religions

I think its incredible how people can believe in an apparently insane
vindictive god where there can be three or four or more separate religions each one claiming only thier religion is the correct one, the others are being fooled by a false god or satan. How can you have religions with diametrically opposed views and all claiming to be getting it all from "God"? I don't suppose it could be because all these so-called religions are only the result of some desert hallucinations of some crazed power hungry dude with delutions of glory and an unsatable thirst to control? For instance Christianity as we know it wasn't even started by Christ, it was started by Paul 50 years later. Paul knew if he was to get a religion going in Rome it had to include miracles, no new religion would be acceptable without miracles there and since Jesus didn't preach miracles, paul just made up a few to convince the Romans to go monotheistic and just conveniently, with Paul in charge. So Christianity gets going and in the 700's a new dude comes around, another round of hallucinations and a new version of god is afoot so three hundred years later the christians cant stand it and sends armies to Jerusalem and kill as many Muslims as possible all in the name of god. So what is really going on here, hmm?
Could it be there never was a god? could it be all this religious crap was started by madmen whose intent it was simply to build as big a power base as possible? Do you thing a real god would set up such an insane system that allows such conflicting views leading to the deaths of millions in "His" name? Back up and think about the big picture here, would you want a for real god that would allow such nonsense?
Maybe there really is a "god", but one thing for sure, its not the one preached by any religion on earth right now. I think if there is a god, we are just left to our own destiny with zero interferance and whatever happens is how its going to go, maybe we will end our own misery by mismanaging the earth so badly we destroy our own ecology and drown in our own filth, thats what it looks like is happening now, I don't see any of the religious leaders telling anyone to stop driving cars or putting major major bucks into a fusion research project to get us off the oil economy which in my opinion is one hell of a lot more important than ANY religious pogrom right now, if we don't there will be no religions to pogrom in the first place.

What are your thoughts about people who say they know their particular deity is real because He talks directly to them?

My ears always perk up when I hear someone make that claim. Often times the language is wishy-washy, though. I think it was the wife of James Dobson who was a guest on Dobson's 'Focus on the Family' radio program a few weeks back who said, "The Lord impressed it on my spirit" that she was to support her husband's decision to move their family somewhere else in the country to do God's work. To my ears, that way of putting it stops short of saying, "God told me in English that..." My suspicion is that her own instinctive feelings about what it takes to maintain marital harmony were the real motivation, and then looking back on the situation later, she attributes it to God communicating the thought to her in some nonverbal fashion.

i would be very very worried if they think god speaks to then direct, Unless you are to be the next Moses, Jesus. He usualy gets a angel, but if it is the work of god then nothing can stand in way, but if its there own without authority then they will fall by the wayside. There was 2 at least before jesus who had followers (not john) but they fell by there own words.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Maybe there really is a "god", but one thing for sure, its not the one preached by any religion on earth right now. I think if there is a god, we are just left to our own destiny with zero interferance...

I don't know why there isn't more credence given to this view. The more I learn about religion, the more I think about spirituality, life, the universe, evolution, science, philosophy, the lot... the more I come to the following conclusions:

The Universe was created by God (perhaps God and the Universe are one and the same)... then sat back and let the laws of physics do the rest. Unable or unwilling to intervene in his creation. (i.e. in the Physical world, bound by the very Laws he created).

So offering up prayers to the Almighty to get you through that driving test tomorrow won't have a direct effect, as God (a) probably doesn't give a monkey's whether you pass or fail, and (b) couldn't intervene anyway. Of course, the placebo effect of prayer may well inspire you to pass... but that's another issue. 😉

I prefer to think that Man has it within himself to push his own boundaries, to seek out inner strength to get him through life's difficulties, to find his own answers, without relying on religious texts, or a 2000 year-old cult. Well, that seems to work for me anyway... others obviously disagree.