Whats the point of any of it? Why has religion been with us for so long. The basic concept of it has shaped history. Even cave man worshipped something that they thought was higher then them. They found evidence of the worshipping of bears in certain caves.

To me it's simple, the reason it exists is because when a species reaches a certain intellectual level it feels the need to look up to something it thinks is higher then its self. But why? Do we feel lonely, I just find it all very interesting when you think about the basic concept of it. I find it gives you the basic turnout from a species being of high intelligence, like sort of a rule. I'm shure if one day we find aliens of high intelligence there will be religion, or evidence of it.

What do you guys think, why do you think it exists.

it's very easy to describe your perception of the physical world to another person. a rock for example... you pretty much just point at it... others can see it and feel it for themselves, and thus know that your perception of it is true and valid.

religion comes from the desire to express the emotional world with such clarity... and ultimately, most fail miserably in a mire of dogma. why? because emotions are not static.

Because humans as whole have a hard time dealing with the loss of parent figure(s) after childhood.

The whole higher power thing is bred into us. Think how much more chaotic the world would be if we had no concept of afterlife. Even if we knew without a doubt that there was no God then it would be nessesary to invent a belief.

[This message has been edited by slasher_13 (edited 11-17-2004).]

religion was first made to explain the unknown,

but as time went on people figured out how it can be used to control the masses

Studies show that there is actually a natural occurence of religion, and the creation thereof. the human brain is hardwired to be dependent on something that doesn't exist. i personally think it may be the subject of our intelligence and the ability to question life. we don't have the answers, so our mind creates or attaches itself to an existing everknowing diety that will answer all of our innermost questions. some people, without religion, wouldn't be able to handle the severity of life, and the realization of death. The way our brain compensates for that is by giving us a loophole, a belief that there is life after death, that there is, indeed, an answer. I think that perhaps those of us who have accepted that life sucks, you die and that's it are the stronger ones, and that we have overcome our natural instincts and interceeded with our intelligence and willpower.

There is a spiritual world. People experienced it and thought they would tell everyone else how to experience it. Religeons were born.

Some teachings are genuine but taken out of context.

Isn't it interesting how there are spiritual beliefs everywhere, told in different ways?

It's all the same thing, but people who have had no direct experience in it have passed on rusty second hand knowledge that people have blindly believed.

A lot of people are also unaware that spiritual experiences were common every day things at the advent of most of these religions. People are just assuming that they know a thing about traditional religions and the consciousness the men in them had because of their experience with modern corpses of these religions.

Just because you're frustrated with having to go to Church every Sunday does not mean that there is no God. Stop arguing like stubborn children.

If there is no god, no religion, then where exactly does your mind go aftrer you die? I don't know too much about how the brain works or just the subject of science, but isn't a thought an electrical transmission between to things in the brain, or somehting that has to do with electricity? IF so doesn't electricity have mass? And isn't it said that mass can never be created or destroyed?

If thats all true, which it might not be, then can it be possible that the mind still works after the death of a body, and the afterlife is nothing more that you mind just continuing to think? Or maybe if hell is just what the mind goes through if it feels guilty after death.

I think some of my definitions are mixed up but I think this this concept still makes you think.