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Don't you find it weird how a whole religion is based on 1 book?
page: 1share:
If you think about it, many religions are based on 1 book, their holy book.
Many people's lives are based around religion and they follow religion as part of their life, but really they're just reading a book and turning it into real life?
If somebody wrote a book now about how they thought life should be lived and about a fictional superior character (called God in religious books) we would think of it nothing of it, other than it's a fictional novel?
It's like somebody in a few years time picking up Hitler's Mein Kampf and converting it to a religion in which Hitler is the God, it just wouldn't happen!
I find it extremely weird, how a book written so long ago, but somebody whom we don't know is controlling so many people's lives and basically rules the majority of the word. Anybody could've written the books, it could've just been a famous author at the time writing a novel?
Also, some books written by someone we don't know seems to disagree with the smartest people in the modern world and also disagrees with Science (which is fact). It would be obscene for a book to be released soon by somebody we don't know and for it to disprove many facts and theories of Stephen Hawking, other scientists and Science.
It's hard to explain what I mean, but I'm sure you get the point.
Many people's lives are based around religion and they follow religion as part of their life, but really they're just reading a book and turning it into real life?
If somebody wrote a book now about how they thought life should be lived and about a fictional superior character (called God in religious books) we would think of it nothing of it, other than it's a fictional novel?
It's like somebody in a few years time picking up Hitler's Mein Kampf and converting it to a religion in which Hitler is the God, it just wouldn't happen!
I find it extremely weird, how a book written so long ago, but somebody whom we don't know is controlling so many people's lives and basically rules the majority of the word. Anybody could've written the books, it could've just been a famous author at the time writing a novel?
Also, some books written by someone we don't know seems to disagree with the smartest people in the modern world and also disagrees with Science (which is fact). It would be obscene for a book to be released soon by somebody we don't know and for it to disprove many facts and theories of Stephen Hawking, other scientists and Science.
It's hard to explain what I mean, but I'm sure you get the point.
edit on 1-3-2012 by jNormal because: (no reason given)
It's actually several books consolidated into one, through a process of review, revision, rewriting, and reinvention.
Which just proves your point.
Which just proves your point.
reply to post by jNormal
Exactly, but the Bible has had ~2,000 years of continual influence on people, along with its doctrines imposed on native inhabitants. If I was to make a religious book, I'd have great difficulty amassing followers because people are already tightly attached to their own convictions.
Exactly, but the Bible has had ~2,000 years of continual influence on people, along with its doctrines imposed on native inhabitants. If I was to make a religious book, I'd have great difficulty amassing followers because people are already tightly attached to their own convictions.
edit on 3/1/2012 by IEtherianSoul9 because: (no reason given)
reply to post by IEtherianSoul9
Yes, but maybe at the time there weren't many other religions around for people to follow, or maybe a new religion came along with better things.
Personally, I think religion was something that was made years ago before laws were made. I think it was made to teach people the difference between right and wrong and tell them what to do and what not to do. I think the heaven and hell side is just a way of enforcing the 'law' and religion was just something to keep people in order.
Before Religion I believe it was morally and ethically alright to take another human's life and to do robbery and all of the other stuff.
Just my opinion
Yes, but maybe at the time there weren't many other religions around for people to follow, or maybe a new religion came along with better things.
Personally, I think religion was something that was made years ago before laws were made. I think it was made to teach people the difference between right and wrong and tell them what to do and what not to do. I think the heaven and hell side is just a way of enforcing the 'law' and religion was just something to keep people in order.
Before Religion I believe it was morally and ethically alright to take another human's life and to do robbery and all of the other stuff.
Just my opinion
Originally posted by IEtherianSoul9
reply to post by jNormal
Exactly, but the Bible has had ~2,000 years of continual influence on people, along with its doctrines imposed on native inhabitants. If I was to make a religious book, I'd have great difficulty amassing followers because people are already tightly attached to their own convictions.
edit on 3/1/2012 by IEtherianSoul9 because: (no reason given)
This is because humans need to have someone who will determine their fates, and someone who will take responsibility for their flaws and mistakes...i.e. God and Satan.
After that, all of the unexplained phenomena in the world will be explained by angels, and all evil as the work of demons.
Essentially, religion has three purposes: a preclude to science; substitute for responsibility for both fate and flaws; and an answer for questions we don't really understand (which eventually evolves into a controlling mechanism).
