Quote:
Originally posted by Ellis
By the way supernoodles, your poll is rather inaccurate.
In Islam Allah isn't a God, and in Christianity Jesus isn't a God. Buddha wasn't a God either, in fact Buddhists don't even believe in a God, so you may want to check that. (??)
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I second that...
Sorry but this topic may have been better off without a poll, or by listing the religions rather than the "gods/beings who are worshipped" But I suppose we all understand the poll options none the less, so no harm done.
Anyhow, no I don't believe in god.
I will say why, because im hoping believers reading this will find it in themselves to accept the fact that not everybody on the planet has to share their views, and that im not condeming religion, just explaining my opinion on it.
- For one, there is too much conveniance concerning god.
Everything regarding god is invisible and passed off with the excuse of it being "magical" or "a mysterious force"
You can't just whack a "special, unexplainable and mysterious" sticker on everything and expect everyone to accept it. It wouldn't work if I said there's an invisible gremlin living in my garden, and it shouldn't work elsewhere either. The funny thing is some people may think that comparison is ridiculous, yet if you actually look at it, it really isn't.
Then moving on to the ten commandments, several rules telling us how to live. All of these rules are allowed to be broken, considering you repent your sins and are truly sorry.
So everyone can lead their lives breaking any of those rules, and know it'll be ok considering they feel guilty afterwards.
Which seems slightly odd, since one of the rules is god laying down a firm law that YOU SHALL NOT WORSHIP ANY OTHER GOD BUT ME! which sounds a little bossy, strict and selfish wouldn't you agree? not the words of someone who forgives all who are sorry.
But again, all conveniant.
- Secondly would be a simple observation on my part. The fact that as far as im concerned, every single believer whether aware or unaware, conciously or subconciously, has a reason for believing in god.
By this I mean that whether down to a bad life, bad situation, lack of love, missing dead loved one's, fear of death etc etc, I think pretty much all religious people gain some kind of love/peace of mind that makes them feel better about their insecurites, which is the main reason I think they turn to a god who offers unconditional love.
Ive noticed a lot of very strict christians, who follow the religion more so than some, often tend to be people with a lot of strife and problems, whether past or present.
It all seems a little selfish to me, but I respect the fact it brings a little happiness into people's lives/makes their lives better, even if I do think it's false.
- Thirdly, are some random points such as heaven and hell being thought of before we were aware of the earths core/molten lava and space. If we had more technology back then and knew what was in the sky, would the idea of heaven and hell ever have formed?
Not to mention that heaven decided to appropriately change from being in the clouds, to being "invisible and on another plane" as soon as we discovered space. Which is a little odd to say the least, since it was originally on our plane, and now on another? all because we now know what is beyond the clouds.
Religion just can't change itself to adjust everytime someone proves it wrong, and again slap a "magical" sticker onto it to explain why it's changed.
Also, religion is taught to children at an age where they are too young to know any better. A majority of them will believe what they're told and end up believing it for the rest of their lives...whereas if they were left to learn about religion when they were older, I think we'd have far less christians.
Another thing I think plays a role is the large amount of religous buildings across the world, and the fact it's so established in todays society, means people give the idea of religion more credit than if it wasn't taking the form of buildings/R.E lessons/going to church with school etc.
- And lastly, there's the endless scientific reasons to tell us why heaven, hell, god and the afterlife are all impossible.
Every single thing in existence is explained by science, emphasis on
existance.
Again, religion only survives in people's minds due to the fact that they've invented a being that is capable of ANYTHING and has power beyond belief.
So this again makes it incredibly conveniant, because if he wants to make everything invisible, unexplainable and so on...he can do so freely.
But even god would fall to the laws of science, and there'd be a way of measuring his power and what it is that gives him that power. And I seriously doubt there's anything out there capable of allowing such amazing things to happen.
There's also the fact that god was pretty much in our faces 2000 years ago, and decided to get virgins pregnant, set bushes on fire, give people powers, talk to people, put his son on this earth with magical healing powers, revive Jesus and strike down a temple.
And what now? did he get bored? is he having a little sleep?
And please nobody pass me off with the excuse that the world has become so bad that god doesn't wish to address us personally anymore...because the world was much worse back then believe it or not. Plus if he was who he claims to be, he'd be here more than ever in a time of need. Not turn his back when things look grim.
All of the above is mainly aimed towards christianity obviously and perhaps others, as I don't know enough about Buddhism to make fair comments but at least their religion is more plausible and a little more practical.