Established religion is the certain and inescapable demise of God. To elaborate, there is no heaven- there is no hell. No purgatory, no divine salvation, no angels, and no devils. The only forms in which these ideas exist are when they are arbitrarily personified as physical beings and occurrences, experienced by either an individual or a mob. Certainly, as ideas, they exist just as legitimately as “good”, “evil”, and “home”. But these Christian ideas can never exist in the physical world, or in a parallel or future world, because they are nothing more than creations, brought about by man’s imagination and ego. For to claim that these, or any other religious ideas are, in fact, truthful, is to obliterate the possibility for the existence of a God. Allow me to explain this paradox, in a step-by-step manner.
     We will begin with the definition of God. God must exist, for man did not invent himself, just as the wheel and the telephone did not invent themselves. All things have a creator, and whether ours is a deity, a big bang, or a random scattering of atoms, because we were created by something, something must be greater than us, and we will therefore bestow upon it the title of “God”. There are too many definitions invented by too many religions to claim that only one is truthful and accurate, but for the sake of sanity, I will pick from the traits that seem to be universally agreed upon. God is infinite (according to our relative human sense of time), God is divine, and God is incomprehensible. All of these traits are comparative traits, that is, that when compared to humankind, God is divine, infinite, and incomprehensible. These are three means of separating God from the human race.
    One major fallacy of many people I have encountered is to assume that God is eternal love. Or that God is perfect. Or even, that God is good. To make such assumptions, is to declare that God operates by the same means and emotions as man, which is dangerous self-glorification of the human race. By the very definition of God, we have admitted that we will never come to an understanding of what exactly it is. To apply to God such human traits as “love” “good” and “perfect” is either dragging God down to the level of humans, or elevating humans to the rank of God. He cannot be any of these, extended infinitely or not, because the realm of his existence is not on the same plane as ours. Even eternal love is still “love” (a human characteristic) just to an infinite degree; therefore, it is folly to assume that God would be at the same level as man.
    Allow me a metaphor to clarify my thoughts: a flower. Clearly, compared to a flower, we are like Gods. If flowers somehow achieved consciousness, they would observe that humans live infinitely, humans are greater than roses, and humans can never be understood by a flower; very God-like. Now, if a flower were to attempt to define humans, applying what it knew of itself, it might try to attribute such qualities as infinitely photosynthesizing, boasting powerful roots, and pollinating without end. No matter how infinitely they attribute characteristics to humanity, their modus operandi is of a different world than a human’s.
    This same dynamic is present between humankind and God. And because we cannot understand or define him, for a human to accept any religion as truth is to discredit his own religion. I am constantly amazed at how certain a person can be that their “God” is the correct God, and that they will be saved, while nonbelievers will be damned. (I would like to say, quickly, that I speak of the Christian God, as an example for my theory.) To believe that any human has the power to decide on which form of God is correct or incorrect is to take all power away from that God, and place it in the mortal hands of the believer. The thought that one can understand him, or even have faith that one version of him is the correct one, is an act of hubris that destroys the very God they are so certain is their creator.
    Heaven and hell, purgatory and salvation, angels and devils: these are all offspring of a certain religion, and of the idea that we as humans can understand the nature of God. A kind person can be represented by the idea of an angel, or somebody can go through horrible experiences that are similar to what one is expected to find in so-called hell, but to equate any beliefs pertaining to the truthfulness of these objects (that is, to believe that angels sit beside God, or that non-believers are cast down to hell) is to dethrone the king of kings; to destroy God.
    This is a seemingly depressing and futile notion, that is, to say that religion, by its very nature, turns on itself and provides no hope for humankind. But this train of thought can also be a delightfully absurd answer to an age-old question. There is no correct religion- therefore, the only religion, is no religion. This is the only way God can truly exist. What this does is either force humankind into a state of ignorant bliss or into a state of terrifying uncertainty, depending on each individual’s resilience. Each person can become desperate, realizing that we can never know which version of God is correct, and therefore, are doomed to misery, having chosen the wrong one.
    Then again, if no choice is ever made, then we cannot make the wrong choice. We put our “faith” into the belief that ‘what we don’t know will not harm us.’ The Christian faith is an easy faith- they believe that they are to spend eternity in a state of nirvana, and all non-believers shall pay for their doubt. Truly, a religion-less faith requires much more sincere of a trust, because no reward is promised, no punishment is threatening, and no guidelines are set. Whether this incites terror or comfort, it remains a truth.
 
 

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