Thousands of Religions - Who is right? (and other questions)

I would love to hear different opinions to the following questions.

There are thousands of religions out there. Who is right?

Do all religions essentially speak the same idea? (the golden rule)

How can someone ever make a decision for himself if the majority are BORN into their religion?

Are we a product of random mutation or a divine Creator? Why?

Could it be that we each individually have to find the answer's to these questions, rather than focusing on what is out THERE, we must find the answers within us?








[edit on 11-11-2009 by Davidius]

[edit on 11-11-2009 by Davidius]

they are all right and all wrong IMO. Each deity exists and I feel they are as powerful as their congregation is strong. I don't believe in one supreme deity but rather a universal consciousness

Once they start touting that they are the one and only...that is when I think they becomes wrong

-Kyo

Basically it is impossible for there to be multiple realities of truth.

There can be only one basic truth.

For example the earth is round not flat like a pizza, eons ago people believed as a truth that the earth was flat, but it was not the reality of the matter.

Absolute truth never changes, perspectives of reality do change. So what we believe today might be an absolute truth, a partial truth, or just wrong. But either way it is just our perception.

I have found that truth explains almost everything, sure there are some things we won't or don't understand yet, but in 1000 years we will, just like we know more truths than we did 1000 years ago.

reply to post by Davidius

Thousands of Religions - Who is right?

The correct answer would be the Mormons. Yes the Mormons.
(just kidding)

reply to post by Davidius


I dont believe anyone has it 100% right. But I think I know enough to know when I am on safe ground.

Beliefs are changing because we're always learning, even when the foundation stands.

Just when I think I have something figured out, something else always pops up. I'm sure that will happen until the day I die.

reply to post by Davidius


OP:


There is a fantastic book called "So What's The Difference?" that discusses all your questions and examines every religion, cult, and sect.

Originally posted by Davidius
There are thousands of religions out there. Who is right?

If the only choices are "right" or "wrong", and n=the number of religions out there, (where we're postulating n>1000), I'd wager there's an even chance that any number of them between 0 and 2^n are "right"... none of them, all of them, or any arbitrary number of them in-between.

Do all religions essentially speak the same idea? (the golden rule)

ALL religions? Probably not.

How can someone ever make a decision for himself if the majority are BORN into their religion?

Don't know about you, but a majority of my friends no longer practice the religion they were born into. Could just be the crowd I hang out with though. Choice is there for any who want to take it. Beliefs are nothing more than personal opinions, and no two are EXACTLY the same.

Are we a product of random mutation or a divine Creator?

Is there a difference?

Could it be that we each individually have to find the answer's to these questions, rather than focusing on what is out THERE, we must find the answers within us?

It could be. And it's certainly likely that if someone else tries to tell you YOUR answer, they're probably wrong.

Originally posted by KyoZero
Each deity exists and I feel they are as powerful as their congregation is strong.

This was the premise of Harlan Ellison's short story collection Paingod and Other Delusions: When the belief in a god dies, the god dies. (This was co-opted, (rather poorly, IMHO) by Neil Gaiman's American Gods)

Originally posted by Blue_Jay33
Absolute truth never changes, perspectives of reality do change. So what we believe today might be an absolute truth, a partial truth, or just wrong. But either way it is just our perception.

I would agree that man can never know Absolute Truth™ because he is always blinded by his perspective, but I'd argue that even Absolute Truth™ is not necessarily absolute. It too changes. Quantum physics has shown us that. (and yeah, you could go down the rabbit hole and say that that's just because we don't know quantum physics yet, but if we knew more, we'd understand that it IS consistent, but I think we'd agree that's an infinite well...)