The problem is not religion - It's entitlement.

Not sure this is the right forum - Just expressing my thoughts and wasn't sure where to put this.

I can't believe how many threads these days bash on religion and political ideology, how many threads are made that seek out to explain who a person is and the way they act based on their belief system, based on which political party they choose to align with. The problem is not these attributes - It's entitlement.

Everyone is bound to believe they are in the right - That they are on the high-ground, that their specific set of beliefs are true and right. Even someone who is neutral and passive chooses to be that way because they believe it to be the correct way to be, we don't align ourselves with beliefs and ideas we don't believe in - We align ourselves with religions, political ideas, beliefs, etc that we believe to be correct and true and often reinforce our alignment in various ways.

Even God himself believes he is on the moral high ground - Many believe this to be an absolute and I am not here to discuss this philosophy but rather point out that everyone is tied to their way of viewing things in major ways.

Regardless of what you do or do not believe in, regardless of what ideas you like or dislike, it all depends on how you interact with these beliefs and ideas with others that show who you are inside, how you take the information you believe to be true. How you apply it to your own life and how you interact with others.

We all get to see the worst examples because the worst examples are the loudest. We see the atheist who yells out " Evolution is true, Christians are stupid and need to wake up " - ( Even though Christians DO believe in evolution Just don't believe humans came from monkeys ). We all get to see the Christians who yell out " Atheists are going to hell for not believing in God! " We all get to see the "conservative" who threatens an abortion clinic, or any other number of example going on these days. These are not teachings and interactions taught by any of these groups, these are not actions and state of minds approved by the organizations themselves, but individuals within. These are attributes are obtained either by the person themselves, or passed down by people ( especially parents ) who believe they are more entitled because they believe themselves to be better than the other people based on their own views - whether learned or obtained.

I suppose what it boils down to is that everything bad comes from pride . Yeah, it's biblical, but still, I see it to be true - though I think you're alright if you don't agree with me! - I don't know exactly how a person comes to be this way, I don't know why people of all beliefs/lack thereof are subject to inherit a sense of superiority, but I think the world would be a better place if we just agreed that this is part of human nature and cannot be blamed on any one thing. ( Lately, it's Christianity )

Let's keep trying to deny ignorance, ATS

Peace to you all

Deadlyhope

For clarification, "entitled" has different definitions

-having the right or permission to do something

-believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.

The first one I am for - We have our rights, we should be able to express ourselves and feel entitled to our own way of life.
The second is the one I am against - People feeling superior over others, people feeling others need to be like them.

You're entitled to an opinion just like me.

But, my entitled opinion makes me an asshole.

Gotcha.

a reply to: deadlyhope

Even though I am writing in my thread about religion, it is about how people have lied to us. Those people known as the Gentile in near ancient times.

But I agree. I just walked outside. Since I am an essene. People hate me. People were walking in my path to detest me. About 5 people walked in front of me. Then, the reason why I am writing. First some lady almost drove me over. Then, some lady two blocks away almost hit me and I almost got hit by a car. Both times I was in the lane with a walk sign.

it is not almost getting hit by a car. it is the whole world these days. the uncaring woman. I feel so spiritless. I am loosing,t he spirit is sucked out of me, I work so hard for it to be taken from me, so I work my hardest 10 hours a day and I am still poor. The world hates me, the rich hate the poor. All these women who detest me, I cannot take it anymore. I do not want to be a part of this world. Deep down I feel nothing but pain, deep in my mind I can see nothing but tears.

a reply to: deadlyhope
We judge people by our expectations of them, but get angry when they do the same to us. It is a hard rule to follow, that Golden Rule isn't it? I struggle all the time...as is evident by my posts.

Edit: I also try to live by this quote:

What people think of me is no business of mine.
Not sure who said that, but it stuck.

a reply to: deadlyhope

Even God himself believes he is on the moral high ground - Many believe this to be an absolute and I am not here to discuss this philosophy but rather point out that everyone is tied to their way of viewing things in major ways.

Wow, you know the mind of God. Could you tell us how you achieved that lofty position?

a reply to: thishereguy

Entitled A. - believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment

Entitled B. - having the right or permission to do something

Yes, you are entitled(B) to your own opinion, have the right to express it, etc.

Not, should not feel entitled(A) - Feeling that you are special because of your position.

Learn context.

I think it comes from a sense of security. People are insecure if they don't feel themselves to be in a majority of others who think and believe like they do. It is the rare person who can live the life of someone who holds beliefs counter to the mainstream and do so comfortably. TPTB know this and that's why they work so hard to shape the language and culture. Why do you think every disagreement isn't about simply two people who disagree? Instead it had to be about one person being an -ist, or a -phobe, or a simple hater? It's because they seek to shape the majority through the power of the herd and use it to bend culture to their whim.

