God, Jesus, and Religion Defined

God: A supreme being, an omnipotent and omniscient creator of all things who is imagined to exist by a vast majority of people. A concept whose continued existence follows from natural history, from societies' traditional reliance upon the security offered by powerful rulers, and the process of natural selection.

Dense populations of humans are naturally chaotic and violent as tribes clash over resources and women. Within groups, struggles between men to gain Alpha status was the source of constant psychological stress and physical unrest. A strong, established leader would have the effect of "taming" other men, and securing through force a minimal kind of order. Those families and tribes who possessed more obedient natures, who were more likely to look at leaders with awe, reverence, and love, were then more likely to have such leaders; and thus, were more likely to successfully grow, prosper, and reproduce. Through natural selection, this trait was strengthened and sharpened, and today it is manifest in what seems to be our inability to NOT believe in God.

God is a concept sitting on the "pointy end" of evolution. It is a direct result of natural selection. Other factors like fear of death and and love of parents contribute the continued existence of belief in God.

Jesus: Jesus was a man who lived at the right place at the right time to take up the mantel of religious reformer, King of the Jews, and later divine Savior, "Son of God". Religious superstition, a prophecy that a new King would be born to free the Jews, set the stage for the rest of Jesus's life. From the time of his birth, Jesus was taught that he was different, that he was more than special-he was "the One." At the time, Jesus may not have been told that he was THE son of god, and if he was, he may not have entirely believed it. However, if the stories are reliably accurate, we can be sure that Jesus acted upon the assumption that he was someone special who had a divine calling. The Bible tells us that as a child Jesus was a student of religion. We are also told that he spent time with learned older Jews studying and discussing scripture.

The power of self image to affect the lives of children and adults is well known. Think of the Dali Lama, the King of Pop, or various members of royal family. Behavior stems directly from how each of us define ourselves. Imagine how any child would act and grow up if he thought he was "the One", or "the Son of God" from his earliest memory.

Jesus's position as a spiritual leader was secured and bolstered by a small following of men who believed that he was a man of God worthy of their love and devotion. Surely he was a charismatic man. As his life progressed, stories and legends naturally sprung up around him. The people were primed and ready to accept the most fantastic tales, especially those involving a local man. And naturally, those tales were told over and over again, embellishments and all. Jews at the time were oppressed by foreign rule and existed day to day thanks to grand ideas of nationalism, religion, and hope.

Like many young adults, Jesus was interested in new, revolutionary political and social ideas. He extended his social network to those on the religious fringe, who seemed most passionate about changing the status quo. At some point he traveled east. We're not sure where precisely Jesus went, but there is good reason to think that he was influenced in some way by the culture and spiritualism of south Asia-the Zoroastrianism of the Persian lands and the Hinduism of India. Some wonder whether Jesus may have been exposed to various drugs, possibly narcotics. Furthermore, it can be assumed that Jesus's independent and reforming ways sprung from a Greek infused Jewish culture that existed in northern Judea.

Jesus was exactly who we would expect him to be given the circumstances of his birth. At the time of his death, however, it was neither obvious nor expected that a new religion would be born of his life and teachings. He had built a following of a few hundred before his life came to a tragic end. It was the writing and work of others that would grant him immortality. It is doubtful that Christianity would have never emerged out of relative obscurity to establish itself as a force affecting the lives of billions had it not been for the the blessing of Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor and the true "Savior" of the persecuted Christians.

Jesus was a man. He was a man who all may admit was noble and praiseworthy. The words he spoke and ideas he championed will undoubtedly inspire peace, love, and charity for another two thousand years at least. Yet Jesus the legend, Jesus the Son of God, existed in part before he even came into this world and was largely manufactured decades and centuries after he died.

Religion: Religion is a system of control which effectively secures the survival of specific memes (ideas and doctrine) regarding the nature of reality, the purpose of life, accepted types of behavior, and so on. Institutionalized religions have, in the past, extended this form of control directly to the body, with physical restraints and destruction. Traditional religions typically possess a disproportionate amount of myth and assumption. In this way, it serves as a chain anchoring the actions of present to the superstitions and ignorance of the past.

Religion's roots are ancient and likely inseparable from our species full history. It springs from the minds attempt to find meaning where no factual or natural explanation is possible. For 99% of human existence, scientific thinking and processes did not exist; therefore there was little foundation of true knowledge from which to build reliable explanations. Yet our ancestors were effective survivors and this lack of science did not prevent them from thinking about their world in great detail.

Far more engrained and dominant than the human mind's ability to think critically is its ability to recite and remember experiences. Songs, dances, and myth are part of this non-thinking thinking, and religion has survived thanks to this trait. What else could explain the fact that religion is full of nonsensical and contradictory ideas? Hinduism and Native American mythology offer up a myriad of strange, fantastical stories and characters that have existed for millennia despite being absurd and cartoonish. Christians can believe that a giant boat can hold two of every animal on the planet thanks to our minds' talent for not-thinking and merely reciting/accepting. They can believe that a story of God asking for child blood sacrifices or a story of God actually sacrificing his son on a cross are not horrific and are instead some way good and meaningful.

Religion is powerful because it taps into the most primitive, subordinate, nonthinking parts of our minds. We naturally recite and accept what we are told. And we naturally respond to emotional appeals more readily than we do arguments based on evidence or logic. No one is to blame for religion, but if we aspire to greater things for ourselves and our children, we should work to free ourselves from this and all systems of control.