What Does Religion Mean To You?

[Altastrofae 933]

7 minutes ago, Gestum said:

That same thing can be said for Christians during the crusades. How was that different? 

You really don't?  Do you think that today's society and it's views on violence is slightly different than how the view on violence was 2000 years ago? And you don't think that those views may influence the religions created in those times?

But you bring up the crusades who took place roughly hundreds of years before the Aztec empires religious war.

I put the Aztec as an example as their wars were arguable the only wars fought only because of religious reasons. Even the crusades have several reasons for starting and most of them aren't really religious. 

History isn't my forte, I don't know any of this stuff, so cut me some slack, man.

My initial point was that not all religions are directly violent.

[Twilight Luna 30,940]

I neither believe in or do not believe in a God. My parents were not religious. They passed down to me their values that they got from their parents, not from a book. They helped me understand the difference between right and wrong. I can appreciate why people are drawn to a religion, especially when it’s shared by those that they know. 

I had a girlfriend who was Wiccan. I told her that I didn’t understand her way of life but I understood that it was important to her and would like to learn why. 

[Gestum 2,493]

3 minutes ago, Altastrofae said:

My initial point was that not all religions are directly violent.

True, but 99% of all religions have been used to directly cause violence. Even seemingly peaceful religions like Buddhism have their fair share of skeletons in their closet.

[Altastrofae 933]

4 minutes ago, Gestum said:

True, but 99% of all religions have been used to directly cause violence. Even seemingly peaceful religions like Buddhism have their fair share of skeletons in their closet.

But few of those religions directly say that those acts of violence were alright. That was people being violent, not the religions themselves.

[Gestum 2,493]

Just now, Altastrofae said:

But few of those religions directly say that those acts of violence were alright. That was people being violent, not the religions themselves.

 That's not true. Almost all (old) religions have some verse that says that violence is alright as long as it's against someone that doesn't follow the same religion as you do or someone who threatens your religion.

[Black Sabbath 2,484]

15 minutes ago, Altastrofae said:

But few of those religions directly say that those acts of violence were alright. That was people being violent, not the religions themselves.

People using religion, yes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that religion will inherently cause someone to become violent, but I don't think we should ignore the influence religion had on those acts of violence.  

[Dashy 4 Ever 4,832]

It all depends on the principalities of that religion that make it "violent."

[Altastrofae 933]

Whatever, we're getting off topic, so let's just agree that it's a debatable topic and call it a day

[IronM17 5,145]

When I was younger, religion means more to me (I was in the children church choir and later an altar boy, but it was always just a minor point in my life and not the most important), but when I start to lose my believe into god (it started in the time around 13 while I got more and more interest into natural science), I lost the bound to the church and the religion and nowadays, religion is for me nothing important anymore and I am also not a member of a religion. I am happy with my life and don't need the believe into god, the church or a religion.

[Denim&Venöm 16,515]

God might be real.

But religion is definitely fake. A bunch of optimists pretending to have a connection with the divine, at best. And a bunch of cultists having the gall to claim that they speak on god's behalf, to know god's will and ways, at worst.  

Thousands of differing and even contrasting belief systems in the world. And yours just happens to be the right one? Or more importantly, everyone else's way, especially these who don't believe at all, happen to wrong? 

There's also the question few want to actually ponder. What does the creator of all things- and I mean all things, not just the human race and the dirt we stand on- think about the praise and damnation, the compassion and cruelty, committed in their name? 

 

[Altastrofae 933]

2 hours ago, Denim&Venom said:

God might be real.

But religion is definitely fake. A bunch of optimists pretending to have a connection with the divine, at best. And a bunch of cultists having the gall to claim that they speak on god's behalf, to know god's will and ways, at worst.  

Thousands of differing and even contrasting belief systems in the world. And yours just happens to be the right one? Or more importantly, everyone else's way, especially these who don't believe at all, happen to wrong? 

There's also the question few want to actually ponder. What does the creator of all things- and I mean all things, not just the human race and the dirt we stand on- think about the praise and damnation, the compassion and cruelty, committed in their name? 

 

I actually have asked those questions, and I believe to have found the answer to them.

Firstly, I don't think any religion is necessarily "right". In that being, that isn't what matters to people. They actlike it's right, but in reality, it's merely an answer that satisfies them and allows them to go on living their lives without wondering. It's their truth, and no one else's.

