We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Part One

“It is a fool who rejoices when his neighbor is in trouble.” African Proverb



Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").





We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Part 0ne



The word `religion` means business, a God for sale. Religion is created by man, as opposed to spirituality, which is found in man." Sawaad Amen Ra.


The temple of the most high begins with the human body, which houses our life, essence of our existence. Nubians in America are in bondage today because we approach spirituality through religion provided by our grand father’s and mother’s slave masters. We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Religion is a set of rules, regulations and rituals created by humans, which were supposed to help people grow spiritually. Due to human imperfection religion has become corrupt, political, divisive, and a tool for power struggle. Spirituality is not theology or ideology, it is simple a way of life. Pure and original as was given by the most high. Spirituality is a network linking us to the most high
the universe...and each other.


U.S. President George W. Bush (L) and first lady, Laura Bush (2nd L), are joined by former Presidents George Bush (2nd R) Bill Clinton (R) and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (3rd R) as they pay their respects to the late Pope John Paul II inside St. Peter`s Basilica at the Vatican, April 6, 2005.

What is the Blue hell? Two Murders, One liar, One Adulteress and One that back up to her husband`s lies. Pay their respects to the late Pope John Paul II.


Thou shalt not kill - No Governor ever put more people to death (not to mention those sent to die in Iraq). Thou shalt not steal - Arrested for larceny. Thou shalt not bear false witness - Lied before Congress and to the American people. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor`s house...or any thing that is thy neighbors. - including thy neighbor`s oil. Honor thy father and mother -? He did invade Iraq (in part) because Saddam "tried to kill my Daddy," but I`m not sure if that counts as "honoring" or not.


BELIEF?

Most people don`t realize that a belief in a thing and ignorance is one in the same! To believe in something simply means that you aren`t sure, but you place your faith in that thing anyway. Take this scenario for example: Some one asks you, "Have you seen Bobby?” and you say, "I BELIEVE I saw him in the store!" You "believe", but you don`t "know". And that goes for a belief in GOD, the DEVIL, Angels, Jesus, and the likes. In most cases we place our beliefs in religion because that`s what we`ve been taught all our lives, or when we were younger we were scared into believing these things. Now we have carried these beliefs with us into adulthood, and then scare and/or teach our children these same convictions. Nevertheless, we carry these beliefs as luggage for the rest of our lives, and we don`t dare question them! We don`t question these beliefs because we were equally scare into believing that questioning belief`s means questioning GOD, and questioning GOD meant being placed in a fiery pit "forever and ever Amen". This is what most of us have been taught, and if not this it was something similar in theory.

Now because belief is not based on fact, but persuasion of heresy (words) and arguments, it is safe to say that BELIEF IS IGNORANCE. While the basis of ignoranceisto ignore [the facts], the basis of belief is sometimes equally so. I say this because most people who live by the school of belief tend to not care about any evidence you bring them, if it isn`t found in their Bible, Qur`an, Torah and so on they will just ignore actual proof.


Religious blindness prevents biblical and Koran scholars, and those that follow them whether they are of the Judaic, Christian, or Islamic persuasion from daring to pursue reality. To do this would mean venturing into the unknown, which is something, most people fear. People base their whole lives on religion and it’s so-called facts. It’s a known fact that the old and New Testament, and the Koran were taken from ancient tablet carvings from the walls in the Cuneiform language of an ancient group of people, called the Shumarian (Sumerians). In a place the bible calls Shinar (Genesis 10:10).


JESUS (SON OF MARY) WAS NOT A CHRISTIAN, HE WAS A HEBREW ISRAELITE FROM THE TRIBE OF JUDAN. WHO CAME TO RATHER THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL ONLY. MATTHEW (10)

Now let’s look at Jesus.

Jesus had two mothers, Mary the virgin and conceived him and Mary the wife of Cleophas, who brought him forth as one of her (five) children. Jesus remained with his mother, the Virgin, up to age 12, when he left, `to be about his father’s business." From 12 to 30 there is no record of his life. Jesus at age 30 was made a man in his baptism by John the Baptist. Jesus in his baptism is hailed from heaven as the beloved son and the only begotten of the Father, God, the Holy Spirit, represented by a DOVE. If we can go back thousands of years before Christ and find the exact same story with a different name, what does that tell you? And what does that say about God and the validity of the Bible? Christians don’t want to deal with that. There is no evidence that the events or people existed in the Bible. Nazarethwasn’teven a town when Christ was born, but this is a place he supposedly frequented all of the time. You can check as one of my references Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization by Anthony T. Browder and Civilization or Barbarism, Chiekh Anta Diop.


