Religion Fact or Fiction?
- Thread starter HealingFoot
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I'll keep this short though I could go on and on about the subject. Religion was created by MAN to explain a world they didn't understand. These same people believed that the earth was the center of the universe, the sun revolves around the earth, etc., etc. These were ignorant superstitious people. We know today that most of their beliefs are ridiculous yet people still persist to base their lives on a book that was created by these ignorant superstitious people. Christianity holds no more water than ancient tribal cultures belief in spirits or paganism. Peole always bring up the idea that there must be a God because the world is so complex. Look at it this way...if we showed a person from the time of Christ a TV they would automatically think it was magic although we understand how it works today. The same holds true with the world. Just because we can't explain it we always go back to the simplest explanation possible-God. I think religion can be good in some instances but as a whole breeds intolerance. More people have died over religion than any war in history. To be honest I believe religion does more harm than good.
W
Waylander
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Im not sure what my take on religion is to be honest, but sometimes I feel the answers given in defense of religion is a cop out in most cases. And It bothers me that hypocricy runs abound in the actions of those who "follow" certain religious beleifs. And also like one of you was mentioning all these situations god/God helped you out of, and that you really look for his guidance in times of strife. Isnt it a travesty people only look to god/God when they need him/her? I saw a quote the other day that was from the bible in reference to god/God speaking that said "I knew you before I created you" or something along those lines, then why allow so many peices of shit to be created, if he knew what they would do? Its easier to beleive in a religion because their are no consequences set by a religion if you beleive in it, however if you dont you are awful and condemned, not considered wrong, but condemned? damned? I think their is far more proof that their is not an acting religion than proof of their being one. One thing in dogma I thought was clever is comparing faith to a glass, and as you are an adult, the glass becomes bigger henceforth requiring more faith to fill it. If I offended anyone here, good, I hope it got to you and allows everyone to see another side of the story. Im not looking for right or wrong, but dont be force fed something, if everyone made their own decisions look at the growth we could have as a whole. (Assuming everyone still has the intelligence to do so, and not just take what the media and others wants you to believe.)
R
RangerFTL
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Want to know about religion? Take a sociology course. Religion is used to control the masses, and that is what it was designed for.
God may exist, but I PERSONALLY don't believe he would involve himself with my every little moment. I doubt he cares when I shit. He have us the intelligence to CREATE either heaven or hell on this earth, and it's probably us that are pissing it away. I think he just created this shit, set it spinning, and took a hike.
God may exist, but I PERSONALLY don't believe he would involve himself with my every little moment. I doubt he cares when I shit. He have us the intelligence to CREATE either heaven or hell on this earth, and it's probably us that are pissing it away. I think he just created this shit, set it spinning, and took a hike.
HealingFoot
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I think the last time I got this many posts on a thread was when i made "Holy smokes, I woke up and my firend was mas**rbating in my room"!! Hahaha!
Wow, this is great, I am enjoying reading everybodys posts here! I did not know that this was done before though, sorry about that. I am glad 2 see that Red Dragon is posting something as far as believing, and not just FACT. It gets your gears turning in your head. Good point Red, about not being able 2 prove the theory of evolution. In my case it seems that science has more proof of evolution than The Bible does at this point. And as for me refering 2 followers of God as sheep, that was not exactly an insult. For future reference. Um....... oh yeah, I suppose it is easier for people 2 stop believing in god because of bad childhoods, and shitty lives. That was a part of the reason I gave up on god, I prayed for a better life since could kneel in front of my bed. I talked 2 whoever was our Priest at the time at church, all I got was..." Just keep praying 2 god and you shall be fine". No such luck. So I gave it up. In that way, I guess its easy for people 2 give up on god. Then again,it can make peoples faith so much stronger. My mother for example. She has had as shitty a life as I have, and worse. She was forced as a child 2 quite school and take care of her 7 brothers and sisters, she got beat by her mother and she was forced 2 cook for them everyday, clean for them everyday, and work on their farm everyday. She married my father, and things did not get better. They got worse. They fought, and they moved 2 Hawaii, they lived in a shack. My father became a farmer, and she was working her ass off again. She is still workiing her ass off now, just not with him. Anyway, my point of that ramble is that throughout my mothers life shewas dumped on by the world. She has never gotten a break. she is 50 years old now. She looks as if she is 40, she is a great person. Everybody loves her and she loves everybody. But she still loves and believes in god. She prays for me everyday, and loves me more than anything. I cry when I see her down or upset. She deserves better than this. She prays harder than anybody I know, its amazing how that works. If there is a god, I hate him for what he has done 2 my mother. God at this point, looks like a Fucking SADIST 2 me. I am sorry upseting anybody by sayint that. But thats the way I see it. I consider myself a very decent human being. I have my own beliefs, my own morals. It is easy for people 2 say they have their own morals, but it is hard 2 truly follow them and believe in them. Specialy when they seem like exuses for doing things or acting in a lousy way.... uh, thats it for now.
