Thread: Heroes For Gods?

Originally Posted by DPflaumer

I do think it deserves mentioning that I also believe Atheists who have never given religion a fair chance as just as much in the wrong in my mind. I feel as if I have given both sides a fair chance (went to a religious camp, attended voluntarily with friends, went to a boarding school where we had to attend a religious service, dated a catholic girl for about 2 years, etc...) but in my mind, it just doesn't hold up.

It sounds like you've only tried a few out of the hundreds of branches of Christianity, and none of the thousands of other religions out there. I don't think that's enough to count as having given religion a fair try.

Originally Posted by jcd

It sounds like you've only tried a few out of the hundreds of branches of Christianity, and none of the thousands of other religions out there. I don't think that's enough to count as having given religion a fair try.

To elaborate, I have been a various times: A Jew. A Buddhist. A Methodist. A Lutheran. A Catholic. A Pagan. A Non-Denominational Christian.

I don't know how many more things I could possibly try without traveling 100+ miles a week just for services.

You don't have to step on every color thumbtack to know you don't like it.

You don't have to get hit by every make of car to know it sucks.

You don't have to get bit by every shark to know it will hurt.

You don't have to try every religion to know you don't like it.

When you break it down, I just don't like being told that my existence and eternal fate rest in the hands of an invisible man (or invisible people) in the sky.

Originally Posted by DPflaumer

I don't know how many more things I could possibly try without traveling 100+ miles a week just for services.

That's what I was saying; it's almost impossible to give religion a fair try - if you don't get lucky and find one you like.

Originally Posted by DPflaumer

You don't have to step on every color thumbtack to know you don't like it.

You don't have to get hit by every make of car to know it sucks.

You don't have to get bit by every shark to know it will hurt.

You don't have to try every religion to know you don't like it.

I don't think the last statement follows from the others.

Originally Posted by jcd

I don't think the last statement follows from the others.

It doesn't "follow" in a formal logic sense, but the point that he finds orgainzed religion to not be his bag after a rather substantial (I'm sure you'd agree after seeing his list, no?) sample I think is illustrated decently by the other examples.

Isn't it a strange trip that for some people whether they live or die depends on some other person believing something that is at best unprovable and at worst a fairy tale. There is no more likelihood that the bible or the koran are any more correct and factual then the myths of the ancient Greeks, Romans, or Norseman. As Sam Harris says, we wouldn't accept someone praying to Neptune that they have a safe sea voyage although to the ancient Greeks their gods were no more a 'myth' than ours.

Meanwhile we are subjected to the diatribes of the true believers who are sure of something that is based on nothing but unreliable texts, many written hundreds of years after the 'facts' they relate by scribes who either made mistakes while they copied the manuscripts or deliberately added or subtracted from them based on their own self interest.

Strange trip is all I can say. People talk about morals ... we are mammals whose brains are just large enough to be superior to a chimp while our egos are large enough to suppose us to be made in the image of god. It would be comedy if the resulting death toll didn't keep rising.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Isn't it a strange trip that for some people whether they live or die depends on some other person believing something that is at best unprovable and at worst a fairy tale. There is no more likelihood that the bible or the koran are any more correct and factual then the myths of the ancient Greeks, Romans, or Norseman. As Sam Harris says, we wouldn't accept someone praying to Neptune that they have a safe sea voyage although to the ancient Greeks their gods were no more a 'myth' than ours.

Meanwhile we are subjected to the diatribes of the true believers who are sure of something that is based on nothing but unreliable texts, many written hundreds of years after the 'facts' they relate by scribes who either made mistakes while they copied the manuscripts or deliberately added or subtracted from them based on their own self interest.

Strange trip is all I can say. People talk about morals ... we are mammals whose brains are just large enough to be superior to a chimp while our egos are large enough to suppose us to be made in the image of god. It would be comedy if the resulting death toll didn't keep rising.

So well put Jimmy !!!

That is a question that has crossed my mind many times, "What makes your religion so special" ????
How can all these religions (people) possibly look over the span of (just) recorded history and possibly think that they are somehow more special, then the millions that believed in other gods before them???...

Then it hits me, "You egotistical bastards" you really do put yourselves above everyone else... and that is when the fight started...

(for you unenlightened there are tons of jokes that end with "And that is when the fight started" )

Originally Posted by gssixgun

So well put Jimmy !!!

That is a question that has crossed my mind many times, "What makes your religion so special" ????
How can all these religions (people) possibly look over the span of (just) recorded history and possibly think that they are somehow more special, then the millions that believed in other gods before them???...

Then it hits me, "You egotistical bastards" you really do put yourselves above everyone else... and that is when the fight started...

(for you unenlightened there are tons of jokes that end with "And that is when the fight started" )

Always an interesting discussion SRP + religion!




So, interesting points you bring up.

In my opinion, there is only one correct religion. I do not ascribe to the idea that they are all "right", or all partially "right", etc.

So, I cast my lot in with those guys.

In doing so, I am also, for want of a better analogy, signing up for membership to a club where I am supposed to follow ceratin rules and regulations, not just to do as I please. I am supposed to conform myself to the club's ideals.

Compare that idea to that of someone who has ascertained for himself that it's all a bunch of baloney. "I'm not buying into that!". In essence that person is putting himself even above the egotistical bastards who thought they were above everyone else... He can do as he chooses.

Originally Posted by smokelaw1

It doesn't "follow" in a formal logic sense, but the point that he finds orgainzed religion to not be his bag after a rather substantial (I'm sure you'd agree after seeing his list, no?) sample I think is illustrated decently by the other examples.

You're right, I wrote "follow" while I meant "equivalent".

I don't think the last example is equivalent with the others. The first few are bad by definition (for most people).

Different religions claim to be the true religion, so if one of them really is true, it's entirely possible that you can try 99 religions but not find the right one, but get lucky on the 100th.

Originally Posted by jcd

You're right, I wrote "follow" while I meant "equivalent".

I don't think the last example is equivalent with the others. The first few are bad by definition (for most people).

Different religions claim to be the true religion, so if one of them really is true, it's entirely possible that you can try 99 religions but not find the right one, but get lucky on the 100th.

Holy Smokes! I am in full agreement with jcd on a religion topic!


The End is certainly nigh!