thoughts on purpose of relgion ? relgion good? bad?

[banditjin]

wouldnt we be better without religion, and its whole concept of apeasing a deity so some etheral part of you can live on. the whole purpose of religion i think is to overcome peoples innate fear of death and their desire that some part of them will live on, for christains it the soul for others its reincarnations. i think it would be best if people just stoped this thing called religion it causes much of the worlds problems now and in history. if people followed the simple rule of nature that dictactes much behavior in social animals of tic for tac , for those of you who arent familiar with it google it. We would all be better off, because it would be in your best interest to be the best person you could be in the best way possible.
is religion a bad thing? well i say yes. All religions have a certain set of principles and anything that doesn’t fit these principles is declared heresy, the most famous i think is the roman catholic church. what comes to mind to me when considering the reasons why religion is bad, is that religion puts progress in a box. a good example that comes to mind is the dark ages, which is pretty much a few hundred years of zero progress. now u might ask progress what do u mean as progress, is it progress that we are polluting the earth and destroying our planet well. i also blame this indirectly on religion. ill get back to this later. even now religion is a major block to progress in fields like genetics. now this arises issues on human life and what is life and when a fetus human etc etc. i dont know and i dont care, to me it depends on personal interpretation, a bunch of rdm people dont have the right to tell a mother she cant have an abortion because while in the mothers womb until the baby can safely be taken out, the fetus is dependant on the mother for survival and should be considered as an extension of the mother and until the day arrives when the child can be extracted the mother can do whatever she pleases, without people guilt tripping them, which is also another reason why religion is so bad, its like a parasite that imposes its will onto you from birth. Which parents are to blame for forcefully indoctrinating their children into their religion, although they might see it as a good thing, each person if they choose to embrace religion should make an informed choice. Instead of years of brainwashing from birth.
To answer the note on me blaming religion for the choices people make Is because the fact that religion exists, means that the person making the choice wont make the choice based on the principles of tic for tac and thus wont make the best decision.
God create man ? or man create god? I don’t know , if a tree falls in the forest and nobdy is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
All I am saying is wouldn’t we all be better of without the constraint of reglion and purely lived on the principle of tic for tac, and in the long run human society will evolve much faster without all the imagined burneds religion imposes. I have a lot more thing to say, but Im tired of typing for today, jus my little rant as I ponder my purpose in life and why people do what they do.

• thoughts comments ?

 

[survive]

Your post assumes a lot that is worth questioning. It could really be a series of ten or twelve posts and be a big part of what we talk about in Apologetics, actually.
Assumption 1: That the purpose of religion is to enhance human enjoyment of this life.
Why assume this? The purpose of religion is to love and serve our Creator and do our Creator’s will, and then to be happy forever as a result of drawing closer to a perfect Being.
Assumption 2: That religion is a cause of suffering.
In history as today, whenever religion has been removed from any society, far from a sudden burst of progress, the society goes through a nightmarish period of vastly increased repression, oppression and depression of every kind, including enormously increasing violence and warfare, until religion returns.
Assumption 3: That the rules God places on people reduce enjoyment of life.
Actually, they don’t. You can look at studies that prove they don’t, or just try following them awhile and see the difference, but the short answer is, the rules are instructions, not restrictions. The label on your cell phone that says not to use it in the shower isn’t there to annoy you by making you wait longer to text someone; it’s there to inform you of the way the phone is meant to be used.
Assumption 4: That man invented God, or that it doesn’t matter who invented whom.
Of course, this is really two subjects, the Prime Mover issue and the relativism issue. Whether we are the most powerful, wise, righteous beings in existence or the children of Someone far more powerful, wise and righteous than we are matters more than any other possible topic, so the retreat into relativism isn’t valid here.
Man could never have invented God. man has made many false statements about God, and a good God, such as would create such a life-loving universe and put us in such a perfect observation spot, would presumably be a God of truth. Therefore, God would certainly have given man the truth about Himself at some time. Our job is to find out who has the truth and test it. That, my friend, is called religion. And that is why religion exists; it’s our number-one purpose. As with any job, it is possible to go about it carelessly. Let us all try to do our job with love and honesty.

 

[Trishie]

Hi,
It’s all very well to point to the faults and difficulties that arise out of human response to God, but if God exists, as we believe…not you, obviously! …then there’s no point ignoring His existence. I could object violently to the sun causing skin-cancer…which is an issue in my sunny country…especially when people die as a response. However, I’m not going to reject the sun or ignore it’s power and benefit simply because it’s hidden today by clouds. I can only see clouds, but I can’t deny the reality or the value of the sun hidden behind.

