Is religion simply more about control than a god?

[Belacqua]

Aren't we all the same? Can't we all speak to God? I mean that is what the bible says.

I guess we can all speak to God, but that doesn't mean that what we're saying to him is right. Nor does it mean that God speaks to all of us. 

Does the Bible really say God speaks to everybody? It seems like from the beginning some people are messengers, prophets, etc. 

Why is it someone has to be an "authority" when it comes to religion? 

Some people know better than others, some people have worked on the problem more than others. I don't want everyone's opinion to weigh equally in every matter. 

When authority works, it is there to act as a counterweight to every hare-brained scheme that individuals come up with. In history, there is always a tension between tradition, which is often wise, and innovation, which is sometimes necessary. 

Very few people have good original ideas, many people assume it's the voice of God telling them to do something, when it's really their own selfish opinion. There should be authorities to make them stop and think again. 

Isn't the relationship with god between God and yourself? i.e. 1 on 1? 

Is it? Do you really trust yourself so much? As Feynman said, the easiest person to fool is yourself. 

I have had a lot of terrible ideas in my life, which at the time I thought were good. I am grateful that smart people wrote books, to serve as my teachers and make me doubt myself. 

Nothing is easy, and thinking about what we ought to do is complex. Currently we're in a society which distrusts any sort of authority and looks up to the maverick who goes his own way. (E.g. the hero in Star Trek -- HQ tells him or her, "return to base immediately, that's a direct order!" and the hero always disobeys, saves the universe, shows that disobedience is good.) In part this is because our authority figures have betrayed us, but in part they have betrayed us due to their own exaggerated faith in their own goodness. When you echo an  opinion which is so widely held and so compatible with Hollywood, it should give immediate pause. 

So it's probably good to get away from the authority of the Mormon church. No argument there. But you need to look at what authority is there waiting for you when you jump out of your previous one.