what is religion?

[BBA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beemer

Your claim of there being a god is scene to be wholey irrelevant until proven otherwise.

Beemer, ok, are you always right about everything? Meaning you have never been wrong on something to the point you felt ashamed about to admit?

Most people have, even the brightest of the brightest make mistakes. The man who makes no mistake is the man who does nothing.

So, how irrelevant is the existance of God, what if you are proven wrong, after you die? Well, it would suck to be you.

Now, being the humble man, you could at least entertain the thought that billions are right and you are wrong. What is at stake in that scenario? Lets see, you die believing in God, but nothing happens. Sounds like a better deal than dying to find out you really blew it.

Such is life...the meek shall inherit the earth because the powerful will self destruct.

[Gomer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBA

So, how irrelevant is the existance of God, what if you are proven wrong, after you die? Well, it would suck to be you.

Now, being the humble man, you could at least entertain the thought that billions are right and you are wrong. What is at stake in that scenario? Lets see, you die believing in God, but nothing happens. Sounds like a better deal than dying to find out you really blew it.

Which God is the right God to believe in and why?

Will any God do?

Will I still go to heaven if I only believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

I heard that only Mormons are going to heaven because everyone else believes in the wrong Jesus; is this true?

[-FMA]

Quote:

So, how irrelevant is the existance of God, what if you are proven wrong, after you die? Well, it would suck to be you."

I couldn't live with myself knowing I got into some magical world while others suffer in hell because they didn't play some gods silly shitty game.

[SoloCamo]

Well I like to put it this way. If all hell freezes over and their is a god whether it be the spaghetti monster, jesus, or whomever, then I think it would be applauding non believers as they are the truly thinking minds. They question what the universe is, how it came to be, and possibly why it even exists, and do so until their last breath. Blindly following a book is not much of a living to me.

Like I've always said, even if one day humans do find out the who what when & how the universe was created, no one will ever truly no why. As why is the one question that is practically impossible to answer.

Such as why does life exist, or why doesn't life exist? Why would nothing exist, or why does anything exist at all?

[Knothead]

FWIW, I've begun to enjoy these threads...that is, "Religious Threads" ( I used to hate them) where folks in this Community try to "cap" on other folks core spiritual beliefs. heh, AS IF.

ONE thing I know about this subject is, it is a SIN and an offensive action to attempt to invalidate another's beliefs.

But I've since gotten a cognition that, well....here's all these people, all over the globe, trying to reconcile what The Big Something is.

~Cool.

[Beemer]

I always admit when I'm wrong. It's in my nature to do so. Brutally honest even to my own detriment. My friends always no this of me and can count on this. It's also the reason I get so many requests for every kind of problem under the sun from friends and associates.

I spent many years working in 5 star hotels. The next time you stay at a hotel and you ask a question of any staff member and they say they don't know the answer, that staff member should be moved from any area that a guest could frequent. The correct answer to the guest is, I don't know off hand but I will find out for you. Hotel staff should never say "I don't know", period. The guest is in that staff members town and is at a disadvantage. Staff are the link to a successful stay in your town and hotel.

Thus, I look for the answers and provide, to the best of my ability the correct answer or admit failing after trying hard to provide an answer.

I will always stand corrected when proven wrong. I have to so that I can incorporate the new knowledge so that some day I may share that knowledge with another.

If I have any reason to believe my shared knowledge is specious, I'll admit it up front even before I share, if I share at all due to the specious nature of what I have to offer.

How irrelevant is the existance of God? Knowing that man has an enthusiastic imagination due to the progressive delopment of the creative mind that allowed tool making and survival techniques to emerg, and the total lack of affirming evidence for any god's, ever, it is logical to deduce there has never been any gods. Looking into the social development of mankind, even briefly will further pin the irony meter. So, when confronted with, "what if you are proven wrong, after you die? Well, it would suck to be you." I reply, read my signature you fool.

What is important is what I do with my limited time on this planet. What happens to me after I die is up to the foraging of the worms. Even they will derive benefit from my existance. Then the microbes feeding on the worm poop will live another day. Every body is happy.

The End.

[Beemer]

I actually like everyone here or I wouldn't be here.

I know..... I have a funny way of showing it but it's what is called, "tough love".

[Socalgal]

I came upon this story while researching reason, and knew it'd have a place in one of these threads.. or maybe all of them.