So it is with God. Yes it can be very inconvenient to have Him there and to need to consider the influences of His life and love on me, just as, regarding our powerful sun, I have to conform to certain decisions like sunglasses, hats, sun-block, but I do, because I’d prefer not to ruin my eyes or skin, not to get melanoma, which untreated, can kill me…or anyone who doesn’t respect its power and essential nature.

I wouldn’t claim ever, by the way, to indoctrinate my sons. I’m sure most of our CAF parents will agree. I presented them with God, and they made of it what they chose. I may not agree with some of their choices but I defend their right to live according to their best conscience which is based on the love I conveyed to them. They believe in God’s existence and welcome the teaching and living out of love which Jesus describes in the Last Judgement, Matthew 25:31-46.

We can tunnel-vision to a negative view of anything, including God and religion. We can choose to focus on the negatives as you sincerely have done. I understand. You may or may not ever come to experience the positives…but I’ll keep you in my prayers anyway! Bless you for your sharing of your considered concerns.

Warm regards, Trishie

 

[JRKH]

wouldnt we be better without religion, and its whole concept of apeasing a deity so some etheral part of you can live on. the whole purpose of religion i think is to overcome peoples innate fear of death and their desire that some part of them will live on, for christains it the soul for others its reincarnations. i think it would be best if people just stoped this thing called religion it causes much of the worlds problems now and in history. if people followed the simple rule of nature that dictactes much behavior in social animals of tic for tac , for those of you who arent familiar with it google it. We would all be better off, because it would be in your best interest to be the best person you could be in the best way possible.
is religion a bad thing? well i say yes. All religions have a certain set of principles and anything that doesn’t fit these principles is declared heresy, the most famous i think is the roman catholic church. what comes to mind to me when considering the reasons why religion is bad, is that religion puts progress in a box. a good example that comes to mind is the dark ages, which is pretty much a few hundred years of zero progress. now u might ask progress what do u mean as progress, is it progress that we are polluting the earth and destroying our planet well. i also blame this indirectly on religion. ill get back to this later. even now religion is a major block to progress in fields like genetics. now this arises issues on human life and what is life and when a fetus human etc etc. i dont know and i dont care, to me it depends on personal interpretation, a bunch of rdm people dont have the right to tell a mother she cant have an abortion because while in the mothers womb until the baby can safely be taken out, the fetus is dependant on the mother for survival and should be considered as an extension of the mother and until the day arrives when the child can be extracted the mother can do whatever she pleases, without people guilt tripping them, which is also another reason why religion is so bad, its like a parasite that imposes its will onto you from birth. Which parents are to blame for forcefully indoctrinating their children into their religion, although they might see it as a good thing, each person if they choose to embrace religion should make an informed choice. Instead of years of brainwashing from birth.
To answer the note on me blaming religion for the choices people make Is because the fact that religion exists, means that the person making the choice wont make the choice based on the principles of tic for tac and thus wont make the best decision.
God create man ? or man create god? I don’t know , if a tree falls in the forest and nobdy is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
All I am saying is wouldn’t we all be better of without the constraint of reglion and purely lived on the principle of tic for tac, and in the long run human society will evolve much faster without all the imagined burneds religion imposes. I have a lot more thing to say, but Im tired of typing for today, jus my little rant as I ponder my purpose in life and why people do what they do.

• thoughts comments ?

First of all - Welcome to the Forums. There are many wonderful people here who will be able to answer your questions. I do hope that you will be open to their answers for there is much wisdom.

As for myself, I will simply give a flip answer.
If your right and religion/God is a waste of time then dead is dead and no harm. However is “I’m” right and there religion/God is not a waste of time then you are in trouble indeed.

To move on to more serious aspects of your concerns.
Overall We need to be very careful about ascribing evils done in the name of religion with the religion itself. Any religion is basically a set of tenets and dogma’s describing the way one should live their life. If an individual who professes such beliefs fails to live up to those tenets it is not the religion which is at fault but rather the individual. Thus, when considering God and religion it is important to seperate the teachings of a faith and the actions of individuals who profess that faith.

Therefore I would ask that you review the teachings of the various faiths/religions and then consider whether it is the religions that are at fault or the sinful humans who are at fault. Someone, I can’t recall who, made the statement that, “the problem is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but that Christianity has not really been tried”.

So the point is this. If all persons lived up to the teachings and tenets of their faith, would the ills that you speak of have occurred?

