Coming around again...

Yes, I know my title is the same as a Carly Simon song, but please don't hold my dire musical tastes against me.

I digress. I was posting on another thread which was about Scientology, which is a Cult that has always held great interest to me as it was the first proper cult I ever researched in my younger years and it got me hooked on the subject matter, especially cult leaders themselves and the way they create "reality" for their followers.

Anyway, now that the background stuff is out of the way, here is the actual post I made that made me start thinking:

Originally posted by revmoofoo I really like this:

No doubt you are familiar with the Revelations section of the Bible where various events are predicted. Also mentioned is a brief period of time in which an archenemy of Christ, referred to as the Antichrist, will reign and his opinions will have sway. All this makes for very fantastic, entertaining reading but there is truth in it. This Antichrist represents the forces of Lucifer (literally, the "light bearer" or "light bringer"), Lucifer being a mythical representation of the forces of enlightenment, the Galactic Confederacy. My mission could be said to fulfill the Biblical promise represented by this brief Antichrist period. During this period there is a fleeting opportunity for the whole scenario to be effectively derailed, which would make it impossible for the mass Markabian landing (Second Coming) to take place. The Second Coming is designed, among other things, to trigger a rapid series of destructive events.

Source Sound familiar? Move a couple of bits around, change a few names and what do we have? Delusions of grandeur still evident today in people like David Wilcox and the like. Same old stories, same old gullible victims. Shame on us all for believing junk like this at some point in our lives. lol Rev

And this is the Scientology document I was quoting from above.

So what I was thinking/wondering was why do people continue to believe re-hashed versions of the above when they are so obviously just old stories being changed and retold to fit a purpose? (like the story of Christ and how the same stories about a "god-man" appear in many other cultures, but pre-date Christianity)

Why are we so gullible so often? And why is it that some of us never learn our lesson and keep believing this regurgitated garbage? I'm being very broad with the whole "we" thing by the way, so please don't take that as me me calling everyone in the world stupid and gullible. lol

I've kind of forgotten exactly where I was going, so like anyone who's forgotten what they were saying, I'm going to take this opportunity to open the topic up to the floor...
__________________________________________________________

I just remembered where I was going with all of this. It's not just religion where this happens. We hear the same re-hashed stories about aliens, disclosure, UFO's, the Occult, etc and here we are (being "broad" again with the we thing) lapping it up like the sheeple we spend our lives trying not to be.

I know that we're all looking for our own personal saviour/leader/mentor in one way or another, it could even be argued that the search for truth will always involve such things, but in this age of information it is inexcusable for any of us to constantly have (or be so desperate in our search that we almost "want" to have) the wool pulled over our eyes the way so many of us often do here on ATS. Someday's, it feels like we're inviting ignorance round for a tea-party.

That's where I was going...kinda. lol

Rev

reply to post by revmoofoo


Humans are social animals...whoever is percieved to 'have the answers' will be followed blindly...if a bad outcome is reached...it's not the person's fault...it's their religion.

Handing over personal responsibilty to a charismatic type is a rich human tradition...whether political, religious, or philisophical.

Excellent thread! S&F!

Originally posted by revmoofoo

So what I was thinking/wondering was why do people continue to believe re-hashed versions of the above when they are so obviously just old stories being changed and retold to fit a purpose? (like the story of Christ and how the same stories about a "god-man" appear in many other cultures, but pre-date Christianity)

Why are we so gullible so often? And why is it that some of us never learn our lesson and keep believing this regurgitated garbage? I'm being very broad with the whole "we" thing by the way, so please don't take that as me me calling everyone in the world stupid and gullible. lol

People want to believe there is something, somewhere that will either help them or save them. Some people realize this and rehash old stuff to sucker the people who want to believe.

Where there are a few bucks to be made, people will be had.

It's all about the benjamins.

reply to post by RoswellCityLimits


That's the best first reply I've had to a thread in ages.

Thanks for that.

Rev

reply to post by supine


Ahhh another cynical soul...welcome brother!

I'm afraid you're probably right. It's a sad old world really.

Rev

OP - "So what I was thinking/wondering was why do people continue to believe re-hashed versions of the above when they are so obviously just old stories being changed and retold to fit a purpose? (like the story of Christ and how the same stories about a "god-man" appear in many other cultures, but pre-date Christianity)

Why are we so gullible so often? And why is it that some of us never learn our lesson and keep believing this regurgitated garbage? I'm being very broad with the whole "we" thing by the way, so please don't take that as me me calling everyone in the world stupid and gullible. lol "

By your very comments you deny the possibility that God truly does have a plan. You infer that people are silly to put their Faith in Jesus Christ when you have no personal knowledge of Him. So in effect, you simply deny God.

You must remember that others have been led to Him. They know. They don't doubt. I know that He exists, just as I know that I exist. By calling people gullible, you are insulting. There really is no way around it.

reply to post by WhoKnows100


Erm...I think you and I read a different thread, but thank you for participating brother.

Rev

ETA:

I also believe that god has a plan...but I probably have a different view of god and faith from your good self. Also, please don't take the "brother" comment in my post as me being sarcastic as we are all brothers and sisters in the grand scheme of things.

I just don't see how they are different from any other religion. I mean if i made a list of celebrity Christians it would be too big to post and would probably take up over 90 pages.

Originally posted by PrimalRed
I just don't see how they are different from any other religion. I mean if i made a list of celebrity Christians it would be too big to post and would probably take up over 90 pages.

I concur, but that's not what the post was about really. :p

Rev

Originally posted by revmoofoo

Originally posted by PrimalRed
I just don't see how they are different from any other religion. I mean if i made a list of celebrity Christians it would be too big to post and would probably take up over 90 pages.

I concur, but that's not what the post was about really. :p

Rev

Why does it matter? People believe in all sorts of things, what makes one better than the other? Try to find ANY organization that is not trying to get you to believe in something and make a buck off you.
www.americanhumanist.org...
npo.networkforgood.org...
www.ucc.org...

reply to post by PrimalRed


I didn't say it mattered my friend. I was trying to be humours, but forgot that doesn't always work properly on ATS.

Rev

reply to post by revmoofoo


eh, poe's law at work

reply to post by PrimalRed


That made me smile. Have a star for that.

Rev

I feel like you're actually asking two different questions, and in my mind they've got two different answers.

The first is why do so many disparate religions/myths/stories seem to share broad story lines and odd details - I got fascinated by this in college, and everything I've uncovered since leads me to believe that there's some kind of fundamental truth that has found its way into all these stories - I don't know if it's literal or metaphorical truth, but there's so much consistency, especially among cultures that shouldn't have been able to share stories, that it makes me wonder...

The second question is why do we believe this stuff? And I guess I'm suggesting that the answer to that depends somewhat on the answer to the first question. I don't subscribe to any religion myself, and I don't believe in the absolute truth of any one group's stories, but I think I like the idea that we're all responding to some deep universal truth in the stories, rather than that we're all suckers who allow ourselves to be duped on a regular basis. But I suppose either could be true, and there are plenty of group psychology related explanations for the latter.

Interesting thoughts to kick off a thread - I look forward to seeing other people's responses -

Edit to add: I just saw your edit to the OP, where you opened the argument to include stories about aliens etc, so I might be going off in the wrong direction here. I'll think on it some more...

reply to post by magicrat


This is why I like posting my insane ramblings on here, so many differing and interesting ideas.

Thanks for being part of the conversation.

Rev