To the contrary, those who are religious could be much stronger through faith, than those who have none. There was nothing weak-minded about the crusaders for example.
Whats the point of religion?
- Thread starter David McHenry
- Start date
It wan't a matter of being strong-minded, it was a matter of bored knights wanting to have a bit of fun.
When you fail to draw inspiration from your own initiative and blindly follow others, I would consider that weak-minded. The more rigidly you hold other peoples' views, the less individuality and free thought you have.
Religious people are not necessarily blindly following others though. They may genuinely believe what the religion has to say, or they may believe in a more personal relationship with God- something that they have figured out for themselves and something that makes sense to them.
But you are saying that as someone who doesn't believe in God. If one does believe in God, a higher force than all of us, then surely that higher force is likely to know more than us. Most religious people don't go to their religious texts to respond to everyday issues, but they may use it as a basis for helping them think through the fundamentals of what is right and wrong. Some religious people may blindly follow the text sure, but others do read and interpret it for themselves in a way that makes sense to them.If I want to figure out how to respond to an issue, I don't have a flick through the Talmud. I use my head.
Agreed!
The Bible is the Word of God. I believe that all of it was devinely inspiried, and that it accords 100% with what God wanted written in it. The exception, to some extent, would be the Old Testament. That was still what God wanted to say, but was written for a different time and a different people with a special set of circumstances.
If the Old Testament itself had been sufficient, God wouldn't have needed to come in the form of a man (Jesus) and establish the Gospels and add considerably to the written word up to that stage (the Old Testament).
But I must disagree when you say most people don't turn to their religious texts to respond to everyday issues. I think many do, and the one's who don't should!
Y'know I think athiests enjoy bashing theists as unintelligent lesser persons..I really don't get this. I think the point of religion is to have some common ground and probably some comfort in shared beliefs. Most importantly it's a form of expressing and understanding ethics.
In my point of view, religion is there to guide people in moving forward. If we only have science around, anyone could do a more false thing and make people believe in it and control them freely.
Religion is one of the things that we are here, living with the people we love and hoping for a better tomorrow.
It is well said. Religion not only makes us move forward with self-belief but takes us in the right path as well, the path that leads us towards the Supreme Bliss.
Very true. Honestly, I'm not against atheist even though sometimes, it hurts hearing them contradict what we believed in.
Instead, I used it a learning to understand people.
I have also asked a friend from another board to come around here and see what other people believes in. The guy is a Catholic like me but he always tell people that his religion is greater and later on, get bashed by other people with different religion.
Personally I do not believe in religion, because I think that religion is very hypocritical. People who follow religion can never follow it completely. Even if they do believe in religion and force themselves to follow it somewhere or somehow they, in their minds they won't really completely follow it.
I believe in God, however, not in religion.
I believe in God, however, not in religion.
I think that religion is to give people something to strive for. I also think that it is there to give people comfort. It is easy to believe that if you lived your life as a good person, that you will be rewarded for it, and those who do wrong will pay for it.
I think that for some, it keeps them from being consumed with anger if they lost someone they loved, or if someone did something bad to them. I think that for some it is a lot easier to forgive someone who wronged them if they believe that in the end, that that person will get theirs. On the other side of the coin, it is comforting to believe that, in the end you will be rewarded for the good things you've done in your life or that you will see your loved one again someday after they have passed, as opposed to them just rotting in the ground, or that your good deeds will go unrewarded.
It is comforting to believe that no matter what you do, or the choices you make, good or bad, that you can still be forgiven, and that you are loved by someone up there when you are feeling alone.
I think that, in many respects, religion is a security blanket for those who don't want to face reality. I think that this can be seen in those who refuse to believe scientific facts. If you just say, that "God created us, and the planets" that that is easier than asking how we got here, and then spending your time trying to find out for yourself.
Especially since, once you find one thing, you will then have to question how that got here as well.. etc.. etc.. If you just say "God" and leave it at that, then that could be considered a cop out.
I think that for some, it keeps them from being consumed with anger if they lost someone they loved, or if someone did something bad to them. I think that for some it is a lot easier to forgive someone who wronged them if they believe that in the end, that that person will get theirs. On the other side of the coin, it is comforting to believe that, in the end you will be rewarded for the good things you've done in your life or that you will see your loved one again someday after they have passed, as opposed to them just rotting in the ground, or that your good deeds will go unrewarded.
It is comforting to believe that no matter what you do, or the choices you make, good or bad, that you can still be forgiven, and that you are loved by someone up there when you are feeling alone.
I think that, in many respects, religion is a security blanket for those who don't want to face reality. I think that this can be seen in those who refuse to believe scientific facts. If you just say, that "God created us, and the planets" that that is easier than asking how we got here, and then spending your time trying to find out for yourself.
Especially since, once you find one thing, you will then have to question how that got here as well.. etc.. etc.. If you just say "God" and leave it at that, then that could be considered a cop out.
Religion has three social causes. The first is the natural - people don't understand something, so they create an explanation. "God" is a ready made explanation. It also acts as a comfort blanket might for a small child. The second is inherence in society. People are socially inducted into a religion by their families and/or community. The final is from authority. People in power use religion to control the masses.
In honesty I think religion is mans doing to gain and maintain control over the masses. In the beginning religion was forced by law and used to scare people into behaving and parting with their coins. As if they didnt do that enough already lol.
Not to mention, the bible was edited too in earlier times, and even used to devalue women. That's still going on. I can't say why they wanted to devalue women exactly, that's beyond me.
But even today people feel safer and more stable with a religion to fall back on. They feel they have some guidance. I think the original point was to offer guidance and explanations but it quickly degraded into a control thing.
Many years ago, a co-worker/friend of mine said "life is just a series of traps and decoys". I took suck wisdom to heart.
Religion can be either a trap or a decoy", depending on the circumstances.
Religion can be either a trap or a decoy", depending on the circumstances.