Originally posted by jNormal
reply to post by IEtherianSoul9
Yes, but maybe at the time there weren't many other religions around for people to follow, or maybe a new religion came along with better things.
Personally, I think religion was something that was made years ago before laws were made. I think it was made to teach people the difference between right and wrong and tell them what to do and what not to do. I think the heaven and hell side is just a way of enforcing the 'law' and religion was just something to keep people in order.
Before Religion I believe it was morally and ethically alright to take another human's life and to do robbery and all of the other stuff.
Just my opinion
Makes sense. Just like how Santa is like the kiddies God, in alot of ways.
ok,now i know i'll get an earfull from this reply,but here it goes anyway!
christians have the new testament
jews have the torah
muslims have the qur'an
thats 3 differnt books there!
indians have the vedas
wicca has too many books!
followers of crowly have the holy books of thelema
golden dawn practitioners have their books by mathers
the mormons have the book of mormon
satanists have anton laveys book(silly)
tibetans have the book of the dead(the book of living)
egypt has it's book of the dead(the book of coming into the light)
sumeria has the epic of gilgamesh
chinese have th i ching,
alchemists have the emerald tablet
i can go on for hours here!
i just find it strange that you think there is only one book!
christians have the new testament
jews have the torah
muslims have the qur'an
thats 3 differnt books there!
indians have the vedas
wicca has too many books!
followers of crowly have the holy books of thelema
golden dawn practitioners have their books by mathers
the mormons have the book of mormon
satanists have anton laveys book(silly)
tibetans have the book of the dead(the book of living)
egypt has it's book of the dead(the book of coming into the light)
sumeria has the epic of gilgamesh
chinese have th i ching,
alchemists have the emerald tablet
i can go on for hours here!
i just find it strange that you think there is only one book!
In my opinion...
Virtually all religions, even Christianity, have their roots in "star people" coming here and walking among man...in Greek mythos the Gods actually mated with man and the Bible alludes to that. Also, the angels could easily be envisioned as E.T.s. The Bible also has many quotations where god refers to himself in the plural form. We made man in our image and such as that.
There are MANY history books that give us a glimpse of our history as a species.
What I find disheartening is how people will hold their belief so close to their heart they begin to judge and hate on others who do not hold that belief.
How can one's belief be so hardened to the point of fighting over the love of the belief. Instead people could show love and compassion no matter what the other believes. Its too bad a belief for love does not over power a belief of judgement.
Virtually all religions, even Christianity, have their roots in "star people" coming here and walking among man...in Greek mythos the Gods actually mated with man and the Bible alludes to that. Also, the angels could easily be envisioned as E.T.s. The Bible also has many quotations where god refers to himself in the plural form. We made man in our image and such as that.
There are MANY history books that give us a glimpse of our history as a species.
What I find disheartening is how people will hold their belief so close to their heart they begin to judge and hate on others who do not hold that belief.
How can one's belief be so hardened to the point of fighting over the love of the belief. Instead people could show love and compassion no matter what the other believes. Its too bad a belief for love does not over power a belief of judgement.
reply to post by jNormal
I agree with what you said, although it's interesting how much environment can play a role in developing religion. For instance, take the ancient Egyptians and the Sumerians. Their outlooks on life extremely contrasted each other. Both were river valley civilizations yet Mesopotamia was subjected to intense pressure from foreigners. There was continual political disunity and life was full of uncertainties, thus the Sumerians adopted a pessimistic outlook on life. They believed if life in this world brought misery, then the life after death must be even worse.
Whereas with the ancient Egyptians, they believed there was a divine order and justice to things. There was no need to issue law codes because Ma'at was eternally present. Due to the Nile River Valley being generally isolated from foreign contact there was a cultural continuity. Also, the ancient Egyptian gods were concerned with human affairs, unlike the Sumerian gods.
I agree with what you said, although it's interesting how much environment can play a role in developing religion. For instance, take the ancient Egyptians and the Sumerians. Their outlooks on life extremely contrasted each other. Both were river valley civilizations yet Mesopotamia was subjected to intense pressure from foreigners. There was continual political disunity and life was full of uncertainties, thus the Sumerians adopted a pessimistic outlook on life. They believed if life in this world brought misery, then the life after death must be even worse.
