Religion: The new beta-max

[malice2501]

From reading some of the posts in the other thread about gays, it seems to me that religion is going out of style in a big flaming way.

So considering that, what is your misunderstanding/problem with a particular religion? Remember to be respectful (as you can be anyway) and if you are going by assumption on something, try to read up first.

I personally dont have a beef with any religion. Other may call the holy books(quran,bible,torah) burnt bags of turd, but i have a lot of respect for them and i do believe that there is a god and he sent us some clear "rules" on how to live. Of coures they have been tampered with, but they are still in essence good ways to live. And even if there isnt a single "god" per se, the inspiration of men would qualify as godly if you are spiritual. (personal opinion peeps, dont hate too hard )

So whats your beef?

[Anonymous]

i believe that religion, organized or not, is in serious need of a lift. catholic mass attendance is down from the Boston altarboy incidents still, and i'm sure the recent terrorist attacks haven't exactly boosted the membership of Islam any.

those are, obviously, just two examples, but i think that both have their weak and strong points.

i don't know enough about Islam to make any judgements, but I personally think that the Catholic Church is just too stuffy. Too many old ritualistic ideas, too much ceremony in the mass. I typically don't go to church anymore, mainly because I believe that if you have a close personal relationship with your God, whoever or whatever he/she/it may be, you don't need to go to a big building once a week to be told by others how to talk to God. You can do it on your own, in the comfort of your own home, however you please, whenever you please.

Lately (not exaclty lately, more like 5 years or so ago) I started to toy with the notion of (and gradually start to believe) Deism. The idea that a supreme being created the earth, it's very first creatures, and the universe around it, and basically just stepped aside to let things happen. This was mostly brought on by people around me questioning God, saying things like, "Well if there is a god, why did he let 9/11 happen?"

My response to those people is usually, "Maybe he thinks we're better off letting the bad things happen." and "What if he just doesn't feel like making life perfect to suit our every whim?"

Did you ever think that maybe God decided to let things take their course and stepped back from his project after the 7th day?

Personally I have no choice but to believe this idea. The Big Bang is just too random to have actually occured, and in all His infinite wisdom, I have a hard time believing that God would create animals only to let them die out, like the dodo or the passenger pigeon. Why would He create something just to watch it die?

I also believe that if we saw the real God, not the one we have imagined over the years, that He would look nothing like our perceived image. I believe that because the Bible was written by men, it has suffered the ravages of time and culture.

God may not have created us in His image after all. (Well, maybe God didn't even create us at all, according to a true Deist...) Maybe WE created HIM in OUR image. Humans do have a narcissitic quality about them.

All of this leads to one thing. One detail that brings the whole theory of Intelligent Design crashing down around the ears of staunch Catholics...

What about the Platypus? Is it some kind of sick joke? God's way of laughing at nature? Or is it just evolution gone wrong?

[Jase]

So considering that, what is your misunderstanding/problem with a particular religion? Remember to be respectful (as you can be anyway) and if you are going by assumption on something, try to read up first.

If god is ment to be everywhere then where the fuck was the cunt when my dad killed himself? you want me to bow down before some being thats ment to have MY best intentions at heart phhhttt fuck that only one in this world thats goin to look after me is me. Fuck god and fuck Jesus. Also I said to your "God" he he didnt like me sayin fuck him and his son then he should do somethign about it, no word from "god" yet.

[malice2501]

errr... so much for respectful.

[Anonymous]

heh! yea i think respectful went out the window.

well jase has a point, the only one that is gonna look ater you is you. all due respect, maybe your dad should've had your philosophy. of course, i don't know the specifics, so feel free to ignore what i just said and carry on with your regularly scheduled life.

[Jase]

errr... so much for respectful.

Oh if that was for me then what you want me to say? "Oh goodie look my dad killed himself after my nanna and her WHOLE family prayed to a god for basicly their whole lives and here i am fatherless in the prime of my life when im about to settle down with a nice chick go to Uni which no one in my family has ever been let alone finished high school thank you god for taking him away from me " No thanks my friend belives in god he knows how i feel about the subject and he says im well within my rights to bitch and moan.

