If you're an authoritarian you use it as a banner of provincialism around which you can rally your people and as a draconian behavioral code which you enforce at your whim. If you're intolerant and hateful you'll find those passages in your scriptures that endorse violence against and harassment of people who live or think differently than you. There is ample evidence of this sort of behavior throughout history.
However, if you're more of an individualist you'll take the stories of the prophets and read them as tales of outcasts and rejects whose wisdom was inconvenient yet indisputable, and you'll read them as warnings against following the crowd too closely. If you want change from our current system you'll read and take heart in the tale of the moneylenders in the temple, and you'll take it as a call to action. If you believe in tolerance and diversity then your faith will be based around "love thy brother, love thy enemy" and you will live your life according to that principle.
In all honesty, the religious right in this country falls mostly if not completely into the former category. Their leaders are authoritarian, intolerant sexist, homophobic, and greedy (and on occasion just plain nuts) and these leaders choose to use Christian fundamentalism as a means to rally scared, angry people behind them against imaginary threats so that nobody takes a second look at who the real threat to our democracy is.
That said, the religious right is not the sum total of Christianity, nor even of Christian Americans any more than the extreme wing of the Likud party is the sum total of Judaism or groups like al-Qaeda are the sum total of Islam. While I personally am an atheist, I have many friends of many different faiths who, on the whole, are quite intelligent, quite willing to question authority, and quite morally upright by even nonreligious standards of ethics. I resent the OP's willingness to lump them all into a pot of sheeple and backward-thinking bumpkins as strongly as if he had asserted that all atheists are sociopathic slimeballs.
You're right, I'll back off. My father was a minister and a great guy. I went to Christian Schools through College.
What I am concerned about is the lack of critical thinking skills out there in the general public. We can not be a society that is lazy and is spoon-fed info (told how to think about things). So there is reason for concern about our whole society.
The powers that be what everyone believing in the right-left paradigm and fighting each other. They want us distracted and easily controlled. We need to become a nation of people who are truth-seekers. We need to now longer "go with the flow" but be different--think outside of the box.
There is definitely a reason for concern about the masses being brainwashed (programmed how to perceive things and think). Everyone needs to examine themselves and question: " Why they believe what they believe in." What I can't stand is people who never do this. They need to wake up and soon because they are mere puppets in the hands of the puppet master (the controlling elitist).
It is clear that you know nothing about Christianity, religion, or American life in general.
[Removed]
'Zackly. Probably one of the same dweebs that thought Bush wanted to institute a theocracy.
The Religious Right Tea Party Republicans are the enemy of OWS and supports of the 1%. This cannot be denied.
christianity is a religion. some people are very corrupt.
end of story
no your describing communism not christianity
no your describing communism not christianity
yeah,
so moses conned a large group of people to go to what is now israel/palestine and use their skills and knowledge to build new cities with new rules and more freedom.
in early egypt people worked 6 days a week sometimes 7. They believed the Pharaohs to be their half gods who communicated with the gods from atop the pyramids.
Upon bringing them to the new land moses offered them riches and freedom, but they had to build a new world for themselves and obey the basic laws of the god, the one true and good god.
He gave them the 10 commandments. from there on Christians, Muslims and Jews sprouted over disputes of land, resources and control.
All the other stuff came later, The Roman Empire faltered and Jesus, an activist at the time, tried to lead a revolution and was executed. The platform he ran on was an attempt to use people's undying faith that there was a god.
Same as now. Until folks get real they will always be led around like fools and manipulated by those who can harness their faith.
The only reason Republicans brought up the re-vote on the "God Bless America" thing was because they were hoping to play the god card big time. They were hoping that Democrats would challenge it and therefore give them an axis to work on. Democrats, confused, just voted for it and Republicans lost their greatest hope for control.
They will try again.
Christianity was a Religion of Reform. Crucifixion and Slavery were abolished in the regions where Christianity took hold. That's where the principle of serfdom came from. People were no longer owned by masters, they were considered to be part of the land.
