So it all started when I was watching How the Universe Works. It just started to make me think that Earth WAS created by the nothingness out there. And made me question where God came from. And if he's real. According to the bible the world is only roughly 6000 years old but yet there are 7 billion people on Earth? and so much evidence points to animals being millions of years old. I also think about the way religions always say that theirs is the right one and all the others are fake. All Christians say you shouldnt question these things but why would God give you the ability to if you werent supposed to? I feel that if there is a God I will go to hell because of the questions I ask. What if religion is only made up and meant to scare people into doing good things in their life? Im pretty friggin scared right now guys. I wish I could express all my thoughts because this is only the tip of the iceberg but I am kinda pressed on time right now. Someone please help me. And yes that means Atheists too.. I want to hear peoples thoughts from both sides.
Its not a matter of whether god is real, but a matter of what perception i humbly have so i can better understand that which cant be explained in physical sense. You realize humans only perceive 2% of what is actually infront of them, so no one not even the most esteemed scientist or spiritually adept preist can explain to you in full effect wtf is going on... its a journey inwards that only you can take there is no holding your churches hand when searching for god or meaning whatever floats the boat really
Well, you see; Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait... The Earth began to cool, The autotrophs began to drool, Neanderthals developed tools, We built a wall (we built the pyramids), Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries, That all started with the big bang! "Since the dawn of man" is really not that long, As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song. A fraction of a second and the elements were made. The bipeds stood up straight, The dinosaurs all met their fate, They tried to leap but they were late And they all died (they froze their asses off) The oceans and pangea See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya Set in motion by the same big bang! It all started with the big BANG! It's expanding ever outward but one day It will cause the stars to go the other way, Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang! Australopithecus would really have been sick of us Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses) Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy It all started with the big bang! Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology It all started with the big bang! It all started with the big BANG!
Religion isn't made up to scare people, it very well could've laid the basis to our morality as the species started taking up abstract concepts (might be giving it too much credit, but I don't limit the possibility). It also is responsible for forming very tight social bonds between its constituents which is a good thing for a species like us. Religion actually had a lot of benefits when it originated, it has just come to the point where we're ready to let that aspect go, and root our beliefs in things we can tangibly prove (at least in my opinion) - as well as be rid a system that's been so hijacked by human fantasy that its caused disastrous events in the past.
The Bible never once states that the earth is 6000 years old. Fundamentalist religion does. It might do you some good to separate yourself from fundamentalist religion, if you want to hold onto your faith. If you don't, well that's your choice, and nobody has any right to spur you in either direction. It's your journey.
That's the idea of religions like this, if you want out then you're traine dto think it will have extremely negative consequences. That's how churches work, if you're not in there how can you be donating money? And yeah about religions all claiming to be the correct path, they can't all be right but they can all be wrong...
The stories of the Bible are one man's/woman's experiences of the Divine which they then share with other groups of people. If you read the Old Testament closely, notice that each person who speaks with G-d has a radically different experience of Him than the last. This can be seen clearly in the Names that each different person uses to call on the Creator (which, unfortunately, isn't preserved in English translations). Each of the prophets had a different experience of Deity than the prophets before him/her, and all those experiences became the amalgamation that we call Judaism today. It's exactly the same with Christianity. Religion is something that is supposed to be deeply personal. Religion without personal spiritual experiences is a waste of time: what good is it doing you to just listen to another person's experience of G-d? You don't want to experience Him for yourself? Forge your own path. Take the truths that resonate you from your religion, and add to them. There is tons of truth to be found in the world outside of Christianity. Expand your mind.
The fact that your questioning your beliefs means that you are being intellectually honest with yourself. Just don't ever silence your doubts, they are the noises that are made by a reasonable mind in the presence of the absurd or inconsistent. I was terrified when I first began to doubt my faith, but I could not simply ignore the doubt. I can honestly say that my life is much much more fulfilling than it was when I was religious. The reason why such fears exist is because religion is used as a form of security. Many great people have lived long moral and fulfilling lives without faith.
I think religion is simply a way to help people find their path in life...some people need it, some don't...you can be spiritual and not be religious
if you find time to study the various religions, you will find that they are all road maps to the same destination. There is a common thread throughout each of them and are designed to aid you in this walk through life and help you become a more spiritual being. You can't take the scriptures as literal, but look for the underlying meaning. They are timeless and full of omnicient thought.
How? If you have two different religions claiming to be the only answer they can't possibly both be correct.
It depends on how you interpret the religion... If you look past the appearance into the essence of the words you will find a similar message...
Would you like to show me where the Bible states the Earth is 6000 years old? Likewise all religions are correct and varied for different cultures and times. When you see the Bible talking about pagans, it is only because they were not worshipping an actual divinity but instead some lesser spirit. Likewise if you look at many Saints, I'll just give Ramakrishna for example, he experimented and realized the Gods of most major religions though he was brought up in Hinduism, he attained visions of Christ, Mohammed, Buddha etc. It is because there are many manifestations of God, but only 1 Supreme God. We worship the lower manifestations, such as Christ or Shiva or whatever, because we can conceptualize them in finite terms and be able to grasp them until Gnosis is reached in which you reach the consciousness of the Gods, meditating on their God, the Supreme God. My personal God is Dionysos, one of the names of him being Protogonos, "first born", meaning the first emanation of Divinity, the Christ, or Shiva/Vishnu (same being), the Kether of Kabbalists (nathann can explain Kabbalah better than I can, I am not a kabbalist but am knowledgeable of it's basic teachings, though there is a difference between the traditional kabbalah and the Rosicrucian/Hermetic Kabbalah)
Well the "they" you are referring to are usually blindly following their churches and as a rule of thumb, the churches usually doesn't represent the beliefs of the true religion... Once you get past the church and you look at the real ideas of the religions, they can still seem different. It's when you analyze the ideas and look for a meaning to them where you find the similarities. Are words themselves good for anything? Or is it the meaning behind them?
No, certain theologists felt that they could take the literal words and follow family lines to concoct a time period. Perhaps each day in Genisis' creation was a billion years.