Lets have an honest talk about Religion

a reply to: Belcastro

personally, i believe there should be a new religion that is based on things we can understand easier.

Isn't it overdue for humanity to try harder to abandon religions? Instead of a new religion we need no religions.

The human race could stand in its naked honesty instead of doing the dance of the seven (religions) veils. Maybe, I know it's doubtful, just maybe we could reduce the conflicts in this world by withdrawing the unnecessary excuses and reasons?

It's hard enough to resolve conflicts when it's all about territory and resources. It's doubly difficult when the real reasons are buried beneath layers of mental real estate devoted to arguments about God.

originally posted by: Belcastro
personally, i believe there should be a new religion that is based on things we can understand easier.

Like it not what you suggest may be a on going social and historic process. The emergence of Christianity and Islam are examples of the logic I put on offer.

Do you think that evil is natural and that good and evil are two sides to the same coin?
or could there be an untold story scientifically behind the nature of good and evil.

A lot would depend of the parameters for the answers. Are Sociopaths and Psychopaths evil?

Do you believe that there is a higher power controlling or behind the scenes of the events of earth or judges them with higher authority?

No.

The Garden of Eden was part of a laboratory.

*micdrop*

originally posted by: Belcastro
if you were God would you write down everything you thought that was good and everything you thought that was evil and put it into a book?
Is right and wrong a decision of the creator to make or if you dont believe in a creator how do u go on living believing that there is no god.

If it were proven to me that God wasnt real then it would make me feel depresssed and maybe suicidal because all i think about is god and my relationship with it.( Not every single thought)

I would think this falls under the category of obsession. When thoughts alone get in the way of other aspects of your life. If your happiness depends on your idea of what god is and whether it cares about you or not, allthough you have no way of knowing for sure. Would one not tend to create a concept of a god that cares about them?

All gods are fantasies. This can be proven by assesing each individual's concept of what god is. There is no consensus, even in the same churches. Therefor no objective definition because there is nothing objective about people's beliefs. The more varied the concepts of god, the less likely that these concepts are coming from an entity that exists in reality and the more likely that the concepts are from each individuals belief in their own personal concept of a god.

I have been an atheist my entire life and i have never questioned my purpose or my worth because i don't try to define myself by old books or societal norms that the religious find so compelling.

Abrahamic religions cause deppression because it sets people up with a standard that is unreachable. (By design i would guess) leaving them to look for salvation, which the church teaches can only come from understanding their particular book. A book that doesn't even make enough sense that a consensus can be found amongst it's readers as to what it says or expects of the individual. Again no consensus because there is no objective truth or proof of any of it's claims. All the while it's adherents are constantly breaking the rules that are clear enough to understand. Proving that religion has no lasting effect other than an overbearing feeling of guilt for having fallen short of societal standards.

a reply to: Belcastro

if you were God would you write down everything you thought that was good and everything you thought that was evil and put it into a book?

The god of squirrels wouldn't need a book in my opinion.

if you dont believe in a creator how do u go on living believing that there is no god.

Must a god be a creator? As for continuing to live, pretty much the same as when I was a baby, or even a youngster, or like the grass, the trees, and bumblebees.

If it were proven to me that God wasnt real then it would make me feel depresssed and maybe suicidal because all i think about is god and my relationship with it.

A question was raised on a different thread concerning living in a secular society which contained religions hostile to one another. Which got me to reflecting.

I grew up in a small town. Fifty percent of my High School graduating class were the same people I had gone all the way through school with since Kindergarten. The town's churches represented the whole spectrum of Christian denominations. About 30% of which were very sectarian (the kind that has the "truth" to the exclusion of all others).

The differences of family church affiliation were never an issue among children. Friendships, playground partners, were not based upon theology whatsoever. A funny thing happened in High School though. Something changes in the adolescent mind, around 15-17 years of age. That's when a defensive posture toward one's family theology takes priority over a child's former outlook on friendships. The debates start, the proselytizing, the "Oh let me tell you how it really is, so you can be saved like me, instead of lost like you are now."

Children are not obsessed with theology at all. Children are cool, at least they were when I was a child. I don't think suicide is a major problem for 6 year olds.

originally posted by: Belcastro
if you were God would you write down everything you thought that was good and everything you thought that was evil and put it into a book?

I honestly cant think of a more petty and pointless thing to do if I was a literal deity.
I would instead spend time creating things so mind bogglingly amazing and grand...not spend too much time contemplating if one of my creations puts their tentacles on a part of their body I made pleasurable to them.

Is right and wrong a decision of the creator to make or if you dont believe in a creator how do u go on living believing that there is no god.

I am alive
I like being alive.
I can therefore assume others like being alive.
If I dont kill them, they wont kill me. rules should be put in place.
...
and for the feeble minded, we can invent a invisible deity idea that watches them when police arent watching to keep them obeying the laws of society.
But for the people who genuinely are good people, they dont need the idea of god ready to spank them to be less crappy to their neighbor..after all, you get back what you put out.

If it were proven to me that God wasnt real then it would make me feel depresssed and maybe suicidal because all i think about is god and my relationship with it.( Not every single thought)

religion is the opiate for the masses. yep.
why not try to find some worth in your life? dont you like pizza, sex, movies, space, science, etc...suicide into potential nothingness simply because a judgmental sky jerk isn't monitoring you? not sure even slaves think like that..what is that?

originally posted by: Mousygretchen
The Garden of Eden was part of a laboratory.

*micdrop*

Containment breach

originally posted by: Belcastro
if you were God would you write down everything you thought that was good and everything you thought that was evil and put it into a book?

Doubtful. Depends what kind of God I would be I guess.

Is right and wrong a decision of the creator to make or if you dont believe in a creator how do u go on living believing that there is no god.

It's easy to go on living realizing your God doesn't exist. Many people have experienced this, including myself. I was raised in a Christian family, but never had anything pounded into my head (meaning I wasn't indoctrinated[brainwashed]). It was just treated as reality. Now, I have no belief in any gods. I realized the only way I could continue believing was putting it all to some serious scrutiny. Which it doesn't stand up to in so many ways. For me, that included spiritually as well.

If it were proven to me that God wasnt real then it would make me feel depresssed and maybe suicidal because all i think about is god and my relationship with it.( Not every single thought)

Get a grip man, and face reality. It's a weight off your shoulders, casting it away. The question you need to ask yourself is, are you ready to truly question your faith or is it something you feel you need? While there may be a God out there, of sorts, it isn't yours (or the next guy's).

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: kelbtalfenek

Actually, that is a jaundiced view of religion. While it can do those things you mention, it can also provide a place for believers to come together in fellowship to learn and grow.

How many people are so confident in their own beliefs that they can exist in vacuum?

One is the loneliest number and faith communities insulate a person from that as they are meant to.

Good point, but one need not have religious groups to inspire community.

a reply to: Metallicus

Do you believe in reincarnation?

originally posted by: Belcastro
if you were God would you write down everything you thought that was good and everything you thought that was evil and put it into a book?
Is right and wrong a decision of the creator to make or if you dont believe in a creator how do u go on living believing that there is no god.

If it were proven to me that God wasnt real then it would make me feel depresssed and maybe suicidal because all i think about is god and my relationship with it.( Not every single thought)

That is sad!

"honest talk", good luck with that. Especially when people don't know what they're spreading falsehoods about (inadvertently sometimes, sometimes willful continued ignorance or feigned ignorance, even after being shown the evidence). Most people don't even acknowledge the human ability to find out the truth of a matter (see the thread about Pontius Pilate's question "What is truth?" and my comments there).