Wow, this is great, I am enjoying reading everybodys posts here! I did not know that this was done before though, sorry about that. I am glad 2 see that Red Dragon is posting something as far as believing, and not just FACT. It gets your gears turning in your head. Good point Red, about not being able 2 prove the theory of evolution. In my case it seems that science has more proof of evolution than The Bible does at this point. And as for me refering 2 followers of God as sheep, that was not exactly an insult. For future reference. Um....... oh yeah, I suppose it is easier for people 2 stop believing in god because of bad childhoods, and shitty lives. That was a part of the reason I gave up on god, I prayed for a better life since could kneel in front of my bed. I talked 2 whoever was our Priest at the time at church, all I got was..." Just keep praying 2 god and you shall be fine". No such luck. So I gave it up. In that way, I guess its easy for people 2 give up on god. Then again,it can make peoples faith so much stronger. My mother for example. She has had as shitty a life as I have, and worse. She was forced as a child 2 quite school and take care of her 7 brothers and sisters, she got beat by her mother and she was forced 2 cook for them everyday, clean for them everyday, and work on their farm everyday. She married my father, and things did not get better. They got worse. They fought, and they moved 2 Hawaii, they lived in a shack. My father became a farmer, and she was working her ass off again. She is still workiing her ass off now, just not with him. Anyway, my point of that ramble is that throughout my mothers life shewas dumped on by the world. She has never gotten a break. she is 50 years old now. She looks as if she is 40, she is a great person. Everybody loves her and she loves everybody. But she still loves and believes in god. She prays for me everyday, and loves me more than anything. I cry when I see her down or upset. She deserves better than this. She prays harder than anybody I know, its amazing how that works. If there is a god, I hate him for what he has done 2 my mother. God at this point, looks like a Fucking SADIST 2 me. I am sorry upseting anybody by sayint that. But thats the way I see it. I consider myself a very decent human being. I have my own beliefs, my own morals. It is easy for people 2 say they have their own morals, but it is hard 2 truly follow them and believe in them. Specialy when they seem like exuses for doing things or acting in a lousy way.... uh, thats it for now.
academiachuteboxe
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Wow. What a scary post. I am a Bible believing Baptist and if you don't believe in God then I urge you to re-consider. I don't have "proof".........I don't have a miracle story....... However I know in my heart that God exists because of faith. Jesus was the son of God and he died on a cross 2000 years ago for you and me. If you don't accept Christ into your heart, you will not go to Heaven. Period. I, along with most other Christians believe we are living in times that tend to pave the road for the second coming of Christ. You may know this as the rapture. I won't go into details but you don't want to be left behind. I'll be more than happy to share personal experiences with anyone who wants to get into this. I won't try to make you put your hand on the bible and get saved........thats not for me to do. I will however teach you what I know. [email protected]
Don't turn your back on the most important thing in your life guys. Again, wow........scary post. I had no idea all these people were non-believers. Oh yeah please don't bash me on this board and call me a sheep. Won't bother me so don't waste the time.
