Help me understand religion, because quite frankly it just seems silly to me now....

Back in junior/primary school i used to Play with Pokemon card's (Ironically this was a church of England school) I used to watch as the playground was filled with crazed kids swapping and battling to gain some sort of popularity in this ongoing game which revolved around pictures and writing printed on paper and card, To those primary school kids this was A Religion. However it was also a trend that passed, Just as religion has done for centuries.

If i made up a perfect image of a father/God like figure in my mind today and made him my deity then wrote a book about him and became so engrossed in my belief that the said figure could be my one salvation from eternal damnation people would look at me funny, they would laugh and tell me I'm a nut-job but in reality how is this any different from belief in any other established religion?
If my belief was so strong in this figure i had just made up in my mind one day was so strong that id be willing to do practically anything in his name how would that be any different to any other established religion?

Nobody's idea of God is the same, God is an entirely unique perspective based on your own individual personality, What you really believe in is yourself.
"God" is everything good in you, a lighthouse in the darkness and a light to guide you.
People have many different names for this Light and some who live in darkness don't see it all.
It just seems logical to me that people attach their own belief in themselves to some form of deity in order to reach for something already located within themselves.
However belief can be misguided, If belief is given a set of rules those rules can be bent depending on the individual even distorted to justify ones actions, This is when people get hurt...

Sorry all i was just putting down some of my thoughts on the subject, However you shouldn't take any of ramblings literally because they and my mind are open to elaboration, Just thought it would be nice to bounce some of my thoughts off ATS

Yours Always

Ted

reply to post by TedHodgson


This is how I see it.

If you travel back 5,000-3,000 years ago, our ancestors' knowledge of the natural world around them would have been very rudimentary to say the least. Coupled with environmental interactions and cultural diffusion, there's an array of different possibilities for which a "God-factor" can arise. When a devastating earthquake shatters a society, what do you think they are going to attribute it to? Definitely not shifting plates, because they had no knowledge of that. Humans are creative and this creativity can sometimes lead us to believing it as a reality. So they imposed a supernatural cause to a simple and explainable, although not at their time, occurrence.

Religion definitely does have an evolution and it's become an intrinsic property of humans, that I don't see us divorcing any time soon.

So you grew up and stop believing in Fairy Tales too? Doesn't it suck? Now you are in control of your own life-that feels great!

Hmmm are you Father Ted by any chance? lol...

On-topic Yeah I think you could be right. I did get sucked in for a while by a religious organization. I won't say which one as it's unimportant. I wouldn't say I was looking to fill a void at the time it just sort of came about and it definitely struck me as having some truth to it. But eventually the more I learned the more inconsistencies struck me and it made me question.

For instance the religion in question taught me that satan was an angel and he questioned god basically and he wanted to share some of the praise (seems reasonable to me) but god said no! The praise was all for him! Seemed kind of selfish! Not really a god like quality!

Then there are all the massacres within the bible, some containing women and children, but hey it's okay because they would be resurrected! Didn't sit well with me.

Also they didn't exactly follow what the bible taught regarding feeding your brother and clothing your brother and offering shelter and all the rest of it. But you can't blame the bible for that I suppose.

One thing I will say though is that the bible does contain SOME wisdom. Just not enough that I would want to run my life by it! And what if it was a load of non-sense? I wasted my life for nothing? Nah think I'll just enjoy what I have now...

Sky Daddy give me peace of mind,

Be good Be loving Love him Goto HeavenLive Forever

Sound good to me.

Me like believing in Jeduss (as my kids call Him)

(Me very simple, just like all Christian,
we just like fairy tale
we simple folk)

reply to post by Iason321


Careful now, Don't give atheists fuel for the fire....

reply to post by IEtherianSoul9


What a great perspective as well! I came to a similar conclusion myself as well however if i put down all my thoughts on the Subject of the formation of religion in one thread id have a pretty big thread of mixed nonsense to say they least

reply to post by IEtherianSoul9


I agree, religion is our first attempt at explaining things.. and because it is our first, it is our worst. we now have science to explain the things we once deemed supernatural.. no need to believe in creation when we now know we are products of evolution.

Originally posted by IEtherianSoul9
reply to post by TedHodgson

 

This is how I see it.

If you travel back 5,000-3,000 years ago, our ancestors' knowledge of the natural world around them would have been very rudimentary to say the least. Coupled with environmental interactions and cultural diffusion, there's an array of different possibilities for which a "God-factor" can arise. When a devastating earthquake shatters a society, what do you think they are going to attribute it to? Definitely not shifting plates, because they had no knowledge of that. Humans are creative and this creativity can sometimes lead us to believing it as a reality. So they imposed a supernatural cause to a simple and explainable, although not at their time, occurrence.

