Guybrush

There's probably a lot of people who don't know the answer to that question, simple though it may seem. I prefer it when people ask rather than pretend knowledge and just argue against something they don't really know anything about.

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Something Completely Different

Whatsitoosit

and that's one to grow on!

I attended church last Sunday and must say it was an interesting sermon. While dissecting all of my former knowledge and trying to piece it all together in a way I can truly understand the priest (coincidentally) made an analogy to "understanding something completely" to understanding the workings of a car. One must take it apart and analyze its individual contents and then try to put it back together again until it works. I guess if after one takes religion apart piece by piece and can truly put it back together and it works for them in their life then it makes sense for them to maintain their faith. At least that's how I came to perceive it, he may have been just talking about the teachings of Jesus but my mind chose to see it in that way since I am pondering so much these days.

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"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile,
but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."

Guybrush

I've tried to understand religion in that sense - by taking apart the pieces. Religions are made up by many thoughts or "ideas". The idea there is a god, the idea there is a hell, the idea that you can gain supernatural powers over things you normally have no control of, the idea that you'll get rewarded if you live "right", the idea that you should mission, the idea that you should alienate and exclude those who are not part of or leave your faith.

Christianity (broadly speaking) has all these ideas and more :

• There's a god
• There's a hell you and others go to if you don't live life according to what's "right"
• There's a heaven which is a reward for living your life according to the religion
• You can gain power over things you normally have no power over - for example by prayers or healing
• You should convert others (mission)
• Extremists and particularly isolist groups use alienation/exclusion as a way to keep people in the fold

These are not just found in christianity. They're just some of very few ideas that can be used to make up any religion - like parts of a car might add to making a working vehicle. What I've come to conclude is that religions evolve and change over time, adopting or creating new ideas and abolishing others. It's an adaptive process and for a religion to be successful, it has to contain ideas that either appeal to people (ex. heaven/healing) or scare people into beliving/motivate them to converting others whom they care about for their "own good" (ex. hell/mission).

When you analyse the above "parts", you'll start to understand they're highly successful ideas that make up many religions and it makes sense that they have all "evolved" independently of eachother many times. They make religions competitive. If we wipe the slate clean and make everyone forget and then let religions form again, these ideas are sure to reappear, wether true or made up.

It's part us - what we need, what we fear and what we strive for - and part consequence because competition between religions will result in a selection or "favour" for ideas in that religion which recruits more followers and makes it more competivite against others.

In other words, religions will appear wether or not they are actually true. Most followers of religions have to agree with me on that simply by looking at how many religions there are out there.

I doubt that's the point the priest wanted to make though

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Something Completely Different

Whatsitoosit

Ha! no, I doubt that's what the priest was talking about (good post btw). I think people should dabble in multiple religions in their lifetimes if they choose to be religious. It's like only going to McDonald's all your life without ever giving Wendy's a shot. Imagine running into a KFC and blowing it up because Burger King is the only true fast food joint? Seriously, I think it should be as simple as taking the parts of each religion you personally agree with and living by that. People would be much happier and I'm sure God would understand because essentially everybody is sorta praying to the same God anyway (atleast I think). I realize the entire system would collapse if anything logical was entered into it, but I can dream can't I?

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"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile,
but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."

pahuuuta

i dont think people that are Chrisitans would want to "dabble" in Buddhism

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He Who Makes A Beast Out Of Himself Gets Rid Of The Pain Of Being A Man

<Stiiccy>

Well tbh NOONE on Earth knows whether there is a Heaven or a Hell, But some people need Faith in there lives to go on through out the day. That's all religion has to rely on, it's Faith. Without that your defeating the purpose of religion. Whether there is a God or not I believe some people need/have Faith to live there lives

Mordecai

I hope there is a God........cuz I don't want to die and nothing happens

cuz then there is no point in living and having memories if you can't carry them with u

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~Prying open my third eye~

<Stiiccy>

And this is why the belief of Religion was even thought of...But there is no way to prove it at this time

Guybrush

There's no point in living if you don't go existig after you're dead .. so the whole point of life is that you'll remember it in the afterlife? Life only has worth from the perspective of being dead? There's no point in existing if you're not gonna do it forever?

I don't really get that logic and neither do I believe in an afterlife. That whole point of view seems rather bleak and depressing by my standards :p

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Something Completely Different

SATCHMO

Jesus said "The kingdom of heaven is within you" as well as "seek ye' first the kingdom of heaven and all things will be added unto you". Between these 2 statements I can hold a genuine belief that the message Jesus was expounding was really more in lign with that of eastern philosophy than of the Judaic theology that the gospel is associated with. There is more than a small amount of incongruency between Jesus' teachings and that of the OT, Thei messages are almost mutually exclusive in all areas. But because "Christian" theology relies on certain prophetical connecting links between the two, what would otherwise be considered blatant goes largely unnoticed.