What bothers me about religion is parents who bring their children up as religious. The child is too young to understand or choose for themselves, but they get their heads filled (brainwashed) with stories of god and heaven and hell that they will find very hard to shake off in later life. Essentially they are stuck with their parents religious beliefs.
If your parents tell you something when you are young you believe them and trust them for a good reason. It’s a survival trait. Believing your parents when they tell you not to stick your fingers in to a light bulb socket is better than finding out by trial and error. That’s why we believe everything our parents tell us when we are little. It’s not gullibility, it’s an evolutionary survival tactic. i.e. kids who are more predisposed to believe everything their parents tell them are better equipped and more likely to survive and go on to produce more generations than kids that question everything their parents tell them and find out by trial and error.
Children should be shielded from religion until they are old enough to decide for themselves based on cognitive reasoning and evidence.
stevieboy308:
i’m getting married in the not to distant, so had to spend an hour at church last sunday, it was painful.
we were just copying everyone else, so went up for the bread and wine, apparently you’re only supposed to do that if you’re confirmed, which i’m not
Why do you get married in the Church?? Because it looks good on the pictures?? I wouldn’t even entertain that, my family could come to the registrar office and like it or lump it.
The same people who go only with Christmas or Christen the Kids, but never go near it anymore, what a 2 faced show.
Stand for what you believe, if you don’t believe do you own thing, otherwise it’s like shopping at Lidl’s with Harrots bags.
The grub is [zb] but for the neighbourhood it looks all honkidorey.
we were going to get it done at the hotel, but it was a similar price to the church and yeah, it will look better on the pictures! although she says she’s not that bothered, i know that the wedding day she’s had in her head since a young girl, has been at a church
Open minded.There’s only one way to know for sure and won’t find that out until the end.So like a lot of others there’s no harm in listening to the church and filtering out the obvious unbelievable stuff from a lot of the good decent values that are often contained in what it’s got to say.
Carryfast:
Open minded.There’s only one way to know for sure and won’t find that out until the end.So like a lot of others there’s no harm in listening to the church__mosque/synagogue__ and filtering out the obvious unbelievable stuff from a lot of the good decent values that are often contained in what it’s got to say.
What you are saying there sounds a bit like “Pascals Wager” … Pascals Wager went along the lines of ‘it’s better to believe in god “just in case” than to not believe in god and be wrong’.
Having belief in god ‘just in case’ is a bit of a cop out. You either believe or you don’t. Saying you slightly believe just in case god exits is not true belief.
As for decent values … You don’t need religion to lead a moral ethical life. In fact, in the unlikely event that god does exist and you get judged, would it be better to say “I sort of believed in you just in case you were real and I didn’t want to go to hell” or would it be better to say “I lived a good honest moral life because I came the conclusion via logic and reason that this was a good thing to do”
I leave by “beliefs” and “political views” at home when I go to work.
Considering the nature of some of the places I go, and the people I encounter, if I took my “beliefs” and “political views” with me, I doubt theyd give me the keys to any trucks and i would nt earn a wage.
likewise “beliefs” and “political views” have no place in a bar, mixing with beer, or… dare I say it a internet forum unless that forum is intended for “beliefs” or “political views” of a specific nature
Carryfast:
Open minded.There’s only one way to know for sure and won’t find that out until the end.So like a lot of others there’s no harm in listening to the church__mosque/synagogue__ and filtering out the obvious unbelievable stuff from a lot of the good decent values that are often contained in what it’s got to say.
What you are saying there sounds a bit like “Pascals Wager” … Pascals Wager went along the lines of ‘it’s better to believe in god “just in case” than to not believe in god and be wrong’.
Having belief in god ‘just in case’ is a bit of a cop out. You either believe or you don’t. Saying you slightly believe just in case god exits is not true belief.
As for decent values … You don’t need religion to lead a moral ethical life. In fact, in the unlikely event that god does exist and you get judged, would it be better to say “I sort of believed in you just in case you were real and I didn’t want to go to hell” or would it be better to say “I lived a good honest moral life because I came the conclusion via logic and reason that this was a good thing to do”
As I said I just pick and choose what I believe and what I don’t believe.I do believe that the church is a force for good and it’s the latter of those examples which is what I’m saying.Therefore as I’ve said if I believe that the church is a force for good then it’s obvious that it got those ideas from ‘somewhere’ but there’s no way that I’m going to find out exactly what/who that ‘somewhere’ is until I’m shown at the end.That’s what I meant by ‘open minded’.
Harry Monk:
It always seems to me that wherever in the world you go, the more people love God, the more they hate their fellow human being.
Sadly this is true. There’s nothing quite like differing religious beliefs to make men (nearly always men) kill each other because the guy over there either doesn’t believe in god at all or he believes something similar, but not quite the same as you do … eg Judaism, Christianity and Islam all believe in a singular god and all recognise some of the same prophets, but because the others don’t believe in this ONE god exactly as you do, it is acceptable … even encouraged … to exterminate them
Carryfast:
Open minded.There’s only one way to know for sure and won’t find that out until the end.So like a lot of others there’s no harm in listening to the church__mosque/synagogue__ and filtering out the obvious unbelievable stuff from a lot of the good decent values that are often contained in what it’s got to say.
What you are saying there sounds a bit like “Pascals Wager” … Pascals Wager went along the lines of ‘it’s better to believe in god “just in case” than to not believe in god and be wrong’.
Having belief in god ‘just in case’ is a bit of a cop out. You either believe or you don’t. Saying you slightly believe just in case god exits is not true belief.
