i would agree with you as well... i'm not talking about the PEOPLE who believe in christianity i'm just saying how the core MESSAGE of Christianity is love and peace...which is a big difference haha i dont feel like hijacking this thread anymore lol, but if you want to continue this conversation feel free to pm me
lol. I see what you're saying. Christianity has a good message, but organized religion has completely perverted it.
Didn't read everyone one elses responses because I was so excited to respond to this. You ever wonder why their god isn't helping them. You wonder why the Continent of Africa is filled with death and disease. Where is God when children are dying from aids. Children who did nothing but be born. You're God is a joke if he exists. I don't like the concept of being born sick and demanded to be well.
I just did. And my point still stands. If God exists then he ignores the majority of the population and his "miracles" are nothing more than statistical flukes. if he is all powerful then healing the innocent shouldn't be all that hard.
i just realized, think, even if you are smart enough to realize and give that a serious answer as why their is most likely not an actual god. On the other half, there is no argument for you to really win, except we are going to be continually mongered and shaped by our government which only proves how and why soulless they really are.
"You wonder why the Continent of Africa is filled with death and disease" - Jacob YOU WONDER?!?!?!? I sure as heck dont.. I know.. CALLED WESTERN OPPRESSORS AND MAN RAPING AND DESTROYING THE MOTHERLAND. Research brethren and you will get your answers when you wonder these things. May your God bless you, whoever he/she/it may be! Its not that God or the Higher Power isnt around still..... its the Gods (gods being Us the human, you will know what I mean if yea read my previous posts) have turned there back on the motherland. We are selfish and only wants good for us.. so of course when we are in a new place our reaction is to turn to home and take what we can to make our new home better,, this is where civilization went wrong, we forgot that regardless of where we are on this world , we are still ONE. But yea thats just my views dude.. Dont give up on your God just yet.. Why dont you embrace it and work with it to help the motherland. whens the last time you sent old clothes or money to help out the familys in Africa? cuz if you havent then of course your God has gave up on those people.
i think your missing the point of the story, which at least in my mind is that despite all the hardships they face, as well as having nothing they still find solace and happiness in god. If you want to take that away from them then what hope do they have of a better day? Religion gives hope to the weak, hungry, and poor. Otherwise they have no hope at all. That is what religion as a whole is needed for. As a wise man once said "There are no atheists in fox holes."
People need need to feel those things, but they don't need god to give it to them. Many people use the Buddha, family, and even Mary Jane. People feel good when they are spiritually connected to the world around them. Whatever vessel gets you to that place is your god. I grew up Mormon, which left me very put off by organized religion. I have found all of the above in metaphorically worshiping the Sun. The Sun is my god, and the world my shrine! I have found more in that sentence then any organized religion could ever give me.
this post makes me feel all kinds of warm inside. thank you for sharing! though, i would say that it's not nessessarily Christianity that's needed in this world but a faith in something greater than one's self. something to aim for the sky for to remind you that even in times where life seems so down and painful there's always a light at the end of the tunnel and knowing that there's love in the world and that it can come to anyone whom is willing to look for it is a great relief (well, to me that is.) it's also one hell of an eye opener... to come to a place where you're no longer the majority in ethnicity but the minority. happened to me and i think that i'm a better person for it (and i learned to positively LOVE classical Indian music.)
I do not believe in God and this is why. Christians think they are self righteous fuck heads. There are hundreds if not thousands of faiths practiced how do you know yours is right?
I like the way you think about Africa being the motherland because it is. It is where our ancestors first walked out of the trees onto the plains. As for higher power there is none. The only higher power is the power we give to other humans to rule over us. Religion may give these people hope but it gives them false hope. Ignorant hope of a man in the sky who will help them if they think real hard about the things that are bad in their life. If we told them about the Santa Clause and how he brings everyone toys on Christmas and if they are really good they will get these toys, and they are good and it makes them happy that they have something to look forward to. Does that not make it wrong that we lied to them in the first place? As for Atheist's in fox holes. I am not sure when soldiers were last in fox holes but I'm sure there were some who thought about why their god would put them in a situation like this if he really loved them.
Your welcome I Hope it's as useful in your quest for spiritual peace, with or without religion, as it has been for me.
First, thanks for a reply. I like reading all replies... I like reading even more when they're directed to me. "You ever wonder why their god isn't helping them. You wonder why the Continent of Africa is filled with death and disease. Where is God when children are dying from aids. Children who did nothing but be born." It's just terrible, isn't it... And how much more terrible it would be, if there was no God? I mean, even with God and all that, they live in such hard conditions. How much unbearable must life be, if there was no God for them to turn to? In Africa, or more specifically, in Nigeria, people don't turn to God because they're religious... They turn to God because they have nowhere else to turn to. Honestly, they'd rather turn to their 'Black God', which comes in the form of 'Fat Rich people who made money from oil'. These rich people, they can give you food... house... clothes... jobs... cars... medical care... education... They are really GODS... I met many of them during my 10 days. They truely are gods. With a snap of their finger, people fall to the floor. They are indeed mighty. With a wave of their hands, everything is solved. For the locals, who I met at the church, they have no means to even meet these black gods. They probably live their entire lives in make shift homes, with minimum food and minimum water. It is just unthinkable for them, to believe that somehow, their lives will improve. AS they walk hundreds of meters carrying heavy water bucket on their heads, across their shoulders, and on each hands, they don't think about being religious, or whether there is really God or not... They think about filling their empty stomach with good food and quenching their thirst with clean cool water. They have asked their gods, and their gods don't talk to poor people. Their gods only talk to foreigners and politicians. So they have to turn to imaginary god. And the imaginary god, listens... I don't know... there is nothing religious about religion in Africa.