Does Religion Go Bad?

Dearest hearts,

Did you know that on this very day, in 1831, Nat Turner saw a solar eclipse, which he believed it was a sign from God. Eight days later he and 70 other slaves kill approximately 60 whites (in 2 days!) in Southampton county, Virginia. The even sadder part was that an estimated 200 blacks were killed by white militia and mobs, often after having been beaten - just for the simple fact that they were slaves and had a different skin color, they were immediately "attached" to the group of rebels.

Turner had religious convictions and he often had spiritual revelations. He often conducted Baptist services and preached the Bible to his fellow slaves. He was even dubbed "The Prophet"! In 1828 he even confessed to his slave friends that "he was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty". On February 11, 1831 an annular solar eclipse was seen in Virginia and Tuner saw it as the vision of a black man's hand reaching over the sun... on August 13th there was another solar eclipse  ans Turner saw it as the final sign for the startup of the rebellion.

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Now there is no rocket science the fact that you don't have to look further then your mobile phone / laptop / TV and/or radio to find that Religion convictions are everywhere around us and that sometimes (I am forcing myself not to say "most of the times") things can get horribly wrong. When things go bad the first thing that appears, and usually a lot of it, is PAIN. People are not robots and they will get stuck in the middle of the conflict and get hurt - be it physically or emotional. That is the worst thing it can happen, as it has deep effects on the ones that are hurt. The pain goes down to the core and is a constant reminder of the experience. This way, some people develop resistance to Faith and in time they even shut the whole notion out of their system.

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The Truth somehow - in all religions - gets tainted by people who should not be there, who should not lead. Jeremiah 5:30-31 says "a horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophet prophecy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way"... I always thought leading should always be done by example. I always thought that the one thing that we should take from the Bible was the fact that "God is Love". Yet people persevere in following idols that do not have love and do not lead by example, but create themselves example that people eventually take as normality.

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There was no "golden age" in the whole history of Christian community when everything worked "just right". There would always be glitches in the system, people who would stray and take other people with them, along the way... it's depressing and discouraging to see that and there is no easy way out of it, then by LOVE. Are we not taught and told that Love can change anything? Faith can move mountains but Love is stronger than faith, so can you imagine what TRUE LOVE can do? Can you imagine that kind of power and force?

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What do you think? Did Nat Turner have Love? No, I am not speaking of the love one has for mankind, for his family and his friends, the love one has for his life... I am talking about THE LOVE. That Love that makes us all equals, that brings us all together and binds us. The Love that has strength. With it, I believe truly that Religion cannot go bad... without it, we will have more massacres on our hands than we could imagine... Was it not all started out of hate - hate for ones better position in society, for more money, more privilege,  more friends, more beauty... and all the things that fade away... what Hate do YOU have, my friend, that keeps you awake at night?

Yours sincerely,
The Twisted Red LadyBug that believes that God is Love