The_Unknown_Banana

In thinking about the mentality behind starting a religion, I came to think about why chain letters get started. There are after all some startling similarities between the two... (Yes I'm bored - bear with me!)

Chain Letters: If you do what they tell you to, you will have a good life, never accumulate naval fluff, or you will end up living happily ever after. (Among others)
The bible: If you do what it says you will be rewarded with heaven, and live happily ever after.

Chain Letters: If you do not do what it says, you will miss out on its powers, & get eternally dragged along a desert whilst your privates are tied to a raging elephant. (Or some such threat)
The Bible: If you do not do what it says, you will be denied God & get eternally roasted.

Chain Letters: Sometimes state that they are truth, and have mysterious powers invested in them.
The Bible: Says it is truth, and that there is a mysterious all powerful force behind it.

Chain Letters: Sometimes give stories about all the previous people that have been blessed by its powers, or about people who have died through ignoring it.
The Bible: Full of stories about people being blessed when doing as instructed, or people ignoring its message and running into peril.

Chain letters are really stupid aren't they? Yet do people follow them?? You bet your life they do. I propose that the bible is the longest running chain letter ever, by some crafty people back in the days when there was no T.V. or E-Mails...

Now direct 10 people to this post or you will suffer an eternal wedgie.. or something

EGGO

I see myself using this as an analogy sometime in the near future...