It's understandable that most Americans today don't want to delve too deeply into the subject of religion.
And why not? It seems that the more devout you are, the more "wierd" or "crazy" you are. To many, being devout means you try to kill others, or yourself, to show belief. It means drilling rules into your brain so that you don't think for yourself. It means bugging people on the street with outrageous claims and requests/demands for repentance...and all you want is to shop with your family.
Religion can also mean you have built-in guilt that runs your life and stresses you out to the point where you have weird ticks or quirks. It could also mean family tradition...that "being religious" is just what you do in your household, without exception.
It all sounds so rigid, extreme, strange, and very "panties in a bunch" compared to just living a life of happiness, being a good person, doing the right thing, and so on.
What do I think? I think that all religions, when listed, are like a giant multiple choice question, and each one is a possible answer. Which one is right? I've chosen Christianity for many reasons, as others will choose a different religion for their own reasons.
That's all well and good, but what if our religion demands that we tell others about it? What's the difference between telling a person and committing religious terrorism, as it's been called?
I think the most dangerous pitfall humanity has is pride, and part of that is the desire to be right, especially about topics we care a great deal about. When we talk about such a subject with somebody, we want to talk like we know the answers, or at least to sound intelligent.
But sometimes, our existing beliefs call us to do more. To yell at others, infringe upon their beliefs, start wars, hate others, things like that.
Does that make religion evil? No. I think that people are flawed, and we make bad choices with good things. After all, water is wonderful - it's needed for life. But that doesn't mean someone can't decide to drown another in it.
Some religions are based on fact, others on philosophy, others are entirely fabricated for profit or add/change existing religions to fit personal/cultural needs.
Why is it important? Well, many religions explain where we came from and why we're here. A thought of a good diety or historical figure to give us purpose is more attractive to many than the prospect of being products of evolution, where we could have evolved in a complex and long-lasting series of steps, but it does nothing to explain the worth or goodness the human race has. Religions often explain what life is, like science, but it also explains WHY it is.
You could argue that all religions are man-made, created as a comfort tool. You'd be mostly right - most of them ARE man-made. But personally, I believe there has to be a God that serves as a standard for any other gods that were made up. Some of us even want to be our own gods. Well, how do we know what a god is if there wasn't one to define it?
If religion is based upon myth or the exploits of a man, it tends to be a tool of comfort. After all, myths can't be proven as true, and a man's accomplishments must have been extraordinary to warrant followers. But if we follow just a man, what makes that man (or woman) worthy of our offerings, prayers, devotion, worship, etc., and not another human being? If we're all on a level playing field, no human is worthy of worship any more than you yourself are. It also means that anyone who is persuasive and creative enough can create their own religion. After all, Joseph Smith was well-known for false truths and lived a turbulent life of controversy even within his own budding church of latter-day saints. L. Ron Hubbard basically admitted that starting a religion was the best way to get rich, which is no surprise considering Scientology is very much a business. Now, is that stating fact, or is it pressing my beliefs upon people? Wikipedia both those men and find out that there IS a difference.
Now, if a person takes their religion as fact, they will WANT to tell others in order to gain the benefits of the religion for them. But what if it's a lie? How do you know it's a lie? What if you went on believing something for so long that even if it's proven wrong to your face, you will hold to it?
I say all of this to challenge everyone to give religion at least 2 good hours of thought in their lifetime, so that the matter of life, where we're from, why we're here, and other things, will be explained. Some religions let you pick and choose. Some command your devotion to a higher power.
There's no question that religion can be VERY dangerous when people believe for the wrong reasons, and show it in the wrong ways. It's even worse when the core beliefs are false and wrong themselves.
Any living person should seek answers for themselves, no matter how long they've been in (or out of) church/mass/meditation/etc. There would be nothing worse than living a lifetime assuming this is all there is to existence, only to find yourself utterly unprepared for the afterlife you either ignored or refused to believe.
It brings to mind the simple saying about dying and going to Heaven: If I believe in God and you don't, and He does NOT exist, we both win. But if I believe in God and you don't, and He DOES exist, then you lose.
It's not worth taking that chance. Find out for yourself. But know that in order to do that, most of us have to disregard the horror stories of all the evils people have done in the name of religion. They made their choices - now you must make yours. It can be said we make our beds in life, and when we die we have to lay in it. There are religions with truth in them, and some are false. Just remember, it is possible that one of them is TRUE no matter what you think or believe. Keep an open mind that religion is too important a thing to choose out of convenience - many suffer and die for what they believe (those that die at the hands of others), so picking a religion to fit in or look good is surface stuff compared to the real value and meaning.
lidstrom82 posted on Aug 29, 2006
| views: 329
Comments
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silverwhisper said on Aug 29, 2006....
i've missed seeing you post of late, lidstrom. :>
ed
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newsa said on Aug 29, 2006....
