My view on religion.

[StSanta]

Book of Nirfur (aka the Babble):

StSanta 3:17

"And there I was, being bored in nothingness. So I created some silly things and let them evolve a bit, according to some pretty harsh and crude rules I imagined could bring me a few nanoseconds of amusement. I was wrong, of course, but I'm wrong all the time.

To my surprise, some of these things started walking on two legs, despite this not being in my original plan. So, I made another god. Called him God, because, well, since he was one. Sort of. I was wrong  about this creation as well. Oh well, at least I got to do an enemy for this dude, and Satan has turned out quite ok.

Now these silly things think the god (sort of) God created it all. He's merely a figment of my imagination I've made into a spiritual manifestation of a crude joke involving virgins, shaved sheep and bearded old pitiful creatures. And beer.

This species is truly pitiful. Think I'll do some aliens and hear them whine about their space ships being overmodelled when I order them to invade earth. We'll see. I'll spare the StSantaists though, as I need a ruling class for the universe. Someone must look after it when I take a nap."

Though scripture would be good in this discussion. It is good to remind people that there are other religions out there, even freakier than their own  

<disclaimer: if this post offends your religious beliefs, you're probably a very serious person. I'm a very silly person. I used to be a very serious person, but being silly is much more fun. Eat a pizza, dance with some girls and DON'T PANIC. The answer is 42.>
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StSanta.  Nirfur is the God Of All Things Yellow And Fluffy And He Who Decides What Is Yellow And Fluffy.



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Baron Claus "StSanta" Von Ribbentroppen
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"
"If you return from a mission with a victory, but without your Rottenflieger, you have lost your battle."
- D. Hrabak, JG 54 "Grünherz"

[StSanta]

Btw; nice post blur  .

Metaphysics; gotta hate it  

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Baron Claus "StSanta" Von Ribbentroppen
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"
"If you return from a mission with a victory, but without your Rottenflieger, you have lost your battle."
- D. Hrabak, JG 54 "Grünherz"

[Tac]

LOL! Santa, you should really keep on writing stuff like that for the book of dweeb.   Babble.. rofl!

"Lord, please protect me from your followers!"    

Besides, every time I think about the whole of creation I remember that theory that only I exist and everything else is a figment of my imagination, I create my own reality. Dammit, so far its been quite annoying  

[MrSiD]

The only problem is that the Holy Bible was written by men, not God. This has been proven numerous times in several theologic-historic studies.

I see Bible as a survival manual and ethical code for the time it was written.. Many of its guidelines are simply outdated today and seem ridiculous. However, to people of the time it was meant to, it was a lifesaver.

Kind of like reading the survival manual of some army footsoldiers 1800 a.d.. Back then it made sense, now it's a matter of laughter.

[TheWobble]

The bible is a book..not even a good book, it has stories that teach lessons and tries to instill values....nothing more.

is there a god..I dont care, i can place blind faith on anything especally some omnipotent all knowing being that noone has ever seen.

Im sure the whole jesus story had true roots but has been imbeleshed to the point of its currint unbelieveable state.

I believe more in the chupacabra(sp) or bigfoot or Nessy than god.

[Cabby]

Quote:

" Back then it made sense, now it's a matter of laughter."

Why?  Because YOU say so??  Now THAT's funny....

Cabby

[MrSiD]

Cabby you are quick on making personal statements..

Judge not or thou shall be judged.

Your post is against the lessons of your holy book.

[StSanta]

The Bible is pretty good. It's almost as gory as Icelandic sagaes in some parts.

Acutally it's like a Hollywood film - lots of action and then some kind of moral lesson.

If the brits would have written it, it'd be full of stupid things like the maximum speed of laden swallows (African and otherwise) and of people slapping each other with rubber chickens.

Now that would be a book I could take seriously  .

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Baron Claus "StSanta" Von Ribbentroppen
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"
"If you return from a mission with a victory, but without your Rottenflieger, you have lost your battle."
- D. Hrabak, JG 54 "Grünherz"

[Damned Wrongway]

IMHO
   Religion would be a natural occurrence in all life forms that move far enough along the Evolutionary Line.
  As a creature evolves and its brain capacity increases there is a point at which the creature (developing a frontal lobe) would starts to have a brain capable of cognizant memory as well as the ability to think to the future.
  This is a milestone in the evolutionary line as it would cause (as our first written accounts of religious history prove) the first types of religions to crop up. Those being the pagan religions which of course is the worship of "things" like thunder, lighting, the sun, (trees the Druids) the list goes on and on of pagan Religions and the objects and or natural occurrences that they worshipped.
  This not to say that the pagan type religions were the very first religions by any means. The very first religions of course are lost to written history as they appeared long before our ancestors had the ability to leave written accounts.

   My Theory is that when he was able to think well enough with that tiny, just starting to develop, frontal lobe he needed to have some means to explain things that he couldn't explain. Things he didn't have the ability to even consider before he evolved far enough along this line. I give you:

10,000 Years In The Life of a creature starting to develop a modern day brain condensed into a Rainy Day. Most likely he didn't have much of a vocabulary but for these prepossess he does.

