Belief Systems are Overrated (church, bible, quote, faith)

[const_iterator]

I used to be a Christian and, quite honestly, my life as a non-Christian is hardly any different. The only real difference is that my life is simpler now. I realize that Christian stuff (praying before bed, going to church, etc.) was just extra gobbledygook in my life.

I almost find it repulsive how much Christians try to emphasize the role of belief in their life. How many decisions that the average person makes on a daily basis depend on wether he/she believes in the Bible??? I'm guessing it's less than 0.0001%. This goes for all belief systems. What you believe about those deep questions of existence, morality and such, don't really matter.

Morality is the aspect of belief that seems to be overplayed the most. We're told that you must believe in objective morality, in a good-versus-evil conception of the world, or whatever. It certainly doesn't matter for me. There are enough practical reasons why I don't do things that are universally considered "wrong".

Let's take the example of theft. I don't steal things, for good reasons that I identify when I do some soul-searching (I'm using that term colloquially; I don't actually believe in a "soul."). Reasons I don't want to steal:

• Legal consequences: Can go to jail and/or get my criminal record tainted and then never be able to get a job.
• Social consequences: Regardless of whether I belief stealing is wrong, almost everyone else does believe it's wrong; so being known as a thief would make me a social outcast.
• Personal pride: If I have to steal from someone, that means I wasn't able to earn it myself. I find it better for my personal pride to earn things.

Do I need to also believe that stealing is an offense against some omniscient being??? No, that's superflous; I already have enough incentive not to steal.

[Checkered24]

I know people who are very deeply faithful, and were not always so. To them, their belief system is a very important and positive aspect of their life. The reasons are varied, some had a very ugly past, and have cleaned themselves up through their faith. Others not so much.

Although I will say that these people really are faithful. They read and study the bible and theological opinion of things, they do try to give themselves to their faith fully and completely. They are not the Sunday morning churchgoers who show up once a week, make a show of it, and then do not give it a second thought until the next Sunday.

Point is, how overrated it is for an individual is going to be a personal decision based on what you feel you get out of it towards your life.

[Horn of ‘83]

Originally Posted by const_iterator

I used to be a Christian and, quite honestly, my life as a non-Christian is hardly any different. The only real difference is that my life is simpler now. I realize that Christian stuff (praying before bed, going to church, etc.) was just extra gobbledygook in my life.

I almost find it repulsive how much Christians try to emphasize the role of belief in their life. How many decisions that the average person makes on a daily basis depend on wether he/she believes in the Bible??? I'm guessing it's less than 0.0001%. This goes for all belief systems. What you believe about those deep questions of existence, morality and such, don't really matter.

Morality is the aspect of belief that seems to be overplayed the most. We're told that you must believe in objective morality, in a good-versus-evil conception of the world, or whatever. It certainly doesn't matter for me. There are enough practical reasons why I don't do things that are universally considered "wrong".

Let's take the example of theft. I don't steal things, for good reasons that I identify when I do some soul-searching (I'm using that term colloquially; I don't actually believe in a "soul."). Reasons I don't want to steal:

• Legal consequences: Can go to jail and/or get my criminal record tainted and then never be able to get a job.
• Social consequences: Regardless of whether I belief stealing is wrong, almost everyone else does believe it's wrong; so being known as a thief would make me a social outcast.
• Personal pride: If I have to steal from someone, that means I wasn't able to earn it myself. I find it better for my personal pride to earn things.

Do I need to also believe that stealing is an offense against some omniscient being??? No, that's superflous; I already have enough incentive not to steal.

Sounds like your religion was based on following rules, as opposed to loving God and your neighbor.