As for decent values … You don’t need religion to lead a moral ethical life. In fact, in the unlikely event that god does exist and you get judged, would it be better to say “I sort of believed in you just in case you were real and I didn’t want to go to hell” or would it be better to say “I lived a good honest moral life because I came the conclusion via logic and reason that this was a good thing to do”
As I said I just pick and choose what I believe and what I don’t believe.I do believe that the church is a force for good and it’s the latter of those examples which is what I’m saying.Therefore as I’ve said if I believe that the church is a force for good then it’s obvious that it got those ideas from ‘somewhere’ but there’s no way that I’m going to find out exactly what/who that ‘somewhere’ is until I’m shown at the end.That’s what I meant by ‘open minded’.
Could there be a more damning argument against religion than what I have just highlighted above?
What are you saying?
“I like god because he promises me heaven if I do what the church tells me to”
or
“I chose not to believe in the immaculate conception or adam and eve or that the earth is only 4000 years old because science has clearly proved otherwise, but otherwise the bible is quite sound … well mostly apart from certain bits that don’t fit in with current thinking”.
Once again I emphasise that you don’'t need religion to lead a good moral life.
Well, look at Northern Ireland, they both believe in the same God, just with slightly varying protocols and because of that they feel they have to kill each other all the time. They just can’t let go of it, just can’t stop marching through each other’s territories banging their drums and wearing their too-small bowler hats etc, they do it because they’ve always done it and for no logical reason.
The whole thing is just primitive tribalism with its roots based in an age where “God” could explain things that science couldn’t. How religion survives today is beyond me.
Indeed, the various Christians in Jerusalem are always resorting to very unchristian means to decide who gets access to parts of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, let alone the number of Muslim sects who consider eachother infidels. It’s all indoctrination and primitive territory-grabbing IMO.
Personally I don’t believe in God or creation. The Kong James bible was written to suit the guy who paid for it and not a Devine being.
I’m not a scholar in any way but if you look at all the great religions they all seem to share common themes Jews and Muslims neither eat bacon
Jesus is recognised as a profit in Islam. They all claim Jerusalem is theirs.
I couldn’t be religious I couldnt follow any god that doesnt eat bacon!
I used to work with a bloke who’d converted to Christianity from his previous religion of out and out thuggery. He became the ultimate happy clappy, nothing would get him down. He’d see God’s love in an Axor. We were on double man day runs, and none of the other blokes liked going with him cos he’d always try to convert whoever he was with. I never used to mind. I could talk to him all day questioning God’s views on this that and the other.
One thing that struck me was that he seemed quite unhinged. That the thug was still there just under the surface.
Personally I’m agnostic. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t mind going with him, to try to see what he saw. Never did though. But I’ll guarantee if my demise was coming, and I could see it coming I’ll be saying a final prayer. Hedging my bets? Probably, but I reckon I won’t be the only non believer doing so.
Carryfast:
Open minded.There’s only one way to know for sure and won’t find that out until the end.So like a lot of others there’s no harm in listening to the church__mosque/synagogue__ and filtering out the obvious unbelievable stuff from a lot of the good decent values that are often contained in what it’s got to say.
What you are saying there sounds a bit like “Pascals Wager” … Pascals Wager went along the lines of ‘it’s better to believe in god “just in case” than to not believe in god and be wrong’.
Having belief in god ‘just in case’ is a bit of a cop out. You either believe or you don’t. Saying you slightly believe just in case god exits is not true belief.
As for decent values … You don’t need religion to lead a moral ethical life. In fact, in the unlikely event that god does exist and you get judged, would it be better to say “I sort of believed in you just in case you were real and I didn’t want to go to hell” or would it be better to say “I lived a good honest moral life because I came the conclusion via logic and reason that this was a good thing to do”
As I said I just pick and choose what I believe and what I don’t believe.I do believe that the church is a force for good and it’s the latter of those examples which is what I’m saying.Therefore as I’ve said if I believe that the church is a force for good then it’s obvious that it got those ideas from ‘somewhere’ but there’s no way that I’m going to find out exactly what/who that ‘somewhere’ is until I’m shown at the end.That’s what I meant by ‘open minded’.
Could there be a more damning argument against religion than what I have just highlighted above?
What are you saying?
“I like god because he promises me heaven if I do what the church tells me to”
or
“I chose not to believe in the immaculate conception or adam and eve or that the earth is only 4000 years old because science has clearly proved otherwise, but otherwise the bible is quite sound … well mostly apart from certain bits that don’t fit in with current thinking”.
Once again I emphasise that you don’'t need religion to lead a good moral life.
Edited for clarity
What I’m saying is that having been a union member didn’t mean that I supported and believed that everything that the Labour Party decided to do was right.There’s also been some good ideas in the Conservative Party but other ideas of their’s are just plain bonkers just like some of the Labour Party’s.
As far as I know every German soldier in WW2 went to war with the words Gott Mit Uns written on their uniforms.However the fact is most,if not all,of them,were just plain evil zb’s but what they all had in common was that they didn’t have my ideas that it’s all about making the right choices between right and wrong.Which at the end of the day is what matters and as I’ve said it’s only at the end where they would have found out for sure wether they’d picked and chosen the ‘right’ moral path through life and wether that message written on their uniforms was worth the metal it was written on.
However none of that is good enough reason to believe in the idea of getting rid of all government and having anarchy instead or shut down all the churches and to turn my back on those good ideas which I believe the church has.While just like those WW2 German squaddies I’ll know for sure at the end wether the choices I made in life were the right or the wrong ones.That to me is what the church is really all about and the idea of god is just a matter of finding out at the end wether I made the grade in life or not and knowing for sure that those things which I believed were good about the church and the reasons why were correct.
I’m an atheist, I’m willing to respect any religious persons genuine belief as long as they’re prepared to respect my genuine belief that they are wrong.
Unfortunately I’ve met very few if any religious people who even try to practice what they claim to believe
:-)