And let me tell you, secondly, he isn't mad at all. I'm not preaching to you, I base my beliefs on experience. He actually finds the hate spread in his name to be bothersome but nothing more. He's upset, sure, but he knows how it turns out in the end. Compare today with thousands of years back. We came a long way. Hes helping. Hes working on it. It's hard to influence an entire planet. It takes time.

I'm not speaking on his behalf, this is my own experience. I can't explain it, but I get what his goal is, sort of.

But I'm not saying I know everything about everything. Sometimes the gods confuse me, with their way of thinking. It's very different in a way.

Or maybe I'm just crazy, and I'm just a loon yelling nonsense in your eyes. But I can say that I've met and spoke to an angel. That, I know for sure was real.

Or again, maybe I'm insane. Fuck my life.

[Celli 4,332]

Religion means nothing to me. I went to church for a few years as a kid, even had a first communion but my mom wasn't religious, she only did it to appease my grandparents who are Catholic.

I don't like religion. I'm atheist and I believe anything we don't know can be known with more research, not falling on the "religion can explain the unknown" or "god did it" excuse. Anything unknown is not permanently so, and we can know more with time and effort. To fall back on Religion is lazy and not really interesting, either. Nothing is beyond knowledge if you put your mind to it.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Celli

[Altastrofae 933]

2 minutes ago, Celli said:

Religion means nothing to me. I went to church for a few years as a kid, even had a first communion but my mom wasn't religion, she only did it to appease my grandparents who are Catholic.

I don't like religion. I'm atheist and I believe anything we don't know can be known with more research, not falling on the "religion can explain the unknown" or "god did it" excuse. Anything unknown is not permanently so, and we can know more with time and effort. To fall back on Religion is lazy and not really interesting, either. Nothing is beyond knowledge if you put your mind to it.

I agree entirely, the excuse is very lazy. As I said above, I practice mediation and interact directly with the gods seldomly. I base everything off of what I see myself. However, I also think that not everything can be explained with research. Some things just can't be explained. Some of the gods don't even know how they came to exist. Some don't think it matters in the end how they came to exist. The point is, even our creators know nothing.

[Celli 4,332]

2 minutes ago, Altastrofae said:

I agree entirely, the excuse is very lazy. As I said above, I practice mediation and interact directly with the gods seldomly. I base everything off of what I see myself. However, I also think that not everything can be explained with research. Some things just can't be explained. Some of the gods don't even know how they came to exist. Some don't think it matters in the end how they came to exist. The point is, even our creators know nothing.

Okay, most things can be explained with research, but I think things we may never know are simply just. We still don't have to say "god did it" for them, just face that we may never know or explain them. 

[King of Canterlot 9,588]

10 minutes ago, Celli said:

Anything unknown is not permanently so, and we can know more with time and effort.

I'm not sure how you think life's greatest mystery, where we go once we die, will ever be answered, because, uh, ya know, your dead. No amount  of research will ever answer that question, it's therefor impossible to say what happens after we die. Do we just cease to exist? Do we go to heaven? We don't know, but at least with religion, we have a hope for the afterlife. That's what religion means to me, hope for an afterlife in heaven. Will this for sure happen? I don't know, but I sure hope I'll go to heaven after I die, and I would hope that you would want to got to heaven as well after you die too. 

[Celli 4,332]

5 minutes ago, King of Canterlot said:

and I would hope that you would want to got to heaven as well after you die too

I don't really believe in heaven or hell. But I don't claim to know if either exists.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Celli

[Altastrofae 933]

7 minutes ago, King of Canterlot said:

I'm not sure how you think life's greatest mystery, where we go once we die, will ever be answered, because, uh, ya know, your dead. No amount  of research will ever answer that question, it's therefor impossible to say what happens after we die. Do we just cease to exist? Do we go to heaven? We don't know, but at least with religion, we have a hope for the afterlife. That's what religion means to me, hope for an afterlife in heaven. Will this for sure happen? I don't know, but I sure hope I'll go to heaven after I die, and I would hope that you would want to got to heaven as well after you die too. 

I have memories of past lives. So that's what I'm going with.

I once stole a horse. That was cool. Kinda selfish at the time, but I STOLE A HORSE!!!

The horse was a cool dude...

[Kevin Tang 2,422]

Religion, I don't really know but it's like our brand in the society, something that causes racism in my country.

