for a source of comfort?

I've always believed in reincarnation....then recently I wondered..."well do I 'believe' in it because it's comforting to know where I'll be going?"

I'm starting to really believe that religion was simply made up to help comfort people. I know several people who all of a sudden "find their faith" when someone close to them passes. Wow, that's amazing. Sorry, but I think you suddenly "find" it because you don't know how else to cope.

i think religious people are a little to stubborn and inflexible to have a serious discussion with so it takes away any value in discussing religion with them.


as far as your question. i'd say religion is created and used for a lot of different purposes and yeah comfort is one of the big ones...

You cant disprove the existance of a devine being(s). Im talking outside of the bible and scriptures, just in general.

Even Einstein after all his research said that there must be some sort of god because there is so much that just simply cannot be explained.

I do though, have a belief in reincarnation. I think when our souls are finished using the body we are in now, we find another body to use.

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/SARCASM.

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Originally posted by Coup Vlad wins. Flawless victory.

lex400sc made an excellent point regarding this same topic. My rational side agrees with him 100%, but my religious side says no. I'll go ahead and look for his post and when I do you'll see what I'm talking about.

quote:

Originally posted by Azia I'm starting to really believe that religion was simply made up to help comfort people. I know several people who all of a sudden "find their faith" when someone close to them passes. Wow, that's amazing. Sorry, but I think you suddenly "find" it because you don't know how else to cope.

Often the situation you've described is true, however, that stands to reason. The loss of a loved one forces people to think about their own mortality. For many this is an uncomfortable subject as there are no answers that can be proven. People will often then look for the answer that gives them the most comfort. Some people pick one religion or another depending on which makes the most sense to them, others will revert to what they were taught as children and others will pick no religion at all. That said, many religions did not initially address what happens after death. In most religions this is a question that was addressed long after the establishment of the religion itself, therefore, your position that religions were made up primarally to provide answers to the question of morality doesn't fit with the history of the major religions.

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Originally posted by RickyM you're just a shit version of Moral Hazard. At least he knows what he's talking about.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN lol, i love it when moral feels the need to lay the smack down

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Originally posted by Floorfiller i think religious people are a little to stubborn and inflexible to have a serious discussion with so it takes away any value in discussing religion with them. as far as your question. i'd say religion is created and used for a lot of different purposes and yeah comfort is one of the big ones...

You cant talk about religion with just regular ole people, because they cant give you answers, they are within their own box. You have to talk to people who actually know the writings and who can explain the stuff to you. If you cant disect it literally and figuratively, than youre blind to alot of things.

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/SARCASM.

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Originally posted by Coup Vlad wins. Flawless victory.

god is an invention of the human psyque created to fulfill an existencial emptyness

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NOBODY DOES THIS ANYMORE

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Originally posted by stevieboy32808 lex400sc made an excellent point regarding this same topic. My rational side agrees with him 100%, but my religious side says no. I'll go ahead and look for his post and when I do you'll see what I'm talking about.

Eureka! Here's the post I was talking about which I agree with:

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Originally posted by lex400sc it's simple human psychology... the less you know about something the more mythology you make up in its place... at least at the societal level. look at every other "hip" religion of it's time that came and went... the romans: didn't know shit about such uncontrollable concepts as love, war, the sun, the moon, the sky, the stars, comets, the oceans, thunder & lightening, etc etc etc... so in order to help them cope with such things they personified them into deities because it's much easier to deal with something that has a human face, a name and an agenda for you to work with. you can't explain a massive storm that destroys your town, well if you can't explain it then you live in perpetual fear that it can happen again and again and again at any moment. who needs the stress? so you rationalize it as an angry god and attempt to appease him. well the more science taught humanity, the fewer gods we needed to help cope with the meathook realities of life. ultimately what are we left with today? what don't we understand and probably never will? what happens after you die. it's so grim to think you just decompose like everything else in nature, so we created a soul, a loving god, an epic and poetic struggle between good and evil, ten commandments, stories of sacrifice, stories of miracle and hope, a universe that was made just for us. such a romantic tale, and i'm sure it helped millions of people cope with the pain and suffering of plagues and famine and wars, but in the end it's just false hopes. religion impedes the progress of humanity by asserting that all the important questions of origin are already known. well not that i really care what the hell anyone believes. i've accepted that free-thinkers will always be the minority and people will continue to believe simply because it's the EASIEST thing to do.

from this thread.

I wouldn't say that religions were "made." The religions that exist today developed over hundreds of years and they are highly complex social phenomena so it cannot really be said that they have a single specific purpose.

It is certainly true that many people do find comfort in their religion when they are facing a personal loss of some kind. Then again, others may find comfort in alcohol. My advice would be to take both in moderation, if at all.

A friend was saying how they can't believe anyone who doesn't go to church/follows a faith....how they're life must be so empty. But who's to say what "empty" is

I almost wish I had a strong belief in something, because then maybe I wouldn't have so many questions....but there's no way I'm going to follow a certain group of people (when I don't truly believe), once again for comfort and to feel like I know where we're all going, no question. It seems so pathetic.

I think for sure that it's definitely one path to understand the world.

Not everybody is wired to understand concepts of life and humanity, what it means to be a good person, etc., the same way. Some people need religion. Others need politics. And so on.

The smartest people can take ALL concepts and make them work together. There doesn't have to be ONE definitive answer for everything. That's unrealistic.

quote:

Originally posted by Vlad You cant talk about religion with just regular ole people, because they cant give you answers, they are within their own box. You have to talk to people who actually know the writings and who can explain the stuff to you. If you cant disect it literally and figuratively, than youre blind to alot of things.

well let's face it the success of religion is entirely based on these types of people. my personal opinion is if people were more rational about religion they wouldn't necessarily subscribe to a religious group. the topic just gets so frustrating because people are unwilling to see other viewpoints.