I haven't been reading all this, but I thought I'd give my 2c on this since I saw it while skimming.
First we have these commandments that help us to be happy when we follow them. They will also lead us back so we can live with our God and our families.
Second, he gave us a way to overcome our "finite amount of wrong doing". Because of course we all make mistakes. Shortly put, this process is: believe in Christ, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost (confirmation) and then keep holding strong till you die.
If you pass it all up here on Earth, he gives you a second chance to accept it before the judgement happens.
So after a good amount of chances, do you think it's not fair? Did he give us punishment, or did we choose it? Would it be fair to the good who held it out to have some guy who killed 50 people sit next to them? Or would that murderer even feel comfortable sitting in a setting where he was with a perfect god and also multitudes of others made clean and perfect through Christ because they did what they were supposed to, not only to be with god again, but to be happy.
I don't know how much of that made sense, but I hope I did. I'm really tired, am sitting on the toilet and on my phone. Lol. I'll take anything to PMs if someone wants. But I'm probably done here. But I'm personally grateful for the teachings I have. I know it's true cause I put it to the test. I'm happy, and I'm glad I can stay happy.
Serious Zen here (man acro i am serious most of the time lol). Thanks for chiming in Hando. It seems that the most prevalent philosophy among dgamers is that of atheism, so it's pretty cool of you to post your thoughts despite that. Many people are often afraid of causing tension and offending others, especially against a majority with opposing views so yeah.
I personally had never really had a problem with religion. There are many benefits to it, that's for sure. And I'd never just want to try and take away the happiness someone gets from it just because I feel they are wrong (as in the opposite of truth). That to me is just selfish. It wasn't until just recently, however, that I realized that there are so many more negatives with religion in this day in age then there are positive. Religion may have been a good thing to maintain a common morality among more primitive societies (especially in western culture where materialism and greed have run high), but I honestly feel that at this point in humanity's time, we can start to move away from that. I feel that we have come to a point in civilization, at least among industrialized nations, where our morality and happiness doesn't need to be given to us through religion.
I myself have gone through some intense mind ****s with regards to my beliefs, especially last year. I had been raised as a Christian and have certainly felt the love one feels when declaring their love and devotion to Christ. It is truly amazing and liberating and I feel that those who have never been through this process can never truly understand the Christian mind set or point of view.
Despite this, I, like many people do, retained some reasonable doubts. I had once gone to a three-day youth conference in which we worshiped, had discussions, and learned more about our faith. At times I had felt that I was willing to give 100% of myself to Jesus, but just one thing was keeping a barrier between that. A common question that many people often have: What about people who have done good in their life, but have not necessarily given themselves to Jesus? Is it truly fair for them to suffer eternity in hell? According to the faith, a person who has never been taught of Christianity will still go to hell no matter how good of a person they are. And rest assured, there are people, such as those among native american tribes, that have lived their entire lives without ever hearing the name 'Christ'. This concern, I've come to realize, had always kept me from giving 100% of myself to Jesus. For the longest while, like EE, I had come to realize that I naturally just didn't fully believe. However, I still have always remained an open mind and will always continue to do so.
And then came college. At our school, the minute people get to campus, there are religious surveyors EVERYWHERE. You cannot walk to class without at least coming by one or two. They always start with "hey can I get your opinion on something"? Once they draw you in, they ask you questions about your faith and then work their way into describing Jesus and hopefully getting you to come to their church or study sessions to learn more. Now my first semester of college, I still pretty much classified myself as Christian (you know how many people just put that as their default religion even if they don't go to church or anything really), and like I said I'm an open-minded person. So the first time I was wheeled in by a surveyor, I had agreed to meet with him 1-on-1.
And then the mind ****. This guy explained Christianity like I have never heard before. It all made so much sense. A friend of his even went into that concern I had over good people and people who have never heard of Christ going to hell. He basically explained to me that god has his plans, and that all we can do is try to get the word out to as many people as we can. It's our duty to make sure that people know about Jesus and his love.
