Deal with it!

When I first started this blog and others, as well as comments I made on a few blogs I follow, I put the following quote on the Masthead for a definite reason.

"I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the only warrant and the sanction. Your religion stops where my rights begin. Deal with it!"

Because of my disdain for mainstream religion and how it is all driven by a human agenda mixed with a good dose of avarice, I naturally expected quite a bit of backlash.

What I didn't expect was a lack of outrage from the Muslim community compared to the vile, vindictive, virulent, vixenish vilification and vituperation I have received concerning the denouncements from the "Buddies of Jesus" and all other manner of adherents of the religious far right that exists here in North America.

Even some of the Muslim sites I follow in places like Egypt and Lebanon are more concerned with political matters and oppression than with pulling a "Salmon Rushdie" against people they disagree with.

I know I am in a predominately-Christian neighborhood here in North America as opposed to the reception I might receive if I was in the Middle East. Non-the-less, the mere mention of the fact that the "Christ" of the bible is quite different from the historical "Jesus," as I do in my book "The Plain Truth About God-101" (what the church doesn't want you to know!) sends a lot of fundamentalist Christians into fits of frenzy that I could write such blasphemous material.

Please, please, stop with the letters designed to help me mend my ways and come around to your way of thinking. Please don't tell me I will rot (or burn) in Hell if I don't repent and accept your version of Christ and especially don't try to argue and debate with me on matters that you have been brainwashed with.

I refuse to participate.

My opinions on matters religious have come to me through many years of hard thought and internal debate and all the evangelizing in the world will not make me "see the light!"

I do not know if there is an actual "Heaven," or if the opposite extreme is true, that after death there is "nothing."

I can tell you for sure that Paradise does not have 72 virgins waiting or that only fellow believers and I will go through the Pearly Gates. (Whether it be 144,000, 39 people taken up in a flying saucer or 900+ drinking cool-aid!

I can also not tell you the nature of God since God, by God's very definition, is quite beyond our understanding. All I know for sure is that these questions are not in the domain of the here and now.

If I am to have any sort of a belief, it is my belief that anyone of a deep religious conviction should put that energy to better use by trying to live an exemplary life before we "shuffle off this mortal coil!".

This would lift humanity to a higher plane of spirituality and make this "vale of tears" a little easier to handle.

We have to stop childish things and rather stand with our heads tall and take responsibilty for ourselves, not just leave it up to some supernatural force. After all, that is our purpose; to get through this life and do the best we can, period!

Your Humble Scribe;
Allan W Janssen

By the way, if you want to see God at work - read the article below!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) at; www.God-101.com
And the petition to have people mind their own business instead of yours at; http://www.petitiononline.com/moses/petition.html