Religion purports to be a statement of 'gods' preferences? ( the Abrahamic boys) IMO "god" (life) has no preferences , so my question is why does religion even exist?


Why would man create a 'god that does have preferences" (my 8 year old asked me this) I'd like to get some perspectives on this,I'd like to share with him a lot of ways to look at this thanks Namaste Sheri

Preferances- as in what God wants us to do? The rules?

Well many religions gods and God has rules. It is so we can model oursleves like God or allah or whoever else. It is normal.

How else would we be like God if we did not know how he wanted us to be.
Then in other words we would be our own God and this is the one who makes the rules.

Smart boy. Good boy.

Very astute of him...I'd start by asking him to think of motives as to why people would do this and then go from there. If he can ask a question like that, he probably already has some ideas as to what those answers may be.

I'll say again I think that religions were written by man for man therefor the "rules" "guidelines" were meant to give people the basis of what was expected of them by the men who wrote the books. So your question as to why god would have preferences? he wouldn't if there were some great deity in the sky he would want people to have the freedom of choice and that means that you do as you see fit or best. If in your own wisdom you think following the guidelines of a book are best for you and that you need that structure in order to be good then great go for it, but me personally? I would tell your son that the books were there to help those who others felt could not help themselves. But with you as a mom if he follows your lead and your kindness for people he won't need any book to tell him right from wrong or how to love others but rather that it's in him and only he will know what's best for him.....but that's just my opinion

How would you know what a God would want?

Zero I'm trying to keep this calm, I appreciate your posting, Bacca is a dear friend of mine i respect her insight alot, why not share with me your thoughts on the topic thanks Zero namaste Sheri

how would you not? how would the writers of all those books? how do you know that the book you read is the right one? why is snow cold? why do you drive on a park way and park on a driveway?

All these important questions and so few answers!!!!

look really, it's personal opinion I gave my friend my personal one i do think that is all she was looking for....

the words of others:

Morality is the best of all devices for leading mankind by the nose: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist

"I saw in the whole Christian world a license of fighting at which even
barbarous nations might blush. Wars were begun on trifling pretexts or none
at all, and carried on without any reference of law, Divine or human."

-- Hugo Grotius, Prolegomena to the Law of War and Peace [1625]

"In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.": Thich Nhat Hanh - Vietnamese monk, activist and writer.

I think perhaps you need to reread the question the child asked...

Why would man create a 'god that does have preferences

Any men that created a God would certainly know what they would want, and what the God they created wanted. Taking that into consideration, I think the kid is asking why would they do that...Clearly he has a notion that men create Gods, unless of course Sheri mis-quoted what he son asked her?

Every Kid Wants To Be The "Favourite". So man decided to say "Hey God Loves me more than you" then another religion would come and say "God loves you and i equally" then another religion would come and say "God loves ONLY My kind". I personally dont percieve God in this way, he doesn't prefer one kind. The only "Kind" he prefers is the "Kind" in ones heart and soul.

Knot i did not misquote, IMO the abrahamic boys are clearly a god with preferences, thank you guys for such diverse perspectives, each perspective is a gem in and of itself, I'm homeschooling this year with my son and I'm learning also , I have great friends here and there are some amazing ( actually quite a few) that come here and share their perspective and i want my son to see different styles of thinking and percieving how we are so unique in our approach, I feel it will keep his mind open and he will never settle never stop asking questions, you know you ask one question and there are infinite ways to respond, Again thankyou all namaste Sheri

In my view humans are social animals they need to be with a group and they needed it even more when faced with a world they couldn't understand. I want to believe that when religion started it was not meant to really separate or to control, only to explain the things that we as humans had no answer for. Later when it became so ingrained in to social structures it changed it became a way for power hungry to control and for people to discriminate it became a tool for conformity. This is where the preferences came in the most, for "god" I think about the fall of the eastern empire the church had already converted many people of the Germanic tribes, and they allowed the knowledge that had been gained by the Romans and Greeks to be lost, there was one quote from one of the religious leaders I can't remember his name but it said basically if the knowledge doesn't pertain to god then it has no use. The clergy were the educated people, they were the ones who could read, not the common people and in most cases not even the leaders of the Germanic people. They really got their way by making the bible what it is by coming up with preferences they saw fit to keep control of people no matter what country, because there was always the struggle of church against state....
Well anyway before I get too off track
That is why I think the man made "god" has preferences to control and to enforce conformity

I have no clue what this refers too.