Whereas with the ancient Egyptians, they believed there was a divine order and justice to things. There was no need to issue law codes because Ma'at was eternally present. Due to the Nile River Valley being generally isolated from foreign contact there was a cultural continuity. Also, the ancient Egyptian gods were concerned with human affairs, unlike the Sumerian gods.
edit on 3/1/2012 by IEtherianSoul9 because: (no reason
given)
Originally posted by reficul
ok,now i know i'll get an earfull from this reply,but here it goes anyway!
christians have the new testament
jews have the torah
muslims have the qur'an
thats 3 differnt books there!
indians have the vedas
wicca has too many books!
followers of crowly have the holy books of thelema
golden dawn practitioners have their books by mathers
the mormons have the book of mormon
satanists have anton laveys book(silly)
tibetans have the book of the dead(the book of living)
egypt has it's book of the dead(the book of coming into the light)
sumeria has the epic of gilgamesh
chinese have th i ching,
alchemists have the emerald tablet
i can go on for hours here!
i just find it strange that you think there is only one book!
I meant for each religion. Like it's bizarre how people can base their whole lives on the writing in a book from someone whom they don't know it came from.
For all we know it could've been written as a novel
reply to post by jNormal
well my friend,religion can be a sticky subject,with one person having a different opinion as another person on the same quote from a holy book.
but i think there has to be something to all these writings.
the indians believe the vedas are a kind of history book,and the events actually took place.
flying machines,death rays,and nuclear war!(sounds like today!) this is the oldest written religious texts in the world!
where did they come up with these ideas that long ago?
what abot the first paragraph fron the old testament.(gen.3) 'and god said let there be light,and there was light,and it was good.' one could interpretate that as the start of the big bang theory!
just some thoughts!
cheers
well my friend,religion can be a sticky subject,with one person having a different opinion as another person on the same quote from a holy book.
but i think there has to be something to all these writings.
the indians believe the vedas are a kind of history book,and the events actually took place.
flying machines,death rays,and nuclear war!(sounds like today!) this is the oldest written religious texts in the world!
where did they come up with these ideas that long ago?
what abot the first paragraph fron the old testament.(gen.3) 'and god said let there be light,and there was light,and it was good.' one could interpretate that as the start of the big bang theory!
just some thoughts!
cheers
Originally posted by reficul
reply to post by jNormal
well my friend,religion can be a sticky subject,with one person having a different opinion as another person on the same quote from a holy book.
but i think there has to be something to all these writings.
the indians believe the vedas are a kind of history book,and the events actually took place.
flying machines,death rays,and nuclear war!(sounds like today!) this is the oldest written religious texts in the world!
where did they come up with these ideas that long ago?
what abot the first paragraph fron the old testament.(gen.3) 'and god said let there be light,and there was light,and it was good.' one could interpretate that as the start of the big bang theory!
just some thoughts!
cheers
I totally concur with this post. Ha! It makes me wonder...does history REALLY repeat itself?
Cheers to you too!
Jenn
Originally posted by jNormal
If you think about it, many religions are based on 1 book, their holy book.
Many people's lives are based around religion and they follow religion as part of their life, but really they're just reading a book and turning it into real life?
No. Otherwise people would build religions around Moby Dick, or Gone with the Wind, etc. If you see the Bible as "just a book" then you're completely missing the point of it. The Bible isn't "a" book, it is a gathering of 66 books written by 40 people, on three continents, in three languages, over a 1600 period. The writings are universally recognized as being representations of what the writers believed to be factual, historical events. The writings are also surprisingly consistent despite the wide range of authors and time periods. They didn't have the Internet back then (obviously) and libraries were very rare, so the majority of the writers had little access to the other writings that would eventually come to be known as the Bible. So the consistency is highly unusual and points to the careful documentation of said events without embellishment. Christianity is not based on the Bible, it is based on Christ. Luckily for us, the majority of the ancient writings regarding Christ were combined together in antiquity to form a single document (the Bible). That makes studying his life much more convenient because most of it is in one place, although there are secular references to Christ as well and those references are also consistent with the Bible.
The bible both jewish and christian testaments are about giving man the one thing mankind lost:
HOPE,
in the assurance of life beyond death. It enables people to die without fear of what lies beyond this world.
Better to have hope than have none at all.
HOPE,
in the assurance of life beyond death. It enables people to die without fear of what lies beyond this world.
Better to have hope than have none at all.
edit on 1-3-2012 by lonewolf19792000 because: (no reason given)
I have always said that if God is infinite in power and time, created the world and all the people, why do we have dozens of books in an encyclopedia
but only one book for god?
reply to post by reficul
I believe "a whole religion" constitutes one religion, not a plethora. Therefore, ONE religion based on ONE book.
