Religion- Oh no not that again

[Sabby]

That'd be too easy, and kind of crushing anyway. It's much more marketable to use romanticized doubt and soul searching.

[vtboy]

If there is a God or Goddess-why does He or She not show Him/Herself in such a way that noone can doubt Him/Her?

Pathological insecurity?

[YaoiRolePlay]

If there is a God or Goddess-why does He or She not show Him/Herself in such a way that noone can doubt Him/Her?

Because there isn't one.

But if we are to assume there is one, because that would make it to easy for people. Than they couldn't have "faith," they would know for certain. They couldn't have a "spiritual" journey, and none of it would be mysterious/mystical/religious anymore. It would be a science, studying said God, and we probably wouldn't call said God God anymore since we can figure out exactly what it is, what it can do, and where it came from.

[Cythieus]

If there is a God or Goddess-why does He or She not show Him/Herself in such a way that noone can doubt Him/Her?

Because that would basically change how everyone acted, people are fickle. Many of them only don't do certain things because they're illegal to be caught doing. If you proved that you were an all seeing creature and that you existed, people would walk on egg shells all of the time.

Or because it was done in the past and didn't work out well, all of the stories of gods intervening in the life of humans seem to turn out for the worst.

[YaoiRolePlay]

Convenient that God stops appearing in people's lives once photography and video taping become commonplace.

[Cythieus]

Convenient that God stops appearing in people's lives once photography and video taping become commonplace.

I think he stopped appearing well before that...

[vtboy]

I think he stopped appearing well before that...

He still appears in the lives of the undermedicated.

[Serephino]

I'll say the same thing I said to a woman who once said she wished God would just program and force everyone to love him.  Forced love and adoration is worthless and meaningless.  Imagine a whole bunch of slaves that are charmed to adore you unconditionally.  Sure, it would be great at first, but eventually it would get annoying.  That, and you would know they didn't love you as a person.  There would be no connection.  It would be empty.

Also, that would defeat the purpose of life.  We all have our own paths, and the world is full of diversity because of it. 

[Oniya]

Well, then he'd have to explain the Babelfish.  *poofs*

[Frank Reshman]

I'm a Christian.  I don't judge people based on their religious views.  I judge them on whether or not they are good people.  Roughly half of my friends either have a different faith as me, or no faith at all.  Me and my friend were actually recently on facebook about how we were disappointed in how most forum discussions about religion quickly turn to religion bashing.  Those who are all to quick to point out when those of faith judge people are the same ones who are judging religion.  It's pure hypocrisy.  Basically, it boils down to this for me.  Don't be preachy, don't be a douche, don't try and force your views down my throat.  I'm a Christian and, frankly, I'm pretty disappointed in how other Christians behave themselves in public or on forums. 

[Tiberius]

I think faith is good, religion just gives people something to be faithful too, Religion in itself is fine, but the people that use it as a weapon, an excuse to spread hatred and use it as an excuse to murder innocents are the real evil doers.

Everyone should have the right to religious freedom, right now in Australia there is a contentious debate about the Muslim head coverings that go with the burkka some parts of the country want them banned because they pose a security risk is what has been said could be used in robberies but, I think its just a case of singling out people that wear it for cultural and religious reasons. Its a place I hope we don't go to, like France has with banning religious cultural icons in public from all religions.

[Ironwolf85]

how many of you have watched God, the Devil, and Bob.
I've seen a few episodes and it's actually interisting some of the stuff god says when bob asks him questions.
"why can't you just make people do what you want"
(peeling an orange casually) "I tried that once, little world of puppets, these days it just sits around under my bed collecting dust. free will makes for a better world don't you think?"

"if you do it right, people won't know if you've done anything at all"

[Rinzler]

I'll say the same thing I said to a woman who once said she wished God would just program and force everyone to love him.  Forced love and adoration is worthless and meaningless.

Yeah, but if you have a God who says 'Love me or I'll send you to hell', then isn't that forcing people to love him anyway?

[Ironwolf85]

the bible never makes mention of hell actually nor does christ himself, even the name is borrowed from the godess of the nordic underworld you landed in if you didn't go to valhalia "Hel"
The mideval people of western europe equated it with the "lake of fire" in revelations, it became part of in cathloic mythology and was embraced widely, it's been a concept that flowed into protistantisim when people broke away from the Cathloic church, and from there, reinforced by books such as Dantie's inferno, and it has become a common theme in western mythology.

[Rhapsody]

For me, the big turn-off in Catholicism was "God sends unbaptized babies to Purgatory, because they're born sinful". Yeah, really? You sure that's not just mortal men trying to frighten people into bolstering the ranks of the "faithful"? Because if there's a God (and I really don't believe there is) and babies are indeed sent to Purgatory, God's either the meanest, cruelest being who's ever been, or he just doesn't give enough of a damn. Either way, not someone who deserves my faith, prayer or worship.

