What if one of the older religions was still popular today...

Then we would all be arguing whether or not odin forged us with his hammer, how big his hammer was, and why guys with really big beards and only one eye are cool. Or perhaps we would be discussing Shang ti, or Quezcoatal (spelling?).

which leads me to my next point. what we call "pagan" religions now, just means religions that were in power before the current "mainstream" ones that exist today. Some of them had very interesting beliefs. Each of them had their own creation myth, and each of them taught respect and some form of keeping people from killing each other needlessly. And each of them had supposed "proxies" for the pantheons of gods involved, Valkyries, dragons, Angels, Demons, various animal hybrids etc. Depending on the religious pantheon involved. And lastly of course each of them had some "place" you go when you die, depending on if you were good or bad, vallhalla, hades, elsyium, etc

my point is religions are a placebo for getting people to believe in a set of good moral values, Something which we still need for alot of people since they dont have a good understanding of the world. before we had video cameras, the internet, telephones, and electricity, people had to rely alot on word of mouth, and the church to know what was going on. So religion was very useful up till the recent past (100 years) now it is just holding us back (stem cell research, terrorism, etc).

Why was this post moved from ats ?

religion is one big conspiracy now, theres no need for it except to peddle some unrealistic beliefs

ahh my apologies!

I just read THIS Forum and noticed alot of people posting the same thing. well then ill discuss it here then !

Sorry to have made a similiar thread.

[edit on 10-7-2005 by Davood]

first of all, most people who promote pagen beliefs are more like neo-pagans that barrow the best of the past and mold it into the society of now. Some old pagen religions practiced infant sacrifices, or particiapted in mass orgies to worship thier fertility Gods. basically if you wanted to do something, you craeted a God to worship, and ways to worship.

Pagen practices are a religion to. And the number of differing religions out there could very well be equal to the number of people who worship in some way

Governments know of the benifical effects of orginzied religions for communities. That is why Churches don't need to pay taxes.

Now as far as holding us back, because of acronisitc beliefs. That is a major assumtion that only takes into account a few extremists. I am willing to be there are some christians working on cutting edge of stem cell research that have no problems with what they are doing. But then you have a ideolog as preisdent who hears ones thing, assumes it is bad, and moves to block it because of his religions fanaticisum, regardless that current stem cell research has as much to do with killing fetus' as a women's period.

Some religious leaders use religion for the wrong reason. They take advatage of a person's Piety and force them to perform acts of faith to prove they are truely devout.

One thing you seem to forget, is the effect of fellowship, sharing your faith with others, that beleive the same, and differant as yourself. And the amount of peace you can find talking ot a person. Not to metion the blessings you can receive from them in a time of need.

Davood I belived the same way as yourself, and I think everyone does at a certain time. But unless you are willing to understand a person's faith you really don't have anyauthority to judge them. I am talking about individuals. At the individual levels you will find diamonds in what seems nothing but coal on the outside

Old religion popular? Hinduism is still going strong. It has a lot of your seemingly "ridiculous legends". No one cares. The thing about divinity is the power to go against what is natural. Dead peoples spirits can travel down the nile and suddenly appear in the land of the dead, you could climb Olympus a certain way and end up in heaven.

Even if all those religions were still going on, they would find ways to adapt to the present.

We are not too far removed from the older religions in our growing secularism. Mostly, the stuff just gets repackaged.

Humanism..the feel good, love yourself better then everything else, keeping truth and morallity relative to your own desires.. is alive and well today as it was back in the day. Those pantheons had a god or goddess for every human emotion or desire.
Back then they went to the sex shrines and lived it up...sex, drugs, and ..?...
Then when the result of the activity was born...the baby was taken down to the local abortion shrine (baal, molech...) and burned with fire as a sacrifice.

Today we have night clubs in place of the sex goddess... (girls gone wild comes to mind. Just turn on your tv at 4am) and the same thing happens.
Then they take the baby to the local baal clinic...where it is killed inside the womb most times...then ripped out...and incinerated.

Repackaged feel good religion. Just remove the name ester and baal and dont call it religion

Originally posted by jake1997
We are not too far removed from the older religions in our growing secularism. Mostly, the stuff just gets repackaged.

Humanism..the feel good, love yourself better then everything else, keeping truth and morallity relative to your own desires.. is alive and well today as it was back in the day.

Irresponsible and distructive behaviour is hardly humanism.

Repackaged feel good religion. Just remove the name ester and baal and dont call it religion

Christianity in the middle ages had it's own variation of sex temples. 'Serving god' meant also servicing the local clergy and was meant to be a sacred honour [they also had first dibs on brides of course]. Funny how people like to draw pararells between old pagen religions and modern culture while completely ignoring the history of their own beliefs.

[edit on 13-7-2005 by riley]

the difference between the RCC and Christ..you will become a better person.
I may as well say that you and your family are responsible for the 6 million jews murdered in WW2. Whats the connection? You look similar to some SS pics I saw.

That is how far off you are in calling those folks 'christian'. (followers of Christ and do'ers of His Word)

CHeck out these two links.

Catholic Church Faces New Sex Scandal

Google search

Now when you read that first link...keep in mind that God says there is nothing new under the sun. The things people do today..were done before.

You have just proved it with the brief history lesson and now this Fox link

That RCC stuff prolly deserves its own thread.

Now we are back to what I said earlier.

Same stuff, just repackaged. Just as vile though

If we were still following some of the old religions that we follow today then we most probaly would be killing each other and sacrificing people for the fun of it to whichever god we think doesnt like us any more.

Originally posted by Shenroon
If we were still following some of the old religions that we follow today then we most probaly would be killing each other and sacrificing people for the fun of it to whichever god we think doesnt like us any more.

Blood for money? The money god has claimed many a life.