Why Religion?

[RamonR]

You are wrong mate, I lost $100 bet with a trickcyclist mate of mine when I espoused this.

There is no association between epilepsy and schizophrenia. None.

It cost me $100 to learn that, now if you insist I'll put $200 on it that you are wrong.

There is an association between epilepsy and religious experience.

Anyone who has watched "The Reverend" in "Deadwood" knows that !!

gg

I see how you misunderstood my post.
I did not mean to indicate a correlation between epilepsy and schizophrenia, instead I was stating that in my experience there is a much higher correlation between being very religious and schizophrenia.

Before anyone takes offense I am not inferring that you have to be crazy to believe in god

 

[darkside]

I see how you misunderstood my post.
I did not mean to indicate a correlation between epilepsy and schizophrenia, instead I was stating that in my experience there is a much higher correlation between being very religious and schizophrenia.

Before anyone takes offense I am not inferring that you have to be crazy to believe in god

But i am sure it helps. !!

 

[darkside]

Don't ban me please "mod" i was kidding , and i love this site, and i know i will be punished in hell for what i have said ))))

 

[dhukka]

Book? Chapter? Journal?

I remember Gerald Massey. His work is not considered reputable by modern Egyptologists. And Joseph Campbell...are you referring to the modern writer on myth?

This is a broad unanswerable statement.

I see how this works, you throw out names but I am supposed to cite chapter and verse, even though I'm not the one trying to prove the existence of an immortal being.

Yes the mythologist Joseph Campbell and his works such as "The Masks of God" and "The Hero with a Thousand Faces".

 

[dhukka]

I'll bite .. Josephus, Plutarch- romans... thousands of early manuscripts and fragments indicating a reliable transmission of the source documents. There is evidence there but not many people can be bothered looking.

Josephus, is widely discredited as a fraud, the guy wrote volumes and yet mentions Christ in just one paragraph, you'd think he'd have a bit more to say on the topic of the saviour of the world.

 

[ColB]

Originally posted by Weird:

Good questions.

Yet these rules or commonsense things are broken all the time.

1) Animal drive for the survival of oneself to procreate or perhaps the survival for the entire community, why is any variation of this broken ?

2) Some broken circuity with the structured but genetic soup which will self-correct ?

3) Random or drug influenced deviation of basic nature ?

4) Perhaps those not bound by religion, feel perhaps some comfort that others are, due to their predictable behaviour.

5) Because their own belief's outside of religion means that they are driven by chaos and unstructured self-discovery, with no need of remorse. And how do they try to apply their own belief on others, when their own is based on their limited exposure to things, and why do they try to judge others?

Jeesus!! Starting to get a bit lost here Weird. Forget points 1-3 but could you please expand on 4-5 with some example/s to quantify exactly what you're getting at. I'm starting to think that maybe I have lost my way and need salvation. I mean the Bible has an answer for everything doesn't it?

eg: Life without religion = "belief driven by chaos and unstructured self-discovery"

 

[MS+Tradesim]

I see how this works, you throw out names but I am supposed to cite chapter and verse, even though I'm not the one trying to prove the existence of an immortal being.

I'm not trying to prove anything. I am simply pointing out that skepticism can be as ill-informed as some religious claims. I keep up with New Testament scholarship because it's an area of deep interest to me. I know the scholars (secular and religious) which are taken seriously in the field, and I know the conspiracist favourites which are quoted liberally on skeptical websites and are now being touted here as supposed evidence of parallels.

Yes the mythologist Joseph Campbell and his works such as "The Masks of God" and "The Hero with a Thousand Faces".

I know Campbell is respected and I'll have to have another look.

 

[darkside]

Josephus, is widely discredited as a fraud, the guy wrote volumes and yet mentions Christ in just one paragraph, you'd think he'd have a bit more to say on the topic of the saviour of the world.

Interesting point , but to take it one step further, except those of biased Christian writers, there isn’t one writing outside the Bible in all of ancient history that clearly refers to Jesus of Nazareth.

 

[weird]

Just keeping it interesting

 

[darkside]

Weird, you know the deal , now answer the question : "in case of rapture, can i have your car and financial portfolio"

YES I AM an agent of Satan, but my duties are mostly ceremonial

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Where were you 12 months before you were born in a spiritual sense. Nowhere.

