Attack of the Pew Junkies

    Yay, it's time fore another late-night thought.  No badly-written poems, no Debbie Downers.  Just a thought.

    So I was just getting ready for bed, and I got to thinking about beliefs and ecstasy.
    Wait, what?
    It's something I've kind of talked about before.  But this is more focused.

    So basically, I trailed off in thought about how much people depend on emotional spike-age to decide what to believe in and what to do.
    For example, many modern Christians (and I mean Christians from the 20th century and forward) seem to base their love for God by how they feel whenever they attend service.  With the increase of camps, retreats, encounters, and worship services, there's certainly no shortage of religious excitement.  Followers are constantly stimulated, and they affirm (and reaffirm, and rededicate) their love as their emotional levels begin to peak.
    It's really something else.
    Anyways, as they begin to "come back to earth", their old selves begin to come back - their internal struggles, the resulting behavior, etc.  They sometimes even dwell on that last time they got "spiritually high."  Do you remember that youth retreat back in the fall?  Man, I remember getting back in touch with God... not a moment too soon.  Dude, it's great we have these things - I can't wait for the next one.
    And it occurred to me: you know who else talks like that?
    Junkies and addicts.
    Whenever a person gets a fix, he drifts on Cloud Nine.  There's nowhere he'd rather be, because he is happy here.  As the fix wears off, he starts getting back into his bad behavior.  He attacks others around him verbally, emotionally, and sometimes physically.  He comes up with excuses for his behavior.  He sometimes even chooses to seclude himself from the world, waiting for that next trip.
    Just need to get my next fix... not a moment too soon.
    And in the end, it's for emotional self-indulgence.  Nothing really good comes from it.
    Every year, countless people pack themselves into buses and vans to attend some event.  They drop millions of dollars and drive thousands of miles for an opportunity to get back onto that cloud, even if it's just for a little while.  And they do get back on - as the worship band plays, as the speaker aurally delivers a perfect compound dosage of guilt and love, emotions once again spike.  And so the cycle continues.
    God is just another drug.
    But God is more than that!  Don't dirty God by putting him on the same level as needles or bottles!
    Isn't that how many of us treat it all, though?  For every one person who is truly changed forever and for the better, there's about a hundred more who don't really change at all.  Even worse, many people don't really change, but they then use God as an excuse for their behavior.  They'll abuse the God excuse to treat others poorly, to ignore those who need love, and to hold grudges against those who need forgiveness.
    So I have to ask: who's really dirtying God here?  And should God be only allowed to live inside for self-gratification, rather than as a drive for the betterment of the world?

    This is not done out of anger or because of some recent happening.  And it's not like I'm saying all of this because I've never been like this.  I have been guilty of occasionally taking a hit of God to feel better.
    But any "belief" that is only being used to indulge a childish sense of selfishness (rather than a sense of selflessness) should be seriously reevaluated.  And if you're content with just riding the highs, then be honest with yourself and admit that you really don't care about having an actual relationship.  You just need a fix, and a religious fix happens to be legal.