I was going to write a big story here but I have been shown a video that raises alot of my problems with religion (in general - nothing particular) You can view it at www.zeitgeistmovie.com, to those who are religious, i understand it is not nice for you to hear your god being laughed at but please sit and listen to the video, I do not want to change your religion... I'd like you to try to change mine

I do not mean to attack in the below comments, I am simply expressing how my brain bluntly thinks about these issues...
I use christianity alot as it is the religion i was brought up following, but i have since sat on the fence

So here's my list of questions religion has not answered for me:
christianity specific:

1) If god has infinate power and created the world then rested on the 7th day, why did he need rest? - www.zeitgeistmovie.com video offers the best explanation for this I have found SO FAR (IMO). Being that they were refering to the sun resting for a day

2) Many times when bad things happen we are told it is part of the "test", yet god already knows everything so why test us?


religions in general:
1) As shown in the video alot of the worlds large religion's share very similar traits including the birth date of each religions messiah (25th december) not just christians, this for a long time has made me feel their may be truth behind them and they have branched off over time. However seeing the astrology involved totally changed my view of what may have caused this.
SO with all the different religions in the world, and all their similarities, what makes you "know" yours is right over the others? (chances are its just the one you were brought up with (IMO)?)

2) If religion is the way to peace or enlightenment, why is it a major factor in a majority of wars? (wouldnt it be better not to label our beliefs?)

3) I believe if there is a creator they gave us the power to change everything, why should we not be able to use it? eg. genetic engineering etc... because this world is coming to a point where soon we may be able to biomechanically live forever, now given the choice of death (and possible afterlife) or living forever, as a creature who's sole purpose - like every other creatures is survival and heritage, why should i refuse this opportunity for a creator / religion that can not offer me physical proof, even though they have put me in a physical world, that they exist. Basically i want to know if i am given this brain to solve things, and a universe that follows laws and things are solvable (follows logic) why am i then expected to have faith?

Last of all.... If there is a creator, who created him... i hear you "he's always been there" problem: If somthing has always existed it defeats the need for a creator, if it can just exist - why cant we?

Thanks for hearing me out, i didnt mean to upset anyone. Im simply looking for answers - but the more i look the more i understand im not supposed to understand this puzzle. How does a fish no what is outside the ocean

btw i dont buy in to sciences view of the creation of the universe either. If you ask me we have 2 puzzles here that lead no where and its time we all start looking for a puzzle that has a full set of pieces. IMO

Simply because he wanted rest. It doesn't say "And on the 7th day God was tired so he needed to rest." He simply desired to rest. Is that bad? People get too hungover on what God chooses to do simply because he wants to do it that way.



In Judaic Salvation, God's purpose is for people to have a choice. The whole plan is making your choice. Do you want God, or not? The tests aren't so God can learn about you, they are to help you in determining your choice, and are more for you than for God.



Do similarities between Christianity and Islam mean they are the same? I have similarities with a murderer as well, does that mean that he could be right in his desires to murder? Does it mean that because I have similarities with the murderer that we have the same Truth?



It usually ISN'T a major factor. It's a major tool. There's nothing closer to a person than their faith. If a King wants to get his people to do something they wouldn't normally do, what are his options? Take their religion and change it so that it says for them to do the King's will. Was the religion at fault in the Crusades? No, because the Pope said it was their duty to God to rid Jerusalem of Infidels, was that religions fault? No, it was the fault of the incitor and the incited. The people shouldn't have been as vulnerable, and the Pope shouldn't have been as manipulative. Religion had nothing to do with it.
3) I believe if there is a creator they gave us the power to change everything, why should we not be able to use it? eg. genetic engineering etc... because this world is coming to a point where soon we may be able to biomechanically live forever, now given the choice of death (and possible afterlife) or living forever, as a creature who's sole purpose - like every other creatures is survival and heritage, why should i refuse this opportunity for a creator / religion that can not offer me physical proof, even though they have put me in a physical world, that they exist. Basically i want to know if i am given this brain to solve things, and a universe that follows laws and things are solvable (follows logic) why am i then expected to have faith?


