Inventing Our Religions

I BELIEVE IN GOD, and I believe that Jesus is the answer, the way. In other words, Jesus gave good advice, with but few exceptions, which would be just as good had it been given by anybody else, which, in fact, it had been, and still is. A good idea is a good idea, no matter whence its source. If Jesus had condemned slavery instead of condoning it, refrained from threatening to return with an avenging sword, and distanced himself from the brutality of the Old Testament, he'd be right up there with the wisest humans who ever lived, but, he lived in primitive times, barbaric times, and was obviously the product of his environment. God is great, Christ is love, or so it seems to me. The fact that Joshua Ben Joseph never called himself "Jesus Christ" changes nothing, although it does, it seems to me, show a lack of respect. You want others to call you by the name you call yourself, correct? The people I most admire are agnostics, because they are the honest people, the people who honestly admit that they do not know, when the rest of us, who know no more than they, claim to know. We believe, but we claim to know, which, common sense tells us, is a no no. May all the world's current religions wither away into non existence, which they will, and may a true and intelligent reverence for nature, and nature's (Jefferson's) God permeate us all, except for those who choose not to believe in God, in which case, may those folks experience the miracle of life in their own way. Imagine a world free from dogma and religious strife, free from barbaric religious beliefs, free from indoctrination, wherein everyone gladly accepts the uniqueness of everyone's religions We all invent our religiosity. Goethe said: when I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decided to invent mine." Happy inventing!