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How is it, that most religious people follow their religions blindly. It seems to me that most people that believe in there "higher powers" follow only because their parents were of that particular religion?
How is it, that most religious people follow their religions blindly. It seems to me that most people that believe in there "higher powers" follow only because their parents were of that particular religion?
Yep, there's a lot of truth in that, which is why you can almost divide the world up into religious "sections". Religion is also usually dictated by the winner's of wars. This is a pretty cool slideshow of how religion has changed
(geographically) over the centuries. It gives a pretty good visualization of how fickle people are.
Well, as a Christian, I would disagree that most religious people follow their religion "blindly". First of all, with me anyway, it isn't a case of what religion I am, but of my personal relationship with God. If you are an unbeliever and have never experienced a relationship with the Lord, you cannot know what it is like so to you it may appear that one is just following their religion blindly...I can assure you though that that is not the case, at least with me.
It really is amazing though how many people in the United States claim a personal relationship with God, and how many people in Muslim countries claim a personal relationship with Allah, and I am sure that people in ancient Egypt commonly claimed to have a special relationship with Ra and so forth and so on.
I had a friend of a friend a while back (I didn't know her all that well personally, though my friend did. We all used to post at several of the same forums, talk on IM, etc.) who often made very emotional statements about her personal relationship with Jesus.
She eventually became an Agnostic, and is still one as of the last I heard from her. People can say things like "She never really had a personal relationship with Jesus."
I tend to turn a critical eye not on her original statement, but on the statement in general. Do I think people can form a very strong psychological attachment to the concept of a deity? Yes I do.
Do I think that people claiming such means that the deity itself exists? No.
I don't mean to be disrespectful or anything, but people can convince themselves of some very strange things. If it is a small group, it seems to often be called a cult. If it is a mainstream group, it is often called a religion.
So, while I am sure people who make those sorts of claims of personal relationships with deities believe that they are telling the unvarnished truth as they know it, I don't view it as being particularly strong evidence, especially for having seen not only someone come out of that sort of core belief, but seen the sort of emotional trauma that resulted from doing so.
I find it hard to believe that the person I knew didn't hold that personal relationship she described any less near or dear than those people I hear claiming similar on a regular basis.
Well, as a Christian, I would disagree that most religious people follow their religion "blindly". First of all, with me anyway, it isn't a case of what religion I am, but of my personal relationship with God. If you are an unbeliever and have never experienced a relationship with the Lord, you cannot know what it is like so to you it may appear that one is just following their religion blindly...I can assure you though that that is not the case, at least with me.
So I guess when I was younger, thought I had a relationship with the 'Lord', and believed in him/her/it that it was just a false sense of security?? Oh, of course it was, I was just following what I was told was the truth.
I've dealt with the 'Lord'. I've eliminated "him" completely from my life and I've never felt better.
Seems to me that anyone with "blind faith" may be going along with whatever his church leaders or his religion tell him without doing a little homework on his own..I guess it could also be called "Blind Trust"..
I think that people who rely too much on their faith become blind to reality, the same way a scientists relies too much on his abstract theory also becomes blinded by faith because he only relies on his abstract theory.
I think Einstein said it best:
Quote:
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
and
Quote:
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
and
Quote:
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. Albert Einstein, "Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium", 1941
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)
Blind faith, yes. That's is the foremost characteristic of religion. Also, blind to reality. This is very noticeable on many of the forums.
The "relationship to god or Jesus" is mentioned often, but no one can explain that or any other concept of faith.
It could also be like a young child who invents imaginary playmates and talks to them. These imaginary playmates are eventually replaced by the idea of god in adulthood.
I agree with Deb in Va,you are not walking blindly in faith when you have a personal relationship with God. He is in your heart and mind and you thirst for knowledge about Him. The ones who are going through the motions of Christianity to please others or it is expected of them or are not deep-rooted into His word but just reading words from the Bible I would consider blind faith.
How is it, that most religious people follow their religions blindly. It seems to me that most people that believe in there "higher powers" follow only because their parents were of that particular religion?
Human culture is based upon legacies of many things... including faith. Our education systems has foundtional merit based upon previous intellectual accomplishments, which provides basic building blocks for continued learning. To dismiss parental guiding as deficient or false and call it "blind"is to think like a teenager... and therefore all parental legacies are in some way tarnished by there mere fact that it comes from them. That is completely antidotal... and false.
I would suggest that Judeo/Christian beliefs are in fact, the foundational component for intellectual/cultural development. Not only has our culture developed, but because of Judeo/Christian faith, many other non believing nations are "enabled" to grow economically, socially, culturally and intellectually. China and India are examples of struggling societies that are dependant on Judeo/Christian values... given to us by God and passed on to our children.
Atheistic soceity can claim it success in communism. A failed man made form of government riddled with lazy corrupt individuals, that has left a legacy of pain and desperation. If it not were for the faith based people in society this world would be a sewer of human carnage... with many serving the few. Certainly faith based people can not claim cultural nirvana, but as our Judeo/Christian faith diminishes so does society.
Show me one example of a non believing society that has reached out to help others, and grew as a nation, that has left a legacy of goodness.
I thank God for my parents everyday and that God choose them, to give to me, what many would destroy... my faith.
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