Do Religion's Reflect Who People Are?

Or would it be the other way around.

Could it be that what’s on the inside makes the person, and religions are only the means to express themselves, or who they are?

The only reason I bring this up is that so many people seem to pretend, and use religions for selfish agendas, but yet we have many that use religion for the means of doing good.

My ultimate question after your thoughts are if religion were removed from all people, would those people still act, and be the same people they are now without their particular dogma's?

Religion is a dirty word these days. Most people associate religious types of any denomination as crazy. Which is why the new pope is actually changing its views on homosexuality and life outside of earth because even the leaders of organized religion are starting to realize that their institutions were created in a time of ignorance and lack of scientific knowledge. Most scientist( and anyone with common sense in general) believe if it wasn't for Christians and other religions persecuting anyone who questioned the bible or who dabbled in the "evils" of science for hundreds of years we could be living in a star trek type society exploring new worlds. So in my opinion religions bring hatred out of people it gives them a reason to fuel their rage and even worse it gives them targets. If people just took the time to understand what their true purpose in nature is, and reflected on consciousness, and learned threw life experience rather than be gun hoe for words in a book that are subject to misinterpretation yes the world and people would be more peaceful.

Actually for me it is what is on the outside.

I develope according the Era i am incarnated into.

At least that is always what i have believed ever since i could learn how to speak.

I always thought i was a wizard. Well in the passed in incarnations i may have been able to control the weather and cause Earthquakes. Pretty odd thinking for a young individual to be thinking.

I was sent to church i think around the age of 7, they started sending me and my brothers to church so my mom and dad could get a break. We went for i think 5 years until we moved.

When i first heard the story of Jesus it never really made sense. The reverend told me and a group of other kids in a small bible reading closet room thing with a round table. That Jesus died for our sins and i had real trouble understanding it. I asked them over and over, But how is that even possible. And they would tell me, God wouldn't let people in because all people went to hell before Jesus and i said that does not make sense. No one is Judged until they do something bad. And Jesus dying does not make peoples sins better.

And the teacher person would be like, All you gotta do is believe in Jesus and you will be saved. Then i would ask, Why do i need to talk to this Jesus guy if God is the one that will be punishing me? I'd rather trust in God than Jesus. And they would just get choked. Because the logic i couldn't accept it and understand it. But they heard me say i believe in God so they let me stay around.

They tried really hard to get me to accept the Jesus thing and they eventually just told me not to ask these questions to the other kids.

Some of the people resented me for my curiousity. And for the fact i was also a left handed child. I always got comments on it. expecially in church.

I guess it gave me this sort of michivious attitude since it's kinda how people treated me like some sort of denis the menis. Which i kinda was sorta growing up. But i was also nice to alot of people too lol.
But i was pretty sinister. Stealing cookies and candy from stories is something i did growing up. Because i liked the addrenline Rush. And i wanted to feel like a badass. I didn't have any bullies at school because i would actually get in fights with kids if they tried to hassle me or my friends. I did a lot of pushups and marshal arts, at that age i could do 100 pushups. One time i had to because i was misbehaving in one of my marshal arts classes and the guy made me do 50 pushups well everyone watched. Then after he made everyone in the group do 50 pushups including me. ADHD was what was drawing this immense energy and power from. But during those years i really worried about hell. And even going to heaven. Either or sucked. I wanted to come back to the same existance even if it isn't elsewhere.

I didn't want to be trapped on eitherside but i also didn't want to non exist or be tortured for ever. I started to drift away from Christianity with all that stuff. My life was increasingly getting paranormal. And then i moved to BC when i was 12. And here i was made to go to church again lol. But they stopped picking us up. Here, the people in this church are picky about who they allow in. Back east in Ontario, That church really didn't care how bad some of the kids were. They still let them come and experience community. So even tho they tried to endoctrinate me into their crew. I still showed them respect for all the events and cool things they brought me and my family to.

Christians are actually awesome people when they take the community to a fun and purifying way. There's so many times we've had cool events like visiting places, During the summer they had these picnics with water balloon fights, sac racing, Water melon eating contest lol some other hilarious stuff. and giving prizes to kids who behave hahahah xD i kept a good behavior there as much as i could to win some of those toys.

So religion really isn't all that bad when its made to have a good effect on the community and a childs development. Besides the whole hell thing. I really enjoyed it. And i enjoyed being around all the old people and them loving the fact kids were hanging around for the gospel songs. Many of them were really good at singing. I'm just ranting a little bit but yeah. Heres a protip. pretend you believe in Jesus to get into these types of communities because its totally worth it. free food. People are genuinely nice and thankful for your presence. It's like one of the only places a person can get reconition unless you are homeless or smell bad.

Look man im glad to hear that the church brought some sunshine in your life but does that excuses the church for killing some of the greatest minds of their time, and promoting hatred toward homosexuality, and anyone who doesn't see Jesus as their lord and savior for hundreds of years? And you were right to question how Jesus dying for our sins has any significance because the world we live in today has more death, chaos, hatred, suffering and anything else negative you can think of then ever before. In my opinion Jesus didn't die for our sins, if he was real he died because of ours sins an more and more people will continue to suffer until we start to take responsibility for this world and stop thinking we can all be a bunch of lazy jerk offs because were brain washed to think that no matter what there's a paradise in the sky waiting for you. Wake up people if you want peace on earth its up to us the people not some person in the sky who's apparently waiting till were all dead anyway to lend a helping hand...a reply to: AnuTyr

a reply to: Realtruth

Most religions revolve around a moral compass. When this is perverted, we get extremes. That isn't the reason why I chose agnostic as a belief system. Man cannot possibly know. I believe it had to start somewhere in some grand design. Who created the big bang or expanding universe? I don't know. I have a hunch it may be a creator but that mankind doesn't know what it is.