Other than that, it's actually like a modified history lesson with some extra activities at school.

I have no idea on how to describe it.

[碇 シンジン 27,427]

9 hours ago, Denim&Venom said:

God might be real.

But religion is definitely fake. A bunch of optimists pretending to have a connection with the divine, at best. And a bunch of cultists having the gall to claim that they speak on god's behalf, to know god's will and ways, at worst.  

Thousands of differing and even contrasting belief systems in the world. And yours just happens to be the right one? Or more importantly, everyone else's way, especially these who don't believe at all, happen to wrong? 

There's also the question few want to actually ponder. What does the creator of all things- and I mean all things, not just the human race and the dirt we stand on- think about the praise and damnation, the compassion and cruelty, committed in their name? 

I agree that most religions are trying to be more than they actually are, I think the religions are kinda the corner pieces of the puzzle at their barebone level when you filter some of the fluff there and search the messages written between the lines there. Though i dont think any of them are inherently wrong since i dont really believe that something that is wrong can really exist at all.

What if every belief system was the right one? Including the one where you dont believe, if you start working on from that assumption you can see that there are quite many similarities there, and that can really free you from the shackle of the flesh opening your eyes.

I dont think that there is a different entity like that, I personally believe that all humans and things that exist together form a collective entity that is the one people call god, we are just fragments of that entity existing inside of it and so our thoughts and deeds are all from the same entity at their root. yet still that entity exists as a separate entity from us even when every thing exists within its scope, that is what i call individuality also I dont think you can commit anything on anyones name only thing you can do is to do it under your own name.

 

 

[Jedishy 3,542]

For me my religious path is about mastery and improvement of the self so that I might better be of service to those around me. The more I have the more I am capable of and thus the better I can lend a hand to those that need it. 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,289]

No offense to anyone here, but I view most religion, especially the Abrahamic ones (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) as brainwashing cults. All of these tend to want to convert people as soon as people, catching them at a young age and fooling them to never leave. This is all propagated by all of these expensive churches that people go to to tell themselves that their religion is right. Which, that would be fine, if conservative Christians didn't want control over everything along with that. Having megachurches on every street corner is not enough, they want to make sure their religion is forced into our lives. The churches should also not be allowed to take in money so easily, in my view.

So personally, I do not like religion at all. Doesn't mean I don't like the religious. Just keep that stuff away from me and all is good.

[Envy 5,999]

14 hours ago, King of Canterlot said:

I'm not sure how you think life's greatest mystery, where we go once we die, will ever be answered, because, uh, ya know, your dead. No amount  of research will ever answer that question, it's therefor impossible to say what happens after we die. Do we just cease to exist? Do we go to heaven? We don't know, but at least with religion, we have a hope for the afterlife. That's what religion means to me, hope for an afterlife in heaven. Will this for sure happen? I don't know, but I sure hope I'll go to heaven after I die, and I would hope that you would want to got to heaven as well after you die too. 

The thing is, with scientific research we can really narrow down these questions. We already have a pretty good understanding of the consciousness being a process of chemical interactions in our brains. We even understand that damage to certain portions of the brain can alter someone's personality altogether, just really narrowing down the idea of there being some supernatural soul to irrelevance (everything about us is tied to the processes of our brain, and we have absolutely no reason whatsoever to believe that consciousness can exist otherwise). I can understand why people thought there was something more to it in a pre-scientific society, but we don't live in such a time anymore. All of the concepts that ancient people thought just had to be supernatural/deities/etc. are turning out to be explainable scientific processes.

There may always be some gap for the concepts of God/supernatural/etc. to retreat to, but that doesn't mean that those concepts have any merit whatsoever. It's not to say that they are impossible persay, it's just that I think society needs to change its way of thinking to waiting for the evidence for something to be there before believing. There are so many different ideas of the supernatural/deities that people have come up with, and at the end of the day, it's impossible to parse out which is absolutely true or which isn't, and they all bring up so many more questions than they answer. Believe whatever you want to believe, it's your right, your life. And I understand why you want there to be a heaven. I understand why you want to get to see your family and friends that have passed on. It's difficult to grasp with the reality that someone who passed away is not going to be there anymore, ever. I'm uncertain as to how much a belief in heaven could psychologically harm someone or if it could at all, but I am concerned about religious beliefs because I've seen it happen in my life where someone throws their life away to religion. I had someone close who refused treatment for cancer until it was too late. I didn't know it until after they passed away, but I learned that it wasn't out of fear to be taken care of, it was out of a deep religious trust in God and that God would take care of the individual. Again, their right, their life. But boy would I have loved to potentially have them here in my life today.