Don't turn your back on the most important thing in your life guys. Again, wow........scary post. I had no idea all these people were non-believers. Oh yeah please don't bash me on this board and call me a sheep. Won't bother me so don't waste the time.
HealingFoot
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That is a great post. I mean that. I seriously only consider sheep 2 be the people who will not even listen 2 other people about not believing in god and who wont give it a second thought. I consider sheep 2 be the people who have not thought about all of the options and decided what they want 2 do. Sheep 2 me are the narrow minded people who will not or are afraid 2 learn about science and other religions. I have met lots of people like that. But I have met so many god fearing people that I don't consider sheep. So its not really an insult it just kind of explains what some of these people are like. Oh yeah, hehe... I was being a dick about it when I put my little skit at the bottom of my first post. That was kind of uncool....but it was kind of funny right?
V
vod
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I grew up as a Catholic and my beliefs tend to stem off of those. The whole story of Jesus and God. That's where my beliefs begin. But in terms of the organization of such beliefs and stuff like that? That's all bullshit.
Why do I have to goto a priest to confess my sins? He's there watching me do it. Can't I just say I'm sorry while I'm laying in bed before I goto sleep.
Why do I have to goto church on Sunday to show off my new clothes and smile at idiots just in a mock-praise of a shadowy figure? Why can't I just say a prayer or two while on my way to school? He's there, isn't he?
When you say 'God doesn't think that's good', that's when you have to ask yourself, did the rules that 'God' gave us apply to this situation?
There's not as much evidence in the Catholic religion as there is in the Traditional Jewish Religion (I dislike the Jewish theories)...They don't let you use electricity or fire and bullshit like that on their sabbath. They walk to church because they're not allowed to drive but there weren't cars around when the rules were written so why should it apply? People nowadays don't try to adhere to the beliefs given to them, they look for the loopholes around them. Your beliefs become a burden rather than a virtue and you learn nothing but to dislike and detest your beliefs. That's not what any 'God' would want.
Why do I have to goto a priest to confess my sins? He's there watching me do it. Can't I just say I'm sorry while I'm laying in bed before I goto sleep.
Why do I have to goto church on Sunday to show off my new clothes and smile at idiots just in a mock-praise of a shadowy figure? Why can't I just say a prayer or two while on my way to school? He's there, isn't he?
When you say 'God doesn't think that's good', that's when you have to ask yourself, did the rules that 'God' gave us apply to this situation?
There's not as much evidence in the Catholic religion as there is in the Traditional Jewish Religion (I dislike the Jewish theories)...They don't let you use electricity or fire and bullshit like that on their sabbath. They walk to church because they're not allowed to drive but there weren't cars around when the rules were written so why should it apply? People nowadays don't try to adhere to the beliefs given to them, they look for the loopholes around them. Your beliefs become a burden rather than a virtue and you learn nothing but to dislike and detest your beliefs. That's not what any 'God' would want.
Let me first start off by saying I agree exactly with what acadameiachuteboxe said. I'd like to respond quickly to a few things that I think clearly present problems:
That would depend on what you mean by proof. If you're looking for absolute proof, well, there's no way. In fact, when you're talking absolute proof, there's really no way to even prove to me that you exist, because it is possible that our senses deceive us.
As far as evidence goes, I could give evidence for Jesus' miracles, the resurrection, Biblical archaeology, etc. But it appears most people in here are interested in the actual existence of a higher power, and whether or not it's likely. I can offer 2 arguments that I think prove that there is SOMETHING beyond the physical, natural cosmos.
1. Where did energy come from? If we backtrack about 20 billion or so years to the big bang, all matter as we know it was packed into a "cosmic egg," and mysteriously exploded. There is no such thing as "time" before that point. The question is, how did it get there? Where did it come from? Why did it explode? Now keep in mind, this question cannot be reversed by saying "where did God come from?" The reason is, God is supernatural, and the author of nature. Everything that is natural is subject to the law of energy decay. Billions of years down the road cosmologists see an inevitable "heat death" of the universe--that is, everything will become homogenous and reach 0 kelvins. God is not subject to this law. It is illogical then, based on a specific timeframe (which God is not bounded by time anyway) to assume that God must have "come" from somewhere. God simply "IS." You cannot assume the same about the universe.
