When was America great ?

[GMDino]

I have to throw my catholic school info in here again:

We have two different approaches going head-to-head.  One side says god made man, gave him free will, man sinned immediately, god kills a lot of people, blah blah blah and then Jesus dies for our sins.  BUT we still have follow all the rules, ask for forgiveness if we break one and a few other steps or we suffer for all eternity.

The other view is all of that PLUS god already knows what choices we're going to make and lets it happen to teach us a lesson.

As a recovering Catholic for several years now I have had a hard time accepting that a god who created us and loves us unconditionally is also so vain and demanding that he would rather see his creations suffer during their lifetime than interfere because we "sinned".  

Then it comes down to what is the sin?  Are they all god given or are we take the word of the authors of multiple books, many of which contradict each other, many of which were just left out of the bible because the editors didn't like the narrative they contained vs centuries of people with power making and changing rules to suit their own needs?

Many "sins" of the past are not any more.  The bible has been interpreted and reinterpreted.  It has been twisted to defend many things that we look back on now as deplorable such as slavery, segregation, spousal abuse, etc.

And WE were taught that everyone who worked on all of that was being led by god himself.

But when I asked a friend if he would accept my new gospel that god told me to write he said he would have to study it and see if it "fit" in with what he was taught.

All religion is man-made.  

Does that mean there is no higher power?  I don't think so.  I just think we'd all be better of dealing with each other in the here and now without trying to say our views are backed by an invisible man in the sky who is better that the other guy's invisible man in the sky.