I wouldn't hold it against a person for the belief they hold. I feel the religious books written have a lot of positive views on society as a whole. Most people who uphold those beliefs are not my problem. They get it. We co-exist. The zealots, not so much. I feel that life experiences mold a person into what they ultimately become. It can be good or bad. I also feel genetics has a part. Was Joe born with a mental disorder that caused him to become a serial killer or was it his cruel childhood. I'm betting it was a little bit of both.

It is what it is. I'd rather people believe in other humans having a purpose rather than simply being there and * In the way*

My rant about the religion thing is that without all that stuff i simply wouldn't have that community nurturing that all humans require.

Its the same system with native american children growing up. They had to get intimtely connected with relatives. Ants uncles cousins grandmas grandpas and band members. That fell apart when reservations were set up tho.

The only times iv ever done something with a community was either in Church or at School.

Nowadays if you want to fit into a community, you join a protest lol.

I was just saying in what way religions made me who i am today. Later on in life after i moved to BC i started seeing UFOs. It progressed further than i could imagine. Seeing a craft and E.T, I guess you could say nearing the end of my journey so far i have gotten in life has evolved all based on a lot of Exterior factors.

I now think the E.T that i saw is our creators. So i guess along the way that forged my belief systems strickly on experience rather relying on accounts written by people who never experienced what they were writing about lol.

We could debate about religion all we want about how its good or bad. In the end it comes to Tyrany. Which is not exclusive to only Religions. But also the other R. Regimes.

originally posted by: Realtruth

Or would it be the other way around.

Could it be that what’s on the inside makes the person, and religions are only the means to express themselves, or who they are?

The only reason I bring this up is that so many people seem to pretend, and use religions for selfish agendas, but yet we have many that use religion for the means of doing good.

My ultimate question after your thoughts are if religion were removed from all people, would those people still act, and be the same people they are now without their particular dogma's?

Yes, they'd be the same people. However, if they're televangelists now, they'll have to find a different way to con people out of money.

a reply to: Realtruth

I'm a much better person since I dispensed with religion. I do much better with compassion and selflessness when no one else is watching and judging me for my actions.

Having said that, if religion were removed from the planet, we'd still have people who do good, and those who don't. We'd still have war, hunger, homelessness and nearly everything we have now. There would just be different justifications.

Religion doesn't DO anything. PEOPLE do. They may do things in the name of religion, but they'd find another reason. Because, all people are doing with religion is what THEY think is right, and justifying it with their religion.

Thus far the input has actually over-whelmed me. I wasn't expecting anything quite like this.

Thank you for your well thought out responses.

People seem to be thinking on a much deeper level than I anticipated these days.

religions reflect who we are. especially since it is now kosher to simply invent whatever makes the most sense to you and find the church best at imitating it.

I wonder how one would define religion, because it is generally understood as organized belief.
Is religion an organized belief preached by preachers in the church or mosque, the clothes, the rituals, the bible or quran.
If so, then obviously religions do not reflect who people are, in fact people are shaped and conditioned through religious education.
Organized belief has no roots in the divine, it is rooted in the outer material world and so is nothing but a material manifestation, albeit a mighty one because for these organized beliefs lots of blood has been and is shed.

While it speaks of doing good, ask oneself, what is "good" isn't that subjective? who are we to judge?
Is killing good? why? is it wrong? than why have people been tortured, burned to death in the past? or why are people thrown of a building because they are gay, why are they beheaded if they believe something else or if womans go to school and are educated?
Is terrorism good? if not, than why are there organized religious extremist groups?

Is religion something entirely different than organized belief, perhaps a spiritual journey of the individual.
A journey in which the individual develops himself spiritually through discipline, which in its original sense means to 'learn'.
That is vastly different from being educated by others who say they know, and thus also not by punishment and reward.
It is a journey of the self, that is why religion in its original sense cannot be taken away from people.

a reply to: earthling42

That was a pretty deep response.

Very much enjoyed how you view things.

Religion, at least at this point, is an excuse for behaviors that we otherwise couldn't get away with. So eliminating it would be overall beneficial to humanity.

There would be no more religious excuses for actions or words. No longer could anyone point to a book or the sky and claim they were told to do something because their deity told them to.

Everyone would have to own their own actions and words and as a result a lot of the hate and stupidity that comes with religion would be eliminated.

it would also eliminate one more of our ancient tribal excuses for dividing humanity. There would still be economic, regional, and racial division, but nobody could exclude another for something that isn't based in our present reality like we do today.

Also one less excuse for war. Though that may be included in the first two things I mentioned.

a reply to: Realtruth

Do Religion's Reflect Who People Are?

No, they reflect the culture into which people were born.

Now please take that silly apostrophe out of your title.

originally posted by: Astyanax
a reply to: Realtruth

Do Religion's Reflect Who People Are?

No, they reflect the culture into which people were born.

Now please take that silly apostrophe out of your title.

lol

Unless you know how to edit something over 4 hours then the title stays. It was a typo that I didn't catch until to late.

What an eye you have for spelling.