Magical Thinking: the Root Cause of Religion? (Jehovah, grace, America)
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the physical body is finite, the soul is not. your soul existed prior to your being born, it chooses to come into the body and gives it life, and when the body dies the soul leaves the body and continues to exist.
I think this post is fascinating, and it raises some interesting questions.
1. When and how does the soul choose to "come into a body"?
2. Is the soul conscious before entering the body?
3. What vehicle does the soul use to enter and exit the body?
4. What specific physiological event causes the soul to leave the body, i.e. heart stops beating, brain goes dead?
5. Can you explain how feelings and thoughts are not part of the physical brain?
The ultimate root cause of religion is the inherent unavoidable existential dilemma that is embedded in the human DNA.
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Are you really suggesting that all of the members who regularly post in the A&A forum and profess to be avowed Atheists are actually genetically flawed?
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,893,738 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hljc
God is alive and very much real and in no way just a conjecture of ideas and morals , believer have answers of prayer from God , you would be surprised to witness God .......Actually it is a mistake to not have Jesus on your life
I just hear a lot of "answered prayer" stories, and the fundamental belief is that the prayer caused the desired outcome. They really see causation by correlation alone. They won't even consider the possibility of coincidence. And all of the times that prayers were NOT answered are seen as God saying "no" or "just wait a bit."
1. What is the origin of the universe in general and humanity in particular?
2. What happens to one's consciousness when the physical body dies?
People are made uncomfortable by having to answer those questions with an honest "I don't know.", particularly when those questions are asked by their children, so they have to make up explanations. As long as there are people who still believe that those made-up explanations are reality, the explanations are referred to as "religion", when there are no longer significant numbers of believers, the explanations are referred to as "mythology".
Are you really suggesting that all of the members who regularly post in the A&A forum and profess to be avowed Atheists are actually genetically flawed?
What a bizarre accusation!
The Atheist Crew, flawed? No way.
Funny story: At the end of the night last night (this morning) I went to the club to get a couple of the girls that asked me if they could come to my house.
So, while I'm sitting in the dressing room waiting for them to pack up all their stuff, I pull out my phone and go to this site. I hadn't scoped out this thread, and I read the OP. As I'm typing my reply in Post #17 I start snickering. One of them asks, "What's so funny, who are you texting?"...and she comes over and looks at my phone as I'm punching it in, laughing.
She says, "Oh, that Religion forum you always post on, what are you writing now?"... and she leans over my shoulder and looks closer at the screen and reads it. She turns her head and looks at me with a quizzical look on her face, then kisses me on the cheek and pats me on the head and says, "Ya know Baby, we all really love you, but there's something realIy wrong with you, (as she pokes me a couple times in the temple) you know that don't you?!".
Of course, that made me laugh all the harder.
So, I guess it's ME that's "flawed". HaHaHaHa!
Why are Atheist constantly trying to get people to abandon religion? People don't automatically become religious and see the light. It takes years of constant and persistent fear mongering to make people believers.
Some of us catch on to the scam early, I was 12-13 my son was 7 when the "religious instructor" said "your son asks too many questions".
Please just leave the religious to their beliefs most of them are causing no harm and many of them do good deeds. If they are not infringing on your rights. What's the problem?
Why do many Atheists think it is necessary to correct the believers? I can tell you this, they ain't going away anytime soon.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,893,738 times
Reputation: 4560
Quote:
Originally Posted by PDD
Why are Atheist constantly trying to get people to abandon religion? People don't automatically become religious and see the light. It takes years of constant and persistent fear mongering to make people believers.
Some of us catch on to the scam early, I was 12-13 my son was 7 when the "religious instructor" said "your son asks too many questions".
Please just leave the religious to their beliefs most of them are causing no harm and many of them do good deeds. If they are not infringing on your rights. What's the problem?
Why do many Atheists think it is necessary to correct the believers? I can tell you this, they ain't going away anytime soon.
Want to be religious?
Wonderful.
But keep it out of the government, schools and public policy. Far too many of a religious bent mettle with the above three. That's when atheist and other secular groups fight back. And the harder those religious groups push, the harder push back you are getting. Don't forget, it was the religious groups that started this situation.
Keep your beliefs inside your churches and your homes, and you're not going to get many complaints.
I posted in another thread about an experience I had last week while my Mother is on here deathbed. Her pastor, along with the elders of her church came by to anoint her with oil and pray for her. Prior to the prayer the pastor mentioned to everyone to not expect her to become completely healed after the prayer because God doesn't work that way. I thought that was very convenient. I don't know if he truly believes this or is just covering his arse.
He's likely doing it because as a literalist he can't get around that verse that says "Is any among you sick? Let them call the elders and anoint him with oil and pray for him ... and the prayer of the righteous shall raise the sick ...". Yet at the same time their teaching is that "signs and wonders" are not for today and ceased when the canon of scripture was closed. This allows a non-charismatic fundamentalist to regard the anointing with oil / pray for the sick ritual as just that: a ritual. In this limited instance, a fundamentalist and an unbeliever are strange bedfellows because both believe that there are no miracles and this is just a comforting ritual.
But keep it out of the government, schools and public policy. Far too many of a religious bent mettle with the above three. That's when atheist and other secular groups fight back. And the harder those religious groups push, the harder push back you are getting. Don't forget, it was the religious groups that started this situation.
Keep your beliefs inside your churches and your homes, and you're not going to get many complaints.
They are not content with that though. They want their religion, and only THEIR religion, to permeate every place they can possibly get it in to. If you stop and say, "Hey, religion shouldn't be here!", then you are persecuting them. They have very strong persecution complexes.
As for the OP, I believe that religions root cause is a person NEED to feel special. Just look at all of the regular fundy posters here, and you will see what I mean. They think that they have some super special inside track to God. Mind you, only they do, and people of THEIR religion. Everyone else is misinterpreting their holy book, or they are worshipping the wrong god. They have a NEED to feel special, and religion gives that to them.
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