This stuff just makes so much sense. I didn't know what to believe anymore. The whole first semester I had to go on a personal soul journey. I researched the differences between Muslims and Christians and Judaism. I wavered so much on my belief and it was all quite straining. I wanted to believe in Jesus, but above that, I wanted to know the truth. To give yourself 100% to someone is a big thing, ya know? I still had concerns over the only way being able to get into heaven was to acknowledge Jesus as the one and only god by that name. But I still very much wanted to believe. The "surveyors" as I call them spoke in a way that made you feel like it was just absolute truth. It's like they are SO sure. It felt wrong to disagree. Not to mention I had been primed by my culture, family, and friends as well. It just felt wrong to not believe.
I had struggled and wavered pretty much the entire first semester and had gone into some deep spiritual and philosophical moments within myself. It took a while to get over the hump, but now I realize that Christianity along with Judaism and the Islamic religion are not paths to truth. And are very much wrong (as in the opposite of good) in many aspects. It has taking me a long time to realize that I'm not wrong (as in the opposite of good) to recognize that. These religions are incredibly powerful and take full advantage of the human psyche. It actually really saddens me as I think about it.
The way I can best explain this to you I think is simply by the fact all three of those major religions follow the same scriptures, but all interpret them in different ways. Over the years, men have communicated the ideas into ways that best benefit their selves or interpret them in ways that they personally would like to interpret them. The bible, itself, was written by men, to establish what they themselves felt to be moral. Despite the fact that Hebrews were the the original chosen people of god and remain so throughout the bible, the philosophy of Christianity condemns all Hebrews to hell. Jewish people do not believe Jesus to be the son of god. And as you know, accepting that he is is the one and only way to go to heaven based on Christianity. As devoted as they are to god and remaining virtuous, they are incorrect in the name of god (based on Christianity) , and therefore, will go to hell. At the same time, they believe the exact same thing towards Christians and Muslims and every all other persons. Jewish people are just as 100% certain about their faith as Christians and the "surveyors" are to theirs. Both legitimately feel love and truth of god. This is the same towards Muslims as well. Yet in each of the three, the other two are condemned to hell a long with the rest of the world because the only way to heaven is through belief in the
name of the one god. This is the strength that religion holds over people. It makes one truly and legitimately feel as if they have the truth. It completely takes advantage of the human mindset.
I know the happiness you feel from your faith. I do. But it is not the only happiness. I now feel the same happiness that I did long ago from declaring my love to Jesus. I have also been able to elicit that same feeling by making up a name for god and then putting as much belief into that name and praying to that name. The same phenomenon occurs. It's just the way the of the human psych.
I currently am still pretty much a Theist and always have been. Religion is not a factor anymore, however, and I have truly never been happier. I just love life and human beings as a whole like so much you wouldn't believe. Personally money/fame/material wealth just don't really mean much to me if I can't help humanity. Progressing our world is the only thing I care about. What one believes or doesn't believe about god is completely irrelevant. Human beings and all creatures are made with the potential to love and that is for sure. If there is a physical god, he will not be so concerned with such a human matter of what he is titled nor whether or not someone has reached the conclusion of his existence. To be concerned with what one is called is such a pity matter that no divine being would care for. To send everyone who doesn't call you by that specific name into an eternity of pain would be even more pitiful.
So yeah. One last thing I would like to add is that what one believes with regards to there being a god or not should be no thing to fret over, but religion is a different case. The reason why I feel it's important to argue against religion is because of the influence it has over people and their actions. It's just not right. To allow people to devote themselves to a faith grounded in discrimination and hate is just not something I can allow as a philanthropist. The inequality of women, the ill treatment of homosexuals, the discrimination of those of color are all written about in texts such as the Bible, Qur'an, and the Book or Mormon. So as I said at the beginning, to try and take away someone's happiness (in religion) just because you feel they are wrong (as in the opposite of
truth) is selfish. I fight against religion because it is
wrong (as in the opposite of good).
the question that ultimately pushed me away from Christianity is: Why would an all powerful , all knowing, and loving God create human beings knowing that the vast majority of them would not believe in him and therefore be punished with eternal damnation?
anyways, has anyone read Snow Crash? currently reading it and it's blowing my mind
Basically god's gift to man is freedom. Free will is the greatest gift to human beings. god did create creatures without free will (angels) that are set to love him, but there is an even greater love that comes from
choice. That is the argument there.