I think religion is individual and also functional depending on how it is managed and used. However if it is managed and used, does it still qaulify as religion? Does this also mean that religion is more, or less than faith? Can faith be functional and managed? Faith and religion played a terrible and excellent role in the history of South Africa.
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FaithfulDisciple said on Aug 29, 2006....
Religion like faith to be relevant must be experienced from within. It isn't something that is forced fed and practiced blindly without really understanding it relevance and consequences to the believer.
One must look to religion as a spiritual experience rather than religion as a cult or doctrine. To experience the true religion, one must have an open mind and heart.
Those who yearn out to reach and know God with their hearts open will not be disappointed as the Holy Spirit will fill this yearning with the true spirit of faith. God reveals Himself to those who are willing to know Him. This is the real essence of religion and faith.
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Gottin said on Aug 29, 2006....
Religion is a waste of time, energy and money. Jesus thumbed his nose at the church, said "Come follow me" and what did they do? They created a church around him instead. Does this really make any sense at all?
Before you damn me, I believe in God and Jesus and in the words he spoke. What I DON'T believe in is only one path to godliness, holiness, "salvation", or whatever you might want to call it on any particular day.
God/Great Spirit/I am is the ultimate creator and created us in his/its image. We are the ultimate creators of our experience, no? So, why, then, would this so-called God give us these unlimited powers and then condemn us for using them? This also makes no sense.
Jesus was the ultimate badass. He rocked the very foundation of the church, told them how it was, spit in the face of their hypocracy (figuratively) and told everyone "The things I can do, you can do and even greater". Did anyone even hear what the man said??
Throw the churches away, throw religious dogma away, throw the judgement and hellfire and damnation away.
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ALIENated said on Aug 30, 2006....
There does seem to be a disconnect between the four
gospels and the remaining books of the New Testament.
In the four gospels Jesus gave us two simple commandments
and told us a lot about how the kingdom of heaven works.
Then Paul and company start making a bunch of rules
about how Christians and the church should operate. All
quite confusing stuff. Then we Christians try to spread
the Word and we really do not understand it that well.
Spreading the Word should be like planting seeds. Some
grow, some do not. However, most Christians want to
hang around and make the seed grow, which is not
going to work. I have given Bibles to people, who I thought
were permanently lost, without a word of advice. Before
I knew it, they were preaching to me, and some of what
they were preaching I did not agree with, but at least
they were headed the right direction.
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Gottin said on Aug 30, 2006....
Wow! I thought you might slam me for what I had to say. It's nice to meet someone open-minded in this often narrow-minded little world of ours!
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lidstrom82 said on Aug 30, 2006....
Hey there guys, good stuff I'm reading here!
One more thought I forgot in the post: religion, if all it is are rules and traditions we do out of habit, is useless.
Jesus preached a life lived for God, His kingdom, and His glory. I won't slam you, Gottin, but I have to say that if you believe in what Jesus said, but don't recognize that Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me", then you might be missing the point. I'm not putting you down, I'm just asking everyone to think about it. If there are other ways to get a good standing in Heaven, why did Jesus have to die?
Hey Alienated, remember that once Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent in His place to guide and counsel God's people. The book of Acts describes how the disciples/apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit to ESTABLISH the church. Jesus blasted the priests of his day and is a badass in that way, but everything was deliberate - even being crucified - because that's how we'd be made right.
It does seem cruel in a way that there's only one way to Heaven, but isn't that easier than trying to make sense of all the other religions that say a hundred different things? Shouldn't it be simpler? The Bible is there to provide the answers, but many reject it for many reasons.
As for damnation, there are clear consequences for rejecting and doing against what God the Father has commanded. Is it so hard to believe, considering we all grew up knowing there were consequences for disobeying our parents? You're right Gottin, peeps don't really hear what Jesus has said.
One more thing: if one believes in something, it's got to be all or nothing, or else you risk hypocrisy. If you follow God and choose not to believe that there's a devil or a hell, it plainly ignores that both are described in the Bible right along with God's words. Or if someone follows Scientology on the side while they are Buddhist, eventually they're going to learn that religions are seen by Scientology as imperfections, or implants by servants of Xenu - ok, that's an exaggerration, but it's more accurate than you think.
As far as Christianity, it's best when believed and followed all the way. Picking and choosing what to believe from it, in its own way, can also be narrow-minded.
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lidstrom82 said on Aug 30, 2006....
