Just what is Gods word anyhow?

This is something that has troubled me since probably my third time reading the bible when I was still a child, so many conflicting things within it, yet my father really wanted me to have religion under my belt so I made the agreement with him to study and be confirmed under the Lutheran Religion. And I did, at 16 I received my confirmation, the family was proud, on my fathers side at least, as my Moms side was Orthodox so of course wanted me to know that side better. At that moment I said this makes no sense and read absolutely everything I could get my hands on, I read about Demons (originally they were not bad ya know) lots of Native American Ideology, more Pagan religions than I could even begin to Imagine. Eventually in an argument over the Qur'an I was told I didnt know what the hell I was talking about, and he was right, I didnt, I only knew what I was told on TV and a quote here and there, so I read that book and actually liked it, but still was no satisfied, I recently began digging into Hinduism, holy cow talk about a deep religion that would easily take a lifetime to learn. But what I did find is everyone thinks they know God, or the Gods word better than the other guy, so much so they will kill the other guy to prove it. Christians are so sure they are right there are over 40 different types of Christianity all professing their version is gods word, wait what? I thought Gods word was absolute? So why would there be any conflict if this was the case? Christians want to convert Muslims, and Muslims want to convert Christians, yet both their religions end up at the same exact place, but disagree on how exactly to get there. Then you have the Jews, they just know they are right, and the bible even says they are the chosen ones, hell Christians believe the Jews are right and go out of their way to defend the "chosen children" but not so much as to believe as the chosen ones. But the Muslims know the Jews are wrong so they hate the Jews, the Jews know the Muslims are wrong so they hate the Muslims, and since Christianity is well similar to the Muslims they dislike them but tolerate them since the Christians kiss their ass. Religion is right on every level, just ask em, so right are they that each religion has one major thing in common, the enslavement of their people for the overall gain of Religion aka Monetary gain for someone up top, but do not question them for you are to follow them and if you are bad, you will go to a horrible place nobody wants to be, but if you are good you will go to where everyone wants to be, yet both are so vague that is all anyone really knows. So they throw in more crap, you get multiple Virgins if you follow us and die for your religion, ohh you get to float on clouds and all your Relatives will be waiting there with arms wide open just for you. But wait, what about the Judgement? I thought God was supposed to come down and kill everyone who didnt side with him, hold on, I thought we were not supposed to be afraid of death and dying was the only way to find the promised land, grrr, what the @#$%. Ok so Mormons got it figured out, so they make magic underwear since your clothes are evil if they touch your skin, well shit I kind of like the feel of some stuff, although maybe they all originally wore wool that is why they were so itchy. All of them seem a bit adverse to certain foods, so much so that in both the Bible and the Quran you get an ass kicking for eating the wrong things. Hindu's were not excluded and you cannot eat cattle who are very important to society and are ok to eat their produce they try to sell, if you are bad in Hinduism you merely have a shitty next life, well that is refreshing, does it get better if I just walk the tight rope? Yes apparently then I have a great next life, but what is all this waiting crap? I dono, it is all so damn confusing, so in the meantime cant we all just well, admit we really dont know and just get along?

Animals and death

I just watched Hatchiko, a movie about a dog who for a decade went to the train station waiting for his deceased master to come back to him. While that is the extreme case, animals do indeed sense the passing of someone they care about as well, It seems they mourn all be it in their own way. The latest for me, and I would like to say the last would be my mothers dog Alphe, who would come running to look into the truck as I came to my sisters house, where mom had been staying, he would jump over my lap every time we pull up looking inside the car then giving that quizzical look of where is she? He would run into her bedroom always looking, and still looks out the door waiting for her to come home. Dads dog Zack whom I took in about three years before dad would die, seemed to take things a bit better, when his old companion Bobbit, my hound took her last ride, he looked out the door and laid there just looking for a bit. He would do the same thing when dad would not come home, look past me and lay on the rug just looking, I would wonder what goes on in their mind, but Im sure its something like ours, they know they are gone, but still hope for them to come home. It is not only domestic animals who mourn, there is evidence that crows actually hold funerals, crazy yet true. I remember a deer dad shot once, dads health was not good enough to make it up the mountain so I would climb up to finish the deer, the doe and buck who it was with I had to chase off, the doe would sniff his stiff body and still they only stood just in the trees and watched as I cleaned the animal. I guess it is just part of the cycle of life, it almost makes one want to be a vegan, yet there is also evidence that plants react to death as well, so were the Indians right and we are all connected? Maybe, but one thing is certain we surely should respect that of which we care for, as it most certainly respects us.