Why Religion?

[Happy]

...

I am Significant. I did not evolve from pond scum, but am a direct descendant of Adam and Eve, and therefore God.
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How do you populate the planet Earth using just 2 people and not have some inbreeding problem?

 

[Julia]

Yes, this is a good one.

Structure provides people with a framework for simple existance. What should I do on a day to day basis.
A Purpose for existance. Why am I here? To serve God.
I am Significant. I did not evolve from pond scum, but am a direct descendant of Adam and Eve, and therefore God. The Earth is just 6m years old and I am related to all arround me. I am a significant part of the world.

Seems like some good reasons to believe.

Can't you have structure and purpose in your life without involving a God?

 

[jonojpsg]

You can’t be serious! They don’t corroborate anything! They are the same story regurgitated over and over. Say someone today reads the Harry Potter story to his kids, that kid passes that story on to his kids, who passes it on to his kids, etc,….. over 1000’s of years. Some people 3000 years in the future may think the events actually happened, and start a religion based on it. Texts from many different countries, in different languages all speak of the same story, right, therefore they must have actually happened, right?

Sorry Alter, the Bible is not the same story regurgitated over and over. The first part (apart from some of Genesis) is a verifiable historical record of the nation of Israel. If you want to argue against that, you need to come up with some other reasonable explanation for that particular group of people.

The prophets are all similarly embedded within the history of Israel, and are certainly not simply regurgitated versions of each other as they follow through different time periods in that history so could not be.

The new testament is written by a number of different authors at different times and in different places, and documents events that were predicted/prophecied about throughout the old testament.

The fact that all these various and separate documents hold together the way they do is a key element in why I believe what I do.

It is simply not credible that it could be made up.

 

[MS+Tradesim]

Can't you have structure and purpose in your life without involving a God?

Obviously. But the question is "Why religion?" Some people might follow a certain belief system for the purpose and direction it provides; because they find meaning in it.

 

[Sean K]

How do you populate the planet Earth using just 2 people and not have some inbreeding problem?

This is basic Juduchristianislam ABC, Happy. It's in the book. It really happened like that. Up until about the 19th Century....

Actually, Genesis is still being taught as history isn't it?

Anyway, sidetrack.

It's still an example of why we have religion. To explain the origin of being.

The Big Bang is just a good story right now too. One day a flying spaghetti monster might actually land and tell us he did it.

 

[Sean K]

Can't you have structure and purpose in your life without involving a God?

Of course, but didn't say that. Just that's it's a reason for religion.

 

[Happy]

...
The Big Bang is just a good story right now too. One day a flying spaghetti monster might actually land and tell us he did it.

Looks awfully close to string theory.

 

[Sith1s]

This is basic Juduchristianislam ABC, Happy. It's in the book. It really happened like that. Up until about the 19th Century....

Actually, Genesis is still being taught as history isn't it?

Anyway, sidetrack.

It's still an example of why we have religion. To explain the origin of being.

The Big Bang is just a good story right now too. One day a flying spaghetti monster might actually land and tell us he did it.

That made me laugh!

Thanks for the free plug, it seems you have been touched by His noodley appendage

Allow me to share with you some of our sacred art work

 

[Julia]

Of course, but didn't say that. Just that's it's a reason for religion.

But how is it therefore a reason for religion if you can have it perfectly well without religion?

 

[Sean K]

But how is it therefore a reason for religion if you can have it perfectly well without religion?

The point was that religion can provide structure and purpose to your life, not whether there was any other way to achieve it. I think in some societies in the 21st century you can have purpose in your life without religion. Of course. But, looking around, it seems that a lot of the world is still very religious. And 2000 years ago, religion probably came about and flourished because it gave structure and purpose at a time when democtratic government and the rule of law was not on the agenda. Understanding of our part in the world was also a bit misunderstood perhaps. And that continued on until only very recently in the scheme of things. This is just about the why Julia, not whether it's right or not. You know me. I'm going to hell 10x over for my blasphemies!

 

[imajica]

Religion arrogantly purports itself to be absolute truth, however truth itself masks the fact that there is none.

 

[derty]

Really? That would come as a surprise to any classical historian.

To have one of the foundational beliefs of Christianity based on circular reasoning leaves it wide open to questions of validity. It ends up as a regress argument where any supporting evidence relies on the presupposition that the initial foundational belief is true. I have yet to see any contemporary evidence that corroborates the existence of Jesus.

There is no homogenous 'science' that demands any such thing. For example, Karl Popper, the very influential philosopher of science, was instrumental in the rise of the idea within science that a theory is never proven. It is either falsified (then modified or discarded), or remains unfalsified and held with a higher degree of confidence.

This view is exemplified by Stephen Hawking, "Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis; you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory." (A Brief History of Time, p.11)

You are right MS+T I trotted that last statement out too quickly and it is entirely incorrect. It should of at least said that 'science strives for the elimination of all doubt' . The point I was trying to get across is the the level of confidence required in the courtroom is insufficient for the requirements of science. The quote from Hawking is a much better summation as it outlines how water tight all contemporary scientific theories have to be and that they have not had a single observation that disagrees with them.

