I wrote in the past entry that I am reading this success book and I found this point particularly thought provoking. It pertains to the idea about the “fear of death”. The success book tries to help you understand how to overcome fears that could potentially stand in your way of success. I’m going to quote this exactly:

Witness, now, the major source of the origin of the fear of DEATH!

“Come into my tent, embrace my faith, accept my dogmas (and pay my salary) and I will give you a ticket that will admit you straightway into heaven. When you ‘remain out of my tent’ says this same leader, “and you will go direct to hell, where you will burn throughout eternity.”

What more do you need to understand that religion scares you into believing it’s true? You belong to the church, give them money, and in turn you get to go to heaven. What a crock of shit. I know what being swindled is and this is right up there with the best of them. At least some of those better sex pills can make you think you’re having better sex. I’m totally cool with the idea of believing in God because he can help make you a better person. You have a value system, you work for something you believe in, it can inspire you to better things than you would do on your own. But from my short time on this Earth, I feel like the above statement is how a god fearing religion works. Where would religion be without any followers? Nothing in this world would change! Religion needs gullible people to survive.

I went into a church while in San Antonio to see if I could feel any spiritual awakening. I sat there for 5 minutes with my eyes closed and thinking about things I would pray for. After being in the house of God I came out exactly the way I went in. I don’t doubt “god” has influence over peoples lives but I also consider that perhaps the world beats to its own drum and what happens happens. My random bar talk with a guy from Texas told me about a motorcyclist who happened to get struck by lightning. I can’t verify any truth to this but I certainly don’t doubt it could happen and I certainly don’t think God did this. People actually believe God does everything! Not me.