Er... Now I really went off on a big tangent here, and this topic wasn't ever supposed to be a debate either way, so I have to apologize for that, but I do feel very strongly about this subject. It runs even more personal than I've mentioned here, I hate to say it.

[Altastrofae 933]

4 hours ago, Envy said:

The thing is, with scientific research we can really narrow down these questions. We already have a pretty good understanding of the consciousness being a process of chemical interactions in our brains. We even understand that damage to certain portions of the brain can alter someone's personality altogether, just really narrowing down the idea of there being some supernatural soul to irrelevance (everything about us is tied to the processes of our brain, and we have absolutely no reason whatsoever to believe that consciousness can exist otherwise). I can understand why people thought there was something more to it in a pre-scientific society, but we don't live in such a time anymore. All of the concepts that ancient people thought just had to be supernatural/deities/etc. are turning out to be explainable scientific processes.

There may always be some gap for the concepts of God/supernatural/etc. to retreat to, but that doesn't mean that those concepts have any merit whatsoever. It's not to say that they are impossible persay, it's just that I think society needs to change its way of thinking to waiting for the evidence for something to be there before believing. There are so many different ideas of the supernatural/deities that people have come up with, and at the end of the day, it's impossible to parse out which is absolutely true or which isn't, and they all bring up so many more questions than they answer. Believe whatever you want to believe, it's your right, your life. And I understand why you want there to be a heaven. I understand why you want to get to see your family and friends that have passed on. It's difficult to grasp with the reality that someone who passed away is not going to be there anymore, ever. I'm uncertain as to how much a belief in heaven could psychologically harm someone or if it could at all, but I am concerned about religious beliefs because I've seen it happen in my life where someone throws their life away to religion. I had someone close who refused treatment for cancer until it was too late. I didn't know it until after they passed away, but I learned that it wasn't out of fear to be taken care of, it was out of a deep religious trust in God and that God would take care of the individual. Again, their right, their life. But boy would I have loved to potentially have them here in my life today.

Er... Now I really went off on a big tangent here, and this topic wasn't ever supposed to be a debate either way, so I have to apologize for that, but I do feel very strongly about this subject. It runs even more personal than I've mentioned here, I hate to say it.

If I may say, I don't believe what I do to be optimistic. I think there is some scientific merit to the concept of consciousness being seperate from the physical body. It is theoretically possible that consciousness works like cell data in a way. Consciousness exists seperately somewhere else and is transmitted through organic matter. Also, I don't think the personality can change persay. We use a very loose definition for personality, I think. I think fucking with the brain is just screwing with a person's ability to project their personality, so to speak.

I do get where you're coming from, but honestly, I've lived through too much evidence to convince me otherwise. I've been outside of myself, if that makes sense, seeing myself just as I see everything right now, but like, from a seperate body, and everything was just as real as everything is here.

I can't explain it, I barely understand it myself. It has some kind of quantum aspect to it, though. To the point where it would be impossible to measure things as we do here on Earth. I suppose the best word for it would be the spirit world or something along those lines.

Or maybe I'm insane, and I'm just hearing voices, gazing through a mirage. Maybe everything any of us thinks is true is just a distortion, and the world is entirely formless, and in the end we're all the crazy ones waiting while the universal clock ticks down closer to zero.

Or maybe I'm just insane.

[Hocus Pocus 636]

To me, Religion is sort of like a pact; a covenant if you will, in addition to being a respect for, and a relationship with the divine. I lead by example, and do good in the name of God, and in return I receive guidance and protection. Perhaps not as profound as many people would like on either end, but it's still certainly there, and I'm comfortable with it. I don't need some flashy neon sign from the heavens telling me what to do next, just like I feel God doesn't need me to go out of my way to cram my beliefs down other people's throats. I'm a Christian and I live my life as a decent person. Simple as that.

[Here No Longer 5,270]

Religion to me means very little. A compilation of beliefs that offers no solid evidence or actual reasoning behind it, that feeds off of others needs to cause conflict with each other.