Also, for what it's worth, some of the world's most renowned cosmologists believe in God. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, to name a few. While not Bible believing Christians, they do believe in a higher power that has put the universe in motion.
2. The design we see in the universe implies a designer. Natural selection cannot account for the advanced biological systems we see today. Sure, it can weed out harmful mutations and keep those that help survival of species, but it cannot specify the development of a more complex system. Mutations simply cannot do that.
Here's an example: If we were to find a complex spaceship that was so advanced and so unknown to mankind somewhere on earth, what should we assume? Obviously we would assume that someone built and designed it, whether humans or aliens. We would not assume it was just magically put together by earthquakes, storms, rain, and (of all things) erosion! Because scientists have adopted a purely naturalistic philosophy of explaining life, they cannot include the possibility that life came from something beyond nature. While many scientists (I am not exaggerating here--MANY scientists) acknowledge the flaws in the theory of evolution and the possibility of a designer, our increasingly secular society prohibits this.
hmm.....not really sure about that one. Could you clarify?
Think about this quote. Saying the world is no so "great" implies that it COULD really be great. If so, then you must acknowledge that there is a moral standard by which you can determine what is "great," and what is "not great," correct? Well if so, what IS that standard? Is it your standard? Where does it come from? What if I were to say to you that I think the world is as great as it could possibly be? Who would be correct, you or I? Without a universal standard, you cannot do this. Without the existence of a moral law giver (God), someone who defines the meaning of all that exists, we are unable to attribute real value to anything we see or care about. The value that we THINK we are attributing to something is really just the result of chemical processes going on in our brains. We came from stardust...we are the result of pure chance...everything is going to perish...we are simply just a unique combination of chemical compounds. How can anything then have real value? There must be something that gives it value...which brings me to the last point.
GOD IS THE ULTIMATE AXIOM. You cannot prove an axiom. An axiom is something that is self-evident...something that proof is BASED off of (I could go deeper into that if anyone wishes). If God is real, and He is the God the Bible describes, there is no way we can use the things of the earth to physically prove his existence, because He IS the reason for the existence of everything that is natural. To be able to do so would be to hold the things of the natural world on his level...and His level is nowhere NEAR the natural world. The only way God can be proven to someone is by first hand experience--by a relationship, that he offers through the death of Christ. "Now wait a minute," you are probably saying. If we are of the world and cannot be on the same realm as God and hence cannot prove his existence via naturalism, how can we ourselves, physical material and all, come in contact with something on such a higher plane? That's why Christ died and rose from the dead. To make such a relationship possible. And make no mistake, it's a relationship, it's no religion. Religion is when people try to earn their way to God by following a set of rules and being a good person. That is NOT what he has to offer...he offers so much more.
phew, okay I'm done for now.
That would depend on what you mean by proof. If you're looking for absolute proof, well, there's no way. In fact, when you're talking absolute proof, there's really no way to even prove to me that you exist, because it is possible that our senses deceive us.
As far as evidence goes, I could give evidence for Jesus' miracles, the resurrection, Biblical archaeology, etc. But it appears most people in here are interested in the actual existence of a higher power, and whether or not it's likely. I can offer 2 arguments that I think prove that there is SOMETHING beyond the physical, natural cosmos.
1. Where did energy come from? If we backtrack about 20 billion or so years to the big bang, all matter as we know it was packed into a "cosmic egg," and mysteriously exploded. There is no such thing as "time" before that point. The question is, how did it get there? Where did it come from? Why did it explode? Now keep in mind, this question cannot be reversed by saying "where did God come from?" The reason is, God is supernatural, and the author of nature. Everything that is natural is subject to the law of energy decay. Billions of years down the road cosmologists see an inevitable "heat death" of the universe--that is, everything will become homogenous and reach 0 kelvins. God is not subject to this law. It is illogical then, based on a specific timeframe (which God is not bounded by time anyway) to assume that God must have "come" from somewhere. God simply "IS." You cannot assume the same about the universe.