Reading paraphrased from Nathan the Wise by G.E. Lessing, c. 1780

Nathan met with the Sultan of a kingdom and offered him his wisdom about whichever subject he was interested. The Sultan, intrigued, asked, “since they call you Nathan the Wise, tell me which faith seems to you the true one.”

Nathan said, “well, I myself am a Jew.”

The Sultan replied, “and I am a Muslim. There is Christianity besides, and only one of these can be the true faith. I know that a man as wise as you would not be of a faith just because of your birth, but that you would go to the one that seemed the true faith.”

The Sultan left Nathan alone in the room for a few moments, and Nathan wondered, “what on earth can I say? If I tell him that Judaism is the true faith, he’ll just think that I’m like every other person who thinks that theirs is the best. If I tell him that Muslims have the true faith, surely he’ll see that I’m just trying to flatter him, and think me dishonest. If I tell him that Christianity is the one true faith, he’ll ask me why I’m not a Christian! What can I do?”

The Sultan returned to the room just as Nathan had an idea. Nathan said, “Sultan, let me answer your question by way of a story.”

The Sultan replied, “I love stories, if they’re well told – please sir, begin.”
Nathan said, “Once upon a time, in a land far away (for that is how all good stories begin, you see), a man owned a beautiful ring set with an opal of many colors. This magical ring had the power to make the owner loved by God and by all people everywhere. This ring had been handed down from parent to child in his family for centuries, and its power had given them much success.”

The Sultan broke in, “What a marvelous treasure that would be! I should like to have a ring like that!”

Nathan agreed, “So, too, sir, would I. After many generations, this ring was handed down to a man who had not one child, but three. Each of the three he loved with all his heart, and over the years he wondered how he would solve the problem of which of them should have the ring. His oldest daughter, so clever and hard-working; his son, so talented and kind; or his younger daughter, so brave and loyal. As the father became older, he realized that he could not stand to disappoint two of his children by not giving them the ring.”

The Sultan asked, “Well then, what did he do?”

Nathan replied, “He sent the ring to a jeweler and told him to make two exact copies of the ring, absolutely perfect copies. And when they were done, the father himself couldn’t even tell them apart. As he neared the end of his life, he called each of his children to his bedside, one by one, and gives them each a ring, explaining its magical powers.”

The Sultan exclaimed, “A clever solution! But did that not also cause arguments among them?”

“Indeed it did,” Nathan said. “Each one of them wanted to be ruler of the house and over the other two. For they couldn’t tell the true ring now any more than they could decide, say, the true faith.”

The Sultan cried, “Sir, I see that you’re trying to answer my question by not giving me a real answer!”

“Not at all, Sultan,” Nathan reassured him. “For the story continues. Each of the children complained to a judge that they had received the true ring from their father, and ought to be considered the favorite. The judge thought to himself, ‘how will I decide among these three claims? For the father is no longer alive, and the rings are as identical as can be.’ But then he had an idea: remember, the true ring was supposed to make the owner loved by all. The judge called them together and said, ‘Indeed, I have no way of distinguishing between these three rings except by the people who wear them. The one who has the true ring will surely be the one who is loved best by all around them. Come back in a year, and let us decide among ourselves which of you is truly loved by all.’ The children did as they were told, and truly, each lived a life of such genuine kindness and generosity that they were each loved by all. And because love became such a habit for them, they no longer needed to be the owner of the real ring – because each of them lived as if it their ring were the real one.”

The Sultan, amazed, realized that Nathan had indeed answered his question. He said, “Sir, you are indeed as wise as people say. I see now that the only way to decide which is the true faith is by the way people live their lives, and that people who live lives of genuine love and kindness don’t need to have their faith be the only answer. Thank you for your advice – I shall tell the whole kingdom this story, and order that they stop fighting over who is right, and instead live in respect of one another and their faith.”

And with that, the Sultan made Nathan his wise advisor, and they worked together for many years, building a land where every person tried to make their world the best place it could be.

[BBA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoloCamo

Well I like to put it this way. If all hell freezes over and their is a god whether it be the spaghetti monster, jesus, or whomever, then I think it would be applauding non believers as they are the truly thinking minds. They question what the universe is, how it came to be, and possibly why it even exists, and do so until their last breath. Blindly following a book is not much of a living to me.

Are you trying to say religious people do not question the universe and how it came to be and why it exists?

If so your definitely wrong.

[BBA]

Nice story Socal!