A Full Frontal Literate Attack on The Holy Roman Catholic Church As a Theoretical Theologian, Universalist Reverend; I find myself

in a dichotomy of sorts of my own when making any inference about the various other mono/ polytheistic religions. On one hand, I fully accept and embrace my Catholic Priest counterpart, just as much as any Rabbi etc., or any "Temple of God" to teach, preach and their temples and churches to exist. With that said, I have an almost overwhelming Passion, or Platform from which I base all of my teachings. Although I choose not to acknowledge the notion of enemy, they may choose to acknowledge me as theirs, which puts them at the disadvantage. Now again, with that said, I must address my beliefs, and my opinions on the subject of polytheistic religions (ie.The Holy "Trinity"). By now, I am certain that you are aware that I whole heartedly believe in the existence of a "God", or whatever label you choose to give to the creator

of the "All that there is". However, this is where I part paths with the traditionalists. The so called "Men of God" who want you to "Join their Congregation" or as some would dare put it, cult, in order to obtain a relationship with God. Then of course, almost invariably,you are requested to "donate" money and various other things. I know of many priests that live quite well off of part of those donations incidentally. Then of course, you MUST FOLLOW THE RULES!!! For to disobey the rules, The RULES OF GOD - as set forth by the almighty church, is to Anger God... Anything that angers God is a "Sin". Let's not forget how the Catholic Church insists that God is jealous too, oh and did I mention his Wrath? Most religions want you to believe that God can be offended, that you can hurt "His" (Yes they insist God is Male) feelings. If you offend God, then when you "Die", he sends you to "Burn in a Lake of burning sulphur for all of eternity". They refer to this as eternal damnation, or Hell, Hates or what ever religion you happen to follow calls it. I stand firm when I make the bold statement that THE CHURCH INVENTED HELL and the notion of SIN in order to RETAIN MEMBERSHIP through FEAR... What justification does any faith based religion have to present their priests as "Holier than Thou"? In past centuries, in many, many countries- it was indeed the church that openly broke several of the so called "10 Commandments". They killed, ie. the Salem Witch Trials et al; Galileo- for merely suggesting the Earth was not the "Center of the Universe" died under house arrest. Muslims kill themselves and others at the same time for others not allowing themselves to be FORCED into their religion??? Then they believe that to kill and die in the name of Allah is going to make them a martyr? Do you think GOD "approved", or was "on the side of the Catholics" during the crusades? God simply observes what is so, through every soul that envelopes every sentient being in the Universe. I am truly astounded by how easily, a seemingly intelligent people can base an entire belief system on a book that was written by MAN- NOT GOD, one of them known as the Holy Bible... How easily they are convinced by the church that by lighting a novena candle, they can give a past loved one a "better shot" at making it to heaven. Or how in past centuries, you could make a "donation" to the church to guarantee your loved one would make it to heaven? Not to mention, if the donation was not large enough, the dearly departed was given "special consideration" or had a "good word" put in by the Pope? To me, this is the True Hererey. There was even a Pope that was brought up on charges for giving these special favors in exchange for great wealth. It is all well documented elsewhere, but I will elaborate on this particular subject. Regarding reincarnation. Several Religions will tell you that reincarnation is not only a false doctrine, but an outright sin to believe in. They need you to believe that you have one chance to "get it right". Of course, this is in favor of their retaining membership, and membership is 2 things to most religions, Money, and Power. Many of our religions are fear based. They need you to believe that God needs to be both worshiped in an immutable way, and of course most importantly Feared Throughout the centuries, churches have used fear to instill into mankind that he needed to "mend his wicked ways" and to have an unwavering opinion that "Up there" there is a God that can only be appeased by following his word to the letter. The last time I checked, possibly with the exception on the Ten Commitments, the word of God depends almost entirely on your ability to open your mind and heart, and listen for yourself. The Church does not have the copyright to The Word of God. Without this form of thought the churches would have faded into obscurity long ago One Church in particular ( Catholic) even insisted that it was a sin not to attend church every Sunday, one punishable by God "Himself". I wonder where they got that tidbit of inside info? Of course they couldn't stop there. You were required to attend YOUR church (the one of your exact denomination), once again at your own peril for attending another. When you look at the picture as a whole, Dare I say... It almost looks Nazi in nature to me. Skeptical? Read on. Of course, as I have mentioned elsewhere, it was the church that invented the notion of Hell. What a great way to scare the "Hell" out of you. This madness will continue, as long as mankind believes he has the Power to anger God, or make him Jealous. This was the churches first, not to mention continuing way of maintaining membership. Now, getting into Christion specifics, It's important to know that there were two kinds of sin. Veinal sin, which is like the "misdemeanor" type of sin. Then there is of course Mortal sin, things like murder, theft, rape, as opposed to veinal sin being things as petty for missing church, or before the sixties, eating meat on Friday. But a Pope changed that (probably for his own

