Religion of all sorts is the biggest lie ever. I do not doubt the power of religion over a person's health or well-being, but that is a placebo effect, which in itself is a miracle. But to imagine that some mysterious man in the sky were to choose you out of all 6 or 7 billion people on the Earth to heal,you are delusional. Religion started off as the uneducated man's science. Most of them formed what, at least a millennial or two ago, back when there was no real technology to explain to the masses how their world and everything in general worked, so they chose the closest thing that made the most sense, which also gave them a feeling of purpose or meaning in their otherwise hard lives. Since then, over the last 2 millenniums and more, religion spread faster than technological advancements and knowledge, like a virus, and of course, it led to horrific event such as the Crusades, the Holocaust, the feuds between Muslims and Jews, etc. And why? To prove which one religion is the most correct and to take control of a piece of holy land, which is more or less BULLSHIT in reality. Recently, technology and science has reached the point in which the gained knowledge of all science advancements became rapidly widespread around the world, with ideas such as the heliocentric solar system, evolution, dinosaurs, etc. which is both provable by science and makes a HELL LOT MORE SENSE than religion. Seriously, would you follow a 2,000 year old book written and rewritten by so many people that the original doesn't look the same and has many contradictions within it and is definitely past it's expiry date, or would you follow the tried and true repeated testing of theories and hypotheses' that can be proven easily? Let's say you have cancer. You can either pray, which does nothing and ends up with the cancer patient dead most of the time, and if not, that's the placebo effect for you. OR you can choose to use science which has accumulated knowledge to help battle cancer cells and help you survive through the ordeal, which makes SENSE. The only REAL use of religion is to teach us basic moral guidelines such as to not kill, to not steal, etc, but that was back then when laws and rights were barely enforced, so they had to turn to something. But this is the 21st Century, we have the Canadian Charter of Rights/US Constitution, we have laws with the people to enforce it, etc. The existence of God, or at the very least, a conscious, omnipotent, and all-knowing figure is a whole new subject. All in all, religion is for the deluded, and it is definitely an opiate and placebo for the masses, as well as the cause of many atrocities in the world. The only thing we should all worship is the bonding and healing power of marijuana which is PROVEN by SCIENCE to have actually HELPED people.
Oh and plus, the main reason why people who are religious and yet still deny the many flaws of it regardless of science is because "if mummy and daddy believed it and taught me it, then it must be true!" Leading to hundreds of generations of deluded idiots who haven't thought to think outside the box in terms of understanding how the world works instead of relying on some fictional story with many plot holes in it to explain it all.
Not true at all, the fact that you think this shows that you have absolutely no idea how people come to their beliefs. Anyone who believes in a creator is a deluded idiot? Don't preach about "bonding and marijuana" if you're gonna insult people who happen to have different ideas and beliefs than you do. You're no better than someone who calls others a deluded idiot for not believing in a creator.
While that may be true for some people, you shouldn't throw all of them into the "deluded" category. Einstein believed in a vague creator type of God and I don't think he was deluded. There's a big difference in a belief like Einstein's and Christian Fundamentalists who wave their Bibles around saying that it's 100% true from the first page to the last. You seem to be describing the fundamentalists who indoctrinate their kids from birth. Fundamentalists are a small subset of Christianity and unfortunately they give the moderate Christians a bad reputation.
I just think the basics behind religion in general is very flawed - sorry for sounding like a jackass, I wasn't in my normal state of mind that night. The concept of an omnipotent being is possible as it is both impossible to prove or disprove. But the religions we have nowadays, IN MY OPINION, are nothing more than a specialized type of business. They are trying to sell their product, a system of guidelines for life, explanations of the world, etc. to people that are interested in it, and having followers/money is what their profit is. I don't think religion is all bad as it is amazing for it's goodwill and relief efforts concerning donations, volunteer help, etc., but really, do we need a religion to remind us to do that? Do we need a religion to remind us not to kill people or steal? Honestly, I think religion is an antiquated notion that only existed because what we know now of the world was not available back then, so they had to go with something that made the most sense or gave them the most hope aka heaven.
Well, if Jesus wasnt the son of God and his claims turn out to be false then I would agree. I understand you dont believe the claims but many people do and thats why Christianity still exists.
Or simply put, people back then were MUCH more gullible and would believe almost anything. Or at least grossly exaggerate it, and then passed it down to their children, who naturally assume that their parents are right about it. Ex. Salem witch trials, Crusades, etc Do you mind if I ask why you believe in Christianity? I'm not going to condescend or attempt to disprove you, but I'm always curious in what is the x-factor that causes a person to believe in a religion. I'm more of a 'gotta see it to believe it' person and I also just find it hard to firmly believe ancient texts written by people with vastly less knowledge than we do compared to science textbooks that clearly and methodically explain atomic theory, climates, physics, etc that all seem to merge together and make more sense.
the author of this story basically just made up a giant fucking strawman called mr scientist man, and then wrote an ass backwards argument with the solidity of a mild gust of wind that only appeared to make sense because it was compared to such a flimsy ass strawman. I hate that "debate". what a waste of an opportunity to make a decent point.