That is why I like to stick with what I believe in, and not try to label myself as something for believing in it. I also think that everyone's perception of religion and god are all different in a way, even if it may be the smallest thing, we all think differently on the matter. Which is why, like you said, everyone likes to point out what others think is wrong, and then justify what they think is right, according to a book, or what your mother raised you to believe. Truth is, we all know nothing, religion was made by man, for man, so that man could have something to live for, to hope for, which is where heaven and hell came in place. -------- Life after death? Obviously made up by us to calm those that are afraid of death. In the early stages of religion, people were obviously frightened by death, they saw other human beings die, and didn't want it to happen to them, so you know what they did? They told them that there is a god, and this god created us to live on this earth, and our sole purpose is to die, but then people started asking questions, defying this "god" story that someone or a bunch of people, just pulled out of a hat. Thats where heaven and hell came from, heaven and hell were made to keep people in line. Heaven is this wonderful place you go to when you die, hell is filled with fire and torture for eternity. They told the people, that in order to go to heaven when you die, you have to be "good" and worship the "lord", or in other words, believe everything their telling you or you go to hell. Obviously religion was built to calm man about death, to answer questions that we truly do not know(how did we get here?)and to keep man in line and under their order, to make man believe everything they say, to worship their word of this "god". But, that wasn't enough, they needed something more to make the people believe, so what do they do? They get paper and ink and write the bible, a book that was written by man, who somehow got the word to do it from the lord himself. This is for religion in general, not just christianity which everyone likes to think is the only religion, or the only religion that is right. That's the hint right there you guys, what I just told you, is the hint at why religion is so obscure. Because there are hundreds of different religions, who have made up hundreds of different gods, with hundreds of different books telling the story, all different stories, from all parts of the world, and were supposed to believe in ours and shun the rest as if their nothing. There are religions where gods are women, gods are men, gods are weather patterns, god was the sun, god was a man with a white beard, god was the wind, god was a diabetic man in a diaper. God has been portrayed as so many things, and each god wants you to do something different. Whether it's killing yourself as a suicide bomber, or burning people on a stake, oh yeah, god loves it all and wants you to do all of it, and if you don't, your going to burn in hell. Personally? If god is real, this man is the worst father imaginable, he wants you to do all these things for him, and then turns around and wants you to do NONE of these things for him. Some people say god cares, and loves you. Others say that god hates fags and hates soldiers. Others say god wants you to "sacrifice" your baby for some rain so your crops can grow. God is a very demanding man or woman or animal or some type of being or maybe even nothing, just blackness, or pinkness? Who really knows, right? I'm not going to ramble on about a bunch of things that I think about religion, but who really cares? At least people have something to believe in, right? I mean, it tears people apart, and makes the world a much more darker and poorer place, but who cares, as long as god can get you that red Ferrari that you've always wanted, or that promotion down at the office, then you will do right by him, will you not? Because you obviously didn't get that promotion through hard work and dedication, you obviously shouldn't be happy and proud of yourself for doing all that and accomplishing goals in life, no, your going to thank god for all of that, but that's fine, because that's what makes this world go around. Without the things we have today, who knows what the world would have turned into, would we even be here? Who knows, I don't know, that's for sure, but neither do any of you, you think your superior to others for believing in something that you feel true to, and that's fine, but others feel differently, so let them. Things keep us together, like music and weed. Then there are things that tear us apart, like religion and politics. You gotta take the good with the bad. I was watching this movie Year One with Jack Black, and one part was really funny to me, because it reminded me of you guys. Year One is a movie about the prehistoric ages, it's a comedy, just so we get that out of the way, but there is this one part in the beginning, where Jack keeps saying there is more to this world out there, and we just need to search and find out. What does everyone do? Casts him out as an idiot, because they were taught from the beginning of time, to believe that the world ends at a certain point. What did Jack do? He left, and what did he find? I whole new world waiting to be explored, while those cavemen were still at the village, believing that the world still ended outside of their little huts. We have come a long way since then, we have learned A LOT, science and religion included. Which is why it angers me, because the whole moral of that story I just told, is that, unless you don't know for sure, don't doubt something. That goes for anything, from religion, to government conspiracies, to aliens from another planet, to bigfoot. Anything is possible, and remember, it's always harder to prove something is fake, than to prove something is real. That's all folks! ------ PS: Anyone see that mermaid documentary of the body found? Who believes in that? I sure as hell do, a fish and human hybrid? Oh man, easily believable. What is it, 80% of the world is water and we have only discovered 10% of the ocean?? You already know how many other weird ass sea creatures we've found. Mermaids aren't too hard to believe. But, of course, the government once again takes evidence from the site, posts up that it is fake, and everyone believes it, yet, they won't show the evidence that they took. Our government is trickier than you think...
