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Nope...not "the lowest form"...unless you say that making money for what is typical of millennials to do for free as recreation makes them "low".
Think about how many, many porn websites, stripclubs, escort service there are....now multiply that number by the number of participants...and it is many, many millions.
Nobody you know goes to raves, parties, clubs, or Spring break parties, huh? All waiting until marriage to have sex like most Religious Doctrine teaches too, I suppose?
This is what's "typical" of todays youth: Increasing Deaths at EDM Festivals | Kevin Taylor
400,000 show up for that. Guess how old they are?
It isn't a national crisis with the rehabs and cemeteries filled with addicts because there are not a jillion millennials that are druggies.
Do you think that kind of behavior goes along with a Church going concept?
The Kardashians get millions of hits on their social media...Kim got famous from a viral video of her having sex...her Mother was married to Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner.
How about the subject matter of most Rap/Hip Hop music that is popular almost exclusively with youth?
What do you think is the age of the people interested in that.. or the age of the people that are interested in (or acting like) someone such as Danielle Bergoli? Howbowdah?
Believe me...it isn't the generation attending church. Nor do you see that kinda stuff endorsed by traditional churches.
The current culture and lifestyle is completely counter to traditional Religious Doctrine.
The youth today don't even pretend to be otherwise, like they did just a generation or two ago...instead, they flaunt it.
And don't get me wrong...I have no issue with it. In fact, I live some of it myself. But let's not pretend that it isn't that way most "everyday youth" are.
It wasn't just porn I mentioned. It is the whole culture of the youth.
If you and your acquaintances are no part of any of that...you are not at all typical.
The typical millennial lifestyle does not aligin with Religion and Church attendance.
Spot on. It is what it is. The young adults I know who are big on church are almost never the ones who get into the drug lifestyle, or who get burned by it. They just are not. (With a few exceptions). Conversely, the ones who never were into church.....they have a different lifestyle, let's just say. Lol.
Just about everyone in all parts of the globe live a more-or-less "Western" lifestyle. The only places that don't are the horrifically poor, terribly uneducated (especially places were many people never step foot inside a school in their entire lives) nations with little in the way of entertainment (all they do is scrounge for food, mend the rags they wear, and try to survive).
Places like these are easy pickings for missionaries since that's what religion most often does to find converts -- missionaries haunt places like senior centers, military bases, bus stations, homeless shelters/soup kitchens, and prisons. They deliberately target people who are lonely, impoverished, scared, desperate, and mentally unsound. They also target people who are hungry, cold, homeless, sick, and those who are in pain whether physical or mental.
Religion is a predator stalking prey as surely as any lion.
One can try and counter by saying, "But religion is growing rather quickly in China." Sure, but that's because, despite of its facade of modernity, there are still a billion peasants in China who are as poor and as uneducated as any Third World nation.
South Korea is a bit of an anomaly in terms of why Christianity is growing in popularity there, but rest assured that what *isn't* growing is religious fundamentalism -- the pulpit-pounding, science-denying, gay-hating, fascistic right-wing, quasi-Mammon-worshiping brand of religion that is only found in three places in any significant amount: The United States, nations and regions dominated by Islamic terrorist groups, and places where fundamentalist missionaries have been sent in large numbers.
Right now, though, we'll see a spike in religious conversions in specific regions of the world, but this is almost guaranteed to be temporary. It is a very safe bet to assume that a significant percentage of these people will lapse out of their beliefs after the novelty wears off or when the missionaries depart or when they realize that all of that praying has yielded virtually none of the things they were promised.
Now, I don't agree that churches will be pretty much gone within 40 years inside of North America because, sadly, Americans are culturally isolated. That means Americans aren't influenced by cultural modernization -- even the modernization of religious belief.
Between that and the hubris of American nationalism that has a certain breed of Americans chanting how we're #1 at something when we're not even in the top ten, there will always be plenty of people clinging to superstition, ancient myths, and hugging their fear and xenophobia like a security blanket.
At any rate, religion may be growing in some parts of the world -- but it's declining in others. Globally, it will reach a state of equilibrium sooner or later.
It just would be a boon to the entire world if the 4 billion or so people who believe in an Abrahamic style god -- didn't. In other words, if you *must* believe in a higher power, dispensing with the 2,500 year long baggage train so obviously created by mortals complete with pre-approved lists of people to hate and a mandate from God to conquer the world would make this spherical rock a much safer place to live on.
Yes! Ditch standard Religions. Dump that load! Too restrictive, judgemental, and irrational.
Of course...I advocate for Pantheism...the "Do All" concept!
You get God...one that objectively exists, and is The Ultimate...but there are no "rules", "tithing", hocus-pocus stuff, or antiquated standards to pass judgements off of. And good charitable work...you can do more of, since there is no overhead to maintain a physical infrastructure of property and buildings and staff that uses up resources..
OTOH...Religion and Churches, Mosques, Temples, etc are super powerful. It is pretty much a pipedream.
Yes you repeatedly and virulently attack "organized religion" including going to church services.
Actually living a life built entirely around seeing the holy and sacred in every part of daily life is the endallbe all. That is correct. When all of a person's thought speech and action are built on living a life of peace, kindness, and seeing the good in every situation, yes that is the be all end all. Unity and harmony and peace.
You seem to have a problem with those values being promoted by religion and embraced by those who seek to live a religious life.
