Quote Originally Posted by Breukelen advocaat
I believe that religious belief is mental illness, and in most cases it's inherited. It can skip generations, ie a child and his parents may or may not have the same views on the subject. The degree of religion-based illness depends on how delusional the individual is, their addiction to prayer and ritual, self-destructive behaviors, etc.

Mental illness lies not with just an individual, its the context that the individual is in that makes him ill or not. The ego can infiltrate any organization and the Church is no exception. But do your really think that if Jesus never came, we wouldn't have wars, rape, starvation? He came to point the way out. God would not usurp our free will which he gave to us. The "devil" is the metaphor for the ego (self concern based on fear). This lies in everyone and there is no "devil" outside of one's self. The ego has its own interpretation of love, peace and happiness that is counter to God's will. It loves separation, guilt, fear as the driving motivator. Whereas our Holy Father (the sane context) knows only unconditional love and He does not respond to illusions knowing and being Truth. To respond would validate the illusion.

Why didn't Jesus just come out and say what he meant, rather than confusing his followers with metaphors and parables that were open to all kinds of interpretation, which has resulted in all manner of horrible events. It is more apparent that the whole story is fraudulent and that there never was, and never will be, a god.
We are talking 2000 years ago. How would you talk to people 2000 years ago and explain genetics or dark matter to tribal elders? Metaphors might help. Any ways, thanks for your feed back dude. I hear you and respect your opinion. Over and Out.