Quoting myself, in another thread: "Religious people argue that morality descends from god. I think morality goes back to before there was civilization. Hunter and gatherer humans (or whatever came before them) learned that in order to preserve the species they couldn't steal from each other, murder each other, they had to respect each other's cave, etc. "We see parallel behavior in the animal world: rarely will an animal attack and kill a member of its own species. They tend to back off before one is killed, and some species even have strict social organizations and help each other raise young, hunt, etc. (lions, wolves)"
You don't think that religion has decreased due to the discovered hypocrisies between its principles, dogma, leaders, and followers? You think people are becoming immoral, so they're pushing God and religion away rather than religion condemning too many people and pushing them away? You think this "lack of morality" is increasing some homosexual epidemic as if it's some disease rather than people becoming less judgmental and more accepting of minorities? You think homosexuality causes AIDS to be spread more rapidly rather than it just being due to it being a smaller pool of people and how religious groups are making contraception so difficult to access? You think teen pregnancy is on the rise because people don't believe in the Bible anymore, not because their insurance/health care providers won't provide them with contraceptive advice or products and they're condemned by their community if they have an abortion? Can you please look at the church and tell me it's ok? It is what's broken and the cause of its decline. It is full of evil and hypocrisy. Church leaders are constantly being found to either frequent porn or even molest children, internal financial operations are increasingly being audited only to find mismanagement and rampant misuse/corruption, church members don't even know, let alone follow, the vast majority of Christian principles when polled. Most people who identify as "Christian" don't even go to church, probably because they know they'll just be judged rather than taught forgiveness and that only God has the right to judge. The church is unquestionably broken. I'm a Christian, don't go to church, and can recite more scripture than the side of my family that's a bunch of Jehovah's Witness nutjobs who believe in ridiculous things like shunning, which Christ directly taught against. There is no Church anymore, really. We just have a bunch of ignorant "denominations" that completely miss most of Christ's teachings on morality, fellowship, solidarity, etc.Rather than reading and understanding the New Testament, people quote the Old Testament out of context and try to condemn others with it. Just look at the Westboro Baptist Church. We have all of these churches speaking out against them since they actually publicize their bigotry even though they're no better by only doing it to homosexuals in person. How can you expect homosexuals to be Christian when the vast majority of religious institutions kick them out because of how "wrong and disgusting" they're judging us to be? I believe in the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 14. We need to accept and not judge those around us. We should look inward and improve ourselves, so that we may also set a humble example for those around us while we love them as God would, unconditionally, as our siblings on this planet. The extreme depravity of the religious community itself right now is perfect proof that no one could cast that first stone. Religion is not to be condemned either, if you follow Christ's teachings. We're not supposed to condemn anyone, we're supposed to receive them with an open heart. It's an extremely hard thing to do, but we need to try and its difficulty is no excuse not to do it. I believe in more than just Christianity too. I believe that God is love, as the Bible teaches, so I believe every instance of love, regardless of labels, is God. That's why I love Buddhism so much. It teaches so much of the compassion and godliness that Christians so often forget. I think religion is more a matter of perspective and that many have distorted it to represent more than that, as if the Bible and not what we see with our own eyes is reality even though they often look at neither. I think that's the problem you're having Weedity. You fail to understand that a gay man can believe in christ and be gay despite Christ not saying a word about homosexuality. You've probably never heard the rhetoric that caused doubt that Leviticus was actually referring to loving, monogamous same-sex relationships and not temple prostitution or rape as some scholars indicate is more likely the case. I just woke up and ranted a bit, so I apologize that some of this is a bit disjointed.
I doubt there is a presence watching over us that will eventually decide our fate in the afterlife. The idea is a bit childish really Personally I dont believe in any kind of god. It is possible we were somehow created by something with far more knowledge and power than we have, but I dont think it is likely. The anomaly of life can be explained by what little we know of the universe
I don't really agree with the "big man in the sky" concept either. I think it's a rather primitive concept that helped early civilization grasp the vastness of the world before they were able to get a bird's eye view as we have now. They were basically just trying to reference the concept of a bird's eye view.
This is really a question you have to ask yourself, i know the tearm God kinda scared me for along time now i find myself believing that all things are connected and each thing has a different level of conciousness, Minerals and elements being the lowest, then plants, Animals & Humans, and then i believe there is a higher form of conciousness out there that we don't understrand, Think of it this way Minerals & elements are completely unaware of the existance of plants & animals and humans, plants are aware of the dirt, sun, water and so on but are unaware of animals and humans, and humans are aware of both elements, plants, and so on. but just because one thing is unaware of the other does that mean they dont exist? absolutely not. so who is to say the level of awareness doesn't go beyond us? i think it's alittle egotistical for us to believe we are the most powerful beings in the universe,. and some people decide to call those beings god or whatever else makes them feel comfortable.
and look at how many plants have adapted so that only certain types of insect or bird can pollenate them. Some can only be seen to by just one species. Does suggest a certain kind of awareness going on that we don't get yet.
Is there a god?..... I have no children but If I did they would know that I was their father... when I take the responsibilty of a pet it knows who is caring for it. If there is a "god" it is negligent because I do not know it.
I am quite sure that a 'God' is capable of letting me know personally if that God wants me to know of his/her/its existence. Couldn't be much of a God otherwise I reckon. Till then, it seems wisest to live this one day I have to make my next one even nicer. Being alive is miracle enough for me.
I feel this way also, and have for most of my adult life. The idea that there is a god, but he shrouds himself in mystery, and wants us to believe in a bunch of silly, complex, contradictory stories which supposedly validate him -- and if we swallow it all, it gives us eternal life, just doesn't make any sense. Until I see some evidence of his existence, it's all just a bunch of hooey.
Well at first I didn't believe there was a God, but then I looked in the mirror and saw God before my very eyes!!!!
Why can't God come down smoke a blunt and we can sort out all this fag hating, slavery, child molestation and murder that's gone down under his watch? If he's all powerful surely he could pull that one off.
Is there a "god", that is the definition of most religions given as a conscious being or group of beings that dictate our morals and actions, usually as an incentive for eternal reward upon death? No one knows. And I mean no one. But that idea is hard to stomach in the scope of our grand cosmos and our actual place in the whirling chaotic void we live in. Humans are infantile in their evolutionary state and don't even have a grasp on the little rock we inhabit as it is. To pretend we can somehow discern such a thing from our station is a little ridiculous. A shot in the dark to a scale that's infinitely hard to describe. We have no earthly fucking clue, point blank. No reason to fight over who's endlessly ignorant idea might be closer to being right.