Why do people always feel the need to be saved by the supernatural?

I was reading a thread "What will it take you to believe? (God)" www.abovetopsecret.com...
And I saw a common trend. I saw a reply stating that peace would have to ensue, and the end of suffering. Same goes with Aliens, (the Aliens will save us!). I have the feeling that some people do not entirely grasp the concepts and the importance of free will, we humans must learn what is right and good on our own.

See in there is a common misconception in religious beliefs, is the idea that God will come and save us and everything will be fine and dandy. Then you have the Atheists and Agnostics that say God cannot possibly exist because he would not allow the suffering of his people.

If one reads the common Christian and Judaism old testament, they find a nice story about Adam & Eve. This story is thought of as a Myth to frighten people, I however find it as the key to the religion itself. Adam & Eve were in the Garden of Eden, and they were living all fine and what not until they ate the apple from the tree of "knowledge". This made them realize their potential of power and the potential of Good and Evil (the Cane & Able story for example). So God said hey you can't live here anymore and sent them out into the world on their own (sort of). Basically saying hey if you want knowledge and power, you have to learn to use it responsibly and for the benefit of all mankind. Free Will.

Then in the New Testament you have Christ. Who everyone thought at the time would come in and save the Jews, and defeat the Roman Empire. Obviously he did not do that, and that's partially why not everyone bought that he was the messiah. It again points to something very important, people need to learn to get along and use their knowledge & power for the right reasons.

I'm sure this is not the only religion that sees the importance of free will but I thought I would use it as an example.

Now we move on to Aliens. A lot of people think Aliens will come down and save humanity when it's on the brink of destruction. Everything will be great and Cats and Dogs will live together in peace. Let me ask you a question, when a kid is playing around with hot like a curling iron, the parent could easily take away the curling iron and save the kid from hurting them self, but the kid will learn nothing of the danger or consequences of doing such an action.

Same goes with Aliens & God. IF they exist, one must understand that if they were to come and save us, what would we learn? Lets say Aliens come down and give us laser technology, we'd get it and be like "Hey this would make a great weapon..."

Listen the Bible may just be a bunch of stories, and Aliens may not be visiting us, but there is an important lesson we must learn. No one can save humanity but us. Sure some people (entities, Gods, beings, whatever) may come and teach us important lessons, but it is Us, We Humans who must learn to use the knowledge responsibly and for the benifit of Mankind. There's a famous saying "God helps those who help themselves."

reply to post by asmall89


athiestic misconception number one:

I love God

Its a simple as that, i'ts nothing about getting saved. It may to be hard to understand but its a desire to do the right think in his eyes and trust him under all circumstances that i strive for.

I am Christian and as such, it's my opinion that God knows the heart of people who profess to be following him and believe him.

following Christ, is or should be, a continuing act of selflessness. Believing just to be saved, is completely against that and also what Christ teaches.

WHen i became a Christian it was through no need or desire to escape any kind of ending of my exsistance whatsoever. Before i was a Christian i was completely comfortable with dying

David

[edit on 2-8-2009 by drevill]

reply to post by drevill


Agreed. Certain Atheists say that if there was a God there wouldn't be such a mess here on Earth. Well because us Humans are given free will we have to understand that the suffering we experience is caused by Humans. We must learn to be good, God (or Aliens) cannot force people to be good. I think that's why many Religious and Conspiracy theorists tend to be a fan of the founding fathers and the Constitution. They represented a huge sense of freedom and choice, the idea of free will within Law.