Peace
James

 

[JRKH]

First of all, Welcome to the Forums. Your questions concerns are not new here and there are wonderful people who will be able to answer them.
I’m no great shakes myself, but I’ll take a crack at, at least, some of them.

wouldnt we be better without religion, and its whole concept of apeasing a deity so some etheral part of you can live on. the whole purpose of religion i think is to overcome peoples innate fear of death and their desire that some part of them will live on, for christains it the soul for others its reincarnations.

You could concievably be right, in which case our belief in a God does not harm. Of course if you’re wrong, you’re in big trouble.
Sorry to be flippant but it really sort of boils down to that.

i think it would be best if people just stoped this thing called religion it causes much of the worlds problems now and in history.

I think that we would need to see examples of this. For instance, how much of the problems are on account of religion and how much is on account of people failing to truly LIVE their faith.

if people followed the simple rule of nature that dictactes much behavior in social animals of tic for tac , for those of you who arent familiar with it google it. We would all be better off, because it would be in your best interest to be the best person you could be in the best way possible.

Tried googling tic for tac and got candy.
However, I would first say that following the simple rule of our nature is something that religion tries to get us to rise above. It is following the simple rule of nature that encourages greed and license. Those persons who steal, kill, and commit other acts of “nature” are not acting in accordance with religious principles but rather from base, “Natural” instincts.

is religion a bad thing? well i say yes. All religions have a certain set of principles and anything that doesn’t fit these principles is declared heresy, the most famous i think is the roman catholic church.

Before condemning this, one should first look at the principles of the religion and determine if they are good or bad. As for declaring something heresy, it is certainly within the pervue of ANY group social, political, or spritiual, to decide for itself what it will accept or reject as part of it’s principles.

what comes to mind to me when considering the reasons why religion is bad, is that religion puts progress in a box. a good example that comes to mind is the dark ages, which is pretty much a few hundred years of zero progress.

I suspect you do not know much about the dark ages. If you would take a look at this period you would see that, far from holding back “progress”, the Church in fact held on to much that was good in the arts and sciences. Monastaries preserved and copied manuscripts, protecting them during the period of collapse in the Western Roman Empire. The Church is responsible in large part for the School systems and universties we have today as well.

now u might ask progress what do u mean as progress, is it progress that we are polluting the earth and destroying our planet well. i also blame this indirectly on religion. ill get back to this later.

Blame on Religion or on Greed?

even now religion is a major block to progress in fields like genetics. now this arises issues on human life and what is life and when a fetus human etc etc. i dont know and i dont care, to me it depends on personal interpretation,

And you certainly have that right. No one is forcing you to join their religion.

a bunch of rdm people dont have the right to tell a mother she cant have an abortion because while in the mothers womb until the baby can safely be taken out, the fetus is dependant on the mother for survival and should be considered as an extension of the mother and until the day arrives when the child can be extracted the mother can do whatever she pleases, without people guilt tripping them,

So, by your interpretation, a baby is able to survive on its own once born. But that is not the case. A baby is no more able to survive on its own at birth than it is in the first tri-mester of pregnancy. The Child remains a “parasite” for a good long time after birth.
Additionally there is no physiological difference in a fetus at 8 1/2 months than after it is born at nine months. Yet at 8 1/2 months it can legally be aborted.
Finally I would offer this. In scientifically determining the species of something we look to the DNA. Never mind what something looks like or how old it is. If the DNA is right then it is defined as a specific species. Well a human has the correct DNA structure from conception on. Never mind what it looks like, this will change from conception all the way through death. The DNA says it is a human - and that is Science, Not religion.

(Cont)

 

[JRKH]

(Cont from Above)

which is also another reason why religion is so bad, its like a parasite that imposes its will onto you from birth. Which parents are to blame for forcefully indoctrinating their children into their religion, although they might see it as a good thing, each person if they choose to embrace religion should make an informed choice. Instead of years of brainwashing from birth.

Brainwashing …hmmmmm
What good parent will neglect the education of their children? What parent will not teach their children not to touch a hot stove or look before crossing the Street, or to hold hands, or to not lie, or kill or to steal? Is this Brain washing? Of course it isn’t. It is teaching our Children.
The same with the Religious aspect. Good Christian parents will likely raise good Christian children. Of course it is the choice of the Child in the end whether they follow the faith or not.

To answer the note on me blaming religion for the choices people make Is because the fact that religion exists, means that the person making the choice wont make the choice based on the principles of tic for tac and thus wont make the best decision.

You’ll have to explain “tic for tac”, or do you mean tit-for-tat?

God create man ? or man create god? I don’t know , if a tree falls in the forest and nobdy is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

The answer is Yes, the tree does make the sound. And God did Create Man. Now you know.