It had to start somewhere right? If it didn't we'd just have an infinity of Creators creating Creators and it would never end.

cool thanks for the reply, well put with the rest concept i can accept that. i see you havnt had time to watch the video, please do. Even if you completely disagree with it, just watch so you can say that you have seen where im coming from.
I had to have a little chuckle to myself that you used a murderer in the comparision of other religions, but anyway (no offence intended), it does not mean you share the same truth but it suggest's to me the religion's have come from a single source or influenced each others fundamentals at some point. I know what you say here - 'the bible says there will be many false prophets' or somthing along those lines, but the fact that the astronomy and history fit the explanation the video gave very well makes me feel I would be choosing one religion out of a group of religion's and ignoring a more logical explanation (which again IMO fits very well).
I also agree with what you have said about wars and religion.. I think i got a bit ahead of myself there and didnt think it through
SO..
I know there has to be more to this life because i see the perfectness and the balance in many ways, the problem is I havnt found a religion i can trust. Christianity has been drilled in to me since young and it is the religion would feel most comfortable with. Not bagging on christianity at all, but i see alot of anger in the god of the first testiment and this is what throws me off. I believe there is a force of pure love but IMO the god depicted in the bible is not this force, but i am a mere human. I understand how a parent can show anger to guide a child, but feel a parent would not threaten their child with an eternity of hell. I hear you "its a warning not a threat" but there are many other places where god is also angered by people and punishes them (not with a slap on the hand btw)

Did it have to start somewhere though? because logic would say yes but the logic we know would also say somthing had to come before that, nothing can just start. So really unless there was a way of creating something from nothing, we must be in a loop/cycle

I partially agree with the statement about religion and war. Religion is often the easiest thing to skew in order to get sheep to do things that you want them to do. Though, is faith really being skewed, to meet evil means? If the absolute divine text doesn't imply or even outright tell it's followers to kill infidels, then skewing is needed. However, what do we find in our holy books......we find the very implication (or outright command) to kill infidels and commit other atrocities in the name of god.

D

No, I am very far from the religion I was brought up with. IMO, each person follows a specific path, there is no right and wrong religion. If their is an ultimate truth (which i really doubt there is) I believe that there are multiple paths that could lead you to that truth.


I agree with that statement. Many religions have been the basis of wars, the Abrahamic religions mainly, but other religions have had their time too. The path I follow now, is mainly a mix of a few different religions, none of which have ever lead to any war as far as I know of.



That is a very good question, honestly, I personally would not want to live forever, maybe a couple hundred years so I could do everything I wanted in life, but living forever would be horrible. Watching your friends die over and over again, watching your family wither through the generations. I wouldn't be able to stand it after a few hundred years. I personally don't believe in an afterlife, but I don't 100% believe that there isn't one either. We will have to wait until we die to see what happens.


Another good question, again, I personally don't believe in the existence of a creator, I just don't buy into the whole "I am everything and always have been" thing.

Great thanks for another point of view mate, keep em coming please people

Hi Spyda, I didn't watch the video but I think you and I think a lot alike. I think a site that you would like is www.truthbeknown.com. I only read the spirituality articles on the site and that's about it. Let me know what you think

[quote name='Spyda (Leigh)' date='Aug 10 2007, 01:52 PM' post='1821686']
I was going to write a big story here but I have been shown a video that raises alot of my problems with religion (in general - nothing particular) You can view it at www.zeitgeistmovie.com, to those who are religious, i understand it is not nice for you to hear your god being laughed at but please sit and listen to the video, I do not want to change your religion... I'd like you to try to change mine

I do not mean to attack in the below comments, I am simply expressing how my brain bluntly thinks about these issues...
I use christianity alot as it is the religion i was brought up following, but i have since sat on the fence

So here's my list of questions religion has not answered for me:
christianity specific:

1) If god has infinate power and created the world then rested on the 7th day, why did he need rest? - www.zeitgeistmovie.com video offers the best explanation for this I have found SO FAR (IMO). Being that they were refering to the sun resting for a day

2) Many times when bad things happen we are told it is part of the "test", yet god already knows everything so why test us?
religions in general:

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1. God invented rest on the 7th day by resting. We have the Sabbath for rest which for most is the "7th" day of the week depending on religious affiliations and God Himself showed us it was important that first week.
2.It isn't that He knows, it's that we don't. He does know, He uses His ways to show us and teach us that which He already knows. We do the same thing with our kids when we let them learn "by experience". What we refer to as a test is not of the same intellectual value as what God sees it as.