So Derty , get it out there, are you trying to say that there is no credible scientific or factually reliable evidence for the existence of a god, gods or the supernatural, just a strangle hold of what can only be described as blind faith ?????.
I'm just trying to clarify a point

darkside, I am an atheist and as such God for me is a myth. I am very interested in history and while I don't not believe there is a God, Christianity, the belief system, is real and has had a profound effect on Western Culture and the direction it has taken. Until recently I assumed that Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure. Though, the more I look into it, the less I find that supports his existence. Maybe he was real, though just some charismatic guy that ran afoul of the Romans and was executed. Maybe it was St Peter who made the whole thing up or vastly embellished the life of some minor cult leader? The jury is still out on that for me.

 

[vincent191]

If you believe that creation is a result of the Big Bang then you should also accept that the works of Shakespeare is the result of an explosion in a printing factory !!!

The marvels of creation is just too fantastic to be purely accidental don't you think ???

 

[Sith1s]

Has the upbringing of someone been raised yet?

I mean for an example (probably more applicable for the older generations) it would have been quite common for your parents to have been strict Catholics, therefore you always went to mass with them ect.

And since it's family tradition and expected you follow the family ways & it's always been that way it continues.

It may not be so applicable with the generations of today. If you want an example for that just look at me. My grandparents were very strict Jehova's Witnesses on one side, and strict Catholics on the other. But i don't share or follow their beliefs (much to their disappointment)

Having 2 different, but important sets of people of my life trying to preach different rules for their religion has probably turned me into the sceptic i am today..

 

[Sean K]

Has the upbringing of someone been raised yet?

Added to the list. Cheers. Probably related to culture/socialisation issue...

Funny how if you're born to Catholic parents you become a Catholic, and not a Jew.

 

[Bobby]

Just a thought !
As your reading this someone is being tortured , raped , murdered & bashed , now whats Scary is a supreme being ( God ) that just lets this happen but could intervene .
God bless ???

 

[AlterEgo]

Let's get something straight here - if I, a rational reasonable human being, decide that on the basis of the evidence that I have available that God is real and created the universe, then it is obviously not insane or irrational to believe in the virgin birth or Jesus rising from the dead. If I believe in an all powerful God, then anything is possible for him. There is nothing irrational or unreasonable about believing in God.

Ahhh, belief in a god. I wasn’t actually talking about whether there is a god or not. I was talking about the bible and the claims it makes. The stories written in the bible were written by normal people, like you and me, not written by the hand of god. People are flawed, make mistakes, exaggerate, distort the truth to further their own cause, etc - that’s human nature. And the bible has been changed over the centuries, and sections modified, omitted and/or deleted, so you shouldn’t believe everything in it without question. Archaeologists have found other documents written in the time of Jesus’s life, supposedly written by one of Jesus’s disciples, which paints a very different picture of Jesus than the bible does. Sorry, don’t have a link to a source off-hand, it was on a program on tele the other night. No, I’m not saying it’s right and the bible is wrong, but it’s certainly food for thought. Your mind seems closed to any other possibility.

 

[AlterEgo]

Sorry Alter, the Bible is not the same story regurgitated over and over. The first part (apart from some of Genesis) is a verifiable historical record of the nation of Israel. If you want to argue against that, you need to come up with some other reasonable explanation for that particular group of people.

Yes, it’s loosely based on historical events, sure. Just because some things may be true, it doesn’t follow that every other detail in it is 100% correct though. I recall that some events in it have been discredited by archaeologists in recent times anyway.

It is simply not credible that it could be made up.

I don’t think I went as far as to say it’s all made up, but anyway what do you think about other religions then? Do you think it’s credible that some parts of their religions may be wrong/inaccurate? Why do you feel that your religion is more credible than any other religion? If you were born in another country, you’d most likely be just as passionate about their local religion instead of the one you are now.

 

[Sean K]

Just a thought !
As your reading this someone is being tortured , raped , murdered & bashed , now whats Scary is a supreme being ( God ) that just lets this happen but could intervene .
God bless ???

Ah, but Bobby, this is where the 'free will' argument comes in. Bad things happen because God let us choose. Makes some sence I suppose. If we didn't get to choose to do anything, then, it'd all just be God playing with his puppets. That would be boring for Him. Although, maybe he could have designed us better so we were just generally nice to each other and the environment. Again, where's the fun in that? I'm sure he enjoyed watching WWI and it's sequal. I'm sure he's gagging for the third one to come out. And then prequals, starting with Deuteronomy, and then the Crusades I, II, III... etc.

 

[Sith1s]

Ah, but Bobby, this is where the 'free will' argument comes in. Bad things happen because God let us choose. Makes some sence I suppose. If we didn't get to choose to do anything, then, it'd all just be God playing with his puppets. That would be boring for Him. Although, maybe he could have designed us better so we were just generally nice to each other and the environment. Again, where's the fun in that? I'm sure he enjoyed watching WWI and it's sequal. I'm sure he's gagging for the third one to come out. And then prequals, starting with Deuteronomy, and then the Crusades I, II, III... etc.

And Bobby you have just started another tangent to this conversation.
Here's a question to throw a spanner into the works.

We all assume our almighty god is good. What if this so God is actually Neutral, or worse Evil? And our pure purpose is that we are like ants in an ant farm and he's just a 5 year old kid with a magnifying glass?