Is it foolish to dismiss religion as just superstition?

I've been diving pretty deep into Jordan Peterson's views on religion lately.

What he's saying is...(I could be totally misguided here, "what I took from it" may be better phrasing)
Religion is basically a collection of stories that hold complicated abstract ideas that took thousands of years to articulate and we dismiss them at our own peril. There's a vast amount of quite heavy philosophical topics covered and portrayed very succinctly. Even the ideas of heaven and hell if we consider them as states of mind are realities. But moving on, regardless of how much I've butchered his ideas...

Whether god is manmade, or whether man is godmade isn't a trivial question.
But is it possible to accept the wisdom of religion whilst dismissing it's metaphysics.

Are atheists getting too caught up with the truth of religion and missing the value?

I understand throwing away a maths textbook if it claims 2+2=3, but should Aesop's fables be rejected also because a tortoise never raced a hare?

Perhaps since very few people will (or can) read the many philosophy and psychology angles regarding how poisonous jealousy can be, the better option may just be to "read as a child" and blindly follow suggestions such as "Don't covet your neighbours ass".

I'm not out to change minds here and I have no interest in word games or a victory. I'm just interested in other people's thoughts on this as I find myself leaning towards the paradoxical idea that god isn't real but the bible is.

Peterson is an amazing man, he delves deep into the philosophy of faith
Take what you want from it, there is a lot of good, I don't really see a downside, humans are flawed in every way, he understands and elaborates on that, telling people how and why they should accept other people's opinions, good or bad
Try Kierkegaard, Nietzsche who was amazing, Barth
They just asked question and offered solutions to what they thought

Someone here introduced me to Pererson, love his work

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

Is it foolish to dismiss religion as just superstition?

Which religion?

Distinguish between organized religion and spirituality. Dogma, ritual and tradition are 'superstitious'.


The superstition goes, if you don't follow the dogmatic tradition and perform the rituals you are 'sinning'.

a reply to: intrptr

That's your reality, not everyones

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

I think it is an individual's personal choice, depending upon their journey in life and what experiences may or may not correlate to the Bible's teachings. Then we have some people experiencing an epiphany, while others never do, so how does one explain the manifestation of a divine or supernatural being as one's reality?

originally posted by: Krahzeef_Ukhar

I'm just interested in other people's thoughts on this as I find myself leaning towards the paradoxical idea that god isn't real but the bible is.

I have a opinion that a few events on the bible have an extraterrestrial explanation. You can think that's a crazy idea at first if you never researched the subject, but they mention "flying fire carriage", loss of time, "abductions", and all that stuff. They just couldn't explain back then what it was.

What if the angels were extraterrestrial beings? I mean, they came from the skies... Right? Just something else for you to research since you're interested in the subject of religion.

Could've a different explanation too, I just think that this one fits better the scenario. Atleast for me.

a reply to: Raggedyman

I know.

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

That's a very valid point. It makes sense to me. As a non religious person, though if I had to adhere to one, it would be more Christian than any other, I still read about other religions just as I enjoy reading mythology. There is a little bit of something wise in everything, though my faith is in one place, it doesn't stop me from learning in others. The key is to search for God, according to my belief and never stop. That requires searching in all things, in all places, in all aspects of life. I found that there are a great many lessons in every aspect of my life and always has been, one need only open their eyes and look and realize they are there. I've always said, I find irony in everything around me.

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar
I can only speak for myself, but my stance is that I would be foolish not to dismiss religion as superstition when none of the deeply conflicting faiths have any verifiable evidence to support the claims.

And as another poster asked, which religion? I dismiss them all as woo until I see evidence to persuade me otherwise. I don't do spiritual faith at all.

Dose any of it matter?
apparently you can do as you please so long as you say sorry every Sunday.

I'll just stick to trying to be the best Human I can...and hope that gets me over the line at the end

if there is a line to get over

which I doubt.

originally posted by: vinifalou

originally posted by: Krahzeef_Ukhar

I'm just interested in other people's thoughts on this as I find myself leaning towards the paradoxical idea that god isn't real but the bible is.

I have a opinion that a few events on the bible have an extraterrestrial explanation. You can think that's a crazy idea at first if you never researched the subject, but they mention "flying fire carriage", loss of time, "abductions", and all that stuff. They just couldn't explain back then what it was.

What if the angels were extraterrestrial beings? I mean, they came from the skies... Right? Just something else for you to research since you're interested in the subject of religion.

Could've a different explanation too, I just think that this one fits better the scenario. Atleast for me.