You are special Tzaph. Something tells me that you would be your awesome sweet self, Religion or not.
If being Religious typically made people like you are...I'd say it was the greatest thing since fire or the wheel.
Ya know...I hadn't thought about it that way.
Force the typical Millennial mindset and views into a very doctrinal Religious environment like a Kingdom Hall...and you have a veritable powder-keg.
It is incompatible from the get-go...to compel it is probably not gonna turn out well.
Even the typical western culture of the past 60 years does not mesh.
Thanx for the greater perspective.
What just happened there? You're good. The ole Jedi mind trick...NICE!
All I know is what most people are most attached to.....in their own lives, personally. What they spend the most time, money and thought on. For most of the young people I have known, you are just not going to beat the pot or the smart phones....toss in the dating too, if you want. Those things are just vital. They make life bearable and at times even great. Church??? Eh. Whatever.
(Gay marriage is a nice thought or issue, and I don't mean to say it has had no part in the dynamic of people not being churchy. But again, that is more of a theoretical thing than a day-to-day, "what do I have to have today", raw, personal activity).
Actually, nearly a third of Millennials that left their childhood religion said that the church's negative teaching about and treatment of LGBT people was either a somewhat important (17%) or very important (14%) factor in their disaffiliation.
Yes..yes..yes...these authoritarian religions are extremely damaging. All three of us kids were spiritually abused by a religion and all three of us have chemical dependency issues. I've dealt with mine, one of my brothers is in treatment right now and the other brother will probably die from it. 2nd generation children raised in show the same damage as a child that has been sexually abused.
There you go folks. Now tell me that religions that cultivate harmful beliefs shouldn't be outlawed.
Yes you repeatedly and virulently attack "organized religion" including going to church services.
Actually living a life built entirely around seeing the holy and sacred in every part of daily life is the endallbe all. That is correct. When all of a person's thought speech and action are built on living a life of peace, kindness, and seeing the good in every situation, yes that is the be all end all. Unity and harmony and peace.
You seem to have a problem with those values being promoted by religion and embraced by those who seek to live a religious life.
So tell me the "good" you see when walking through a pediatric cancer ward?
Tell me the "good" you see when people like Matthew Shepherd are strung up in barbed wire?
Tell me the "good" you see when looking at Auschwitz?
Tell me the "good" you see when looking at society that treats people differently based on skin, education, income and religion?
Where is the "holy and sacred" part of life when the child is beaten and dies?
Where is the "holy and sacred" when we wage war and kill simply because we do not agree with each other?
Where is common sense when most of the tragedies of the world are influenced and/or perpetuated by organized religion?
Actually, nearly a third of Millennials that left their childhood religion said that the church's negative teaching about and treatment of LGBT people was either a somewhat important (17%) or very important (14%) factor in their disaffiliation.
There you go: only 14% of the cohort said it was very important. (By the way, do you think the poll also asked if smoking pot or using a smart phone were primary factors in leaving their religion? Probably not. Polls are only modestly useful in questions like the point of this thread).
So tell me the "good" you see when walking through a pediatric cancer ward?
Tell me the "good" you see when people like Matthew Shepherd are strung up in barbed wire?
Tell me the "good" you see when looking at Auschwitz?
Tell me the "good" you see when looking at society that treats people differently based on skin, education, income and religion?
Where is the "holy and sacred" part of life when the child is beaten and dies?
Where is the "holy and sacred" when we wage war and kill simply because we do not agree with each other?
Where is common sense when most of the tragedies of the world are influenced and/or perpetuated by organized religion?
You tell people to live life with hope and love but your posts express none of that. Your posts are filled with hate and intolerance. A bigot is someone who is intolerant of those holding different views. You do get that is you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28
.... People are hungering for the.. message of HOPE and LOVE, not HATE, BIGOTRY and FEAR..
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 05-10-2017 at 07:16 AM..
So tell me the "good" you see when walking through a pediatric cancer ward?
Tell me the "good" you see when people like Matthew Shepherd are strung up in barbed wire?
Tell me the "good" you see when looking at Auschwitz?
Tell me the "good" you see when looking at society that treats people differently based on skin, education, income and religion?
Where is the "holy and sacred" part of life when the child is beaten and dies?
Where is the "holy and sacred" when we wage war and kill simply because we do not agree with each other?
Where is common sense when most of the tragedies of the world are influenced and/or perpetuated by organized religion?
You don't get what she is explaining.
She is explaining that it is beneficial to keep a good attitude in all circumstances, whether they are happy or sad circumstances.
I guess you feel that it's just best to give up on everything because there will always be bad in the world.
It appears that you focus on the negative...while Tzaph dwells on the positive.
What you present here is just another illogical rehash of "The Problem of Evil". Because there are things that are considered to be "bad" or "evil", any thoughts about a energy vibe of "Peace--Love--Goodness" that exists in The Universe that we might tap into must be bogus.
So...what do you propose? We just "throw in the towel" on everything because things won't ever be perfectly fine everywhere and for everyone?
Of course, to "fix" things...you couldn't have anyone ever be in pain, or get sick, or die, since they and others would be scared and sad about that. Now, how does the world support hundreds of Billions of people...since once born, everyone would always exist in perfect health?
See...The Universe is how it is...and it can't ever be anything but how it is supposed to be. The Universe cannot ever be "wrong"...only our attitude about it.
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