So there I was...mother of God, there I am!

Yeah, so, I found myself considering today how I've been fighting stupidity and empty words with intelligence, yet still empty words. I've been in this debate with a dumbass over Christian ideals, yet the only real source of ammo is the Bible. The problem with that is that the Bible is not really a good source of Christian ideals. See, it contradicts itself, and it was put together not by God, but by a group of men who were wanting to run things their way, also known as the Catholic Church. See, the Bible was not sent down from on high directly to a publisher. In fact, the books of the New Testament were just testaments and letters and memoirs of various people from 2000 years ago (give or take several hundred). The Catholic Church took these and decided which ones should be taught and which ones should not. The ones that worked for their needs became the Catholic Bible. The ones that went against their idea of how the Church should be became the Apocrypha. Some of these texts were even written by saints of the Catholic Church, such as Bartholomew, one of the forgotten 12 apostles. While the dwainker might point out how much the Catholic Church and Christianity were influenced by Peter, it's important to remember that the Bible was put together several generations after Peter died. Several of the gospels and works in the apocrypha are very different versions of the stories you'd find in your Bible today, yet they were written around the same time by men who spent just as much time with Jesus. In that sense, it's hard not to look at the Bible and realize that some information has been kept from you, all in the name of creating a certain face for Christianity. In some stories, Eve didn't eat the fruit off the tree, she had sex with Satan, and that's why man fell. So, if you're trying to find a version of the story to tell your kids and create a kind and gentle face for your religion (which is all about abstinence and monogamy), which one are you going to pick? Christianity is really just like politics: you put spin on everything to make it look good for the little people who support you. I'm not saying that you should just throw out the Bible, but I wish that somehow Christianity could be a little more honest with itself and understand its history instead of just blindly going along with what the Bible says. Some may argue that the men who put the Bible together were divinely influenced, but that doesn't jive with the huge (and well-documented) debate behind whether or not to include Revelations in the Bible. If these guys were led by God, wouldn't it have been a fast and easy decision instead of a long and draw out battle?
The idea of Christianity's past led me to wonder about its future. Have you ever considered what will replace Christianity? It only makes sense that something will. That's how it's worked in the past. For example, there were the Greeks and their gods. Zeus was on high and Hera was a bitch, and all was well. Then the Romans came and said, "Hey, we like a lot of this religious stuff. Let's use it for ourselves." And so they did, only using new names for the same shit. Then came the Christians, who were persecuted until Constantine said, "Hey, let's give this a try." And so they did, and Christians went all over the world saying, "We know better than you. Let's civilize you and save your soul." So, the question is, what will come and take Christianity's place? Science seems a bit obvious, since it's a religion in itself (much like Greek mythology, where everything had an explanation to it, and a particular god assigned to it, science does the same thing, and just has a theory name assigned to it instead). I don't know. Maybe Oprahism will do it. Man, have you seen women on that show when she comes out? Had Christ gotten half that reception, I'm pretty sure the Catholic Church would use an old man in bed as their symbol instead of a depressing old crucifix.
It also makes total sense to me why Christianity is the more or less official religion of America. Look at what Americans did: Native Americans lived happily with their way of life, then the Americans came in and said, "We know better than you. Let's civilize you." And so they did, with smallpox and gunpowder and glass beads. Look, I like where I am now, but I know that blood has been spilled over this spot time and again, and that makes me look at it all a little differently than most Americans. It also makes me wonder what will come in and take the United States' place someday.