[Rinzler]

the bible never makes mention of hell actually nor does christ himself, even the name is borrowed from the godess of the nordic underworld you landed in if you didn't go to valhalia "Hel"
The mideval people of western europe equated it with the "lake of fire" in revelations, it became part of in cathloic mythology and was embraced widely, it's been a concept that flowed into protistantisim when people broke away from the Cathloic church, and from there, reinforced by books such as Dantie's inferno, and it has become a common theme in western mythology.

So it's actually okay with the Christian God if you don't love him then?

I kind of like that one, actually. It's better than the usual 'God doesn't send you to hell, you send yourself to hell if you don't love him.'

[Avis habilis]

Fred Clark has any number of good posts discussing how Hell has been puffed up into a position of importance it doesn't actually occupy in the Bible: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/tag/hell/

[Rinzler]

Whereas many Christians, particularly the fire and brimstone sort, regard hell as being every bit as intrinsic to the theology as the resurrection. Unfortunatley, there's no objective touchstone to say who's right on this particular matter.

Personally, I'm against those who say that Santa uses magic to deliver his presents all in one night. I prefer the more scientific explanation, and that he somehow utilises spacetime curvatures to 'stretch' time.

[Cheka Man]

I think the world would be better  without religion. Atheists only do bad things when they link  with an ism like Communism or Nazism. Religion is perfectly capable of being bad all on it's own. In the name of religion...

Catholic priests are supposed to be celibate, a minority of them then abuse children.
Muslims cut women's private parts off, honour kill them, force them into burkas in hot countries, force them to marry  when they don't want to,keep them uneducated or undereducated,attack the West (9/11 took place because of religious extremists)
Jewish people squat in land that is not theirs and sometimes make their women
subserviant
Hindus have a caste system based on birth
and so on.

Religon has done some good, calming people who feared death and setting up hospitals to cure the sick, but it's more bad then good.

[Rinzler]

I think the world would be better  without religion. Atheists only do bad things when they link  with an ism like Communism or Nazism. Religion is perfectly capable of being bad all on it's own. In the name of religion...

Catholic priests are supposed to be celibate, a minority of them then abuse children.
Muslims cut women's private parts off, honour kill them, force them into burkas in hot countries, force them to marry  when they don't want to,keep them uneducated or undereducated,attack the West (9/11 took place because of religious extremists)
Jewish people squat in land that is not theirs and sometimes make their women
subserviant
Hindus have a caste system based on birth
and so on.

Religon has done some good, calming people who feared death and setting up hospitals to cure the sick, but it's more bad then good.

Ummm...*phew* there's a few sweeping generalisations there, I think. Firstly, Atheists are plenty capable of doing bad with or without Communism and Nazism. It should also be noted that these two political extremes do not preclude the religious from joining their ranks either (Stalin was indeed an Atheist - whilst plenty of Cubans might adhere to party doctrine and yet still keep their faith. Hitler was not an atheist - though he appeared to vacillate between Catholicism and a kind of facile Odinism, he made clear his belief in some form of divine providence more than enough times to show he wasn't an atheist.)

Not all Muslims mutilate women's genitalia; in fact, female circumcision is more a minority cultural practice than a religious one. Though it does indeed generally happen in lands with a significant muslim populace, there's no theological edict that demands it. The same goes for honour killing and the wearing of the burka. The burka, in particular, is more a subjective cultural interpretation of the Islamic decree that 'women should dress modestly'. Interestingly, as far as I'm aware, the same demand is made of men, too.

As for the Palestinian occupied territories. Well, there's plenty of Jews who disagree with this, both in Israel and the world over. Also, it's not just Jews who have done this; plenty of countries/people/religions have done the same to other countries/people, both in the past and presently. Imperialism is not a uniquely Jewish trait. And neither is sometimes making a woman subservient - and fact, that's something that plenty of guys have attempted to do throughout history with or without religion.

[Isobel]

A religion is a power structure, so once you have it then you can wield it as power and do all kinds of bad things with it.

Faith is a belief that's independent of evidence.

Add those two together and you have rival power structures that can never be reconciled.  Jew/Moslem, Sunni/Shia, Protestant/Catholic, Sikh/Moslem, Believer/Unbeliever. 

It's a list of wars.

[Missy]

All the religion I've ever known necessitated an adherence to dogma. That's extraordinarily unwise in my honest opinion.

[Cheka Man]

Beware of the dogma.

[Missy]

Not a good idea to blindly accept something and see where it goes.

[Miyu]

Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word