YART: Why are modern religions more valid than old ones?

[Malak]

At least my God doesn't look like a penis.

If your penis looks like that, please consult a physician.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Hate to break it to you but Judaism + Hinduism ARE ancient religions that still exist today, both can trace their modern heritage to roughly 3500 years ago, 1500 years before teh jebus if your math/history is rusty. Their formative periods were MUCH MUCH earlier.

Hinduism is largely considered a polytheistic religion, although it has the distinction of also being interpreted as a monotheistic religion as well.

You could also argue that Angels in judo/christian tradition take on the role of demi-gods from old polytheistic religions.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

...both can trace their modern heritage to roughly 3500 years ago, 1500 years before teh jebus if your math/history is rusty.

Actually, Lord Jesus came before all the other religions, since He was there at the beginning.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome" John 1:1-5

 

[child of wonder]

Actually, Lord Jesus came before all the other religions, since He was there at the beginning.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome" John 1:1-5

And the FSM was there before the beginning to create LAWD JEEBUS.

May you all be touched by his noodly appendage.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

 

[dawp]

At least my God doesn't look like a penis.

and you know this how?


My god beats all your gods to a pulp:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu

oops, wrong quote.

 

[dud]

I've been thinking about this lately. Old-world religions like those of the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, etc. are all dismissed as myth and folklore, so how is modern religion any different? Why are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc. all considered to be legitimate bodies of faith while those of the past are dismissed? It just seems like selective logic to me - "Oh, those people were uneducated pagans. But I got the right god, don't worry!"

Add to this the fact that all of the religions of the world are based on the writings of long-dead men who thought that the earth was flat. How can the religious possibly proclaim that their faith is true and valid, while simultaneously condemning the others as baseless?

Maybe it's because nobody worships the "old" religions anymore, so they must not be the right ones. But don't worry, we'll find the keeper!

OP, suggest you consider NOT being a pot-stirrer. Most people within ATOT believe in absolutely nothing ... except for the computer screen they are viewing, the pot they are smoking and the beer they are drinking.

If they represent the future of this country then we are figuratively "screwed".

 

[NikolaeVarius]

and you know this how?


My god beats all your gods to a pulp:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu

God of darkness that lives in a separate dimension? Weak..

Come back when when your God fights other Gods that bring death and destruction to billions of people, where rifts in space time cause untold horrors to flood out and rend the souls of entire worlds to become the playthings of the dark gods. Where death is merely the beginning of a torturous eternity in which the thirst of laughing gods obliterates you from all existence with nigh a thought, ever action every movement of every particle is just part of a infinite number of grand schemes hatched by the Lord of Change with each scheme being completely contradictory to the rest. Where every death merely fuels the power of the Gods, but death is needed to keep their powers in check in the first place, and every single day mankind threatens to break down into the grim darkness of oblivion.

When Cthulu can do this, then we can talk.

 

[IronWing]

OP, suggest you consider NOT being a pot-stirrer. Most people within ATOT believe in absolutely nothing ... except for the computer screen they are viewing, the pot they are smoking and the beer they are drinking.

If they represent the future of this country then we are figuratively "screwed".

Damn younguns! Aught to more like their parents and grandparents: pot smoking, freelovin', beer swillin', acid droppin', speed balling, hippy hicks, gol dangit.

 

[dawp]

God of darkness that lives in a separate dimension? Weak..

Come back when when your God fights other Gods that bring death and destruction to billions of people, where rifts in space time cause untold horrors to flood out and rend the souls of entire worlds to become the playthings of the dark gods. Where death is merely the beginning of a torturous eternity in which the thirst of laughing gods obliterates you from all existence with nigh a thought, ever action every movement of every particle is just part of a infinite number of grand schemes hatched by the Lord of Change with each scheme being completely contradictory to the rest. Where every death merely fuels the power of the Gods, but death is needed to keep their powers in check in the first place, and every single day mankind threatens to break down into the grim darkness of oblivion.

When Cthulu can do this, then we can talk.

In all honesty, I am rather fascinated by the great spirit concept of the native americans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Spirit

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Religions have been invented by braindead people to explain away the things they don't understand and the things they fear. That's why old "pagan" religions had so many gods, they didn't understand anything and were afraid of everything. So they needed a god of thunder and a god of crops and a god of fertility and a god of death etc etc etc. As people grew more enlightened about certain things they realized that a lot of the old gods didn't really do anything. You can't have a religion based around gods of weather and crops when people understood weather patterns and why/how crops failed, so they replaced old myths with new myths and they replaced polytheism with monotheism, one all purpose god to pretty much handle the concept of eternal life because that's the big fear, death. So Greek and Roman and Egyptian and Norse gave way to Judaism and Christianity and Islam, streamlined versions of the same old stories with the dead wood pared away.

