Quote:
Originally Posted by 7gaugejames
I have opened up my mouth a couple times and goten a verbal punch in it when "religion" is being beaten (again) for the sorrows that people recieve at the hands of people, we'll see what happens this time. The Existence of sorrow is well older than religion, The feeling of joy that can only be felt in the heart when you have no doubt that you are right, is older than religion. The fact is people have a problem with authority, and to whom authority is being doled out to. There are questions and arguments of how much authority, how much punishment, whom is responsible, they're moot. The truth is most people are too lazy to help a neighbor, I am. Once you actually study theology, you happen upon a strange trait, helping. Helping = Sacrafice. The problem really arises when some one is told to help some one else. Then you're in for a battle, "why them, Why not me? No one was there to help me out when I needed it!" This is my favorite.."F- them it's their fault
they're in this mess." I said that one alot. I didn't even read the story, partly because I've wittnessed it first hand, partly because the universal truth will be there regardless of the facts. What is the universal truth? That the woman needed help with something, most do in the middle east. Charges of mingling with those who aren't related to your family are usually about begging, and God help her if she touched one of them, if a woman throws herself in front of a man, he wont walk around her, she must be moved if she will not move herself. I am rambling, "religion". Lets just go with the big 5 shall we?
1) Buddhism - yeah, they're supposed to help out others
2) Hindu- yep,
3) Islam- you betcha'
4) Muslim- mm hmm
5) Judaism- 5 for 5 what a ya' know.
Summary; so now I've stated, if you've no help, you've got problems.
Something to think about; In most Theology, you look to GOD as a source of what you recieve, and an answer to that which troubles you. If you look elsewhere it's a sign of faithlessness.
Question; Who do you of no GOD, look to, to solve your problems, or better yet ,who do you praise for what you recieve? If the answer is anything else but GOD, then that thing you stated is your GOD, on that all religion agrees.
Everything else is trivial, sorrow, pain, anguish, joy, triumph, love, power, weakness........ all feelings. Feelings change, for some they change alot and often, they are proof of nothing. Torment comes, in many forms and the well off get theirs too. I believe that every man/woman must seek out their own salvation through fear and trembling. If you don't have children yet, wait and you'll know the fear of which I speak. For yourself or for someone else everyone hits their knees at some point. However it's the feeling you don't deserve help that stands in most peoples way, does anyone know the difference between Grace and Mercy?
Grace is geeting that which you do not deserve, and Mercy is being spared from receiving that which we do deserve. Of couse this is mearly my Truth, and most of this is aimed at me.
|
Religion exists to explain away the mysteries of the universe in a manner that is easily accepted and impossible to completely disprove.
The moral codes that religion bases itself around are born from the tribe leaders and shamans of ancient times, who used both their own power and the fear of an omnipotent being to control the masses, with the promised reward being something that they themselves would never have to be held accountable for. Its the perfect way to control someone based on their own guilt and fear.
Because of this need for control, the moral codes set out by any religion originally used for such purpose, or descended from such religions, are based around what is needed to create a prosperous society. Murder reduces the population and creates unrest, so it is outlawed. homosexuality increases the risk of diseases and lowers the birth rate, so it is outlawed. Every major religion has something in its texts that refers to converting or killing unbelievers and heretics. This is to consolidate power by removing any competitive threats. Women are subjugated by religion because until very recently, almost every culture in the world, if not quite all of them, has relied on physical strength that women have not posessed, and education that women were not allowed. Women are deemed unfit for a large number of activities by religion because as the mothers and physically weaker sex, it was important to protect them from harm and not the other way around.
ANY moral tenet within ANY religion can be explained as somehow beneficial to the society which created it. As the ages move on, we see less sacrifice within religion, because intelligence and education have become more sophisticated and more widespread, resulting in a decreased general bloodlust within the population. Death was no longer needed to sate the masses and sports and hunting sufficed for those remaining who did need combat or bloodshed to function as a normal societal member.
Religion is NOT some kind of lovey dovey aren't we all happy loving people bred with compassion in our hearts that needs to be nurtured kind of deal. It is purely and solely a tool for the advancement of those who have the power to rewrite the rules as they see fit, and its only concession to the general good of mankind is that generally those in power have realized the best way to consolidate their power is to convince the general populace that their toil to support the government is not only for the greater good but also for their own personal good in an afterlife that may or may not exist.
Religion is NOT what dictates the way we percieve the moral good of 'helping' someone. People would help each other if religion didn't exist. Not because we naturally want to, but because some leader somewhere would have found a way other than religion to convince us as such, for the EXACT reasons listed above.
Edit: As for who I look to to solve my problems, I don't. Its exactly that kind of pathetic needy thinking that a lot of atheists are trying to avoid. That ridiculous reliance on something or someone to assuage all your own guilt and solve all your problems. The fear to face what is actually there no matter how bad it is. The fear that we don't matter. The fear that we'll end. The fear that we can be judged by anyone other than ourselves. None of this **** matters to me from a theological standpoint.
I exist. I think what I like, and there is no-one and nothing that is watching me from above or anywhere else to condemn my actions, apart from other human beings, very few of which will ever actually matter.
Double Edit:
Also, to take your example of 'helping' in a religious context as being common to all religion, the exact same thing is said in all major religions, about killing or converting the unbelievers. The only difference is the form, whether it be enlightening them to the one true path, or burning all ye unfaithful.
----------------
Now playing on Winamp:
Porcupine Tree - Untitled Instrumental
via
FoxyTunes