What is your religion or lack therof?

I should also add that in my experience, the only thing more pointless than believing in God, is trying to reason with someone's beliefs on the matter. In all my life I have only ever met one person who changed their religious belief as a result of reading a reasoned argument, that was a mild Church of England guy who adopted belief as default (taught at school & by parents that god existed), and then changed his mind after reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins.

I have yet to see a post ever on any internet newsgroup, or a letter to any newspaper, or a comment in a TV debate, where someone said "Hey you know, that's a good point which I hadn't thought of. Now I've changed my mind, I really think God doesn't exist after all" (or vice versa).

In this respect I think religion is like political views, or taste in music, or outlook on life, attitude to foreigners etc. People by early adulthood have already pretty much formed their beliefs, and then rarely if ever change them in reponse to reasoned argument or facts. Such beliefs seem to be formed by early life experiences, personality, or emotional makeup, rather than any kind of examination of facts and evidence, or any kind of rational enquirity into the nature of the subject matter. There are a few people who have done this though, and concluded that god exists. Fair enough, at least they approached it with an open mind and independent enquiry. They used their brains instead of BS superstition, blind faith, or acceptance of authority & social norms, and I can respect that. Such people are, in my experience, never fundamentalists or dogmatists, because they can understand how someone might reach the opposite conclusion. It's the other 99% of non-thinkers who are the problem.
 
Quote from CaptainObvious:

Don't blame God? Why not? Afterall, we are his creation, right? I've always been curious what king of "loving God" creates a bunch of f'n retards(the human race in general)and then stands in judgement of their shortcomings? In the upside down world of organized religion God gets all the credit when things go right and none of the blame when things go wrong. Nice work if you can get it.
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If God made time and man to serve it, he would be cruel.

If God made planets and put man on any of them, he would indeed be cruel.

If God made a utopian planet and put man on it, he would still be cruel.

If God condemned or judged, he would indeed be cruel.

No loving God would stuff a piece of mind inside a body severely limited in its ability to think or otherwise function without attacking its neighbor for scarce supplies it needs.

No loving God would put a limited being on top of a shifting mantle of cooling rock, floating on top of molten rock, spinning wildly around a huge ocean of burning gas, circling aimlessly in a galaxy heading further out into the darkness...pelted by huge rocks and flying debris.

No loving God would limit any of his creations in any way at all!

Thanks to the upside down world of organized religion, all of these attributes are assigned to God.

In other words, they are asking you to believe in an insane God.

Whether you are part of the religion or not, they have succeeded to the extent that you believe them when they put forth these insane mental pictures - memes - of God.

So you have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

These are religions of the ego, and they serve to damn in Heaven's name, any mind that takes in these ideas...eating them up like apples.

Once again, you do not have to be a member to take in these ideas! They enter through the back door of a apathetic, non-vigilant mind.

Such mind's do not inquire whether there exists a sane God who is just and reasonable. And in this way, the religions of the ego achieve their aims...to imprison you in a body to serve time.

The truth is that thoughts are "things". I call them "images". And each aspect of the world is a thought in a trans-temporal mind with power words cannot describe.

And yet, this is your mind!

This mind is literally hallucinating.

And it has reduced "you" to an image that seems to walk and talk and breath and feel.

This mind makes Harry Potter look like a school kid.

You really don't want to get too cocky about your ability to discern fact from fiction, because this mind is intent on deceiving you...and with your full permission...or at least 99.99% of it.

This is it's motion picture, and you are one of it's actors.

And everything you see, feel, touch, and smell are thoughts you've cluttered up your mind with...thoughts that cover up your reality...thoughts that hide the strength of your mind from your awareness...thoughts that hide the truth.

Even the upside down worlds of organized religions can be considered your own thoughts put out there to deceive yourself!

And when your pea brain determines that there is no God because you assume His Voice comes through the upside down world of organized religion...the trans-temporal mind that pulls your strings can only laugh self-righteously for its successful self-deception.

You have no clue brother!

Everyone in this world used to be a master in dungeons and dragons, each casting spells on another, until all had chained all power down to earth...each left holding a tiny little wand long depleted of real power.

Now, you barely have power to get up and get another beer out of the fridge.

And no one takes responsibility.

Yet only those who take back responsibility will regain power.

True religion discerns between truth and illusion...between fact and fiction.

You will need it to get out of this jam.

There is still .001% permission you have withheld from total and permanent self-deception. For if it were 100% you would be damned.

Give the small percentage of permission you have reserved for the truth, and you will find your way out of a deep, deep labyrinth.

Jesus
 
Quote from Cutten:

On religion I am slightly to the right of Richard Dawkins - I think it is complete and utter BS and see no evidence whatsoever for the existence of god. I have yet to hear a single religious person put forward any actual solid facts or evidence supporting the existence of god, most eventually admit it is just a matter of faith, yet ignore the extremely unreliable track record of faith in deciding the truth or falsity of beliefs.

If the main reason supporting religious belief is faith - the same faith that gave us witch trials, belief in gods of fire and wind, voodoo, omens, astrology and other superstitious nonsense - then I think that is a very weak foundation indeed. Any rational person would, at best, view god as a possibility rather than have a rock-solid belief in his existence.

Overall, I think religion is just another of those human beliefs which are extremely widespread but utterly false. Like alchemy in the middle ages, or the divine right of kings, it is a respectable and widely held belief despite being complete bunk.
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The main problem with most people accepting God, is that they cannot put aside heavy skepticism, doubt, or their preconceived set of beliefs and requirements about what God must be like. Secondly, people overplay the "man of science" without understanding how absolutely little science knows/understands as of this point. Thirdly, they somehow believe that God must perform according to their criteria. People are dumb, blind, limited, clueless, paranoid, directionless, uninformed, and misguided. And that is their good points.

