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Just a religious thought...

B

BigToque

Lifer
For a lot of people it is very easy to say that the religious do it because they can't think for themselves, lack the ability of logic and reason, are weak minded, etc. For some people that might be very true. It doesn't take much commitment to follow religion for most people and they get peace of mind and morals handed to them.

For people like priests and nuns, the pope, etc, these people sacrifice EVERYTHING. They give up material possessions, abstain from sexual companionship and sexual relations.

They do it because they truly believe that what they feel is true.

It's also very common to hear people say that it was created to control the masses. If that was true, I don't feel that the people at the top (who really don't control anything - at least anymore) would make the sacrifices that they do.

That?s all.

PS. I'm agnostic, so don't call me some religious nut.
 
Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: KarenMarie
you will get flamed for this within 10 posts, i'll bet.

🙂
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Arguing about religion is like arguing with a wall, you can't win, and you can't lose.

It's just pointless.
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I'm not really arguing for or against anything. I'm just pointing out something that most people might not think about.
 
Not necessarily talking about you, but anyone who tries to argue your views.

That's all they are, your views. No one should try to change that.
 
Originally posted by: LoKe
Not necessarily talking about you, but anyone who tries to argue your views.

That's all they are, your views. No one should try to change that.
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I like it when other people share my views 🙂
 
i use this analogy:

life is like a tree. for every question there are multiple answers and for every answer there are many new questions, like the branches of a tree. i prefer to let the tree grow and can accept the fact that as a human there is much more to reality than what I can possibly know or understand and I choose to be a monkey swinging from branch to branch. religion is like a chainsaw that cuts the tree at the trunk. once the ultimate answer is there (god) then the questions do not even need to be asked and you have a stump to sit down on which is the easiest way out.
 
Originally posted by: alien42
i use this analogy:

life is like a tree. for every question there are multiple answers and for every answer there are many new questions, like the branches of a tree. i prefer to let the tree grow and can accept the fact that as a human there is much more to reality than what I can possibly know or understand and I choose to be a monkey swinging from branch to branch. religion is like a chainsaw that cuts the tree at the stump. once the ultimate answer is there (god) then the questions do not even need to be asked and you have a stump to sit down on which is the easiest way out.
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I certainly don't think that the people who are at the top of the churches are mindless who believe that questions do not need to be asked because the answer is always God.

I'm sure the pope has to think very hard about why he believes what he does and I'm sure he's always asking questions. He's not going to give up all of the greatest gifts like love and companionship and material things just for the hell of it.
 
To me, the search for God is the search for truth. It is a fact: either God exists, or God does not exist. There is a supreme being, or there isn't.

Some people say such nonsense about the truth being different for different people. That is simply illogical.

Just my logical $0.02.
 
If religious can bring peace of mind to some people, let it be. let them do whatever is good for them, let long as they don't try to convert me I am totally fine w/ it.

I broke up w/ my ex because of this, sad but that is another story.

PS. I'm agnostic as well.
 
Religion is like any other human creation. It is neither good nor evil unto itself, but according to the individual humans that comprise it as a whole. Everything we create is like this, though we tend to enjoy denying our humanity and equating such qualities unto the thing and not ourselves. It's a very primitive form of thinking, kind of like animism. Inanimate things (even those we create) cannot possess qualities such as good and evil, only individual living beings can. So, just like with every other thing, religion can be either good or evil depending on each individual.

As for "control the masses," all I can say is that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are 2 of the most evil individuals who ever lived. In their attempts to devise the most evil form of collective tyranny over the human mind, it was imperative to them to attack and destroy any other possible competing tyranny, or interfering freedom. As religion is quite probably the strongest of both of those to the human mind (see my paragraph above), they rightly considered a threat to be destroyed, especially as the intended their atrocity of a political system to replace religion in the human psyche.

Can religion actually be used to control the masses? Yes, of course, it can be. The Roman Catholic church has never waivered from this. In fact, it is their express intent. Was religion created for this purpose? That answer is clearly no. Religion was originally created by humans thousands of years ago for the exact same reasons that we have science now. It is quite common for ancient religions to refer to their disciplines as a science, and in fact, science is a type of religion. Religion, at its purest form, is the quest for truth. When humans perceived their reality as mysterious and supernatural, religion was the natural science for such minds. As physical sciences developed though, and humans began to better understand the natural world, science has we know it today evolved. And yet, religion still has its place and, quite frankly, the question of the existence of God is of little consequence. We are "God." We create our own realities. If God exists, then He can exist only as the collective sentient intelligence of the universe. Only those who are disconnected from reality (which IME is most people) do not understand this, and go endlessly seeking for something outside themselves to save them from the reality of their mind's own creation.

Sorry if that came off like Moonie, just trying to give a valid answer to a valid question. I fully expect that very few people will actually understand what I just typed, and some flames to erupt. Feel free. In much the same way each person feels the need for something external to save them, they also feel the need for something external to blame.
 
Well religion doesnt always bring peace... In a sense yes, and i see that... But religion brings war and people who think that they are doing what they have to to kill people because they are "unholy"... I heard that some Jewish doctor poisoned some Islamic kids in a hospital... just as many other religions fued together... so i do not think religion was made to give people morals... it brings the best in us, as well as the worst in us...
 
Originally posted by: Stefan
For a lot of people it is very easy to say that the religious do it because they can't think for themselves, lack the ability of logic and reason, are weak minded, etc. For some people that might be very true. It doesn't take much commitment to follow religion for most people and they get peace of mind and morals handed to them.

For people like priests and nuns, the pope, etc, these people sacrifice EVERYTHING. They give up material possessions, abstain from sexual companionship and sexual relations.

They do it because they truly believe that what they feel is true.

It's also very common to hear people say that it was created to control the masses. If that was true, I don't feel that the people at the top (who really don't control anything - at least anymore) would make the sacrifices that they do.

That?s all.

PS. I'm agnostic, so don't call me some religious nut.
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I agree. I know the current state of religion (specifically, Christianity) is pretty crappy in some places. Priests are molesting little boys, people are killing others in the name of God, etc. However, there are millions of people who are firmly dedicated to the real meaning of religion. They worship their chosen God and live in peace with others. They struggle to make themselves better people, and to show the way to others. It's not that they are all just dumb and want someone to tell them what to do. They actually believe, and want to show others the truth that they feel they have discovered.
 
Originally posted by: Hottie
If religious can bring peace of mind to some people, let it be. let them do whatever is good for them, let long as they don't try to convert me I am totally fine w/ it.
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That is like saying "You can believe in gravity all you want to, but I don't believe it." At some point, either one religious system is TRUE, or none of them are. You cannot say that they are all valid, because many of them contradict each other.


 
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