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Why does God allow so many religions to misrepresent him? POLL: Do you believe God exists?
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instead of thinking that everything was designed so we could exist, why not think we exist because everything else happens to work the way it does. In other words, there could be intelligence in a completely different form than humans. the relationship between plants and animals can exist because the plants came first. something had to harvest the energy of the sun, something we humans cannot do. there are plenty of photosynthesizing organisms that can do just fine without animals. why are the seasons and day/night cycle important? i can't see how they are currently orientated having any bearing on the ability of some place to sustain life. there is life in the deepest ocean and in other very stagnant climates that we have on earth. your questions already have good answers for the most part.
as for why only the earth is the only known place that has life, i'm pretty sure it isn't! it isn't easy to determine if other planets in the universe have life due to the fact that they reside millions of miles away. life evolved through chemical processes over billions of years. It is quite understandable that we are only now beginning to understand some of it, modern science is only a few hundred years old.
FrustratedUser
Lifer
Religion = Opium for the people
a long time ago, near the dawn of many of todays religions, life was a lot harder than it is today. For the most part the people who had little were not satisfied. They caused trouble with those who had much. So, how do you control those with very little? How do you get them to continue with your bidding, abiding by your rules? How do you minimize the chaos? You do it with a promise of a better life after this one. It is foolproof since you cannot prove that an afterlife does not exist, but you can scare people into believing that there is one, along with, get this, a hell! if you don't do what we say, you get a life even worse than this one. If you obey our rules then you get a life much better than this one. Also, if you don't believe we will make your life even crappier than it already is (religious persecution ran rampant for centuries, still does in parts of the world today) Religion was established for CONTROL. it is obvious.
for any religion to be true there must have been communication between god and a human, which is in my mind quite doubtful.
for any religion to be true there must have been communication between god and a human, which is in my mind quite doubtful.
Vic
Elite Member
Heh... who's the asshole? 😉
This just reminded me of one of my favorite passages from the Talmud (I'm not Jewish).
"A certain heathen came to Shammai and said to him, Make me a proselyte, on condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot. Thereupon he repulsed him with the rod which was in his hand. When he went to Hillel, he said to him, What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah; all the rest of it is commentary; go and learn."
--Talmud, Shabbat 31a (Shammai and Hillel were Jewish teachers)
Most people fail to realize that the essense of almost all religions is the teaching of the "Golden Rule", the path of which is peace to all. That humans have strayed from that path is not God's fault, except that He gave us the Free Will to do as we please. Would you prefer that He had not given us Free Will, and that we were constrained into a life in which sin were not possible? (And by sin, I mean committing harm to others, not the Fundie garbage about drinking the same wine that Christ drank).
KillyKillall
Diamond Member
Here's the flaw in your argument..if christians are right..they go to heaven...if you are right, then you cease to exist...so...here are the possibilities with person A (christian) and b (non-believer):
You are right: A and B cease to exsist
B is right: A goes to heaven, B ceases to exist
...hm...I like A's odds better 🙂
Vic
Elite Member
Your argument might work except for the fact that early religions had little to no concept of an afterlife for humanity. The concept of a better afterlife really did not appear until the 1st Millenium BC with the Buddha and the idea of Nirvana.
Your argument is true of medieval Catholism, but that really wasn't until about 1000 AD.
The earliest origins of religion began basically with charms that people thought would bring them luck. A lucky rock, a lucky "rabbit's foot". Carrying it would improve the hunt. Praying to it would improve the harvest. This is the most primitive form of paganism. Then came idea of imaginary gods of nature, like the wind and rain and sun, which evolved into the idea of Mother Earth and her resurrecting Son (frequently represented by a snake). The warlike Levantines were the first known peoples to introduce the idea of the Sky Father, supposedly due to their strong patriarchal societies.
I strongly suggest you read some Joseph Campbell and take some mythology classes if you want to claim to know anything about the subject of the origins of early religions.
The free will logic is failed. If god is god then he is onimpotent.So he is infinitely smarter than us. Now consider the diffrence between a parent and child.Cetainly the diffrence is no infinite. Now a parent ( at least) a good one will not let there child do anything that would cause them harm. Now the worst thing that could happen would be for the child to die.While in the case of God it is eternal damnation. So if god exist I consider him to have abanoned us. Seriously do you think this sh!thole (universe) was designed by someone competent that cared.
KillyKillall
Diamond Member
There are a couple flaws in your debate:
A) "If you don't do what we say, you get a life even worse than this one" - Where does this come from? The bible (if you are referring to Christianity) never claims that there is a place you go and that is worse than this. It merely states that if you deny God, than you will exist in a place without him. That is the true definition of damnation -> God says you can choose to be with me or you if you don't want to be with me, go here, where I don't exist.
I believe you're mixing up the difference between "man's use of christianity and religion to control" and the "actual faith in itself." There is a very large difference.
B) "For any religion to be true there must have been communication between god and a human, which is in my mind quite doubtful." - Those that live in doubt are never open to learning new things. I have seen many things in my life that I believed to be "quite doubtful," and then someone shows me different. How can you doubt what you do not know? That is the fallacy in your arguement.
You seem to say man created all this stuff to control choas and others, however, this is what you do not know, therefore, your statement being correct based on your logic is "quite doubtful."
C) "Near the dawn of many of today's religions..." - what time period exactly are you referring to? The time of mother earth religion creation? the creation of the mormon religion? the creation of christianity? the creation of hinduism...because there is a pretty big GAP of time inbetween each of those.
Please reply, as I would like to know exactly what time frame your refer to and how you break out your thoughts between true faith and the abuse of the faith upon communities by individuals.
Vic
Elite Member
Thank you.
IMO, that is God's plan. He is teaching us the Golden Rule. The hard way, because that's the only way anyone ever really learns anything.
Christ even said so in Matthew 7:12 -- "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."
That goes beyond even the Jewish version of the Golden Rule. Now, not only should you avoid harming others, but you must seek out to do good to others. (Which is one reason why I am getting all "preachy" right now 🙂 ).
And yes, if we ALL would voluntarily live the Golden Rule, we would live in a perfect world of peace. It's that simple. That we don't live in that world means that true faith in God requires that we attempt to live that way anyway knowing that those who don't live that way will seek to ridicule and harm us.
SagaLore
Elite Member
But yet it's real. The universe is a huge fractal pattern. The galaxies when seen as a whole, crystaline structures, leaves. If God is beyond our euclydian understanding, then his best way to communicate with us is to send a messenger in human form, someone we could relate with.
Your parents forced you not to date someone that was bad for you?
Your parents forced you to never try alcohol or cigarettes?
Sometimes, actually often, the only way people learn (because humans are incredibly dense and prideful) is to learn painfully by making the mistake. The lessons you learn best are often the most painful.
Are you not going to let your child learn to ride a bike because doing so will cause some harm since he/she will fall a few times while learning?
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