Since then, of course, it's become a Religion of Oppression. Ironic considering how the Oppressors don't pay any attention to what their own Book says.
An awful lot of christian hating in this thread! Jesus said to any who would follow Him, that the world would hate you because of it. True Jesus followers are a hated group everywhere in the world. Millions have been put to death because of Him. All who hate jesus' followers and persecute them will get their just reward at the judgement. It won't be pretty. To reject the creator of all things and his followers and mistreat them will be rewarded with weeping and gnashing of teeth.
They know the book is political because they canonized for that purpose. Constantine was a politician, remember. And the Catholics made kings wait outside for 3 days. From that came separation of church and state. Now we need separation of STORE and state. We just keep knocking the enemies down, but never get free
The days of Christianity being a Religion of repression have long gone. Look at the billions repressed under the rouse of Sharia Law, and how they manipulate the reality to make the Muslims seem like they are in the right. Don't denegrate ones beliefs because it was not the believers who were the suppressors in the Christian faith. Unlike the Muslims who believe that suppression and submission starts at home with the mans wife and kids.
Hi aquainted, Agree. Good post. Remember Bush saying "god is on Americas side". Total merging of extreme right politics and religion for control purposes. Unfortunately, it works too well. Seems to be a certain personality that embraces it. People in control using this mechanism do not care about god, Jesus, the bible or right to life issues, and are probably laughing. So much power, with such a little investment. Best Regards, Nevada
A good book to read is "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" written by Max Weber
So with the steady drop in church attendance over the past decades, the danger is past? The protestant reformation made profit acceptable. There were a couple of denominations that went with the idea that if you prospered, then it was god rewarding you in this life. That actually made more people work hard to succeed. A lot of the original robber barons were poor men that started with nothing. You make it sound like there is a meeting of our overlords where they pick out things to use against the masses.
a good book to read is "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" written by Max Weber
Thanks I read it a while ago, actually took a course where it was used as a text.
That sounds like it would have been mentally stimulating.
Not to mention the idea of manifest destiny where god gives you the land cause you are Christian!
By the way, God just told me that he gave me your land, so hand it over, sinner.
All those ideas offered motivation to men certainly, making claims for land and resources. Genghis Kahn believed he was favored by the gods, european settlers in America killed off the "savage" unbelievers, Rome expanded into barbarian lands. We're left with the winners' belief that god was on our side. It's the conspiracy aspect to the original post that I disagree with. I see religion more as an ointment applied to the winner's conscience to ease his guilt, not as much as a drug to keep the masses complacent. It might have worked for a time in the middle ages with christianity but not so much any more.
You misquoted - the proper term, repeated over and over and over again - was never savage but "salvage." They believed they could salvage or save them. "Savage" is but a distortion of a shallow history. And Rome never forced its religious beliefs on anyone; one of the reasons its expansion efforts were so successful.
You really need to do your history.
Many conquers didn't force a religion on their opposition, but often did believe they were favored by fate or the gods. My several sentences were not meant to be a history lesson, just a general backdrop for my basic point. Modern Christianity isn't much of a control mechanism for the masses. It once offered divine right to kings and an excuse to dominate different cultures, but it's influence has faded in the modern world.
The problem with your theory though is that even as Christianity is gradually peeled away, we are yet left with it's basic belief structure. If you live in America, and are possessed of certain beliefs - the Geneva Convention or Guantanamo, for example - then you are possessed of Christian belief as reformed and reborn in America. In America, everyone is Christian, regardless of the specific nature of their belief.
Henry VIII, divine right of kings, separation of church and state - it begins here - all rather interesting subjects.
The only person that God side is on, are those who have repented, turned from sin, and put their faith in the savior, Jesus Christ, who died so that we could live, onto everlasting life. All who reject this will suffer eternal death, and separation from the One who loved them. Their is only one way, don't let your heart be so hard that you leave this world, only to find you should have listened to the call Jesus made to you.
