The Corruption of Religion
Religious Teachings
You shouldn't trust organized religion of any kind because acceptance en masse always leads to the corruption of the original teachings. Here is how religion works. A belief, philosophy or subjective fact dependent upon faith is proposed and then propagated to the masses. If they are widely accepted, they become useful tools for social and political control. Typically, the original teachings of religion are transmogrified in the process - often for the political control itself - which, through a gradual and insidious process of cultural, social and traditional influence, becomes the paradigm. You see this in the emperor Constantine the Great's politicization of Christianity and the Nicaean creed. You see it with Emperor Wu Ti's promotion of Confucianism and interest in Taoism. Shintoism was named as such due to a need for a distinction between ancient Japanese cultural ritualistic festivals during the planting and harvesting seasons and the newly introduced Buddhism from India. It was then incorporated into the mythological instruction of Japanese youth through the legends of the Nihongi and Kojiki by the Royal family.
Buddhism, Confucianism, Shintoism and Taoism
Confucianism and Taoism were two different schools of thought developed around the same time in China during the Warring States period. A time when the citizens were exhausted with the constant battles between feudal states. Both believed in a heavenly way. That nature or the universe as a heavenly way rather than deities. They had two different approaches to their teachings of the heavenly way. Taoism was passive; allow nature to take its course, to interfere causes problems. Confucianism was active; nature must be harnessed. Buddhism, also originally without deities, was an attempt to find the middle way, something in between asceticism and indulgence. Its primary doctrine was the Four Noble Truths, which is to achieve enlightenment through the acknowledgement, understanding and dissolution of suffering through letting go. Shintoism was syncretistic cultural celebrations during the planting and harvesting seasons in Japan. It existed for centuries without a name, until Buddhism migrated there creating the need for a name to distinguish it from that. Though deities were incorporated into these celebrations they weren't Gods in the traditional occidental sense, resembling more what we would liken to spirits. These spirits were dead ancestors who would inhabit various objects like mirrors, swords, trees or mountains. Anything, really. The spirits were interchangeable. The importance in the Shinto festivals was community. Coming together to help one another.
Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Mormonism
Judaism is often thought of as Biblical and separate from Christianity. Actually though they both come from, at least in part, the Bible, Judaism as known today is the separation of Jewish tradition formed when the religious leaders of Jesus's day finally got the opportunity to exploit the sociopolitical power they had long coveted formerly possessed by the Aaronic priests. The catalyst for this was the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 CE and the subsequent dissolution of the Aaronic priesthood. Jewish thinking, as presented by the Bible had always been prone to pagan influence, especially after the infiltration of Greek philosophy through the influence of Alexander the Great in 332 B CE. Christianity wasn't the separation of Jewish or Biblical teachings many perceive it as today, it was actually a continuation of those teachings. After all, Jesus was the long awaited Jewish messiah. Christianity itself became corrupt in the same way with the influence of Constantine the Great in 325 CE.
Islam and Mormonism were, respectively, an aberration and addition to the Biblical teachings. With Islam the sociopolitical protestation of Muhammad, and with Mormonism the, well, sort of delusional cultural appropriation of Joseph Smith.
You shouldn't trust organized religion of any kind because acceptance en masse always leads to the corruption of the original teachings. Here is how religion works. A belief, philosophy or subjective fact dependent upon faith is proposed and then propagated to the masses. If they are widely accepted, they become useful tools for social and political control. Typically, the original teachings of religion are transmogrified in the process - often for the political control itself - which, through a gradual and insidious process of cultural, social and traditional influence, becomes the paradigm. You see this in the emperor Constantine the Great's politicization of Christianity and the Nicaean creed. You see it with Emperor Wu Ti's promotion of Confucianism and interest in Taoism. Shintoism was named as such due to a need for a distinction between ancient Japanese cultural ritualistic festivals during the planting and harvesting seasons and the newly introduced Buddhism from India. It was then incorporated into the mythological instruction of Japanese youth through the legends of the Nihongi and Kojiki by the Royal family.
Buddhism, Confucianism, Shintoism and Taoism
Confucianism and Taoism were two different schools of thought developed around the same time in China during the Warring States period. A time when the citizens were exhausted with the constant battles between feudal states. Both believed in a heavenly way. That nature or the universe as a heavenly way rather than deities. They had two different approaches to their teachings of the heavenly way. Taoism was passive; allow nature to take its course, to interfere causes problems. Confucianism was active; nature must be harnessed. Buddhism, also originally without deities, was an attempt to find the middle way, something in between asceticism and indulgence. Its primary doctrine was the Four Noble Truths, which is to achieve enlightenment through the acknowledgement, understanding and dissolution of suffering through letting go. Shintoism was syncretistic cultural celebrations during the planting and harvesting seasons in Japan. It existed for centuries without a name, until Buddhism migrated there creating the need for a name to distinguish it from that. Though deities were incorporated into these celebrations they weren't Gods in the traditional occidental sense, resembling more what we would liken to spirits. These spirits were dead ancestors who would inhabit various objects like mirrors, swords, trees or mountains. Anything, really. The spirits were interchangeable. The importance in the Shinto festivals was community. Coming together to help one another.
Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Mormonism
Judaism is often thought of as Biblical and separate from Christianity. Actually though they both come from, at least in part, the Bible, Judaism as known today is the separation of Jewish tradition formed when the religious leaders of Jesus's day finally got the opportunity to exploit the sociopolitical power they had long coveted formerly possessed by the Aaronic priests. The catalyst for this was the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 CE and the subsequent dissolution of the Aaronic priesthood. Jewish thinking, as presented by the Bible had always been prone to pagan influence, especially after the infiltration of Greek philosophy through the influence of Alexander the Great in 332 B CE. Christianity wasn't the separation of Jewish or Biblical teachings many perceive it as today, it was actually a continuation of those teachings. After all, Jesus was the long awaited Jewish messiah. Christianity itself became corrupt in the same way with the influence of Constantine the Great in 325 CE.
Islam and Mormonism were, respectively, an aberration and addition to the Biblical teachings. With Islam the sociopolitical protestation of Muhammad, and with Mormonism the, well, sort of delusional cultural appropriation of Joseph Smith.