The State of the Black Church in America.

Negro Preachers have black Christians looking for a heaven too high, a hell too low, and a devil that is too spooky.

My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Knowledge is what’s missing from today’s churches. Too much emphasis is on preaching than teaching. In a book called The Negro Church in America by Dr. E. Franklin Frazier, he points out that; “the religious instruction of the slave required preaching rather than instruction in the Christian faith. Preaching meant dramatizing the stories of the Bible and the way of God to man…. Another qualification which the slave preacher must possess was the ability to sing.” The method of teaching found in most churches today, are not the methods of our ancestors. This new form of charismatic preaching does not allow the mind to really concentrate on the teachings. People are too caught up into how the preacher is preaching in the sermon ascompared to what the preacher is preaching.


Edward Franklin Frazier 1894-1962
The way a preacher teaches should be based on how well the information is transmitted, not how much applause he can obtain or how well he rouses the crowd. Imagine yourself in a college class room for mathematics, do you think you would get much learning done if the teacher brought in an 8 piece band and throughout the lesson shouted at you to get your attention? “Yeah!” “Uuuuhhh!” Most will reply, “It’s not the same!” My point is, in all methods and institutions of learning;this method for teaching isunacceptable, exceptin the church. Most will agree, I assume that a concert and screaming throughout the lesson would not benefit them in any other place of learning. So why do we accept it at church? I am not saying that music should not be a part of the experience. That is just as African as Africa itself. But there is a time and place for everything and the music and entertainment should not overshadow the teachings.
The mind must be in a calm state to really understand what instructions are being given.

Is this how your Jesus looks?

Dr. John Henrik Clarke. 1915-1998
(On the IMAGE of GOD)
“My main point here is that if you are the child of God and God is a part of you, then in your imagination God suppose to look like you. And when you accept a picture of the deity assigned to you by another people, you become the spiritual prisoners of that other people.”
(On SPIRITUALITY)
“Spirituality is a way of accepting the fact that there is a spiritual force in the universe larger than all of mankind. But someone had to come along and invent a word called God. Then some had to serve another God and say mine is better than yours, and some had to create faith, someone said I have the true faith.”
(On RELIGION)
“Religion is the organization of spirituality into something that became the hand maiden of conquerors. Nearly all religions were brought to people and imposed on people by conquerors, and used as the framework to control their minds.”

(The Holy Ghost)
This is my position on organized religion and all that other stuff. But I want to know what people feel about the Holy Ghost or whatever you want to call. I used to sit in church contemplating my life and where I stand in the scheme of it all and I also would observe the so-called "saved" people. Everytime thechoir stood up and certain songs came onIknew who would getthe "spirit" first and who would follow after that It. Always started from the first lady, the deacons wives and down the chain of command. I mean it was crazy every Sunday like clockwork. Now I understand if you’re so overwhelmed with emotion that you just burst out. But I don’t think it should be almost mechanical. I feel as if it’s a show, the holy ghost is all powerful, so it should be able to hit you without a drum beat...and hit you at work, school, or whenever, not just at church before offering time. Also I notice that 90% of the time it’s women, how come men don’t flop around like that? There are a classic way people "get happy" in church, which makes me question the act. The Holy Ghost doesn’t work in a set pattern like that. At least that’s the way the bible tells it.

Most black folks are slaves to SOMEBODY`S interpretation of Jesus’ words, and some folks feel like the Bible says, and therefore, GOD says, that in order to show everyone how Holy Ghost filled they are, they have to act a fool and convulse, cry and dance every Sunday. At another church I visited, the pastor disdained such behavior, and said that the only time people acted like that in the Bible was when Jesus was casting devils out of them. I first went to a Baptist church when I was a youngster. There were no speaking in tongues or shouting allowed in that church. That made me question why someone would stymie the goodness of the creator. Then I started going to a Holiness church and EVERYONE was shouting and speaking in tongues. The Bible says that it only happens to folks who are truly touched by God. I used to look around at folks who was doing the shouting and these were the same women who gossiped about other church members, bad mouthed the direction of the church, talked bad about other people’s kids, and then ten minutes later they fronting singing the glory of the Lord talking about they are saved.

To be continued...... On May 22, 2005.