I'm going to ecpress my opinion, plz don't eat me alive here!

[Goat Whisperer]

I think the idea of afterlife or reincarnation came before religion. I think religion was just invented for reasons like money, amusement, or control.

Actually you are probably right about that, cuz the area where all that started (Up in asia) is like the oldest place in the world too.

 

[NicAuf]

Everything stared in East Asia and spread west, at least it seems like that

 

[Minor Axis]

Idk maybe you should ask somebody who is an athiest and a realist. Cuz I'm only one.

If I mistook you for an Atheist, my apologies. My point is that claiming to be a realist when it comes to any religious views is rather humorous, don't you think? Or are you saying that the only thing you are sure of is that your physical body will end up in the ground?

 

[NicAuf]

Well I think you can apply realist thought to religion at times. For instance, Jesus walked on water. Really? Because last time I checked humans are more dense than water.

I tend to live life by the age old saying, "Seeing is believing." I need to see something, and have conclusive evidence to back it up.

As for the whole rotting in the ground, obviously one can't disprove that nothing happens after you die, but one also can't prove anything happens after you do, spiritually speaking.

For the record, I consider myself agnostic. I can't prove God exists, and I can't prove he does not exist. However, I could care less. I have bigger things to worry about.

 

[Butler]

Screw it. For better or worse, call me an atheist. Now, to the topic: Why does religion exist? Well, it is one way to explain the world around us. That includes death. It also sets a certain moral code a lot of the time, and enforces it through the carrot and the stick approach. People today are raised to believe in their religion, be it Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or anything else. Why am I an atheist? The idea wasn't reinforced over and over as I grew up. Now, what I find wrong is when religions use their influence to control people. Talk all you want about the love of God and of Jesus and all that, but then don't say that we are all sinners because the first two people on Earth ate apples, and because of that, we need to believe in God, pray to God, and go through all kinds of ceremony in order to get the carrot and avoid the stick.

Ah, but I'm ranting. Yes, religion gives us hope for life after death. Personally, I'm with George Carlin on that. Getting dead sucks either way, but no one would mind being dead. Then there's the moral codes and the sense of brotherhood and love. That's enough for now. I'll bash religion some more in other threads about it.

 

[Sdrawkcab]

Religion was made to explain the unexplainable, and to keep control over people.

 

[Minor Axis]

Well I think you can apply realist thought to religion at times. For instance, Jesus walked on water. Really? Because last time I checked humans are more dense than water.

Now wait-a-minute, I just watched Criss Angel (Mind Freak) walk on Lake Mead! Maybe he has something in common with Jesus...

Criss Angel Walks on Lake Mead.

BTW there are some UTube videos showing Criss Angel walking on water in a pool, claiming that he was walking on clear glass platforms in the water that the camera can't see. However in the Lake Mead video people looked like they were moving their hands under his feet as he walked. Pretty amazing. Just how did he do it?

 

[Dana]

i stick with my belief in the afterlife and reincarnation. Religion can kiss my ass though.

 

[Dana]

oh and the belief in a God or high power doesn't have to intertwine with religious belief.

 

[SouthOfHeaven]

oh and the belief in a God or high power doesn't have to intertwine with religious belief.

really? okay.. now im lost.. exaplin. plz

 

[wednesday]

umm, yer what brandii said!!

 

[Minor Axis]

i stick with my belief in the afterlife and reincarnation. Religion can kiss my ass though.

Ah afterlife and reincarnation are a religious belief last time I looked. But I think you are talking about conventional religious dogma?

really? okay.. now im lost.. exaplin. plz

I think he means that belief in a God or high power doesn't have to intertwine with traditional religious belief.

 

[skyblue]

:willy_nilly:Im sorry, but my view stays the same...i still think we are less evolved aliens and our god is probably holed up in roswell!:eek

or on the dark side of the moon.......or at the bottom of the deepest ocean.......

 

[Goat Whisperer]

or on the dark side of the moon.......or at the bottom of the deepest ocean.......

In the very outer TREEEENNNNCCCHHHHHH

 

[siasl]

I believe it's generally accepted that theism grew of the need to explain aspects of the world around us that were otherwise a mystery at the time. I can't cite a source. I just recall hearing that somewhere. Makes sense to me. Anywho...

me too....
great post, btw....i'm surprized nobody picked up on it

I've also heard that a large percentage of sceintist type people are theists today.

In a way, this is a paradox. Since there is no longer a need to apply devine intervention as a source for one thing or another because science has a proven theorem/formula/explanation for this or that, one could argue there is no longer a need for a given diety.

BUT, we still can't explain the great mystery.

some truth here, imo.....but we've also succeeded in furthering the "great mystery"....we've got a whole bunch of cultures that, in one way or another, have inculcated the teachings of respective religions into their ways of life......further fuzzying up the distinction between the "ways of god(s)" and the "ways of human beings"

i'm thinking this has something to do with why you find so many scientists who remain theists....it is a learning not easily undone.

we ask these profound questions that have no answer, and then create an answer to satisfy our sensibilities.

the question we don't ask is: are these profound questions even important? does your life depend on their answers?

personally, i think not.