Son of JayJamJah

Lennon said God is a concept by which we measure our pain (then he said it again)

I have always felt fairly certain that less then 1 tenth of 1% of religious folk actually "believe" it. They like the idea, and if allowed to make their own revisions and interpretations to religious doctrines and texts can find a Church whose principals and morality they share and that gives them comfort not only in their lives but in death.

Imagine the overwhelming confusion and fear humans must have felt when they realized their own mortality. That everyone dies. Obviously this would blow your effing mind, so since the dawn of time, Man has created various religions either by the passing down of stories, the continuation of traditions or whatever manner.

No as time has gone on and our understanding of the world around has grown thanks to Science and Philosophy (and most of all experience) we have ironically evolved our religions to be more aprapo of the times. Of course no right minded person believes the bible as a historical text, far too many of it's stories have been disproved by archeology. But this does not make faith crumble, or even flinch. You see the absence of reason to believe is not comforting at all to most. We still need answers or at least feel like we do. Science in time will bring us closer and closer to understanding where we truly came from.

But we are still humans are our natural instincts to carry on traditions and find solace in the lose of friends are still as strong as they were in the days of the Flintstones. So a lot of people choose to follow. Most of them live good lives in the name of the Lord, though all are hell-bound hypocrites if their beliefs are taken literally, this is the evolution of religion which fun-house mirrors the evolution of Science and logic.

In addition it is human instinct, in times of great personal despair, trepidation and loss to search for solace, and the unknown offers very little. This is why more then 1/3 of those who describe themselves as "deeply religious" in prison became so once they got there. Or why, while not entirely true, we have the phrase "there are no atheists in foxholes" Undoubtedly when there are no more answers to be found for suffering it is easy to just have "faith".

What do people do when there team is down in the fourth quarter or bottom of the ninth? What about when a family member is bed-ridden or ill? They have faith, and don't feel the need to complicate it with possible explanations from doctors or experts, they want to know the truth, and if the truth is unknown, they almost exclusively choose faith in the best outcome. Faith is what's left when nothing else is going your way. Personal Faith is often equal to personal pain and a in many cases a welcome antidote. A sort of philosophical Oxycontin if you will.

So maybe John Lennon was right, God is a concept or if not certainly is a measuring stick for and of human pain.