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hmmmm I believe that if there is a god or gods then they apear to do nothing in out lives indiviually but interfere on a larger scale. For example, evolution etc.
The whole christianity/every other religion I think are just play ups. I think the bible was written to control people and so was every other holy book. If they were not written to control people then they were written to give some sort of belief so people would care about the world and themselves and actions which in a way I suppose is a good thing.
If everything happens for a reason, that reason can only be for us to learn from our mistakes and move on.
What then, if not Christianity, has introduced you and the rest of the world to the idea that there could possibly be some all-powerful force or being out there?Quote:
Originally posted by HellBorn Angel@1 Hour Ago
hmmmm I believe that if there is a god or gods then they apear to do nothing in out lives indiviually but interfere on a larger scale. For example, evolution etc.
The whole christianity/every other religion I think are just play ups.
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Umm...well let's see. You've got the American Indians who believed the sun among other (visible, I might add) celestial and earth bound bodies were a dieties. Hinduism which believes in an infinite number of omnipitant beings. Greek/Roman "mythology" which was a perfectly viable religion during it's time, that believed in multiple gods as well. Judaism, of course. Aten, which is an ancient egyption religion (a cult) which believed in monotheism, like christianity and judaism. Iconoclasm, another Egyptian religion; believed to be the first really hardcore monotheistic religion. They were the ones that started the "no idols before me" thing. Mazdaism of course, being the oldest monotheistic religion we know of; which was mainly in Persia. And of course Taoism which believes in a very strange sense of "god" they believe it's an undefinable source...really hard to explain and understand unless you've studied Taoism. Eastern religions are very difficult for a person raised with western philosophies to comprehend. And of course pagenism, specifically (because it's the one i know the most about) Gaelic pagenism. Oh and of course, the hot religion right now, Islam.Quote:
Originally posted by XRedBlazeX@3 Hours Ago
What then, if not Christianity, has introduced you and the rest of the world to the idea that there could possibly be some all-powerful force or being out there?
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so let's recap:
American Indians
Hindusim
Taoism
Greeks and Romans
Judaism
Aten
Iconoclasm
Mazdaism
Gaelic Pagenism
Islam
and those are just the ones I know about...
Christianity wasn't the first, and it won't be the last. If you study religion, you'll actually see that christianity took alot of its beliefs and symbols from other religions. For instance the cross was actually a gaelic symbol, around hundreds of years before christianity. The trinity was also taken from the gaelics.
one could argue that all current religions practiced in both easten and western religion are not in themselves unique. One could argue that the person or people who started the religion obtained ideas and concepts from other religions at their time.
This can be applied equaly to christianity, islam, Church of Scientology, Jehova Witnesses, Mormans, Judaism, Kabbalah, etc, etc, etc.
Christianity is the most obvious, mainly because the Catholic Church used local beleifs. Hence why most catholic (or any 'higher church') holidays, celebrations and saints are derived from other beleifs.
As they say, there aint any new storys, just old ones rehashed.
Well of course christianity (including the mormans, and jehova witnesses) stem from judaism, as did Islam. So they are obviously the same base religion with a couple of slick new mods added on for effect. Kabbalah is just a division (a book actually) of Judaism, much like Baptism is a section of christianity.
When you talk about Scientology though... I think that's a pretty original religion. Sure the guy who started it from ideas which he'd heard or read about...but the combination was pretty original. If you really want to argue semantics then every thought is really just a modification of someone elses. But that's nothing more than semantics.
Alot of the eastern religions are pretty ancient and well documented, but alot of them aren't really even religions. They're philosophies. Sure they borrow from other ideas, but most of them (MOST) don't claim to be absolute, like most western religions do. So wether they were combinations of beliefs or a unique creation is a mute point. They (again, for the most part) only say "this is what I think...I think it makes sense" and don't claim that you'll burn for eternity if you don't. I think if you're going to start telling people they will face an eternity of pain you better have some damn good basis for it.
I think the incorporation of other religions into christianity (specifically the catholic church) is most obviously a sign that they wanted control, and their motives were less than pure. Easter isn't even a christian holiday for petes sakes. Easter was, yet again, a Gaelic holiday celebrating the change of seasons. Which is why easter is on the first sunday after the first full moon after or during the vernal equinox. If that isn't a blatant example, I don't know what is. You can argue about the incorporation of the symbols of the trinity and the cross (if you don't really know your history), but that one's pretty glaring.
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Again, I want to point out that I have nothing against any religion...except maybe satanism. I just dislike organized religion. And even more than that, I HATE people that don't understand the religion they follow. The bible teaches blind faith in god. To believe in god without requiring proof. But it DOESN'T teach you to blindly follow your teachers. A very large percentage of people calling themselves "religious" are either misinformed or completely ignorant to their religion. And if you think I'm wrong, and want to try debating it with me then you can find my AIM screen name on my profile card. I'm always available to debate your religion with you (mainly christianity, my knowledge of Islam is very limited). But I openly challenge all catholics. I'm consistently amazed at how ignorant of their own religion the vast majority of christians are.
Again though, if you know your religion well enough to debate it with me then I have nothing against you. I'm not fighting religion here, I'm fighting ignorance.
Well we were talking about Christianity, and I was maining proving a point - that if there was no organized religion at all, or he had never been exposed to such things, he would obviously not believe that there might be some supreme entity out there.
What I really meant though, is that the very concept of religion was created by some pre-historic peoples attempting to explain what the sun was, how wind works, etc. Like all philosophies it's taken it's course, evolved, and changed into today's modern religion.
yes, exactly correct. most religions started as an attempt to explain what everything is... i mean when some kid asks dad "whats those bright things in the sky" or a kid asks dad "what happens when you die", well people start to either tell a story or start thinking about it themselves.
Over time such stories (whether initialy serious or stated as humour) end up becoming mythical and then a beleif system.
Most of the older beleif systems I would presume started that way. Some of em were started by people who wanted a means of control over others. Kings/Queens and dictators have been using beleif systems as a form of control for centuries.
Its the more modern ones who have been invented for various resons... Mormans and JW's are interesting ones, but then so was the Orange People :D
When a religion disallows the belivers from questioning what they beleive, then its a sure sign that the religion is sus and more often than not, used as a tool for retaining power/authority.
owie, my pie burnt me :angry:
Just a question to metalskin or unit43, How come you think your so right that no God exisis and how come you think that the evolution theory is more correct than the Creation theory?
Also, the evolution theory was made up to explain things that people today still cant explain so isnt science pretty much the same as religion?. Like the fact that science is a bunch of theories, proven, yes, but the Bible has been proven to be historically accurate as well.
