[QUOTE=AK'z;34182168]The image and concept of Hell is pathetic. Good for Heavy Metal, but useless in society.[/QUOTE]
But without "Hell" we wouldn't have the phrases "go to Hell" or "see you in Hell" that are heavily used in society.
[QUOTE=Noble;34181705]It's a nice little poem, but it's full of problems. This guy sums it up:
"We get it, the old* testament looks bad, so ignore that shit and look at how cuddly Jesus is! OBEY!"[/QUOTE]
How is that a bad thing? What is there to even criticize?
And how is it a bad thing to obey Jesus' will, which is basically "Don't hate, love instead, it's healthy for you and the people around you."
I don't see any problems in that kind of view, except that it's quite impossible to carry out.
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;34218707]
And how is it a bad thing to obey Jesus' will, which is basically "Don't hate, love instead, it's healthy for you and the people around you."
I don't see any problems in that kind of view, except that it's quite impossible to carry out.[/QUOTE]
Except people had been saying those things for thousands of years, in other cultures, religions, and traditions. The concept of being kind to others, treating others the way you want to be treated, was not invented by Jesus or Christianity, it was just repackaged.
Why do we need to get those lessons from a guy (who may or may not have even existed) claiming to be the son of the creator of the universe, and who said if you don't believe in him you'll be tortured forever?
[QUOTE=Wheeze201;34218088]I think we can thank the invention of the internet that so many people have realized now how much bullshit religion is.[/QUOTE]
Uhh, so nobody talked prior to internet?
[editline]15th January 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=gk99;34218148]But without "Hell" we wouldn't have the phrases "go to Hell" or "see you in Hell" that are heavily used in society.[/QUOTE]
Can't argue with that. They're damn good phrases.
[QUOTE=Noble;34219338]Except people had been saying those things for thousands of years, in other cultures, religions, and traditions. The concept of being kind to others, treating others the way you want to be treated, was not invented by Jesus or Christianity, it was just repackaged.
Why do we need to get those lessons from a guy (who may or may not have even existed) claiming to be the son of the creator of the universe, and who said if you don't believe in him you'll be tortured forever?[/QUOTE]
I think you missed my point.. Obviously Jesus isn't the son of the creator of the universe because that's just silly, and no one's getting forever tortured. Well sometimes people do get tortured, but Jesus wouldn't hope for that.
I'm just saying that Why is the guy criticized for trying to get the point across that we should only do acts that would make Jesus or God or your Father and Mother proud? Religious organizations and the wild (mis)interpretation of the Bible and other bullshit stands in the way of that, don't you think?
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;34222936]I think you missed my point.. Obviously Jesus isn't the son of the creator of the universe because that's just silly, and no one's getting forever tortured. Well sometimes people do get tortured, but Jesus wouldn't hope for that.
I'm just saying that Why is the guy criticized for trying to get the point across that we should only do acts that would make Jesus or God or your Father and Mother proud? Religious organizations and the wild (mis)interpretation of the Bible and other bullshit stands in the way of that, don't you think?[/QUOTE]
I don't think anyone is criticizing his intentions, but the arguments he uses against organized religion sort of fall apart when he does participate in those organizations and probably interprets the Bible as fact in his own way.
[QUOTE=KARL MARX]Religion is the opium of the masses. Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand.[/QUOTE]
These quotes pretty much
[QUOTE=Bean Shoot;34237096]I don't think anyone is criticizing his intentions, but the arguments he uses against organized religion sort of fall apart when he does participate in those organizations and probably interprets the Bible as fact in his own way.[/QUOTE]
They still do bunk him down for that basically.. But yeah I understand that now
This is too biased to give an accurate answer. "Why does religion exists" should be "How does religion exist".
Religion does not exist in the same way as a theory or law, such as the gravity and general relativity. If you are going to look at a religion with hat point of view you would have to look only at the very core of the religion. Its thought about the universe and the humans and the meaning of life.
[QUOTE=userman122;34257034]Its thought about the universe and the humans and the meaning of life.[/QUOTE]
Not so much [I]meaning[/I] as opposed to [I]the way[/I] of life and its experiences having meaning.
Religion was created by what people made up to try to figure out things, it was the first form of (absolutely horrible) science. Humans wanted answers, and at the time no one knew how to study to see what around them was actually happening. Primitive humans thought that the Earth was flat, and when people learned it wasn't, they thought that Earth was the center of the universe.
Humans like to jump to conclusions where they don't have to think much, and can have their beliefs pulled out of someone else's ass and shoved down their throats without thinking; which is what religion is.
As Freud said, religon is the herd instinct in humans.