All I am saying is wouldn’t we all be better of without the constraint of reglion

Personally I find my faith liberating.

and purely lived on the principle of tic for tac,

??? ??? Still don’t know what this is.
However, assuming you do, there is nothing preventing you from organizing a group/commune/village/society based on these principles. Once they are proved in action then the entire world will embrase them, except for us few who are too burdened by religion. (sorry - my smart alec is showing )

and in the long run human society will evolve much faster without all the imagined burneds religion imposes.

My Burdens are light compared to those with no hope.

I have a lot more thing to say, but Im tired of typing for today, jus my little rant as I ponder my purpose in life and why people do what they do.

• thoughts comments ?

It will be interesting to read more from you as you ponder the responses you receive here.

Peace
James

 

[CHESTERTONRULES]

wouldnt we be better without religion, and its whole concept of apeasing a deity so some etheral part of you can live on. the whole purpose of religion i think is to overcome peoples innate fear of death and their desire that some part of them will live on, for christains it the soul for others its reincarnations. i think it would be best if people just stoped this thing called religion it causes much of the worlds problems now and in history. if people followed the simple rule of nature that dictactes much behavior in social animals of tic for tac , for those of you who arent familiar with it google it. We would all be better off, because it would be in your best interest to be the best person you could be in the best way possible.
is religion a bad thing? well i say yes. All religions have a certain set of principles and anything that doesn’t fit these principles is declared heresy, the most famous i think is the roman catholic church. what comes to mind to me when considering the reasons why religion is bad, is that religion puts progress in a box. a good example that comes to mind is the dark ages, which is pretty much a few hundred years of zero progress. now u might ask progress what do u mean as progress, is it progress that we are polluting the earth and destroying our planet well. i also blame this indirectly on religion. ill get back to this later. even now religion is a major block to progress in fields like genetics. now this arises issues on human life and what is life and when a fetus human etc etc. i dont know and i dont care, to me it depends on personal interpretation, a bunch of rdm people dont have the right to tell a mother she cant have an abortion because while in the mothers womb until the baby can safely be taken out, the fetus is dependant on the mother for survival and should be considered as an extension of the mother and until the day arrives when the child can be extracted the mother can do whatever she pleases, without people guilt tripping them, which is also another reason why religion is so bad, its like a parasite that imposes its will onto you from birth. Which parents are to blame for forcefully indoctrinating their children into their religion, although they might see it as a good thing, each person if they choose to embrace religion should make an informed choice. Instead of years of brainwashing from birth.
To answer the note on me blaming religion for the choices people make Is because the fact that religion exists, means that the person making the choice wont make the choice based on the principles of tic for tac and thus wont make the best decision.
God create man ? or man create god? I don’t know , if a tree falls in the forest and nobdy is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
All I am saying is wouldn’t we all be better of without the constraint of reglion and purely lived on the principle of tic for tac, and in the long run human society will evolve much faster without all the imagined burneds religion imposes. I have a lot more thing to say, but Im tired of typing for today, jus my little rant as I ponder my purpose in life and why people do what they do.

• thoughts comments ?

If there is no God, then religion is not relevant.

If there is a God, then religion should be our most important pursuit.

I assume that you are an atheist.

 

[survive]

even now religion is a major block to progress in fields like genetics. now this arises issues on human life and what is life and when a fetus human etc etc. i dont know and i dont care, to me it depends on personal interpretation, a bunch of rdm people dont have the right to tell a mother she cant have an abortion because while in the mothers womb until the baby can safely be taken out, the fetus is dependant on the mother for survival and should be considered as an extension of the mother and until the day arrives when the child can be extracted the mother can do whatever she pleases, without people guilt tripping them, which is also another reason why religion is so bad, its like a parasite that imposes its will onto you from birth.

The field of genetics is unequivocal that life begins for each individual at the moment (one second) of fertilization (conception), after which time developmental biology shows that it continues to develop for decades, ever interdependent upon many people.
A baby can survive outside the womb at various and always-dropping ages. A child was kept alive who was born at 18 weeks, five days; she’s still alive.
Guilt is parasitic and “tripping” only when there is no proportionate basis in fact for it. When there is a proportionate basis in fact for guilt, guilt is appropriate, healthy and other people’s only protection from sociopathic behavior. Abortion is the ripping limb from limb of a conscious human being because someone else felt like it. This atrocity has taken place while the law looks away in the USA 30 million to 50 million times in 35 years. This is the kind of thing children years later read about in history books and ask why the people didn’t do something.