I don't mean to offend, but I'm not sure there is actually a god. It would be nice to be wrong, but if he's there he forgot to give me the faith to believe. I see this life as a one time thing and hope to leave the world a little better then when I entered it.
No offense taken kind sir. Can you not see a creator in the extremely complex design of nature? That is where I started. I tried to escape and hide, but everywhere I looked, I only saw wondrous design. Seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened. ponder the great complexity of the universe. Even a single cell is a very complex thing. Peace to you JPB950.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7 the bible.
The 1% has many non-religious control mechanisms. Nationalism is an excellent example. It transcends religions. So don't blame Christianity when people would be more offended being called Un-American!
The people really need to purge themselves of multiple streams of bullshit. Just get free from all of it.
agreed
Marxism is theology without God. Marx realized the common hope of man, is finally heaven, or in his concept, a perfect world. But, Marx thought...why wait until you die to go to heaven. Marx believed heaven could be brought down to earth. Man could claim the righteous crown of the divine and become an Uberman. Rightly so, with the right political, environmental, occupation, societal influences - the natural evolutionary process would optimize and create the superman.
Where did Marx go wrong?
The resource based economy would determine what you need, and what you shan't want. The new commandments of Marxism will again rise. And again, it will fail.
He might have forgotten that people like all other life forms on this planet are programed biologically to do the least they can for the most reward. No matter how dedicated the group is at first, it only takes a few lazy individuals to set off a chain reaction. Why work hard when everyone gets the same amount?
The initial Jamestown settlers found that lesson out all too well. You might say they got a little hungry.
Hunger is an efficient "control mechanism."
Private property is an efficient "reward mechanism."
The RBE actually has some very good points, as far as how to use technology to manage the earths resources. But the idea of central planning can become so corrupt. Just like capitalism can be co-opted by a corrupt centralized monetary system. Our founding fathers I believe were wise to empower State rights. Who says, one of the States couldn't experiment with a RBE? The other States could try something else. The best system could be adopted. But, it has to be based on individual liberty.
Marx went wrong in that he failed to recognize that force within us all which Christianity has labeled as "original sin." He failed in that he was too blind to see... that there is only one force in the world capable of humbling a populace, or people, and that is a belief in the higher.
Yes, indeed! and I have this feeling, we're all going to be humbled in the coming years. The protests (no matter how it started) Surely, it has evolved beyond any political help for the status quo.
This force that you suggest will take us higher is every bit as corrupt as that which has taken us lower. Not at ALL what I was referring to.
Heaven cannot be brought down to earth because Earth is a testing ground. still we should support good movements and uncover true spirituality from the control mechanism of government, industry and secret societies.
true but spirituality/religion is a good thing when done properly. just keep your eyes open and brain turned on when praying or youll be sucked in. tocamu.com has a good take on it...
I am spiritual myself, but it took me years to see through all the crap that has grown up around simple spirituality.
"the problem isnt god. its religion" sums it up for me.
Exactly. Jesus was an awesome advocate for the needy, but when you start quoting all the "love thy neighbor" verses from the Bible, most Christians act as if they never heard of the stuff.
Sounds like you "know" most Christians. JoeSteel you will stand before the almighty one day and give an account for all your deeds, just as we all will. If you have rejected the savior Jesus Christ and refuse to repent of your sins and turn to the one who would freely allow you to enter into his heaven, for all eternity, you have no one to blame but yourself. Your heart has been hardened, and yet, Jesus will forgive you if you turn away from sin, and trust in Him. It is your personal choice.
I know many Christians, but I could probably count on one hand the number of people I know who would abide by Christ's commandments to reject "an eye for an eye" and turn the other cheek, who would give their coat to a man who asked for their shirt, and who would freely give money to people who asked them for a loan. Christ advocated giving everything you own to the poor and living as a bird in the field, taking as God grants. I don't know any humans, Christians or non, that take giving to that extreme.
