Go to The Reverend Kooka Speaks About Religious Bulls#!t
- Add a comment
- Go to The winner writes the history
Fat Guy
I say the beliefs are flawed and such, but I do not say people are stupid for believing. I may call them blind when they can not look beyond their beliefs. I know some very intelligent people are are very, very blind. You can be smart and blind at the same time.
I however have been called stupid for not believing. I have been called much worse than that for not believing. Openly be an Atheist does not win you any friends. People go and call you evil and stupid and such. Those great loving Christians very often become mean and hateful when you question their beliefs at all. Even just asking a simple 'why' will get them pissed off. I really do seem to hold myself to a higher set of moral values than many Christians, and yet I am not trying to win favor with God or anything else.
Your logic as to most cultures having the same kind of stories does not defend the idea of the Christian one being right. If anything it defends the idea that the Bible is most likely myth. It is very likely that those who wrote the Bible took from the stories they had heard and grew up with in order to help make it feel more real to people.
posted by
kooka_lives
on June 12, 2004 at 12:05 PM
| link to this | reply
what about other stories?
I understand your beef about taking one story and using it blindly. But what if stories worldwide, throughout the entire history of mankind, pointed to things like a spiritual leader/prophet/god coming to earth and dying for mankind, the way Jesus did? Then the Christ becomes a kind of literal fulfillment of the "dying god" myth, which by the way does and has existed in nearly every culture throughout history, in some form. The same is true with the creation story, the great flood story, etc. So I sometimes wonder if these things aren't simply evidence of design.
Sure, religion in and of itself get it mixed up at times, but the concepts of forgiveness, grace, mercy, love, prayer, salvation, may in fact be universal to humans and their quest to reunite with the Creator. To spend one's life fighting the very concept of God, to the point where you discourage the faithful from even believing, may actually be a dangerous path. I mean, it's one thing to say "Im not sure I can believe in God based on these things," and another thing to say, "You're stupid if you believe because God is a fake."
Just my thoughts.
Good post.
posted by
Fat_Guy
on June 12, 2004 at 10:58 AM
| link to this | reply
oh, thanks.
posted by
Tremac
on June 12, 2004 at 10:25 AM
| link to this | reply
tremacc
I don't think that michellerenee143 was replying to you there. It was a reply to the idea of the post. it was going with the idea that we who do not agree with those who believe are going to hell. Those who do question bliefs are evil in some people's eyes.
posted by
kooka_lives
on June 12, 2004 at 8:37 AM
| link to this | reply
hey guy good point (redux)
they're all good points
questioning the accepted view of things
problem is they're accepted even if there really is no valid or logical reasoning behind them.
we take the explanation you just gave for example.
it's a concoction, taken from bits and pieces, a passage here and a passage there.
whose imagination first glued all these together and came up with such an unbelievable story, I don't know.
the same people who made the graven image of god that we have also created (concocted) Satan (you notice we're doing images again). It's all a throwback to tribal religions that saw demons everwhere and saw demons as responsible for all the evils around them.I guess my thing is: if this god and this devil with all the acoutrements were all we have then nobody could believe in god.
at least nobody with a rational mind.
posted by
Xeno-x
on June 12, 2004 at 8:12 AM
| link to this | reply
hey guy good point
they're all good points
questioning the accepted view of things
problem is they're accepted even if there really is no valid or logical reasoning behind them.
we take the explanation you just gave for example.
it's a concoction, taken from bits and pieces, a passage here and a passage there.
whose imagination first glued all these together and came up with such an unbelievable story, I don't know.
the same people who made the graven image of god that we have also created (concocted) Satan. It's all a throwback to tribal religions that saw demons everwhere and saw demons as responsible for all the evils around them.I guess my thing is: if this god and this devil with all the acoutrements were all we have then nobody could believe in god.
at nobody with a rational mind.
posted by
Xeno-x
on June 12, 2004 at 8:11 AM
| link to this | reply
LOL. Whos' going to hell? I wasn't arguing against this post or casting judgement. Oh, screw it, what's the point? Anwyway, have a nice day.
posted by
Tremac
on June 11, 2004 at 8:46 PM
| link to this | reply
Hmmm, now I want to know more about Satanism, sounds like it might not be as bad as people have labeled it. You're very observant and articulate! Anybody who argues with you is arguing against logic. I agree with your views 100%. I guess we're both going to hell! COOL! I don't think my opinionated self could stand hanging around God anyway.
posted by
michellerenee143
on June 11, 2004 at 8:34 PM
| link to this | reply
I believe there is a God--- not because of the etchings in ink that have been written by men, but because of the etchings of proof in everything that surrounds and touches me. You raise valid points. Many of us seek someone outside of ourselves as a blueprint to God and I am a firm believer that the blueprint lies within each and everyone of us. Thanks for writing. 
posted by
Tremac
on June 11, 2004 at 4:16 PM
| link to this | reply
Kooka
As I suspected.
posted by
telemachus
on June 11, 2004 at 3:46 PM
| link to this | reply