There is much supporting the biblical record. Most Christians trying to defend it (apologetics) come across as overbearing and having a limited ability to convey infinite concepts. They think that somehow it is their job to convince others, when in reality, they are only witnesses of truth. It is His job as to who will accept and believe ("You did not choose me, but I chose you").

Demonstrate strong evidence, and the average person denies it, fixating even on minutia. Frankly, you could raise a person from the dead in front of someone, and they still would deny and disbelieve it as a parlor trick.

The simple fact is, that the scripture clearly states that the unbeliever is incapable of grasping or understanding truth. They are prevented, as in the scripture "The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing."

No amount of proof will change the mind or heart of most people.

In the beginning of "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy", realizing the Earth is likely/about to be destroyed, one person even puts a bag over his head, thinking this will somehow help. This futile reaction differs little from the reaction of most people when hearing truth.
 
Quote from rcanfiel:

The main problem with most people accepting God, is that they cannot put aside heavy skepticism, doubt, or their preconceived set of beliefs and requirements about what God must be like. Secondly, people overplay the "man of science" without understanding how absolutely little science knows/understands as of this point. Thirdly, they somehow believe that God must perform according to their criteria. People are dumb, blind, limited, clueless, paranoid, directionless, uninformed, and misguided. And that is their good points.

There is much supporting the biblical record. Most Christians trying to defend it (apologetics) come across as overbearing and having a limited ability to convey infinite concepts. They think that somehow it is their job to convince others, when in reality, they are only witnesses of truth. It is His job as to who will accept and believe ("You did not choose me, but I chose you").

Demonstrate strong evidence, and the average person denies it, fixating even on minutia. Frankly, you could raise a person from the dead in front of someone, and they still would deny and disbelieve it as a parlor trick.

The simple fact is, that the scripture clearly states that the unbeliever is incapable of grasping or understanding truth. They are prevented, as in the scripture "The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing."

No amount of proof will change the mind or heart of most people.

In the beginning of "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy", realizing the Earth is likely/about to be destroyed, one person even puts a bag over his head, thinking this will somehow help. This futile reaction differs little from the reaction of most people when hearing truth.
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Calvinism states that it's God's choice, not Man's, thus making salvation unattainable by any effort of our own. sounds nice, until you acknowledge that there are people who are not saved, in spite of being just as deserving as the ones who receive the Spirit. At that point, this theology starts to go down the drain, as it effectively turns God,if he exists, into a demonic entity, a fickle monster who delights in hearing the screams of the tormented - for he would be capable of saving all and yet chooses not to.
 
Quote from CaptainObvious:

Don't blame God? Why not? Afterall, we are his creation, right? I've always been curious what king of "loving God" creates a bunch of f'n retards(the human race in general)and then stands in judgement of their shortcomings? In the upside down world of organized religion God gets all the credit when things go right and none of the blame when things go wrong. Nice work if you can get it.
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We are His creation? Some argue He may be our creation. Some say that if God doesn't exist, that we would have to invent God to keep us from spending all our time trying to explain the unexplainable.

Taking responsibility for the things we do is probably a good step in the right direction.

c
 
rcf:
>There is much supporting the biblical record.

In 5000 years there will likely still be incredible supporting evidence for "The Hunt For Red October" -- still won't change that Clancy was making most of it up.

>The simple fact is, that the scripture clearly states ...

And here's another simple fact:

The simple fact is, the scripture clearly stating something doesn't make it a simple fact (see Clancy example above).

JB
 
cg:
>Taking responsibility for the things we do is probably a
>good step in the right direction.

A God that I would respect would place that at or near the top of his 'follower to-do list'.

JB
 
Quote from vhehn:

Calvinism states that it's God's choice, not Man's, thus making salvation unattainable by any effort of our own. sounds nice, until you acknowledge that there are people who are not saved,
most are not saved.

The scripture says that few are saved. Scripture paraphrase: "The road to destruction is broad and many who travel it. The road to life is narrow and few are those who find it.

in spite of being just as deserving as the ones who receive the Spirit.

There is no breakdown. Scripture makes it clear that none are deserving of salvation or anything from God.

Paraphrase "The Lord has looked upon the sons of men to see if there is any who do what is right. But there is none righteous, no not one."

At that point, this theology starts to go down the drain, as it effectively turns God,if he exists, into a demonic entity, a fickle monster who delights in hearing the screams of the tormented - for he would be capable of saving all and yet chooses not to.

That is a human interpretation. As I said, those who do not believe cannot fathom what He has said, and consider it as foolishness.
 
Quote from Turok:

cg:
>Taking responsibility for the things we do is probably a
>good step in the right direction.

A God that I would respect would place that at or near the top of his 'follower to-do list'.

JB
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agreed
 
Quote from rcanfiel:

agreed
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Accepting responsibility and accepting guilt are not the same thing.

It is imperitive that no one accept guilt in any way, upon themselves or upon others.

A responsible attitude merely accepts that you have asked for everything you see, feel and experience.

The world is a state of mind in which you can choose any and all experience, and at the same time mask the identity of the chooser.

So long as you keep the mask on, and pretend that the world makes you, instead of the other way around, you will be lost within it's web.

As such, the world is an expression of freedom and power, used to imprison oneself...one's mind.

By accepting responsibilty, you may begin to reverse the process, and unhallucinate an hallucination.

Guilt is a dream.

Responsibility means that you are the dreamer of guilt and fear and insanity...and not the victim of it.

This allows you to truly respond...rather than wallow in the mud.

Responding, you will need to look at guilt squarely, and see that it is the "beast" that blocks you from revelation.

It is your own creation.

With Help, you must dismiss it to be free.

Jesus
 
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