Also, for what it's worth, some of the world's most renowned cosmologists believe in God. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, to name a few. While not Bible believing Christians, they do believe in a higher power that has put the universe in motion.
2. The design we see in the universe implies a designer. Natural selection cannot account for the advanced biological systems we see today. Sure, it can weed out harmful mutations and keep those that help survival of species, but it cannot specify the development of a more complex system. Mutations simply cannot do that.
Here's an example: If we were to find a complex spaceship that was so advanced and so unknown to mankind somewhere on earth, what should we assume? Obviously we would assume that someone built and designed it, whether humans or aliens. We would not assume it was just magically put together by earthquakes, storms, rain, and (of all things) erosion! Because scientists have adopted a purely naturalistic philosophy of explaining life, they cannot include the possibility that life came from something beyond nature. While many scientists (I am not exaggerating here--MANY scientists) acknowledge the flaws in the theory of evolution and the possibility of a designer, our increasingly secular society prohibits this.
hmm.....not really sure about that one. Could you clarify?
Think about this quote. Saying the world is no so "great" implies that it COULD really be great. If so, then you must acknowledge that there is a moral standard by which you can determine what is "great," and what is "not great," correct? Well if so, what IS that standard? Is it your standard? Where does it come from? What if I were to say to you that I think the world is as great as it could possibly be? Who would be correct, you or I? Without a universal standard, you cannot do this. Without the existence of a moral law giver (God), someone who defines the meaning of all that exists, we are unable to attribute real value to anything we see or care about. The value that we THINK we are attributing to something is really just the result of chemical processes going on in our brains. We came from stardust...we are the result of pure chance...everything is going to perish...we are simply just a unique combination of chemical compounds. How can anything then have real value? There must be something that gives it value...which brings me to the last point.
GOD IS THE ULTIMATE AXIOM. You cannot prove an axiom. An axiom is something that is self-evident...something that proof is BASED off of (I could go deeper into that if anyone wishes). If God is real, and He is the God the Bible describes, there is no way we can use the things of the earth to physically prove his existence, because He IS the reason for the existence of everything that is natural. To be able to do so would be to hold the things of the natural world on his level...and His level is nowhere NEAR the natural world. The only way God can be proven to someone is by first hand experience--by a relationship, that he offers through the death of Christ. "Now wait a minute," you are probably saying. If we are of the world and cannot be on the same realm as God and hence cannot prove his existence via naturalism, how can we ourselves, physical material and all, come in contact with something on such a higher plane? That's why Christ died and rose from the dead. To make such a relationship possible. And make no mistake, it's a relationship, it's no religion. Religion is when people try to earn their way to God by following a set of rules and being a good person. That is NOT what he has to offer...he offers so much more.
phew, okay I'm done for now.
A
A_Train
Guest
it really annoys me when someone speaks for all Christians as if we all fall in line with their beliefs. look, i believe in God and i always have. i am not going to go into great details about why and how i believe it. i don't think i should have to defend why i believe. i also don't believe in pushing my views on anyone else, they are mine and mine alone. i am not in the business of condemnation, because who am i to judge? i can be a dickhead everynow and then just like everyone else. just because i believe, it doesn't mean that i think i'm superior to anyone or anything. i do resent being portrayed as a brainwashed drone who is falling into a plot to control the masses. i majored in sociology, so the Marx references don't impress me. i personally think that he was an ass, but it has nothing to do with his views on religion. anyway, i have many friends that don't believe, hell, my future wife is an agnostic. there are many believers out there just like me, but we don't make good press, only guys like Falwell and Swaggert do. Christians get painted with a very broad brush, condemned as hyprcrites by those who don't seem to practice what they preach (no pun intended). yes i am a Christian, a flawed human being like the rest of you. i watch porn, mma, i swear, i have pre-marital sex, did i mention i watch porn? the point is that i believe in God, but at the same time, i don't profess to be any closer to being perfect than anyone else. anyway, i'm gonna go have a drink and have some sex with my fiance', and then maybe watch Pride 19. have a good day and God Bless
I
I.J.S.