And now that we're more enlightened on the origins of life and evolution and that stuff the "new" religions don't hold up any more. They've tried to change their tune and gone from the old writings being true to now saying they're allegories on how to live life, bu that's just prolonging things a little, they're going to disappear for the same reasons that the pagan religions went under: they're based on stories we now know to be complete bullshit. The next batch of religions will take that into account and they'll streamline things even further. The stories of creationism will go bye-bye and the next batch of religions will accept the science and will invent an even simpler "caretaker" God, an invisible man in the sky who didn't really create anything, but is there to watch over the chosen and grant eternal life because people will keep being afraid of death and will need to cling to that one point.

 

[PottedMeat]

The first religion to integrate bear cavalry and laser firing armored dinosaur riders will win me over.

 

[Kirby]

Why the fuck can't AT come up with an original idea for a thread? I swear to Crom the same shit has been posted over and over again.

 

[Eli]

The answer is that they're not.

That's why I like to ask, "Out of all the religions that have existed in the last 75,000 years.. Are you sure you've picked the right one?".

 

[nageov3t]

because modern paganism was basically made up by a guy in England in the early 20th century.

which is not to say that modern religions weren't made up by other guys, but you've at least got centuries more tradition and community to fall back on.

 

[Jeff7]

The answer is that they're not.

That's why I like to ask, "Out of all the religions that have existed in the last 75,000 years.. Are you sure you've picked the right one?".

Or worse - what if the right religion hasn't been developed yet, and we're all going to UltraHell as a result?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Or worse - what if the right religion hasn't been developed yet, and we're all going to UltraHell as a result?

I find that prospect to be frightening. My goal as an atheist is to spend eternity somewhere different than the religious freaks. If we all wind up in the same place there's going to be, ummm, hell to pay.

 

[zerocool84]

Damn younguns! Aught to more like their parents and grandparents: pot smoking, freelovin', beer swillin', acid droppin', speed balling, hippy hicks, gol dangit.

Everyone swears it was better back then. They obviously have no idea.

 

[Zebo]

Because they killed off the old. Victor sets the standard. Back in the day when it was do or die in Christendom or the Caliphate not mush was left. Jews hid well.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

My question isn't why the modern ones are around and the dead ones are dead. It just seems incredible to me that people look back on old religions whose gods were revered just the same, but somehow their religion isn't ridiculous. It's like a cow watching the others die in the slaughterhouse and just saying "moo...not gonna happen to me."

 

[Malak]

Religions have been invented by braindead people to explain away the things they don't understand and the things they fear.

You manage to invalidate your opinion in one sentence, and right at the beginning. Good going! Helps stop reasonable people from bothering with the rest of your post.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

You manage to invalidate your opinion in one sentence, and right at the beginning. Good going! Helps stop reasonable people from bothering with the rest of your post.

ROFLMAO!! A guy with a quote from the big book of pedophiles in his signature has his panties in a bunch in a religion thread. Yeah, I'll really cry myself to sleep over the fact that I managed to piss you off.

 

[Malak]

ROFLMAO!! A guy with a quote from the big book of pedophiles in his signature has his panties in a bunch in a religion thread. Yeah, I'll really cry myself to sleep over the fact that I managed to piss you off.

I dislike religions. Everyone knows this. My quote is relevant to myself, and nothing about the book it comes from has anything to do with pedophilia. So it looks like yet again your assumptions are baseless and you continue to invalidate your position. Good day sir.

 

[nageov3t]

My question isn't why the modern ones are around and the dead ones are dead. It just seems incredible to me that people look back on old religions whose gods were revered just the same, but somehow their religion isn't ridiculous. It's like a cow watching the others die in the slaughterhouse and just saying "moo...not gonna happen to me."

one problem is that no one really knows wtf the really old religions were. records weren't great/non-existent, relied on oral traditions, followers were wiped out/converted, etc.

what modern pagans practice today was basically made up by some guy living in his mom's basement a hundred years ago in England. and maybe that's how Judaism was started too, but we're a lot more removed from it's more ignoble past (and I think mormonism falls under this trap too).

the modern, major religions, on the other hand, have a more-or-less established and unbroken chain of custody going back over a thousand years.

 

[HeavyD]

My god > yours