And religion in general is in a state of apostasy and is guilty of leading people away from reality. That's why it was invented after all, and it sure has done it's job. You'll never find a place more full of delusional self indulgence and aggrandizement than a church, regardless of which religion or denomination they subscribe to.
> You'll never find a place more full of delusional self indulgence and aggrandizement than a church, regardless of which religion or denomination they subscribe to.
Correct, which is why I avoid religion (in the institutional church sense). I'm a bit of an odd duck because I came to the Bible after having been a practicing Buddhist for several years and generally being unexposed to Christianity (save for a lukewarm exposure to Jesuit Catholicism) or any religion growing up.
Having lived a mostly-secular life and only later (at age ~30) coming to Christianity, I can confidently say that in regard to reality, it's taught me that it's highly subjective. What most people consider as "reality" is just the interpretation of what they see that keeps them from losing their mind. For some, reality is being an unhinged hedonist, for others it's planting a garden, and for others it's generally just "trying to be nice and getting along."
Personally, God/Christ (and by extension, what's recorded in the Bible) is the interpretation of reality that makes the most sense to me. In practice/study, I've found that it maps 1:1 with what I see while also filling in the blanks on things I can't explain (e.g., the ability for the human body to heal itself, the pace/behavior of nature, or humanity's unrelenting drive to destroy what it doesn't/refuses to understand).
I guess it’s nice that you believe that, but the truth of the matter is that you are about as close to traditional right-wing mainstream Christianity as it’s possible to conceivably get. Like, if I were to imagine the archetypal Christian hypocritical sinner… it would be you.