Religion definitely does have an evolution and it's become an intrinsic property of humans, that I don't see us divorcing any time soon.

edit on 4/22/2012 by IEtherianSoul9 because: (no reason given)

Very well put, very concisely.

You have arrived at enlightenment, been raised to the living in a vertical world.

I think it was Jonny Cash that pit this as part of a song and I reckon it sums things up pretty much "I swear there ain't no heaven and I pray there ain't no hell" Yep, I know, double negatives all ove the place but heck, it's from America (no offence to all of my USA mates) and they can't even pronounce aluminium correctly (or Aussie, every time I hear a yank say Ossie is makes my skin cawl)

reply to post by steve1709


Good ol' cash eh

reply to post by TedHodgson


Religion is silly, Jesus isn't religion:




Jesus VS Religion



"Religion Saves" + Nine Other Misconceptions

reply to post by TedHodgson

Religimon, gotta bless 'em all

Originally posted by TedHodgson

Nobody's idea of God is the same, God is an entirely unique perspective based on your own individual personality, What you really believe in is yourself.

Just the opposite. Anyone who believes in themselves is failing themselves and lying to themselves.

"God" is everything good in you, a lighthouse in the darkness and a light to guide you.

God is everything good. Period. Having a lighthouse in the darkness doesn't come from your own doing. It comes from God.

It just seems logical to me that people attach their own belief in themselves to some form of deity in order to reach for something already located within themselves.

People believe in God because of personal experiences in which they knew they had ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL. Otherwise, we'd all just read self help books and attend self help seminars year round.

Anyone who thinks that you can obtain God by focusing on yourself, doesn't know who God is. Only after you take attention and focus away from yourself will you find Him.

Religion comes from the other side of the pond. In the new world we dumped Asherah/Ishtar the Queen of Heaven for the real God, Yeshua which is why "they" branded us renegades and heretics. Well most of us dumped that bitch, some here follow her still.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


You do realize calling Jesus earth mother a bitch is incredibly disrespectful to Yeshua right?

Catholics don't worship ishtar and they don't worship mary (not most of them anyways)

They ask Mary for her prayers and intercession,

Making negative or generalizing judgmental statements against Catholics (who number 1+ billion on our planet) is no way to spread the Gospel of Yeshua

reply to post by TedHodgson

. . . how would that be any different to any other established religion?

Because it would be your personal belief.
A religion is a group of people having the same personal belief.
I think you have a deeper question that comes up after this quoted one above in my post.
God, as in who or what that is? God is something outside of us, though one activity of God may be coming inside you to allow you to do things you may not have been inclined to do so much before.
I have had personal experiences with God, or what I assume to be God, based on my understanding of what God would be like, from my religious upbringing which was Christian, which also informs me that it wasn't exactly God Himself, but more likely ordinary angels who get the OK to intervene for whatever reason. I am one example, but if you had a whole community who had God-encounter experiences, and took them all to be results of one particular God, then you have the basis for a religion.

The way to handle the Christians is to tell them you believe in mother nature, and their endless run around book isn't worth the time to read it.

Life is much more intelligent without the Christian's nonsense. The world would be vastly different without Constantine's formula for making miracles out of sheep herder's imaginations.

Originally posted by Iason321
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

You do realize calling Jesus earth mother a bitch is incredibly disrespectful to Yeshua right?

He's not, he is calling Ashteroh/Ishtar/Isis/Semiramis one. Catholics just call her by a Christian name to maintain their Mystery Religion of a father-like figure, a son-like figure, and a queen of heaven-like figure.

Catholics don't worship ishtar and they don't worship mary (not most of them anyways)

I've seen countless idols made in her image. Catholics offer prayers to her. Christians don't even offer prayers to angels. Praying to any human who is passed on is called "necromancy".

They ask Mary for her prayers and intercession,

Mary is a dead human being, that's necromancy. There is only one intercessor between God and us, His Son Jesus Christ.

Making negative or generalizing judgmental statements against Catholics (who number 1+ billion on our planet) is no way to spread the Gospel of Yeshua

Jesus has VERY naughty words to say about the whore that rides the beast in the last book of the Bible. Very naughty words. Says she is drunk with the blood of the saints. 18+ million dead saints and counting....

Originally posted by MagnumOpus
The way to handle the Christians is to tell them you believe in mother nature, and their endless run around book isn't worth the time to read it.

Life is much more intelligent without the Christian's nonsense. The world would be vastly different without Constantine's formula for making miracles out of sheep herder's imaginations.

That doesn't hurt our feelings. Worship whatever you want to, it's a free country.