If the whole loss of time thing interests you, you might look at the information given about that subject and at that time all around the world. I read something once that showed that many religions round the world at that time, including South America, all had beliefs that one day (around that time frame), the sun stopped (or moved backwards). I don't have much time to look for it right now but it's an interesting read. Funny how you can find so many similarities in religions around the world - places that don't even connect or you think wouldn't connect in that time frame.

originally posted by: LindsayK
Dose any of it matter?
apparently you can do as you please so long as you say sorry every Sunday.

I'll just stick to trying to be the best Human I can...and hope that gets me over the line at the end

if there is a line to get over

which I doubt.

yeah... it doesn't quite work that way... in ANY religion. That's not how it works in Christianity and that's not how it works in Catholicism, two religions I have grown up within. Though, that's usually a go to, among others, that people outside these faiths use against them/us. Too many misconceptions and way too much finger pointing.... Glass houses and all. It would be a much better place if everyone, all faiths and non, would understand that those around us will not always believe what we believe and THATS OK. Let all believe what they want and move on, so long as it doesn't do harm to another. I don't understand why this is so hard to do.

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

I stopped following my catholic faith years ago. For someone who grew-up attending a private catholic school, and was an alter boy for 3 years who attended or served mass 6 out of 7 days, it took a lot of soul searching to walk away from my religion. Over the years, I came to the realization I didn't need a religion to help me lead a life of love, respect for humanity, respect for God/Jesus, helping those less fortunate, or having a priest or a leader of a congregation who was living a much better life than most of their parishioners, preach to me. The hypocrisy I witnessed, the bible/religious contradictions, bible stories that read like fairy tales, the idea that women are expected to be subservient to men, the condemnation and judgement of people, just didn't sit right with my inner-self.

Well said. I came across a bit ignorant. But I actually agree entirely. Each to their own.
Cheers.

We can not throw away religion, there is true in there hidden for those that do not look further. Religion is just organized spirituality that got distorted over time by some personal interest.
So if you like certain religion, stay there but be careful of the wolves. Too much light can get you blind.

Believing that eating a cracker and drinking some wine will offer you salvation is the definition of a superstition.

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

I think it's foolish to accept religion as anything more than superstition.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

I stopped following my catholic faith years ago. For someone who grew-up attending a private catholic school, and was an alter boy for 3 years who attended or served mass 6 out of 7 days, it took a lot of soul searching to walk away from my religion. Over the years, I came to the realization I didn't need a religion to help me lead a life of love, respect for humanity, respect for God/Jesus, helping those less fortunate, or having a priest or a leader of a congregation who was living a much better life than most of their parishioners, preach to me. The hypocrisy I witnessed, the bible/religious contradictions, bible stories that read like fairy tales, the idea that women are expected to be subservient to men, the condemnation and judgement of people, just didn't sit right with my inner-self.

I too followed that path but not because of a non-belief in a higher power, but from the hypocrisy.

Let's assume that the stories describe a measurement of what beings with awareness experienced and that some of them are not just manipulation for self gain.

Should not those experiences be tested and understood on a higher level than just saying they are and perfect objective description and we should have faith the souls knew what they are talking about. Why is quantifying the unknown so scary for humans? Why is a explanation that is vague and pointless more interesting than one that is revealing and pushing towards exactness?

A human body can be objectively measured by looking at the information/state of each quanta (think of it as a multidimensional pixel) in real time. Once you start measuring how 2 human bodies interact in real time you can start noticing the entangled quantas. When you have entangled information exchange you have a wireless communication (psi). More entangled quantas more probability for synchronicity.

Play around with different settings in the amagydala and the body calmness comes. And the chi/water/pulsating energy follows.

originally posted by: Krahzeef_Ukhar
Is it foolish to dismiss religion as just superstition?

Superstition is probably the wrong word here and there are two religious systems in the world so it depends on which you are referring to.

Satan controls one, the other belongs to God, one is a counterfeit and one is the genuine thing.

The word superstition is an unfounded or unjustified belief which might make it correct for the counterfeit version.

If you want to understand religion, Dr. Jordan Peterson would be the last person you want to study as he appears to be more influenced by the counterfeit.

Many of those who claim to be a “Christian” are in fact not.

Peterson also appears to have been heavily influenced by Carl Jung and the Gnostics...

Peterson’s view of truth (or the highest truth, or the most noble truth) is something closer to useful fiction. Peterson views the Bible as “deeply true” in that, if you read it properly (and there’s a whole problem with interpretation there) it will have a profound impact on your life. But, these truths are entirely metaphysical. They say nothing whatsoever about for instance whether Jesus literally, not metaphorically, turned water into wine. You might call him an agnostic pragmatist in that sense- God isn’t true, but maybe claiming that “God is real” is a useful fiction.

What are Dr Jordan Petersons religious beliefs