It seems to me that religion is just a way to explain what is going on around us. Greeks did it, they made up stories to explain where people went when they died, Egyptians did it, damn near every group of people in history has made up stories to explain what is going on in their world.

Seems like christianity does the same thing, and who says that all those other religions are wrong and yours is right?

God told me so. http://www.totse.com/bbs/frown.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/frown.gif)

oooooo, i like this topic, right up my strret http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif). Anyway, my take on religion is this:

Religion isnt a bad thing at all. I see religion as the same type of this as science, trying to give people an answer to questions in which they do not have an answer for. Because of this people feel like they have a purpose and a sense of what is right and wrong, which in anyones book is a good thing.

HOWEVER, overall, im not a religious person. I dont believe in a god, and i dont follow any strict religion. I do believe that there is an indescribable force that runs through every singe one of us and through everything in the universe, however to give it a name to me makes it like a real living thing. However, doing this does seem to help people out, so overall a god in any religion isbasically the people who follow that religion trying too explain this pretanatural force.

Anyway, thats my view and i know it may seem confusing but it makes sense to me, argue back and debate it as much as u want, coz i love it when that happens.

quote:Originally posted by mongolia_d:

pretanatural



*preternatural* -> supernatural

See, i like when people have a reason for why they believe like you do mongolia, but most people are like sheep and their reason is "because i do" or something equally stupid and empty of all thought.

I personally dont see how people can claim that they KNOW that their god exists and is the right one when the people in ancient greece KNEW that their gods existed and were the right ones, and that egyptians KNEW that their gods existed and were the right ones, Not to mention hindus and buddhists.

Im not really trying to step on any toes, just expressing my opinion.

[This message has been edited by dead_people_killer (edited 06-11-2004).]

lol, very good point dead, and it is difficult to justify a persons beliefs, especially if you do not understand or do not follow them yourself

Religion is a path to bliss. Religion requires you to beleve what you are told, and not what you see. Therefore, ignorance is bliss. And in my mind, at least, ignorance is the only crime, and the root of everything we perceve to be crime. Acknoledge what you see, overcome your ignorance, find bliss in intelligence, and don't accept anything as an inmuteable fact, especially religion.

[This message has been edited by Duck (edited 06-11-2004).]

good points duck, very good damn points!

However, u seem to miss one thing out iof ure entire speech; The fact that in general, ppl prefer ignorance over harsh reality. It softens the blow and gives them comfort when things go completely wrong for them, so to get rid of everyones ignorance would just create a state of moral panic that has never before been seen on such a scale.

Religon is a governing tool,

do good throughout your life, go to heaven.

Do bad, go to hell.

Your basis on what is good or bad is set on the teachings of whatever book you follow.

But really your basis on what is good/bad is your experiences in your surroundings.(sp)

Like during the early American times, slavery was considered ok.

This is because everyone did it. The amount of catholics was probally around the same ratio, so why didnt the catholics see it as wrong?

The bible hasn't changed, only the surroundings

So the bible is used as a governing tool, nothing more nothing less.

Any time that people believe an idea without sufficient evidence, they're lying to themselves.

Information is one of the most important things we have as people; if you hold religious beliefs without a reasonable amount of evidence, you're believing things and making decisions in your life that could very easily be incorrect.

Imagine you were part of a religion that believed its followers could survive being hit by cars. Would you look both ways when you crossed the street?

Of course, nobody would be quite *that* stupid (well, very few anyways) - most religions have the sense to not make claims that are obviously false. They stick to ones we're not likely to ever really know the answer to (Heaven) or ones they can browbeat their followers into believing (Creationism).

It doesn't make it any better an idea though.

quote:Originally posted by mongolia_d:

good points duck, very good damn points!

However, u seem to miss one thing out iof ure entire speech; The fact that in general, ppl prefer ignorance over harsh reality. It softens the blow and gives them comfort when things go completely wrong for them, so to get rid of everyones ignorance would just create a state of moral panic that has never before been seen on such a scale.

But also, when you get rid of everyones ignorance, they would know how to cope with the world. Ways of coping with moral panic have been around quite a while, but basic courtesy has been forgotten by most christians, who perfer to beleve that "beleif" has made them obsolete. So as long as ignorance of courtesy and ignorance of the world are both cured at the same time, nothing nasty is likely to happen.

By the way, thanks for the complement, I have now receved at least three from fellow totse members.

dead people killer, you're no pioneer; your explanation is like... The standard explanation, the discovery channel explanation. But yeah I guess it still makes sense.

Still I believe religion is a pretty good thing to have. Someone asked how everyone can just KNOW their god exists. I believe it's got something to do with faith and how far it can get you. If you set your mind to something and ask some god to help you and believe that he will, maybe you'll go on about it with more confidence and won't screw it up. Also when someone believes in some god, every time they see a sunrise they think oh boy there's god again, he's just wonderful. You see? There are some drastic changes made in your psyche when all information first goes through the religion filter before it's really processed. Or like if there's a religion factor that plays in when every thought is being processed, you get the picture :/

Back in the days when I was a christian, I once said to myself, hey man lets do exactly what the bible tells me to, just for a few days, see if it won't make me happy. So I gave my little experiment my best and behaved really well, and what do you know? I got mighty happy! This could have been proof that the religion is real, or it means that good deeds have good consequences that make you happy. So yeah my opinion is just that even though religion might just be a psychological game, it's not like it's really bad for anything.

Well except for when we get to the topic of pharisees... And by that I mean the self-righteous hypocrite kind of religious folks, but that's a topic I'm not angry enough to cover right now.

And ah, so heaven and hell yeah... Try reading the sayings of jesus, but pretend that when jesus says heaven or hell, he's speaking of a state of mind. Seriously, if someone actually lived by the bible the way your supposed to, they'd prolly be the most happy, wonderful and popular people. Actually that would go for someone who only read the book of proverbs and lived by it too.

I don't know what the crap this has to do with the actual topic but people do feel the presence of god at times, I've been there myself, it's really an amazing for of happiness you feel, nothing really worries you anymore. And prayers do get answered, more or less, they come true at times at least, that again is something that convinces people of god existing. Crap, maybe I should become a christian again, I miss those days :/

So yeah, illusion or reality, I encourage it.

Oh and religion as a governing tool? Well obviously it can be abused for that purpose, but I don't think that's what the writers had in mind when writing it, they were prolly freaks who honestly believed in the stuff they said.