God and Jesus take a right leathering
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God and Jesus take a right leathering
dear ***** in charge of religion
Is it a letter or a book?
...a short book?Originally Posted by Harry Monk
Or a long letter?
The original poster is fibbing. The only books he's ever read is Maggie Thatcher's autobiography and the Beano Annual.
About the same level I'd suggest.
Read a synopsis of it. He strikes me as incredibly juvenile, putting forward the sort of arguments that a 15yr old might - why doesn't God stop wars, look at all those killed in religious conflicts, etc. etc.
What his book really is, is another person's attempt to mock why people have faith and belief in something intangible, something which the author obviously finds so frustration and bewildering. So what..
I've never seen the point in this. It's the equivalent of evangelists standing on the street corner trying to get you to read bible/ Koran passages or knocking on your door to see if you've found Jesus. If people want to believe then let them, whatever religion it is.
It has always puzzled me though, why do people pray to god to cure them from an illness - if they believe in god, then surely they believe he created everything - including the illness they've got and want him to take away. Is he saying - here have this serious illness, then tell me how much you love me and I'll get some doctors to cure you of it.
The fact that you're willing to declare it juvenile, and mocking and that the author is bewildered by the concept of faith in the intangible, from a SYNOPSIS, suggests to me that you aren't giving it a fair crack of the whip
They pray to their god but make an appointment with the doc and have operatilns in hospital to hedge their bets. And people thank their deity for sparing them when a building collapses killing many others.
Religion is indoctrinal bunkum.
What an absolute crock of shit. How many people who have faith do you actually know? I was brought up a Catholic, i'm now an atheist, i simply don't believe there is a god but plenty of people do. The vast majority that i know are moderate and don't take the bible literally, those that do are usually crack pots with right wing tendencies. Although i'm not a believer i respect those that do, Individuals and their faith are presented in many different guises, it isn't a one shoe fits all as you present. My mother has faith, as does my wife, they are moderate free thinkers, their faith can mean many things at different times, it gives them strength and comfort without judging or hurting anyone and i know hundreds of people with faith who are like that. You really should get out more
Your response is rather amusing on several counts. Firstly, that my view lacks gravitas as you assume that I know few people of faith and that I don't get out enough. I have friends of different faiths (including a lay preacher) and probably 'get out' more than most people, having visited a multitude of so-called holy places around the world, including Shinto shrines in Japan, Buddhist temples in Vietnam, mosques in the Middle East and Africa, Ancient Greek temples, Roman temples, pagan sites, Native American sacred places, synagogues in Israel and in Eastern Europe etc etc.What an absolute crock of shit. How many people who have faith do you actually know? I was brought up a Catholic, i'm now an atheist, i simply don't believe there is a god but plenty of people do. The vast majority that i know are moderate and don't take the bible literally, those that do are usually crack pots with right wing tendencies. Although i'm not a believer i respect those that do, Individuals and their faith are presented in many different guises, it isn't a one shoe fits all as you present. My mother has faith, as does my wife, they are moderate free thinkers, their faith can mean many things at different times, it gives them strength and comfort without judging or hurting anyone and i know hundreds of people with faith who are like that. You really should get out more
Your associating 'God' merely with just one of the Abrahamist schisms suggests that you are perhaps the more parochialist here as we know that there there have been thousands of gods worshipped in the history of mankind and that believers rarely baulk against the one passed down to them by local authorities, customs and their peers. If people were really free thinkers there would be shintoists in the Inuit community and believers in Shiva in Saudi Arabia.
The fact that believing in deities brings comfort to people doesn't mean that it isn't bunkum. The fact that a relative of yours is a Christian is almost definitely down to the expansion of the Roman Empire into Britain. Religion and languages often travel via the same conduits.
As for your comment about 'one shoe fits all', it's a load of cobblers
Wonderful Stuff. Here's something for you to think about. When you next Travel, Visit a City or Town, indulge in Poetry, Writings, Architecture, Art, Sculpture, planning etc-The wonders of Culture-Ask yourself what influenced it and how it got there. You see, you may think it's all 'Bunkum', although Religion has enhanced your life more than you will ever know-or want to know.Your response is rather amusing on several counts. Firstly, that my view lacks gravitas as you assume that I know few people of faith and that I don't get out enough. I have friends of different faiths (including a lay preacher) and probably 'get out' more than most people, having visited a multitude of so-called holy places around the world, including Shinto shrines in Japan, Buddhist temples in Vietnam, mosques in the Middle East and Africa, Ancient Greek temples, Roman temples, pagan sites, Native American sacred places, synagogues in Israel and in Eastern Europe etc etc.