As to why man would creat a God with prefrences is because man has prefrences. Single seperate God entities were created or rather embelished on because at times certain powerfull rulers wanted to control the people in their kingdom. And you control by restriciting and limiting the people, and you do tha through the use of prefrences, rules and what not. Its just a control tactic and it works quite well. Most control tactics are fear motivated, as in " you do this or else!" kind of attitude. And as such a Ruler/God is created with prefrences.

Thank you for deleted that inappropriate response. Since it was removed, I am deleting my response to it, as to not bring anymore unwanted attention to it.

It’s a legitimate question asked from an 8 year old and you can't be grown up enough to give an answer so why bother posting if you're just going to attack someone

Agreed, Joc that post was out of order, it has now been removed.

Please avoid making personal attacks in your posts.

I think people often get 'religion' and 'faith' mixed up. Faith is believing in a God that has preferences, whereas religion is following this God's preferences. Some look at religion as a personal walk with God and some look at it as an order over all actions.
If God gave us rules to follow, it is obviously up to us to follow, thus a personal walk, however things were always kept in an order back in the day. I think this generation of Christians at least have a general understanding that religion is a personal walk with the God we believe in, that will better help one reach the eternal life and peace. For example, the Bible teaches us to love each other, love being charitable, even to the point of death. This is religion, for the way we treat others effects the way God treats us.

Oh, and these are my opinions. Sorry, almost forgot.

To answer your first question Sheri, religion exists because man wants it to. It is human nature to want to believe in a higher power. Whether it exists or not is irrelevent as long as man keeps it alive.

To answer your second question, man would create a god that has preferences in order to keep people in line. I am not very familiar with the other major religions of the world so much as I am Christianity, so I will give you the best example I can think of to show you a god's preferences in action. I will quote my hero George Carlin with the following:

GEORGE CARLIN ON THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
from "Complaints and Grievances" (HBO special)

Here is my problem with the ten commandments- why exactly are there 10?

You simply do not need ten. The list of ten commandments was artificially and deliberately inflated to get it up to ten. Here's what happened:

About 5,000 years ago a bunch of religious and political hustlers got together to try to figure out how to control people and keep them in line. They knew people were basically stupid and would believe anything they were told, so they announced that God had given them some commandments, up on a mountain, when no one was around.

Well let me ask you this- when they were making this sh** up, why did they pick 10? Why not 9 or 11? I'll tell you why- because 10 sound official. Ten sounds important! Ten is the basis for the decimal system, it's a decade, it's a psychologically satisfying number (the top ten, the ten most wanted, the ten best dressed). So having ten commandments was really a marketing decision! It is clearly a bulls*** list. It's a political document artificially inflated to sell better. I will now show you how you can reduce the number of commandments and come up with a list that's a little more workable and logical. I am going to use the Roman Catholic version because those were the ones I was taught as a little boy.

Let's start with the first three:

I AM THE LORD THY GOD THOU SHALT NOT HAVE STRANGE GODS BEFORE ME

THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN

THOU SHALT KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH

Right off the bat the first three are pure bulls***. Sabbath day? Lord's name? strange gods? Spooky language! Designed to scare and control primitive people. In no way does superstitious nonsense like this apply to the lives of intelligent civilized humans in the 21st century. So now we're down to 7. Next:

HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER

Obedience, respect for authority. Just another name for controlling people. The truth is that obedience and respect shouldn't be automatic. They should be earned and based on the parent's performance. Some parents deserve respect, but most of them don't, period. You're down to six.

Now in the interest of logic, something religion is very uncomfortable with, we're going to jump around the list a little bit.

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS

Stealing and lying. Well actually, these two both prohibit the same kind of behavior- dishonesty. So you don't really need two you combine them and call the commandment "thou shalt not be dishonest". And suddenly you're down to 5.

And as long as we're combining I have two others that belong together:

THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTRY

THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE

Once again, these two prohibit the same type of behavior. In this case it is marital infidelity. The difference is- coveting takes place in the mind. But I don't think you should outlaw fantasizing about someone else's wife because what is a guy gonna think about when he's waxing his carrot? But, marital infidelity is a good idea so we're gonna keep this one and call it "thou shalt not be unfaithful". And suddenly we're down to four.

