ok please don't go buck wild on me on this one but this i gotta say
to me religion is something that man it self made because we as human beign need some on higher than us to put orders, to be always right, to put something for us to follow
cuz in reality more than 90% of the world are "sheeps" meaning that they follow what they hear. so we have created this to give us something to pray to when we have problems or something to lay out rules
but we don't want a human beign doing it so we create a god in which is perfect and we need to follow
this is my belief on why religion was created and the purpose of it

So are u saying there is no God. There is a God blue.

no no no
i am catholic i believe that there is a god
it's just i am a new catholic
and sometimes these thoughts come to my mind in which i have to post because i want an answer

Bluegrl, I would highly recommend that you don't take everything that Jedimaster says as absolute truth...You'll just become another one of those 90% & he'll have you running off to some jihad or another in no time...

no MDS there are alot of things that Jedi and me don't agree and i still stand still on my opinion
just that he thinks that i think that there is no god
and i do believe that there is a god
but if you are catholic (don't know if u r) don't these questions come to your head?

The bible was made to keep humans in control

The Bible is one book there are at least 10 others (which present similar arguments).

My advise is that you read them all and afterwards form a conclusion.

For better or worst, the term Caviat Emptor is the most appropiate thing to consider.

I think I'll just answer the question.

Why religion/what is religion? It's always been an explaination for things we observe but have no explaination for. People heard thunder in the sky and sometimes it was raining and sometimes it wasn't. Since they had no idea about the physics of light and sound and weather dynamics, they said "something is the sky causes noises."

From there, they went to the concept of a deity. As stories (usually "teaching stories" that had some sort of moral point to them) developed around the gods, there came to be "keepers of the stories." These "keepers" were called priests.

The laws of the tribe were often taken to be given by the gods of the tribe -- and that's where the formal religion came in.



NOW -- there's another type of religious practice that goes in another direction, and that's called "shamanism."

In Shamanism, there's no formal laws and there may or may not be deities. The shaman is a mystic who contacts spirits (including ancestral spirits) or other entities (often the avatar of a hunting animal that the tribe likes to hunt) and works with them in a "dreamtime/dream space."

Some religions (Voodoo/Vaudon/Santeria) actually incorporate shamanism into the religion, but the shamanistic practices are more for controlling an environment or person than they are for handing down laws.

(wince) be prepared for a lot of preaching bluegrl89. i kind of agree with your first post. i think that god is a very individual interpretation, so individual to each person that they become their creation. suddenly, people start saying god will do such and such if you do such and such.they say god loves you, but will banish you to hell if you do anything wrong and dont ask for forgiveness. god becomes a feared thing. i believe there is a power, a life force. but i refrain from calling this god as people have twisted the idea so much and personified it. i dont really think i have a religion, just ideas
who knows? in the future, there could be a serious religion where they worship cheese

"Opium of the masses" Groucho and Karl Marx
(Losing my) dreary REM song.

An effort to understand all that exist from the perspective, that all that exist is alive.

Have you ever played a player verse player online game? well one thing is for certain, some of the people you play against will allways use any sort of hack/cheat or 'cheaptrick' to make the game frustration for you and fun for themselves, and why? Because they can.. very simple.
This seems to be a basic tendancy for particular people. (I should know, some of my friends are those people)

If you use this as an analogy for what your talking about then you can understand how religion is used as a sort of premptive moderator. To stop these sorts of people from doing what they otherwise could do, if they didnt have some sort of larger force hanging over their heads warning them 'hey thats not really the right way to go about what your doing, im gunna be very angry with you!!!'

or some # like that... my take on it anyway

O.k blue, so I was rash on saying that. I am sorry for judging u so quickly. If u do'nt know by now, many people on the message board either think I am nuts, or they simply do not agree with me. Well now it seems that u do belive. Midnight, a jihad is for Muslims, we Catholics have Crusades.

Originally posted by JediMasterO.k blue, so I was rash on saying that. I am sorry for judging u so quickly.

Quite a turnabout of attitude for someone who claims to have *never* judged anyone...

Originally posted by JediMasterMidnight, a jihad is for Muslims, we Catholics have Crusades.

"Jihad" is Muslim, yes...But it's translated to mean "Holy War"; Just as the Crusades were also considered to be "holy". In the end, they both achieve the same thing--"Kill everyone who doesn't agree with us".

So what's the *real* difference between them? Actually, no difference at all.


[Edited on 19-11-2002 by MidnightDStroyer]

The real difference is that the crusades occured nearly a 1000 years ago. among a people who were primitive, illiterate, easily swayed by retoric, and lived borderline existances...

Jihad, exists now among a people you would expect would have developed somwhat in the last 1000 years. Unfortunatly they havn't....

So what's the *real* difference between them? Actually, no difference at all.

[Edited on 19-11-2002 by Netchicken]

Religion is something for people to embrace for comfort in it's virginal beginnings - but then it quickly evolved into a bureaucratic power structure to keep the masses, well, as the masses, and the power elite in power.
Yes, you will be assailed by the overly religious on the boards, mods/admins & newbies alike. I've come to see it as folks being enamored by the limousine ride to the wedding & NOT the wedding itself. Religion is suppose to be the vehicle towards an individuals communion with God. All mainstream religions place manmade conventions to hinder that.
I'm deeply spiritual, pray several times a day, and can intellectualize the Concept of God.....I'm just not a fan of folks who think books of didactic stories are history tomes, think they're entitled to a divine afterlife over others because they chose NIKE over ADDIAS, which is what the choices of monotheism boil down to, or follow social & dietary guidelines from when a man with a beef could kill you with a donkey jawbone and from when no refrigeration meant a pork chop could kill you.
After 12 years of parochical school, the nuns-Jesuits-Brotherhood, reading all the holy books of every major religion and traveling the world to see it in play, I've realized that it's nothing more than Good v. Evil and how you conduct yourself & are true to your soul to maintain a roster spot on the good team.

[Edited on 19-11-2002 by Bout Time]

The Crusades were not about killing everyone who was not a Catholic. They were done to free the Holy Land from the Muslims, when they stopped Catholics from goiong there.

Originally posted by Estragon
"Opium of the masses" Groucho and Karl Marx
(Losing my) dreary REM song.

All the time I thought that damn song was something deep ( for REM, anyway ) only to find that it's really a Southern expression for being completely pissed off!
As in " Boy, get y'all things on this truck now before I lose my religion!"