Your associating 'God' merely with just one of the Abrahamist schisms suggests that you are perhaps the more parochialist here as we know that there there have been thousands of gods worshipped in the history of mankind and that believers rarely baulk against the one passed down to them by local authorities, customs and their peers. If people were really free thinkers there would be shintoists in the Inuit community and believers in Shiva in Saudi Arabia.
The fact that believing in deities brings comfort to people doesn't mean that it isn't bunkum. The fact that a relative of yours is a Christian is almost definitely down to the expansion of the Roman Empire into Britain. Religion and languages often travel via the same conduits.
As for your comment about 'one shoe fits all', it's a load of cobblers
Pay no attention to his globetrotting tales as they're products of his imagination. His annual one-week holiday is 20 miles up the road from home at Minehead Butlins in one of the cheap Sun Voucher chalets. Any pics he posts taken at exotic locations he swiped from the net.
Only kidding, Genie.
Well yes, ancients believed in these things and I think it’s quite possible for instance to appreciate Roman art, architecture, planning techniques, temples etc. and still think religeon is ‘bunkum’ (to refer to previous post). In the case of Rome, much of this was of course was established long before it’s transition to Christianity and was influenced by earlier polytheistic Greek and Etruscan culture. And Christian values and bible writings are often lifted from earlier Greek stoic philosophy and Roman republican virtues, so are strongly influenced by Greek and Roman secular values. So it’s all of historical interest and can be wonderful to experience when travelling, but that’s a different point really.
Freedom of belief is important I think, but so is secularism and removing religious privilege. At the same time I know some very nice people with religious beliefs. I think their outlook is misguided but they largely keep it to themselves and clearly get comfort from it. They probably think the same about my Humanist leanings. Difference in beliefs isn’t an issue at all. Some of them are secularists too.
I spent a great deal of my time taking in such things and appreciating art and culture inspired by various religions but that doesn't mean that any of the deities were real. Folklore is fascinating and that's precisely what it is.
Many religions are based on belief systems and it is fascinating how they morph, develop and divide. A hugely interesting facet of human culture.
All these posts just show that you don’t understand the first thing about Christianity. Perhaps if you at least studied it a bit, you might come to undearstand our point of view, even if you don’t believe it yourself.
I was brought up a Catholic, so know a fair bit about it.
I was brought up Catholic, was even sent to a convent school at the age of 8, lovely place and the Nuns were great teachers I used to enjoy communion and all that jazz, but by the age 12/13 I had figured out it was all bullshit they all just seemed to enjoy the lifestyle than actually believe in it all.
Well said, bro.
StT.
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I would disagree, there’s plenty the Catholic Church can’t/won’t teach you about Christianity, just about their own rules. There is a big difference between a relationship with God and organised religion. I wasn’t raised anything, I came to God aged 39 after I studied the Bible for myself.
I've read the bible and the Koran. I've read plenty of other religious texts as well. They're all man's way of trying to explain something they didn't understand at the time, and to appease the fear that once we're dead, there is nothing else.
Indeed. Most religions were founded when man had little concept of electricity, science, and a million other things that the average person these days understands. In the absence of knowledge (and the word 'science' mean knowledge) people were either ignorant about many subjects or assigned phenomena to unseen deities and spirits.
Believing in religion is essentially an intellectually childlike state and it is no co-incidence that almost every believer adopts the deity or deities passed on to them by local influences when they were children.
Homo sapiens* have been around for hundreds of thousands of years and religions have come and gone with empires, dominant tribes and the equivalent of evangelism. It is unlikely that any believers on this board would have held the same religious beliefs if they were born in a different location where another religion is dominant or in any era before Abrahamism took root.
As for the conflation of art, poetry and the like: yes, belief sysytems do inspire people and creative souls have always found work with the powers that be in any location. However, if I were to believe in little green men and paint a wonderful picture as a result of inspiration infused by the experience it doesn't mean that little green men exist - and someone else in a different location may assign that same inspiration to another deity. However, there are experiences in the mind of man (and all around the world) that are obviously common across all societies and it's more about other factors than little tin gods.
*At what state of evolution man was assigned a soul that could pass to the afterlife is another matter. Are there Cro-magnon and Neanderthal souls in your chosen afterlife/paradise/heaven?
Genie, you are generalising massively. You are entitled to your opinion, but you talk in such definitive terms about a subject that means different things to different people, and those people exercise their faith in many different ways. It's not as easy to suggest that everyone is wrong and you're 100% sure of it, it's a dangerous attitude to take. Plenty of religious people don't take what the good book says literally, how could they and why would they want to? Faith is a hugely complex subject. You may think it's all nonsense, that's fine, i'm no believer either, but to be dismissive is an insult to so many good people who have faith in my opinion.
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