  Humm that hot bright round thing comes up every morning. Humm never though about it before but for some reason now it bothers me.
    And why the hell does it rain or snow, and when the lighting really gets mad it strikes down trees with fire, hell I don't even know what fire is. Wow this is scary being able to see the world with my new frontal lobe.
   So scary that when I see lighting I fall to my knees in fear. Many run, many drop to the ground in fear, some who run are struck down by the lighting. They must have made that lighting stuff angry by not falling to their knees. Wow maybe we should do more for this lighting thing. Maybe just maybe things that are powerful and I have no control over are Gods.
   Yeah that's it, and so is rain and fire and anything else thats in my life and very powerful and I can't explain. And for the first time in my race's life it bothers me!!. Well, you get the point. That was how it all started many will agree. Next point:
 
  For thousands of years there was no Unified God Theory Religions at all! Just people worshiping things they feared and or loved. Human nature at its best.
  As man/woman began to retain knowledge from generation to generation i.e.: ( the ability to read and write) they become more and more sophisticated in there views of the world and themselves. This most likely lead to the Unified God Theory most follow today. How did that happen?

 Now we jump another 10,000 years into the future of this day in the life guy and he is no longer living in caves but in a city. He has had written words now for many generations and can read about what people thought about before his time. He sees that he is not like all the other creatures on the planet, He is special he thinks. Just look at what his race has accomplished, the pyramids at Gaza the cites of Rome. He/she thinks, "could it be that we are the chosen race on this planet?" Could it be that we are a part of this God thing. He thinks:
    Why do we need to worship and sacrifice to the sun or rain or earth God's?
  As he developed defenses against the things he couldn't explain before, and starts to manipulate the things his ancestors worshipped i.e. use of fire, ability to farm the land and herd animals he realized he could do things he was told only the God could do. Like,
 Only the Gods can make the fruits we eat grow. No, I can farm and choose what I want to grow now. Only the God's can make the rain come so the fruits we eat can grow. No now I can irrigate the land where I grow my food. Only the hunting God can bring the animals we hunt to our range. No, now I can herd and breed the animals I eat. Again you see where I'm going.

   As man lost his fear of the world and natures power he also lost the need to sacrifice and worship to the old Gods he had created out of fear. He began to become self absorbed. He saw that man was supreme on this planet and that maybe just maybe he was part of the Gods, or at least part of God's will. He thought, perhaps we are even made in his image. Yeah that's it, in the beginning God created man in his own image. Hell it all make sense to me how this kind of rumor could get started. Talk about a Toll.

So in closing I would just like to say that religion and God's are a natural part of the growing pains for any creature that has evolved far enough along in time to invent them and or the need for them.

Perhaps some day we will grow out of it!

Then again I could be wrong,
Damned WrW  
 

 

[Sandman_SBM]

Er... um... pagans don't worship trees.

[Cabby]

Quote:

"As man lost his fear of the world and natures power "

You mean foolish, ignorant men, don't you??  Ever been in a hurricane?? Or fly a light aircraft around thunderstorms??  "Nature's" power is infinitely greater than anything mankind can produce.  Whenever mankind gets a little full of himself, "Nature" has a way of evening the score.....

Quote:

"Er... um... pagans don't worship trees."

They don't???  What the hell is it that New Age tree-huggers worship then??  

Cabby



[This message has been edited by cabby (edited 03-31-2001).]

[Damned Wrongway]

If you read carefully you will see I mentioned  the Druids happen to worship trees which makes their faith a Pagan religion. Any non unified God Religion is a Pagan type Religion. So pagans were never a religious sect but the name given to any people who's faith worshiped objects or more then one God. This word "pagan" was of course brought about by those who believed in a unified God.

Gee its no fun when you have to explain it!

Baaaa
WrW

[Tac]

They worship ENYA Cabby.  

oh and btw, a foot soldier's manual in 1800 ad IS a matter of laughter today cabby.

Are you reading the whole post? or are you skim-reading :

"I see Bible as a survival manual and ethical code for the time it was written.. *skim*

"Back then it made sense, now it's a matter of laughter." *end skim, flame reply otw*
?  

[MrBill]

 

Originally posted by Damned Wrongway:
So pagans were never a religious sect but the name given to any people who's faith worshiped objects or more then one God.

well I believe someone is in error;

pagan n A person having no religious beliefs. adj. Heathen, irreligious.

polytheism n the belief that there are many gods.

 

Gee its no fun when you have to explain it!

Baaaa
WrW

Yep
It was explained to me that a pagan was anyone who disagreed with what YOU believe in.



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OhNooo
smile awhile

[Zigrat]

I believe in God, but since coming to college i have completely stopped being a christian, and only go to church when im at home with my family.

I really don't think you can doubt that there must have been some type of being that set things up in the beginning, the world is too  perfect for some type of intelligence to have not been involved.

A great example is water. Its one of the *very* few liquids whos solid form is less dense than its liquid, which enables freshwater life all around the world, or fish would not be able to survive the winter. Kinda perfect how it works out, huh.

Theres a million more examples too. How could life start without some spark? I just cant believe that life coudl come out of nothingness without something miraculous.

Do i believe in the story of genesis? No. Do i believe in darwinism? Yes. But i also believe that first spark, was made by the hand of God.

I have some silly friends who are ultra religious, and wont drink alcohol and pray all the time and stuff. They get alot out of it so I guess its ok for them, after all religion is the opiate of the masses  

I cant think of a good conclusion so goodnight.