June 4, 2015
Beer is good for you, as is religion, as are a lot of things! Too much of anything is not good for you - even air! Beer is not allowed in churches, but a little talk of religion is allowed at a bar. Religion is an opportunity for socializing as is beer. Many beer drinkers can't stay away from imbibing as well as many church goers are addicted to sitting on their stinking 'pew's while listening to the religion salesman who will get a few hundred dollars for his Sunday trick, or like the top of the line Escorts, maybe a few thousand each session. Giving 'good' while covertly taking whatever you can't be transparent about is the oldest trick in the book.
Are beer and religion a sin? Who's to judge? Certainly drinking a beer during a religious service can keep you awake, but not likely to make the humdrum singing any better. For better or worse taking either seriously is a sin with little possibility of redemption without replacing them with better, more healthy habits. A good start is to recognize that you have a problem that causes the need to get too much of either. For too much beer there are organizations like 'Alcoholics Anonymous' to work on eliminating drinking as a problem.
But, what to do with an addiction to religion? How do I know I'm addicted? One way is you try to convert others like in a pyramid scheme in a way. Another way to tell is if you quote scripture an average of once a day or more, especially to someone who is not with your program. People enter careers without knowing what they really entail, and usually for good reason, not seeing the choice from the inside or from afar. Once in NYC, I had the urge to open up an exotic plant shop as they were just becoming popular in homes and businesses. I spent hours and months looking at all aspects of it, and if I really wanted to spend maybe 70 or 80 hours a week with all the mundane things that went along with it. I talked myself out of it, and was just happy with my 4 room apartment filed with plants.
Hanging out with a lot of beer drinkers or religion folk on the other hand is to close yourself off to the freedoms within, and on the outside. With religion, one often becomes more judgmental, closed to ideas outside the religion, freedoms, and alternatives to take you deeper into a life of love beyond 'belief'. Too much beer, and an antidote just might be religion for it is for the sick who don't know where to look for redemption. To be saved is first of all, to find out who you really are, and to love yourself with all your heart and mind. Looking for 'Gawd'? Look for love within! It's better than beer or religion! Arhata~
