21 Mar '14 14:48>
Originally posted by KnightStalker47Nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning, right fellas?
I'm not a religious person, I've never read any religious book, but I'm here to share my thoughts.
There are a few questions that keep me from looking deeper into any religion.
How does one even choose a religion in the first place? It seems to me that it is mostly dictated by geological factors. e.g if you're born in Israel, you're probably J ...[text shortened]... for them, doing exactly what their creator expected them to do/created them to do.
Thoughts?
I'm not a religious person...
Sure you are.
You may have an unnamed god(s), but every person who has ever been born on the face of the planet and reached the level of self-consciousness has some form of religion... something which informs their code of conduct, tells them what is right and proper, admonishes them from evil doing.
Just because you haven't named your god(s) doesn't mean you are not acting in accord with principles of your beliefs.
There are a few questions that keep me from looking deeper into any religion.
Well, it sounds like you've given it quite a bit of thought, actually.
Every race seems to have it's own religion or more.
And, if you were to disperse the Jews from Israel, they'd end up together in a borough somewhere in New York, plotting their takeover of all the media centers.
Point: people like to group.
We're snugglers, every one of us.
Mormons weren't from Utah; they ended up there, and through their familial pyramiding as well as their landmark attractions, the state has become the main hive from which they send out many, many stingers who, in turn, get even more like-minded people to steer their wagons in that direction.
But thoughtful folks everywhere live in a world of both comedy and tragedy, with the even more thoughtful ones constantly reevaluating their life's direction.
For those who really don't examine but rather simply go with the flow (i.e., those who follow the 'geographical probably' route) are they really following a conscious, well-thought out system?
Or are they just following the person in front of them?
If their religion is just a cultural thing, I'd vote that it's not a religion... but a cultural thing.
No matter which way you slice it 75-99% of the world is wrong.
I don't know that I'd even be that generous, really.
But we can get to that in a minute or three.
I consider the fact that there exists a plethora of religions highly compelling as evidence that something is right.
If imitation is the best form of flattery, certainly the competition for thought (if nothing else) appears to point toward the importance of thought.
Hell, even the atheists believe that one!
Questions are good, so long as a person is open for the answer.
Questions are good, so long as a person acts upon the answer.
Questions are good, so long as a person knows the questions to ask in the first place.
The Lord Jesus Christ commanded people to ask, seek and knock.
He didn't seem nervous about what folks would find.
It's almost as though God created us with a built-in truth-o-meter, and ever the Master Inventor/Builder, He's confident that those who put all thoughts to the test will arrive at the right conclusion.
They were made to give peoples lives a glimmer of hope and to ease the fear of dying.
Christianity is a bit off, then, since it starts off by saying man's destination is an eternal tormenting pain of unbelievable proportions.
But then again, some folks are into that kinda stuff, I guess.
People created religion only to feel superior and to have a license to kill.
Again, with Christianity, the ultimate plan is to snatch every man from that death and elevate each of them to a place of equality: equal opportunity to amass an incredible reward which will never die.
Killing isn't really part of the overall plan, however.
A tool used by kings of ancient civilizations to enslave their people.
Actually, most forms of government use propaganda, general ignorance and the natural human tendency toward status quo to enslave people.
Works nearly every time.
If one knows everything and also creates everything, then how does free will exist?
God made a rock He wouldn't lift.
The will of man and the will of God are happening at the same time.
It blows your mind when you really think of how He does it.
Doesn't both good and evil people both walk the line their creator set out for them, doing exactly what their creator expected them to do/created them to do.
Good and evil is a system of thinking and orientation to life which was decidedly not God's plan for man.
He had given man 'lives' and told him to stay the hell away from the 'good and evil' system.
We all know how that worked out...