No one likes being labeled something they really aren't, so most will bend over time or just break outright whether or not they actually are the things they are accused of being, whether or not there is any actual moral absolute in the position they opposed.

a reply to: olaru12

Another problem with taking things out of context - I don't claim to know the mind of God - Rather I took a separate view from the normally said statements by most believers in God that he is all knowing, he is just, he is truth, he is right, he is alpha and omega, whatever else you want to say about him....Could it not be supposed that he supports himself in that position? And you must not have read that I did not care to debate that statement, rather just trying to point out everyone believes themselves to be doing right.. This is the view most people have of their God - and by most people, I mean an overwhelming majority so I'm not even generalizing.

Sorry to say, but the problem with religion is religion.
Yes, people can be convinced to do bad things due to many things. In the case of religion, it is because of religion. And organized religion is obsolete and harmful to the civilized world.

Questions?

originally posted by: deadlyhope
a reply to: thishereguy

Entitled A. - believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment

Entitled B. - having the right or permission to do something

Yes, you are entitled(B) to your own opinion, have the right to express it, etc.

Not, should not feel entitled(A) - Feeling that you are special because of your position.

Learn context.

Should've typed... [[sarc/]]



Uhm. Should add , i don't have stake in the game from either side. i just question everything and sarcasm shows its little head sometimes.

a reply to: Nevertheless

Prove to me that religion being taken out of the equation would make all the elite and rich just quit being elite and rich. Prove to me that religion being stripped away would make nations less hungry for money, for oil, for power, that all bankers would apologize and create a utopia....Oh.....You can't.

a reply to: thishereguy

I did make an edit.

a reply to: deadlyhope

I don't know what religion has to do with some people being rich and others not?
However, if you insist. The Nordic countries are about as secular as you can come, and there's a pretty sweet distribution of wealth. You have to work really hard to become "poor".
I wouldn't put it down to the lack of religion. Rather, it's civilized behavior. Civilized / smart behavior pretty much require religion to become obsolete, so that would be more of a consequence, not a reason.

With religion out of the way, there's less need to make war. More time to make love [to whatever sex you may wish].

a reply to: Nevertheless

You have a very strong argument, and I may have to look more of this up for myself.

originally posted by: deadlyhope
....

We all get to see the worst examples because the worst examples are the loudest. We see the atheist who yells out " Evolution is true, Christians are stupid and need to wake up " - ( Even though Christians DO believe in evolution Just don't believe humans came from monkeys ).
...

At least get your examples right. Atheists do not claim that humans came from monkeys. Christian fundamentalists claim that atheists claim that because they don't have a freaking clue what evolution really is. Humans and apes (not monkeys) evolved from a common ancestor.

a reply to: deadlyhope

Amen.

(wait - can I say that without offending anyone?)

The worst entitlement case I see around here firsthand are of those from the persuasion that because they have "aesthetically pleasing genetics" (and no other worthwhile or deeper contributions to offer) that the whole world needs to bow before them and hand them their every desire on a silver platter.

I cannot begin to tell you how rude some of these people are when they don't get preferential treatment in accordance to their over-inflated sense of self-worth. They're only pretty on the outside, but they seem woefully ignorant of that fact, and unrepentant in any case.

Oh, the horrors of retail environments.
(I'll spare case examples for the sanity of all involved.)

I say it's the government, corporations, and the media.

The trilogy of terror.

I believe it is an ego problem. Peoples ideas and beliefs affect how they perceive themselves and the world. When you start building up who you think you are and how we are all so different or saying "This is OUR god" you are building an ego. The ego is not necessarily a bad thing either. Everyone has an ego so that when your eating at the table you know to put the food in your mouth lol. So this is your sense of self. But the ego is like a cyst on the person (body)(soul) and it can grow out of control and become infected. Peoples egos are greatly defined by cultural influences, in this case religion. (CULTURE IS YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM)

The psychedelic experience, specifically that of psilocybin mushrooms, When ingested force someone to undergo ego-death. This ego-death in metaphorical terms cleans your disc (brain). It eliminates all of the cultural bull# you have accumulated overtime and dissolves the ego. Essentially showing you the possibility that everything you know or think you know could be wrong.

The only reason I propose these ideas is because this is what happened to me. I used to consider myself a Christian, then after I took mushrooms I took a "soul bath" in a sense and actually couldn't understand any religion anymore because of the cultural bull# I shed and the boundaries I dissolved between myself and the world.

Most people didn't blame the Beatles or Elvis for the behavior of their fans.

This sense of entitlement is a foundational belief of the three Abrahamic religions. Jews believe that they are the chosen ones. Christians and Muslims believe they are God-ordained (ie. entitled) to proselytize and convert.