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I agree with Vod for the most part. I'm the type that feels that I don't need to be herded like cattle to a building to hear some guy that is no better then me talk about what he thinks the Lord said.
Knuckles
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If you think about it... A lot of religion is like a guide... a guide to a peaceful world... The problem is people and our arrogance... Like holy wars... Where does it say that if someone doesn't believe what is taught that you should take matters in to your own hands and "force" someone to believe? It doesn't... Didn't Jesus die and not fight? Doesn't budah teach that knowone should kill?? I think just about every religion says that we shall not kill yet people twist things to try to force a belief on someone... What is the difference if you call God a diffrent name? Your still talking to what you believe is the creator of everything...
Religion isn't bad, people are... If you could do a poll on the entire world im willing to bet that almost every human has a belief in a God or afterlife... The only countries where you would get a low percentage would be in Communist countries where it is against the law... Why? because religion is the strongest thing on this planet... People can use it for great good or great bad... When you see Christians going to 3rd world countries to help people and all the people who donate money to the poor and all the many things people do to help other people.. This is good.... Fanatics like Bin Laden and others use it for great evil.... All people are capable of being very loving and good... people are also capable of being very cruel... Like mark twain once said... "Humans are the only animals that feel pleasure in anothers pain"...
Religion is a guide that shows you that as a whole humans prosper with peace... Look how far wars have set us back? Could you imagine if all the countries in the world put all the effort and money in to finding ways to feed people, cure disease, energy resources, space programs ect instead of spending trillions of dollars and our best minds in to developing weapons to kill people? Instead of having seperate countries that battle each other we all work together??? We would be so far advanced and have so many less problems it's even hard to imagine...
Religion isn't bad, people are... If you could do a poll on the entire world im willing to bet that almost every human has a belief in a God or afterlife... The only countries where you would get a low percentage would be in Communist countries where it is against the law... Why? because religion is the strongest thing on this planet... People can use it for great good or great bad... When you see Christians going to 3rd world countries to help people and all the people who donate money to the poor and all the many things people do to help other people.. This is good.... Fanatics like Bin Laden and others use it for great evil.... All people are capable of being very loving and good... people are also capable of being very cruel... Like mark twain once said... "Humans are the only animals that feel pleasure in anothers pain"...
Religion is a guide that shows you that as a whole humans prosper with peace... Look how far wars have set us back? Could you imagine if all the countries in the world put all the effort and money in to finding ways to feed people, cure disease, energy resources, space programs ect instead of spending trillions of dollars and our best minds in to developing weapons to kill people? Instead of having seperate countries that battle each other we all work together??? We would be so far advanced and have so many less problems it's even hard to imagine...
V
vod
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Well if you'd like to analogize it...Aren't we as insignificant as cattle when put into juxtaposition with an almighty being such a 'God'?
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You are right... and this is his post right here!
Kain
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Oh my oh my...
Everybody needs something in their life. It was long ago that philosophers realized that "life = suffering" and since the beginning of time, people have needed something great to cling to, in order to bring meaning to their miserable lives. This is why religion was far more important to the world back in medieval times and earlier, etc., because the quality of life was SOO shitty then that it seemed pointless. Nowadays, in the western world there is so little struggle, that faith has been replaced by a new type of religion, the "almighty dollar", which is still just as meaningless (read: more) as any myth or belief system. It is the same story for all people. Some need the arts, music, literature, etcetera, to survive and understand their universe, to be at peace with the futility of life. Others need discipline and order to make sense of the world, such as people who enter the army or become police officers. And others still cling to religions, in order to make them feel better about the deaths of their loved ones, and eventually the end of their own personal existence as well.