And btw, buddy, you're not the judge of me. Christ taught that too.
You seem to be judging,"most christians", by your words. I wont get into a judging match with you, but, hey, many of the Christians I know give their 10% to various outreaches and ministries to help the poor, and so on. I don't need the government, deciding for me what charities to give to. I can spend my money better than the beaureacrats.
Then surely you disagree with the tax benefits gained from charitable giving?
I am a Christian and I help the needy all the time in many ways. I just don't like the idea of a government forcing me to do it their way, and taking a little for themselves along the way.
But the Bible clearly states in the first part of Romans 13 that Christians must submit to governing authorities because they were only given that authority as God has ordained. It also says that if you owe taxes, pay your taxes and since you owe respect to people in power, give them respect.
What if those in authority tell you to do something that is completely against the teachings of Christ. Doesn't that trump what was said in that scripture?
I understand that we, as christians are to respect authority, but there are evil men out there who care nothing for man. For example, what if you lived in Germany in the time of Hitler's reign and your good friends happened to be Jews whose lives were in danger. Would you try to do something to help them, if you had the power to do it? Even though the law stated that you were not to show any kindness to the Jews and turn them in. Think of Anne Frank or think of Corrie ten Boom.
Once again I do agree with Romans 13, but I believe that there is conditions where you can't submit to them. Such as the example I just gave.
Absolutely, and I do all of those things. But, as a citizen in a free country I am allowed to criticize my government and seek - within the law - to make changes to it.
me too
I think that is a false claim. Jesus kingdom is not of this earth. People can use anything, including religion, to manipulate people. Woe to anyone who would use Jesus to manipulate. His realm is in the heart of men and women who choose to follow Him. Many Christians can go down the wrong path too, if the truths of the scriptures are not put into the heart, and into action. The problem lies not with God, but with mans corrupt heart, that is so easily led astray when not guarded by the truths of Jesus.
And Statism/Atheism is a control mechanism of the so called "99%"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My_5Xhbc-Qo&feature=related
David Icke talking about OWS
There is a reason the 1% is agnostic. Morons believe in religion.
Actually the Illuminati is very religious and astrological, sort of satanic
You are an idiot.
This is not an adequate rebuttal. How is acquainted an idiot?
Mythical truths is an oxymoron.
[Removed]
Institutional religion is now caught in the stalemate of a vicious circle. It cannot reconstruct society without first reconstructing itself; and being so much an integral part of the established order, it cannot reconstruct itself until society has been radically reconstructed....urantia book 99: 2.2
http://urantiabook.org/newbook/papers/p099.htm
In other words, religion is part of the matrix now and no longer provides a way out or up.
Institutional religion cannot afford inspiration and provide leadership in this impending world-wide social reconstruction and economic reorganization because it has unfortunately become more or less of an organic part of the social order and the economic system which is destined to undergo reconstruction. Only the real religion of personal spiritual experience can function helpfully and creatively in the present crisis of civilization.....urantia book 99: 2.1
[Removed]
The mythical truths are actually historical facts. Jesus was crucified, died and buried, and on the third day rose again from the dead. He took all of the sins of the world and died in our place for the forgiveness of all our sins. It is a gift He freely gives to any who will receive it. Those who reject Him will receive their just reward. Repent today, and receive Him, before your heart is hardened, and for that their will be no remedy.
GOD Read the books wriiten about a GOD for yourself. Science same thing read the books for yourself. In todays world you had better understand that a person will die for his religon. You have your beliefs and others have theirs. Just an old family tradition.
Wow you forgot. That is what religion in general was made to do is control people. All of them Islam Paganism christian jew. They all tell you if you dont obey you goto hell. Why is this such a shock to you
No shock to me, just passing along good information here
Good luck!! People are really stuck on this stuff though.