Be it out of preference or ignorance, religion still exists for the reason it always has. Prior to advances in science, religion was a way to explain existence and add meaning to life.
Now, it's the preference of people who either don't understand, or aren't comfortable with the apparent reality of existence.
As Morpheus (From Deus Ex) said, "God was a dream of good government" also, religion gave people a moral compass. I've always had a theory that Christianity was created by someone who decided a more acceptable religion needed to be made to unite everyone under one banner, so to speak. I'm Agnostic however, and I believe that now we really don't have a need for religion, since it causes quite a few problems. Mainly, ignorant politicians who still believe in divine right, and people who argue for the existence of a higher power just because their parents told them it exists.
Now, I'm not saying we can disprove the existence of SOMETHING, that's why I'm Agnostic. However, we must remember that just because we can't disprove a higher power, does not mean that one religion out of an infinite possibility of religions, just so happens to be right. What proof is there that Muhammad talked to Allah? Yes, there is no proof that he didn't, but there is also no proof that a bear wearing a top hat didn't create the universe.
I fucked your Gods and shit on your churches. Religion is useless and damaging to the society, science and progress.
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("This is NOT how you debate" - Craptasket))[/highlight]
To quote a story from a blog I eat for breakfast:
[QUOTE]“I don’t believe in God,” my husband whispered in the darkness of our bedroom…
When Sean replaced his temple garments — the sacred underwear he’d promised to wear day and night — with boxers, I couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much betrayal. I called up a neighbor with a husband like mine and cried. But instead of empathy, she offered questions that stunned me into silence. Was Sean addicted to pornography? Watching R-rated movies? What sin had brought him to this terrible place?
My tears stopped. Her questions were so off-base that they seemed absurd. She was sincere, and trying to help, but she believed what the Church teaches — that a man would only leave because he’s disobeying the commandments. She couldn’t understand this was a rational inquiry. She saw everything as the result of sin.
This started my brain twitching. I knew Sean was still a good person, that he still maintained the same moral standards he had when he married me. The Church was wrong about him. What else might they be wrong about?[/QUOTE]
In short, religion is a way for us to have morals. [I]lol just kidding[/I]
I recently converted to being a strong agnostic, for those of you who do not know, this means that I believe that we do not know how humans came to be, because we have no hard evidence of it happening, so we will probably never know. I do not use deities or big bangs to explain how humans came to exist.
I used to be a catholic/christian for my whole life up until about 3 months ago whenever I renounced my faith, and stopped saying "Under god" in the pledge of allegiance.
I think that a big reason why I did this because of two thing. One, I went to catholic school from 6th-8th grade; secondly, I THOUGHT about everything I heard in church. These two things combined made me change my mind about religion.
Actually going to the school did not make me change my mind, I was pretty much under there control and could not think for myself when I was there. But later in life, I thought about what was actually happening there. They make us go to church ever Sunday and Wednesday, there was a religion class, and there was also an atrium class that I had to take. It was pretty much a place to condition young people's minds to think the way they wanted you to think. I was disgusted later in life when I actually processed this and thought about what they were trying to do to me. I also felt lied to by all of the teachers there, my parents, and various other family members.
As for going to church, it just made me think about what this god fellow was trying to teach everyone. When I actually read what the bible says, I would have to say it is the MOST offending, disgusting, and wretched books ever created. Everyone knows that there are good things in the bible, and that is what they teach you at church, and at catholic school. I have no problem with somebody being a good person because of the uplifting things that they read in the bible. What I find repulsive, is the fact that all of the terrible things that are not even mentioned by anyone. I am only going to brush upon the horrible things in the bible, but it ACTUALLY says that people should be KILLED for things such as working on the sabbath day (Sunday), masturbating, and for being a homosexual. There are many others, and one of the most disgusting is, If a few people in your community start worshiping another god, or if they turn away from Catholicism, than that community should have everyone in it killed and put on display for wanderers to see.
I could go on for a while about this, but just watch this video to see how much the bible contradicts itself.
[video=youtube;RB3g6mXLEKk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk[/video]
Many, many reasons.
-People are comforted by the idea of seeing lost loved ones again.
-All religions create a tribal sense of community, which is something that humans naturally seek out. Sometimes this is good, other times it isn't.
-In addition, they also feel like they are "a part of something bigger than themselves."
-It gives people the idea/illusion that there is someone infallible that is always right that they can seek out advice from.
-Like the song [I]Personal Jesus[/I] suggests, people want someone to always be there.
-When people don't know, they like to "fill in holes" and give themselves the illusions that they know the answers to intimidating questions.
