The Parallax from Hell: Satan’s Critique of Organized Religion and Other Essays

by Laubach, Douglas L.

• ISBN13: 9781469798356
• ISBN10: 1469798352
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-04-27
• Publisher: Author Solutions

Excerpts

THE MYTHMAKERS Mythology is what grownups believe, folklore is what they tell children and religion is both. ——Cederic Whitman This book was written as a means to encourage the reader to examine his or her beliefs without relying on dogma or blind faith. Christ is quoted as saying that you must be converted and become as little children if you are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18,3). A child believes what he is told by his parents without question. As the child grows older, he realizes that he must question certain things which he had been led to believe as the unquestioned truth. Often, he discovers that what parents, teachers, or even friends want him to accept is their version of the truth, with certain facts omitted for his own good. It is unfortunate, but a child loses his innocence when he gains knowledge. Just as little Johnny discovers there really is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny, so must a man learn to question and examine those things which he has been told since birth are unalterable truths. Slowly, truths turn into half-truths which ultimately turn into lies. Well, Johnny, you are right; there really is no Santa Claus as you understood. But, Johnny, there is the spirit of Christmas, which is the same as the spirit of Santa Claus. So long as you believe there is a Spirit of Christmas and Santa, then, yes, Santa does exist. Of course no one tells little Johnny that Santa is a pagan symbol which Christianity has adopted over time, and that the concept of the Easter egg stems from the Gnostics and was copied from the lore of the Orphicists. These are the half-truths he can only discover by continuing to question what he is told by those he should have been able to trust. When a person is truly converted, he has total faith in the belief into which he was converted. He is complete and at peace with himself. And when a person has complete and total faith in an idea or belief, his mind closes to any further debate or examination of the subject. If he knows in his heart that he is right, why should he subject himself and his belief to criticism or possible iconoclasm? Any new knowledge becomes extraneous clutter which might confuse or place a seed of doubt in the convert's mind. And since lack of faith is a cardinal sin to the True Believer, partaking of the Tree of Knowledge puts one's soul in jeopardy. New information or knowledge would simply destroy the new found peace of the convert. Who wants to chance the discovery that his basic creed in life is founded upon deception, myth and lies? By eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve lost their innocence and were cast out of Eden. Who needs such grief? For the true believer, ignorance is truly bliss. The habit of religion is oppressive, an easy way out of thought. —Peter Ustinov FALLEN ANGEL, TOOL OF GOD, OR SUPERSTITION? The Christians were the first to make the existence of Satan a dogma of the church. —Madame Elena Blavatsky Most religions are cults that begin with a prophet proclaiming that the new religion is the Truth and the Way. Later, when the followers have become more organized and have found their place among the surviving religions of the time, they shift the focus of their zeal. First they must protect souls from deliverance from false religions. Later, they must protect those same souls from heresies within their own organization. And, once those goals are more or less accomplished, the religious organization must protect the True Believer from deliverance into the clutches of Satan. That's where I come into the picture. You see, if I did not exist I would have to be created by someone. One of the warrior religions, Christianity, is literally based on my existence. I am the antagonist to the protagonist, Christ. I am the reason for Armageddon. From the Church's viewpoint, I am Christ's reason for being. In all candor, none of the religions on earth can agree on just who or what I am. Each religion has its own version of the truth based on hearsay (revelation) or gospels written and rewritten by self-serving people with their own agendas for the minds of men. How can these religions each profess to condemn me when they cannot even agree on my name, the level of my culpability, my ultimate guilt in the (alleged) Fall of Man, or even my very existence? Should you take the time to read the Bible, Koran, Bhagavadgita, Book of Mormon, Urantia Book, the Torah, the Kabbalah, and other holy books, you will realize that the paths to the Truth and the Way (a.k.a. salvation) are as numerous as there are religious sects and philosophies. These Words of God frequently contradict each other and even accuse other holy books and writings of falsehoods, blasphemy and error. So much for the infallible word of God as set down by Mankind. The testaments against me are all different and without confirmed authorship. I have been condemned and convicted without benefit of the proper facts being presented in my defense. There is not even agreement among Christians as to my relationship with God and Christ. Did God send Christ to earth as a ransom or as a sacrifice to me in exchange for the souls of Man? Why would an omnipotent God barter with a lesser being such as me? If Christ is God, and God is omnipotent, then how could I be responsible for any of Christ's problems or persecution here on earth? If an omnipotent God created me, what is my reason for existing?