preferances). Imagine that? A Pope, having the Power to change the "Word of God"?? Let me go out out on a limb here and say that I think the Holy Roman Catholic Church resembles a CULT more than any other major religion. It is they who invented purgatory, and of course "Limbo" - The place where innocent little girls and boys go if they have not been baptized. Limbo is not hell, but you can not be with God either. Essentially voiding their soul for all of eternity. What garbage. On the subject of Sin and the Roman Catholic Church, there is much to be said regarding it's history and the way they seem to be able to keep up their "Ways" and try to make it look like the Church is keeping up with the modern times. I'll attempt to put this whole Sin and Remedy to it from Origin to modern day. Don't be surprised if you find that not much has actually changed, despite the "Newer and friendlier" Church. I mean, after all, they at least wont burn you alive for dissent, or even the accusation of it- anymore. As I stated earlier, Sin itself was the Church's way of retaining membership via Fear (which happens to be the opposite of Love). The Church started with using "Hell" as a means of God's punishment for both types of sin. With the advent of the reincarnationists telling you that you didn't have to live your life perfectly, you could just try to get it better in your next life. The Church, declaring reincarnation heresy, had a two prong attack. It also at this point came up with the Sacrament of Confession. Confession promised what reincarnation did, another chance. However, the Church had to "regulate" the Sacrament of Confession. It wasn't as if you could just talk directly to God and ask for forgiveness. Thus, absolution had to be given Via the Holy Roman Catholic Church. This kept the power in their hands once again. Of course, simply admitting your sins to a priest and obtaining an absolution was not enough. The priest, in my opinion acting like judge, jury and executioner was responsible giving you your penances. Usually, these were in the form of a set of given prayers said in several successions, the exact number dependant upon the mood, how well you were known and liked and how much money and other valuables you "contributed on a regular basis"; by the almighty Priest. I always found it funny how you had to say "Forgive me Father, for I have Sinned...". You would think that you could ask God, but according to the church, you, a non clerical mere mortal were not worthy to ask God, again, you had to ask for forgiveness through the almighty (and Very Politically Powerful at Times) Church. There were rules regarding confession. Most people confessed on a weekly, usually on Sundays. Others, afraid that if they were to die before their next confession would be eternally Damned (as per the Church), would confess daily. Mercifully, if you were to die between confessions, the Church invented something called a Perfect Act of Contrition. So, now it was declared a sin Not to go to Confession. Church attendance was safe once more. Or so they thought. People began to figure that it was worth the gamble, and that they could live their life the way they wished, and simply stop by the Church once a Year to confess their sins. This once again put the Church in a bad position regarding attendance. Obviously, the less often you attended Church, the less opprotunities they had to ask you to dig deep into your pockets... Not to be outsmarted, the Church, quite cleverly invented this new realm of existance called "Purgatory". Purgatory was described by the Church as something like Hell, but unlike Hell, Pergatory was not Eternal Damnation. Sort of like Jail, as opposed to prison. Now, You could be punished for your sins despite having confessing them. This tipped the power ballance and the attendance factor heavily in favor of the Church. According to this new doctrine of Purgatory, God (via the Church) an imperfect Soul was subject to different and varying degrees as well as amounts of time of suffering. It was all dependant on the number and type of sins the Soul had on it's "Rap Sheet". So, with the Catholic public shivering in it's collective boots, attendance and of course revenue was Up. After all, now you could practically buy your way out of Purgatory. Having discovered this new strategy of making Rules, and benefitting from them, the Church started to go full bore with them. Regarding Purgatory, if you "Paid" the Church, or in their words "You were given an Indulgence" in exchange for a conspicuously Large contribution of Money, Jewelry, and even Land. Therefore these special "Indulgences" were reserved for the Rich and Famous, as well as Royalty. Sort of like time off for good behavior. However, large sums of wealth given to the Church only got you "time off". There was another way, of course at an almost insane "contribution", one, Only through the Church, could obtain something called a Plenary Indulgence with wich one could avoid Purgatory altogether and head directly to Heaven, without Judgement. However, the general churchgoer was not filthy rich and was essentially almost

certainly going to suffer some degree of Suffering. They were also not too stupid to see the unfair ballance of love God had for the wealthy. Again the Church was facing a loss in membership, and of course revenue. So, problems, problems, problems for the poor persecuted Church. Many did not want to live under the Iron fist of the (then?) Highly oppressive Church. Enter the humble Novena Candle. Those red candles to the left and right (in many Churches) of the altar. These were a saving grace (no pun intended) for the Catholic Church. Now, with the advent of this latest "rule", the Churchgoer could save, if not themselves, the Souls of their dearly departed, and hopefully when their time came, the favor would be afforded them by loved ones. The process was simple enough. Simply light a candle and say a series of prayers, also referred to as a Novena, and by doing this they could take "Years" off of the sentence given to them by your Loving, but Vengeful God. (According to the Christian authorities.) Now, simply lighting the candle was "OK" with the Church, however, they greatly preferred that you deposit a coin or 2, or more for each candle lit in the conveniently placed tin box. Once again, Church attendance and of course Revenue was up once more. All of this reform by the Church hinged on the clergy making sure that you knew that to believe in re-incarnation was a sin. To summarize the stance of the various Christian religions; They would have you convinced that God created You completely separate from "Him". You are an imperfect creation, created by a Perfect Being. You were "Born Into Sin", meaning that you were literally Damned right from the get go. There are a very large number of rules including, but not limited to, the Requirement to be Baptized as soon as humanly possible after birth. That you be Confirmed by the Church early in your adolescence. That you Attend Church Regularly, and confess your sins as often as possible. That you accept holy communion at church (only if you have been confirmed). In fact, it seemed like it would take a team of Lawyers to create all of the so called "Rules of the Church". In actuality, besides Popes, the rules were made up by a Team of intelligent almost Fox like intelligent clergymen. Let's not forget the way the Church for many years would have a woman involved with the clergy to rank no higher and of course there was no lower than a Nun. Women were always made to look less worthy, perfect and closer to God than Men. They would have you believe in the Demons that ironically They Created, and that up to a certain point in time, you would need an Exorcism from the Church if you were "Possessed" by one of these UnGodly Creatures. I am particularly intrigued with the cleverness with which the Churches of varying types of Christianity are Changing with the Times. For if Galileo lived today, he would be barely, if at all be recognized by the Churches, let alone Die under House Arrest for his beliefs.