I don't know if I believe in a higher being or not, but I am sure that I am not Christian (thought I still go to church because I have lots of friends there and we do fun stuff).

Anyway, I was thinking about gods and religion the other day and realized that throughout history, something that people don't have a knowledge or understanding of is considered a god. People had sun, rain, wind, storm, etc. gods because they did not know how they worked, so they just created a god to explain it. As humans gained more knowledge, the number of (widespread) gods has reduced. The God that Jews, Christians, and Muslims share is the idea of the unknown, generally being understanding other people, love, and of deep space/other dimensions. That is why they say God controls all of these things (heaven/hell/supernatural/love/etc).

Holy Wars are a complete waste of time, because you are fighting for something you don't even know. When people say they "know" God, they are obviously lying because God is what they don't know. The only way to "know" more of God is to learn. However, there are things that humans will never learn (or accept, because religion blocks so much scientific advancement) , so the concept of God will always be around.

In short, I am basically saying that we should strive to get rid of God (by learning).

Please post comments, as I have only thought about this for a short time.

I agree.

people have always needed religion to explain things like who created people, etc.

we've only just started to understand things like DNA and the big bang.

When did we start understanding the big bang. I've still yet to get an answer to why believing a bunch of gas suddenly existed or always existed is any better than believing a supreme being created us.

i didn't say we did. i'm saying we should find out.

we obviously dont have all the answers yet, but we at least know more than when religions started

If one were all-knowing, there could be no possibility of the existence of a higher power for them, right?

But 'God' is often portrayed as an all-knowing being, so how can he/she/it exist? Does a person who's all-knowing become God then?

We should get rid of the concept of God by learning. But then religion would become obsolete, and the human race would go down the crapper because the only thing telling us to be good would be the government, and if we knew the exact same things as the government we wouldn't listen to them.

So you think a person can become all knowing?

btw <b>If one were all-knowing, there could be no possibility of the existence of a higher power for them, right?

But 'God' is often portrayed as an all-knowing being, so how can he/she/it exist?<b>

This doesn't make since. God would be the all knowing, and no there would be no higher being the he/she/it.

[This message has been edited by bigtmoney (edited 04-07-2004).]

People don't need religion to have morals. Stealing, lying, murdering, greediness, etc. are all considered bad by all (sane) people, regardless if they are religious or not.

Besides, many of the world's problems stem from religion/religious intolerance (crusades/Islamic terrorism/many wars throughout history). If only we could take care of the problem of greed. Almost all greedy people such as corrupt politicians or over-ambitious businessmen would say that they were religious if you asked them.

I agree with len about omniscience making you a "god."

maybe in some theory, but no person will ever be omniscient. No person will be able to tell how many hairs are on someone's head that they've never even met. It is a theory, that will never happen.

I think i've digressed from my point.

we are just believing in the unknwn,there is nothin there.wen we die life will carry on?dat sucks?is the heaven or hell there is no real truth?

I advise any would be theist to not go down the route of organised religion in searching for the answers. Christianity concentrates far, far too heavily on the morality behind religion and the nicely niceness of God Himself.

Christianity, in my personal experience, neglects the logical science behind a purposefully designed Universe and the many rational assertions of a God/Creator entity.

God is the unknown, but not in the sense that you mean http://www.totse.com/bbs/biggrin.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/biggrin.gif)

Shit, they found out...