[Anonymous]

I may disagree with your opinion, but I agree wholeheartedly with your right to express it.


A great man once said that (can't remember who, hehe. Machiavelli i believe.)

[Mikey_]

sorry to hear that jase, but why blame something/someone like god/jesus? that pretty much takes away any responsibility from your dad being selfish and taking himself out of YOUR life. god/jesus isn't just gonna come down from the heavens, walk up to your dad, flash some wand and save the day. if anyone thinks that they're pretty naive. god made it so people decide their own fates and what paths they take. your dad chose to kill himself and remove himself from your future. how is that god's fault? your dad simply wasn't strong enough to have lived on from whatever it was that he was going through. he chose that path. god didn't force him into it.

[Jase]

sorry to hear that jase, but why blame something/someone like god/jesus? that pretty much takes away any responsibility from your dad being selfish and taking himself out of YOUR life.

Dont say sorry, i hate it when people say that. Why blame it on god, well when people make you think that if you belive in him that you lead a happy life, every bible basher hand out i get has "Jesus loves you" or "Jesus is the path of happyness" which is a load of crap.

god/jesus isn't just gonna come down from the heavens, walk up to your dad, flash some wand and save the day. if anyone thinks that they're pretty naive. god made it so people decide their own fates and what paths they take. your dad chose to kill himself and remove himself from your future. how is that god's fault? your dad simply wasn't strong enough to have lived on from whatever it was that he was going through. he chose that path. god didn't force him into it.

No but this god can make you think about who you are leaving behind, you ever thought about killing yourself? If so tell me why you didnt go through with it. And last time i talked to a hankie head they said that god plan's out our lives not the other way around. As for my dad not being strong enough you made me laugh at that, there are 2 things i know for sure 1: my dad loved me and my sister and 2: my dad was a strong dude how do i know, well i pretty much take after him. And god didnt force him, god just didnt give a fuck. Im stick of people tryin to make this god out to be some sort of fucking hero, if his so good why the hell do we have african kids dying every sec? why the hell do we have people out on the street busking for money? I can walk down the street and give a homelless person $200 bucks and give him a chance to change his life, does this make me an all powerful god?
And till you see your farther in a wooden box being lowered into the ground while its raining, your nanna is cryin cos she lost her son, your sister is cryin cos she lost her farther who she was so close to and its pissing down rain and all this time your thinking damn this is fucked, you tell me you wont be pissed of at this all powerful god.
I love this "god" i can stand out in a thunder storm, tryin to get your god to strike me down with lightning and nothin happens. Dont you ever wonder why all the bad stuff goes on in this world? if your god gave a fuck wouldnt he do something?

[Mikey_]

jase, i didn't mean any offense by what i said. and don't say MY god, i have no god. i'm not a religious person and i don't believe in god or jesus or any of that other stuff. i mentioned that your dad wasn't strong enough because he's the one who took his own life. no one killed him. am i right? he loved you and your sister. why did he remove himself from your picture? how can you blame god for that? he was responsible for his own life, not god. didn't god make everyone to have and do things of their own free will? thats how they choose how they live their lives. they choose their paths that way. and yes i have contemplated on killing myself before...i stopped myself because i knew i had more to live for. because i knew that it would hurt my family and friends very much if i left them and wanted to be selfish and end things the easy way. hell i even fall bad now because my nephew is going through shit at school and i wish i can protect him from everything bad in this fucking world and i can't. i can't stand seeing him hurt and it tears me up inside that i can't do much about it. my life sucks in so many ways imaginable but i always try and do things that take my mind off wanting to end it all. did i kill myself because life sucks? no. cuz that would be selfish of me. and honestly, the only reasons why i'm even caring to be alive is for my sister and my nephew. if i go, who the hell is gonna be the moral support and role model for my nephew? who the fuck is gonna me the emotional support for my sister when she goes into depressive mode? who's gonna take on the role of BEST FRIEND to my nephew and watch out for him?! nobody! i have to and i want to cuz he's my fucking life. he's the reason why i make myself live. why i refuse to remove myself from his life because his life would never be the same and i want him to have the best childhood he can. so, just don't even question me if i've ever wanted to end it.