Method of control. If no one believed their actions would have a real and lasting affect on the afterlife they're sent to then there would be much less morality in the world. It's a necessary evil.
[QUOTE=MalwareOhMy!;36329490]I recently converted to being a strong agnostic, for those of you who do not know, this means that I believe that we do not know how humans came to be, because we have no hard evidence of it happening, so we will probably never know. I do not use deities or big bangs to explain how humans came to exist.
I used to be a catholic/christian for my whole life up until about 3 months ago whenever I renounced my faith, and stopped saying "Under god" in the pledge of allegiance.
I think that a big reason why I did this because of two thing. One, I went to catholic school from 6th-8th grade; secondly, I THOUGHT about everything I heard in church. These two things combined made me change my mind about religion.
Actually going to the school did not make me change my mind, I was pretty much under there control and could not think for myself when I was there. But later in life, I thought about what was actually happening there. They make us go to church ever Sunday and Wednesday, there was a religion class, and there was also an atrium class that I had to take. It was pretty much a place to condition young people's minds to think the way they wanted you to think. I was disgusted later in life when I actually processed this and thought about what they were trying to do to me. I also felt lied to by all of the teachers there, my parents, and various other family members.
As for going to church, it just made me think about what this god fellow was trying to teach everyone. When I actually read what the bible says, I would have to say it is the MOST offending, disgusting, and wretched books ever created. Everyone knows that there are good things in the bible, and that is what they teach you at church, and at catholic school. I have no problem with somebody being a good person because of the uplifting things that they read in the bible. What I find repulsive, is the fact that all of the terrible things that are not even mentioned by anyone. I am only going to brush upon the horrible things in the bible, but it ACTUALLY says that people should be KILLED for things such as working on the sabbath day (Sunday), masturbating, and for being a homosexual. There are many others, and one of the most disgusting is, If a few people in your community start worshiping another god, or if they turn away from Catholicism, than that community should have everyone in it killed and put on display for wanderers to see.
I could go on for a while about this, but just watch this video to see how much the bible contradicts itself.
[video=youtube;RB3g6mXLEKk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk[/video][/QUOTE]
Agnosticism isn't a system of belief, it deals with knowledge... agnosticism isn't some sort of middle grown between theism and atheism, its a separate category that can be applied to both fields, meaning you can be a gnostic or agnostic atheist or a gnostic or agnostic theist. You can not be agnostic of a belief, you either hold that belief or you don't. Even if you do not care about either belief you still happen, in this case, to lack the belief in a god, making you atheist. These systems of beliefs are not black and white, its not like you either believe or not believe, there's much more than just that, depending on which religious system or belief we are talking about.
[video=youtube;sNDZb0KtJDk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNDZb0KtJDk&list=FLdy2nhNJGQa9kRccEPSDc9Q&index=3&feature=plpp_video[/video]
-snip-
A man once said that the easiest way to make money is to start a religion.
This man was L. Ron Hubbard.
He proves this point by writing the book Dianetics, and people started following his "teachings". And they really believe that crap that scientology tells.
Draw some lines with other organized religions and you can see that the only way to really have faith is not to shallowly follow these old directions, but to make up your own mind. Will african tribes all go to hell just because they never heard of christianity? That is kinda unfair don't you think?
If there is no religion, is there a point to life?
The reason why man create religion is because man is scared of their own mortality.
[editline]18th June 2012[/editline]
What if we are our own gods? The reason why gods exist is because we think they exist and the only way to justify their existence is through the tales of religion.
[QUOTE=Impact1986;36367776]A man once said that the easiest way to make money is to start a religion.
This man was L. Ron Hubbard.
He proves this point by writing the book Dianetics, and people started following his "teachings". And they really believe that crap that scientology tells.
D[/QUOTE]
Execpt Dianetics was a self-help guide, its not really a religion in it's dictionary definition.
I guarantee at least HALF of people believe in ANY religion, because they are afraid of what is going to happen to them when they die. Honestly, a god who says "believe in me or you will be tortured forever" is an asshole. Obviously something that MAN wrote to keep people in order back in ancient times. Nowadays, we have government, morals, and our CONSCIENCE to keep us in order
I think Religion was Created because first man look around and thought "What the fuck....... how the fu......... who is........... I need to............ the fuck is all this shit" and they saw the sun a started worshiping it. so i guess it was created as a way for some answer for questions the didn't have the ability to achieve the true answer to. Then later a bunch of douche Bags came along and stared to ruin everything by trying to organize it. oh well.
Why god exist? because we think god exist? Therefore God exist? But if we were to say Hell and Heaven exist, it's also the invention of men?
Earliest form of government. God is the ultimate political authority.
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