But oh man, Jesus blasted the "religious" people of His day, and stressed a relationship with God that was made possible by Jesus' death. If you rely on Jesus and accept that He died to wash away your sins, and then rose from the dead so that you could do the same to reach Heaven, then that is a relationship with a savior that's as real and personal as knowing your spouse or family. The love one receives from God in this kind of relationship overflows so that the person's faith is infectious and inspires others to have the same thing with God.
However, if someone just reads the Bible and takes its truths to be important or to follow rules and guidelines, and tries to drill it in the heads of others, then we see the bad side of religion. Just speaking for Christianity, it's truth is in the relationship, not the religion.
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Gottin said on Aug 30, 2006....
I get what you mean about the way, the truth and the life, and all that. But I think many people neglect to realize that Jesus spoke within a specific context to specific people within a specific time period. If he were to show up downtown somewhere today, on a street corner, perhaps, I believe his words would be very different, but with the same underlying meaning - I am setting an example of the best possible way to live. I get it. You can, too. Just follow my example.
I think that's where the confusion comes in. I believe Jesus set an example, and that's what he was trying to convey when he said "Follow me".
I don't think his intentions were ever to have a religion built around him.
Also, I think Jesus went to the cross to prove a point, and that point has been all but lost in the ferver of being "saved by the blood of the lamb."
Death isn't real.
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lidstrom82 said on Aug 30, 2006....
"Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever".
I think you value what Jesus says, but don't take much of what He said or did, and why, at face value according to the Bible.
You're right, Jesus didn't intend to have a religion built around Him. He was all about setting the human race right with God so that we wouldn't die and suffer in Hell, to put it bluntly.
That's why Christianity is really a relationship, not a religion. Oh, people make it a religion, like the Jews of Jesus' time did. But He blasted them for choosing rules and power over God.
Jesus saved us all, but most of us don't want to be saved. If Jesus is truth, then simply, death is all too frightening and real to those who don't believe He conquered it.
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Gottin said on Aug 30, 2006....
Uh, sure. I don't believe in hell, however, so that doesn't really hold up as far as I'm concerned. Jesus died to prove a point, and I believe that point is that death isn't real. He came back. He conquered it. He spit in the face of it. He understood what is real and what is illusion, and he told us how to understand it as well. But so many people still don't get it.
I think the biggest misconception of all is that God is a jealous, vengeful, wrathful being. Are we so arrogant that we think "God" really gives that much of a crap about our day to day existence?
Whoa. I'm stopping there. This is going somewhere I need to blog about on my own space. Thanks.
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lidstrom82 said on Aug 31, 2006....
Haha, I think I understand where you're coming from.
Hell isn't much of a problem for those who follow Jesus, since He is the solution. If someone doesn't regard what He did and follow Him, then hell is definitely a possibility.
Honestly, God DOES care about our day to day lives. That's why there's consequences to disregarding Him and Jesus, His Son. He'll be vengeful to those who ignored, discredited, or dismissed Him. He is definitely merciful, but just like a loving parent, there are consequences to disobeying.
So in the end, it's not arrogant to think God watches us every day, because the Bible clearly says that God cares. It says that "He will preserve our going out and our coming in" each day, and that "God works for the good of those that love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." He does take an active part in our lives, keeping us safe, bringing us good opportunities, providing people who offer comfort and love in our lives...
When it comes down to it, death is very real in that we will die in our present bodies, but what happens after that is up to us. Believe in Jesus, and death loses its sting and its negative consequences. Go anywhere else, and it can be hard to hope in anything that will bring us comfort.
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thenack said on Sep 01, 2006....
Alien, I believe that a lot of misunderstandings can be overcome and avoided by better knowlege of the Bible times and sircumstances, as well as the Jewish faith. Much of the Bible makes even more sense if read with proper knowlege. However, the basics are quite simple. I recently started reading an Archeological guide to the bible and its a great knew angle. (just a side point) I like your point of view, people are always seeking, you don't have to keep prodding them. Sometimes it is good to have a relationship but you may just be a link in the chain that will lead someone to Christ.
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thenack said on Sep 01, 2006....
Hey Lidstom, I'm trying to start a chuck norris revival on my blog, come and help me please!
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lidstrom82 said on Sep 05, 2006....
chuck norris revival?! How you pulling that off? Count me in.
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hotaka said on Sep 06, 2006....
I was thinking about what to say but I was enjoying the discussions above so much that I'll just leave with saying I liked what lidstrom82 said about no matter what we believe is true one of those things must be the Truth.
Unless of course no has got it right yet.
Comment on "Religion is not evil...?"
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