Which part of the title did you not read?
ok,now i know i'll get an earfull from this reply,but here it goes anyway!
christians have the new testament
jews have the torah
muslims have the qur'an
thats 3 differnt books there!
indians have the vedas
wicca has too many books!
followers of crowly have the holy books of thelema
golden dawn practitioners have their books by mathers
the mormons have the book of mormon
satanists have anton laveys book(silly)
tibetans have the book of the dead(the book of living)
egypt has it's book of the dead(the book of coming into the light)
sumeria has the epic of gilgamesh
chinese have th i ching,
alchemists have the emerald tablet
i can go on for hours here!
i just find it strange that you think there is only one book!
Don't you find it weird how a whole religion is based on 1 book?
I believe "a whole religion" constitutes one religion, not a plethora. Therefore, ONE religion based on ONE book.
Which part of the title did you not read?
Originally posted by nixie_nox
I have always said that if God is infinite in power and time, created the world and all the people, why do we have dozens of books in an encyclopedia but only one book for god?
This shows exactly how much we have been able to extrapolate concerning the precise nature of God.
Either that, or we only trust the Church to know God that well.
Either way, we're full of it. No one really knows God, and there's no use pretending otherwise.
In the case of the Bible, the "one book" is actually the history of a relationship (between the God and his people) stretching over more than a
thousand years.
This is a fairly solid basis for feeling that you know someone.
This is a fairly solid basis for feeling that you know someone.
reply to post by jNormal
I get my faith from a collection of 66 books written over a few millennia that demonstrate all being authored by the same entity and that entity must exist outside the space time domain.
It's hard to explain what I mean, but I'm sure you get the point.
I get my faith from a collection of 66 books written over a few millennia that demonstrate all being authored by the same entity and that entity must exist outside the space time domain.
Originally posted by jNormal
Also, some books written by someone we don't know seems to disagree with the smartest people in the modern world and also disagrees with Science (which is fact). It would be obscene for a book to be released soon by somebody we don't know and for it to disprove many facts and theories of Stephen Hawking, other scientists and Science.
Actually, the vast majority of religious doctrines and texts have documented authors. These were not obscure hermits, these were some of the most affluent people of the times. Just like today, they had publishing houses and editors. To say that some centuries makes a person any less credible is foolish.
Science is not infallible. The word of God is infallible. Frankly, I'm scared that some people read a finding and just regard it as fact without any scrutiny. You should also know that NOT all scientists agree with eachother. Dissenting views try to keep the scientific community from being largely authoritarian, but unfortunately the consensus gets most of the attention and promotion. This results in a lot of counter-intuitive ideas to be utterly ridiculed.
Science is trial, error and personal discrepancy. What scientific theories are you suggesting discredit the existence of God? Science and God are not opposites my friend, God works through the physical. But let's look at one some science "fact". Take C-14 carbon dating for example, which has proven to be VERY inconsistent.
Radiometric dating hinges on a few things:
1. Atmospheric equilibrium
2. Decaying constant
3. Non-interference
C-14 is created by cosmic rays from space and the sun bombarding the atmosphere. C-12 also exist in the atmosphere with a ratio of 1(c-14):1Trillion(C-12). Proponents make the first assumption that the Earth is billions of years old, meaning that over all those years equilibrium eventually achieved. Our magnetosphere protects us from some of that radiation, so the amount of C-14 depends on the same exact amount of cosmic radiation experienced today. Now you're going to tell me that for the last billion years our atmosphere has stayed the exact same? No planet altering cataclysms? The magnetosphere is getting weaker, which means that the ratio of c-14 to c-12 has not always been the same. Finally after the scientist performs a number or trials, he gets a data set, rejects the outliers and picks the date that fits into the pre-existing timeline. Even the inventor of C-14 dating in his notes said that the ratio has not always been the same but to prevent him from starting from scratch, he simply assumed it was the same. These guys can't even accurately date a known object with this method, but yet they're guessing 60000 years into the past?
Also, what field(s) of science are you talking about? Most scientific fields almost never cross paths with religion. In fact, alot of scientific theories support the existence of creation.
Science is not your best friend, and just because something is accepted it doesn't mean it's right. Some founders of scientific pillars have been proven to be fraudulent. See my thread on Louis Pasteur and germ theory for example:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
edit on 1-3-2012 by CaptainNemo because: (no reason given)
edit on 1-3-2012 by CaptainNemo because: (no reason given)