But when you think about it, honesty and infidelity are really part of the same overall value so, in truth, you could combine the two honesty commandments with the two fidelity commandments and give them simpler language, positive language instead of negative language and call the whole thing "thou shalt always be honest and faithful" and we're down to 3.

THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR"S GOODS

This one is just plain f*****' stupid. Coveting your neighbor's goods is what keeps the economy going! Your neighbor gets a vibrator that plays "o come o ye faithful", and you want one too! Coveting creates jobs, so leave it alone. You throw out coveting and you're down to 2 now- the big honesty and fidelity commandment and the one we haven't talked about yet:

THOU SHALT NOT KILL

Murder. But when you think about it, religion has never really had a big problem with murder. More people have been killed in the name of god than for any other reason. All you have to do is look at Northern Ireland, Cashmire, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the World Trade Center to see how seriously the religious folks take thou shalt not kill. The more devout they are, the more they see murder as being negotiable. It depends on who's doin the killin' and who's gettin' killed. So, with all of this in mind, I give you my revised list of the two commandments:

Thou shalt always be honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie.

&

Thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone, unless of course they pray to a different invisible man than you.

Two is all you need; Moses could have carried them down the hill in his f*****' pocket. I wouldn't mind those folks in Alabama posting them on the courthouse wall, as long as they provided one additional commandment:

Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself.

when ever i read anything by redraider in my head it's in carlins voice lol

I am a huge fan of George i saw this HBo special we laughed our arses off on this one thankyou for sharing this, i to hear Carlins voice, Remember the cop writing a ticket skit i was on the ground crying with laughter, . namaste Sheri

Hell, I'm a Christian and I laughed my ass off listening to him on HBO. The guy is funny as hell.



Funny as hell.

and a bunch of people trying to convinve the rest of us we are going to hell if we don't believe their fairy tale basd on mithras and heracles is even funnier.

I don't believe in hell, so yeah it is pretty funny.

Why do you not believe in hell?

Well, not a feiry place of torment hell. But hell as in grave, yeah.

Top Ten Signs that You're a Christian

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your god.
9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from lesser life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Trinity god.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" -- including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loop-holes in the scientifically established age of the Earth (4.55 billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by pre-historic tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that the Earth is a couple of generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects -- will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet you consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving".

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to prove Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many Atheists and Agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history -- but still call yourself a Christian.

My apology goes out to the tree huggers.

I like this one better!


EDIT:


OH really?

There are more than you think: Victims Of Christian Faith

thanks zandore that was the funniest thing i've read all week lol



is this a jab at enviornmentalist....?

I would add...

You might just be a Christian if...

11. Although Jesus was a Jew and was called "Rabbi", who taught that the torah must be obeyed to the letter, you believe that, somehow, Jews today, whose ancestors have managed to escape miraculously (literally) from your ancestor's many attempts to convert or murder them, are going to a hell that their scriptures don't acknowledge.
12. You believe that you know more about Judiasm than Jews do, even though you know not one word of hebrew and thing YHVH is pronounced "Jehovah".
13. Even though Jesus specifically states that John was Elijah, and says "you must be born again", you refuse to accept even the possibility or reincarnatioon (which, btw, most Jews believe in).
14. You teach your children to believe in Santa Claus, later tell them it was a lie, but expect them to believe in Jesus.
15. You believe that spiritual healing is possible, but only if performed by Christians. If anyone else can do it, you believe it is from Satan.
16. You believe that the dinosaurs were on the ark,were killed by the flood, or their bones were planted by Satan.
17. You believe the Bible was written, in English, by someone named King James.
18. You think that, even though the stories of Krishna, Heracles, Mithra, and the Buddha, and countless others preceding Jesus, are identical down to minute details, that this either coincidence or planted by the devil, who somehow knew that Jesus would be born. Remember that you believe demons can't know the future.

They're funny, but not accurate at all

And reincarnation was actually removed from the Bible, yet people still criticize it. 18-that's a good one.

then dispute them,bubba.

YAY!!!

Not accurate as in don't fit my personality. I don't teach my kids about santa claus. I don't have kids. =)

And I don't think people are going to a hell of torment. I believe hell is a grave.

it was a generalization. i said "you may be a christian if...", imitating the great jeff foxworthy, of course. vague, amusing generalizations, many of which fit most modern american xians.

Not a problem at all!


????



Hey Gideon

Not me, but they're funny as hell.

i ment zero's treehugger remark

I got it now!

Talk about going over the head.....