Where will you be 12 months after you die in a spiritual sense .
Nowhere.

There is no mystery.

People are born, live and die.

They don't go anywhere because there is nowhere to go because they came from nowhere, spiritually speaking.

End of story.

gg

 

[dhukka]

Interesting point , but to take it one step further, except those of biased Christian writers, there isn’t one writing outside the Bible in all of ancient history that clearly refers to Jesus of Nazareth.

Yep and that includes Pliny the younger, Suetonius and Tacitus.

 

[weird]

Weird, you know the deal , now answer the question : "in case of rapture, can i have your car and financial portfolio"

YES I AM an agent of Satan, but my duties are mostly ceremonial

lol, I don't have a Maserati, just a Holden Astra, but I put the roof rack on myself, which I am proud of, I will miss carrying mine and my mate's surfboard.

But I'll keep the financial portfolio, I can buy another car ... and roof rack. Excellent surf in Heaven, I believe.

 

[darkside]

I'm not trying to prove anything. I am simply pointing out that skepticism can be as ill-informed as some religious claims. I keep up with New Testament scholarship because it's an area of deep interest to me. I know the scholars (secular and religious) which are taken seriously in the field, and I know the conspiracist favourites which are quoted liberally on skeptical websites and are now being touted here as supposed evidence of parallels.



Clearly , we are not asking for you to cure cancer, split the atom, crack hexadecimal code, all we ask is that you show us one bit of existence of a god, surely it's not rocket science.

 

[ColB]

Originally posted by GG

Where were you 12 months before you were born in a spiritual sense. Nowhere.

Where will you be 12 months after you die in a spiritual sense .
Nowhere.

There is no mystery.

People are born, live and die.

They don't go anywhere because there is nowhere to go because they came from nowhere, spiritually speaking.

End of story.

gg

ANOTHER cynic. Don't spoil the fairytale GG!

 

[darkside]

lol, I don't have a Maserati, just a Holden Astra, but I put the roof rack on myself, which I am proud of, I will miss carrying mine and my mate's surfboard.

But I'll keep the financial portfolio, I can buy another car ... and roof rack. Excellent surf in Heaven, I believe.

Dave i am going to need that roof rack to carry all those heathen's into a world without religious wars and hatred of one another based on their beliefs and i might need that portfolio to pay the fines for overloading.And hey i like the "astra' it's keeping it real .Cheers

 

[ktrianta]

Why religion? If humans are created by God and had communion with God in the past, then logically there will be a belief in God which gets passed down and corrupted over the ages, but that belief is still there. Hence the answer. Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant, but that is a logical reason to explain religion. Some will be closer to its truest form, other belief will be more corrupted.

If you do not believe in God, then you need to come to some other exotic theory as to why such a belief would evolve, none of which are truly satisfactory.

As to some of the threads, please not even Richard Dawkins believes that Jesus did not exist, and he most certainly would love to prove that being a fundamentalist athiest that he is.
Simple fact is is that if Jesus did not exist in space and time, then christianity would not have got of the ground, so lets not bring up nonsense when trying to raise arguments.

 

[darkside]

ANOTHER cynic. Don't spoil the fairytale GG!

While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

 

[Dukey]

Why?
... some people want power over others,
... many other people are just gullible.

Me... I'm with uncle Albert ... http://www.pantheism.net/

(PS - gotta love the flying spaghetti monster !! Luv it!!!!!!!!!!!)

 

[weird]

The whole speaking in tongues is interesting, I remember attending a fundamentalist church, and they invited people up to speak in tongues, and first time I went to this 'fundamentalist' church, I was 17, and just went up and curious, obviously not part of the 'group', I literally just went 'blar blar blar', and just got odd looks, because I wasn't part of the 'group'.

As mentioned, I am a practicing Catholic, and have fortunately have some intelligent priests as friends, that also have a 'wicked' sense of humor, but are also the most unselflish people you could meet, one told me of going to a 'charismatic' meeting of the following, and just didn't get it, the speaking in tongues.

It has been mentioned as a gift, but not one that should be 'forced'.