But let's face it, the Bible is ridiculous and as more and more scientific progress is made (yet another foolish system of intangible beliefs for humans to cling too *sigh*) the stories of the old and even the new testament (this discussion relates to all organized religions' texts, not limited to the Christian bible) seem increasingly far-fetched. In my opinion and from what I have observed in my community and travels, less and less people really BELIEVE THE ACTUAL BIBLE STORIES, and yet still claim to have faith in the existence of a "supreme being". This is now the most popular form of faith today, in keeping with the half-hearted spiritual nature of young people. Once a person hits sixteen or even when they are younger, it is more difficult for parents to thrust religion on to them, and force feed them stories about ludicrous events. Think about it, what happens in the bible....people walk on water, virign births, babies talking, tons of weird shit. Plus if you read the old testament, most of it doesn't make sense and there are lots of gaps in logic, family trees etc. As one member of RSPW said, "I lost my faith when I was five and nobody could tell me who Cain married, since he apparently had kids."
Let's look at the history of the Catholic religion: the bible texts were translated by priests who didn't fully understand it's original dialect, and who took liberties with it's interpretations as well. Entire commitees of priests were formed to vote on what would become official aspects of Christianity and what would be left out. LOL. Anybody who follows the bible, in my humble opinon, is sadly living a lie.
Sorry people, but there is nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing in the heavens, nothing in space, nothing in the earth, no souls, no spirits, no gods or angels, nothing at all. We are all alone.
Everybody needs something in their life. It was long ago that philosophers realized that "life = suffering" and since the beginning of time, people have needed something great to cling to, in order to bring meaning to their miserable lives. This is why religion was far more important to the world back in medieval times and earlier, etc., because the quality of life was SOO shitty then that it seemed pointless. Nowadays, in the western world there is so little struggle, that faith has been replaced by a new type of religion, the "almighty dollar", which is still just as meaningless (read: more) as any myth or belief system. It is the same story for all people. Some need the arts, music, literature, etcetera, to survive and understand their universe, to be at peace with the futility of life. Others need discipline and order to make sense of the world, such as people who enter the army or become police officers. And others still cling to religions, in order to make them feel better about the deaths of their loved ones, and eventually the end of their own personal existence as well.
But let's face it, the Bible is ridiculous and as more and more scientific progress is made (yet another foolish system of intangible beliefs for humans to cling too *sigh*) the stories of the old and even the new testament (this discussion relates to all organized religions' texts, not limited to the Christian bible) seem increasingly far-fetched. In my opinion and from what I have observed in my community and travels, less and less people really BELIEVE THE ACTUAL BIBLE STORIES, and yet still claim to have faith in the existence of a "supreme being". This is now the most popular form of faith today, in keeping with the half-hearted spiritual nature of young people. Once a person hits sixteen or even when they are younger, it is more difficult for parents to thrust religion on to them, and force feed them stories about ludicrous events. Think about it, what happens in the bible....people walk on water, virign births, babies talking, tons of weird shit. Plus if you read the old testament, most of it doesn't make sense and there are lots of gaps in logic, family trees etc. As one member of RSPW said, "I lost my faith when I was five and nobody could tell me who Cain married, since he apparently had kids."
Let's look at the history of the Catholic religion: the bible texts were translated by priests who didn't fully understand it's original dialect, and who took liberties with it's interpretations as well. Entire commitees of priests were formed to vote on what would become official aspects of Christianity and what would be left out. LOL. Anybody who follows the bible, in my humble opinon, is sadly living a lie.
Sorry people, but there is nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing in the heavens, nothing in space, nothing in the earth, no souls, no spirits, no gods or angels, nothing at all. We are all alone.
T
Tiki
Guest
Personally, I don't believe in organized religion. However, to look at different religions and see how some have ties with each other is quite fascinating. Catholicism says there is God, jesus, and the Holy Spirit(the Holy Trinity). However, Islamics believe Jesus was just another disciple of Allah, and not part of a Holy trinity. And yet the Jews say Jesus was not God's son, and they do not believe in him whatsoever. Yet all 3 do the same, worship a higher power. Do you need to go to a church to do that? Nope. Is it bad to go to a church to do that? Nope. So where amI going with this? Damned if I know. Had to walk away half way through typing this to look after my younger munchkin. Ah hell, if I remember where I was going with this, I'll post again.