[Xaenn]

People use religion as an excuse to be passive and apathetic. Two things that I have a hard time forgiving. People also use it as a means to an end, or justification for unjustifiable actions.

When it comes down to it, if there is some greater truth, yet it is not self-evident by the way of logic, then it is worthless. If it cannot be seen without blind faith, then it probably isn't worth seeing.

[Allea]

Well I'm not going to post a long explanation of my opinion since many of us have already discussed this here:
http://forums.emuparadise.org/showthread.php?t=39057

But one thing...

it seems to me that religion is going out of style in a big flaming way.

All through history people have said this same thing. It's no different now.
2000 years ago there were prostitutes, thieves, murderers, money changers in the church (which is the one thing that really pissed Jesus off) etc, etc...
I believe it's just that when we are very young we are constantly taught about God and such religious beliefs while at the same time being sheltered from what the real world is really like. As we get older we see the world for what it really is. There were just as many murders in this world when you were 3 years old...you just didn't watch the news then and parents obviously aren't going to fill their children's minds each day with such things.
It's our perceptions of the world that change, not the world itself.

[malice2501]

Well I'm not going to post a long explanation of my opinion since many of us have already discussed this here:
http://forums.emuparadise.org/showthread.php?t=39057

But one thing...

All through history people have said this same thing. It's no different now.
2000 years ago there were prostitutes, thieves, murderers, money changers in the church (which is the one thing that really pissed Jesus off) etc, etc...
I believe it's just that when we are very young we are constantly taught about God and such religious beliefs while at the same time being sheltered from what the real world is really like. As we get older we see the world for what it really is. There were just as many murders in this world when you were 3 years old...you just didn't watch the news then and parents obviously aren't going to fill their children's minds each day with such things.
It's our perceptions of the world that change, not the world itself.

But there actually seems to be a distinct difference in the way things are going for religion now. I dont mean that crimes are up, because most of the people who commit crime are religios (irony is a bitch). Im reffering to the low attendance rates in churches and the growing population of aethiests. Though crime has been and always will be in society, the thought of either no god or one that is non-traditional (bib,qur,tor) is fairly new in such large numbers. This seems to be a growing trend in a big way. But i do get what you mean about being sheltered. Noone told me when i was younger that most likely my dreams wouldnt come true, and that the world was a fucked up place. Maybe this new level of sheltering the young from the world has lead to the trend of aethism? Just a thought.

[malice2501]

Oh if that was for me then what you want me to say? "Oh goodie look my dad killed himself after my nanna and her WHOLE family prayed to a god for basicly their whole lives and here i am fatherless in the prime of my life when im about to settle down with a nice chick go to Uni which no one in my family has ever been let alone finished high school thank you god for taking him away from me " No thanks my friend belives in god he knows how i feel about the subject and he says im well within my rights to bitch and moan.

God isnt a savior from what i can tell. Its fucked what happened, but you do have free will. Blaming god for your dad's actions is just like blaming the police for not being there to stop him. Are they omnipotent? No, but expecting god to micro manage our lives defeats having free will. he can make us bow to him, but that would be an empty action. And even if you dont want to hear it, you have my condolences.

[pirates dc]

I feel sorry for the non believers. We are living in the end times and god is comming to take those who have faith in him up 2 heaven(sounds kinda cultish ehh ) No but serioulsy just because you dont believe in god or have a grudge against him there is no need to come in here saying fuck god. that is extremly disrespectful to us people who do believe in him. I have had alot of bad things in life haoen to me but i never curse down god becuase he has guided me threw my toughest times and i know what happens is not his fualt