The official oPg Religion Thread

[Jenksz]

What's everyone's thoughts on religion, pointless/worthy cause, beliefs/non believers?

[jake]

God is an invention to help mankind cope with the unknown.

[Jedakiah]

What version is this?  Version 3.0 was my favorite.  Too many bugs in the beta.

[Labyrinthine]

This may seem disjointed, as I moved it from the politics thread.

I don't have much against children being steeped in their parent's religion. At that age, children do not have the ability to make a well thought out decision regarding the topics religions cover. Telling a child to make their own choice at that age will more than likely cause more harm than the alternatives.

What bothers me is families who resent children making their own decisions when they are old enough to do so. As a child, the primary belief system was that of the parents; as a person matures, they should be able to make decisions about their belief system without fear of retribution or otherwise. Sadly, that is rarely the case. Hence, my beef with religion.

I have absolutely no problem with whatever you believe, I just ask that you reciprocate that.

[ariel]

meh i stopped beliving quite some time ago, my reasons are a mixture of intellectual reasoning and personal observations






that doesnt stop me from wishing there was a god every now and then though

[Jenksz]

meh i stopped beliving quite some time ago, my reasons are a mixture of intellectual reasoning and personal observations






that doesnt stop me from wishing there was a god every now and then though

I concur with this 100%.

It seems almost too unrealistic to me to think that something that has caused so many wars, so many deaths, so much chaos and so much strife could be the work of a greater being all about mercy, love and forgiveness.

[jake]

meh i stopped beliving quite some time ago, my reasons are a mixture of intellectual reasoning and personal observations






that doesnt stop me from wishing there was a god every now and then though

I concur with this 100%.

It seems almost too unrealistic to me to think that something that has caused so many wars, so many deaths, so much chaos and so much strife could be the work of a greater being all about mercy, love and forgiveness.

To be fair, God didn't cause all of these wars.  Man did.  It's easy for men to give God as their reason for war, then killing becomes holy. 

It seems like makes it easy to live with themselves, almost gives them a sense of pride to kill in the name of God.  Those same people probably wouldn't kill under normal circumstances.

[Jedakiah]

To be fair, God didn't cause all of these wars.  Man did.  It's easy for men to give God as their reason for war, then killing becomes holy. 

It seems like makes it easy to live with themselves, almost gives them a sense of pride to kill in the name of God.  Those same people probably wouldn't kill under normal circumstances.

So very true. 

It astounds me that more people do not see the hypocrisy there.  An extraordinary amount of wars are caused directly by religion.  And those that aren't generally include people from the same religions fighting each other, both claiming that god is on their side. 

[Jenksz]

To be fair, God didn't cause all of these wars.  Man did.  It's easy for men to give God as their reason for war, then killing becomes holy. 

It seems like makes it easy to live with themselves, almost gives them a sense of pride to kill in the name of God.  Those same people probably wouldn't kill under normal circumstances.

So very true. 

It astounds me that more people do not see the hypocrisy there.  An extraordinary amount of wars are caused directly by religion.  And those that aren't generally include people from the same religions fighting each other, both claiming that god is on their side. 

Well then that's contradictory to what the church states, or stated. They believe god is involved in every day life and the decisions made by man. However, I know that was their original view, with the introduction of the various concepts of the universe (IE geocentric, heliocentric, Newtons concept of gravity) their view has changed significantly based on findings in science.

[jake]

When you say THE church I assume you're speaking about the Catholic church, since they've been around forever.

I believe if a church proclaims itself as true, it shouldn't change.  That's my opinion anyway.

If God's law is higher than man's law, then a church shouldn't change it's rules based on pressure from government.  This is no shot at any particular church, and all churches.

[ariel]

if god created man isnt he responsible for what man does, or at least an accompice when he sits idly by

[Latro]

if god created man isnt he responsible for what man does, or at least an accompice when he sits idly by

Well, that depends..  Humankind always acts like the most important things is what is happening right now in this life...  But, as almost all religions state, God being eternal may have a better and completely different idea of what is important.

Death, war, pain, suffering, etc to humans may be just a skinned knee from a different perspective... 

Are you a bad parent if you let your child learn to ride their bike, and you let go even if you know their is a good chance they might fall and skin their knee, and then they do so?     

[ariel]

Yet the reality is there is no evidence that god exists, all religions give us today are writings about an interventious god who new refuses to intervene. We are asked to place faith in a system of beliefs derived from a book we know is full of lies. Today people will say these occurences in the bible that there is no historical or scientific evidence for were allegories or stories intended to make a point. If thats the case how do we know what is real and what is false? Of course you could argue the whole idea of religion is palcing faith and placing faith is an illogical act.

killings  in the bible:
God 2,391,421
Satan 10

god must really think death is just a skinned knee in the long run because he sure didnt seem to give a shit

[Jenksz]

See, there's no evidence and your right, but the one thing that causes a large majority of people to have faith is this. Sure evolution takes a species so far, but that's just the physical. Somewhere down the line, whether it be with the accidental creation of fire, or the wheel, a switch was flicked that set us on to a path of rationality and self awareness.

[ariel]

See, there's no evidence and your right, but the one thing that causes a large majority of people to have faith is this. Sure evolution takes a species so far, but that's just the physical. Somewhere down the line, whether it be with the accidental creation of fire, or the wheel, a switch was flicked that set us on to a path of rationality and self awareness.

From my understanding most people's problem with evolution isnt what we've bceome but where we've started. There is no "switch flicking" in species development. Self awareness and rationality are things I believe developed slowly over time from progressive brain development. We arent the only creatures that are self aware either. Great apes dolphins and some other mammals all have passed the mirror test.