Current State of Religious Beliefs

I have been reading lots about various religions and with over 1000 possible religions to choose from who do you think is the best choice.

Well if you want to go with tried and true there is the oldest choice which is "Hinduism" but that is based on a god for everything and even a god for nothing, you will learn that the supreme god is actually three versions of the same god, which is where the term god comes from. Generator.Observer.Destroyer. There is much that is left open to interpretation and many wonderful stories to learn.

However if that is not your thing than you can move on to a much more malleable term mythology, which is basically a religion that is so old it is considered myth(hmm oxymoron methinks?)

Lets begin at Greek mythology, everyone should know a bit about it, if not here is the run down. There was a god that lived in the heavens, he had a wife goddess who watched over everyone and everything, he(Man god) created everything, and then one day had a baby with a human woman, one of his creations, the baby was a demi god, capable of many mystical feats, and had strength beyond what is capable of normal men. There was a underworld in which another god controlled the dead and there were always wars between the top and bottom.

Moving on, Egyptian there are Three major gods Horus, Anubis, and Ra, one created all that will be, one watches over all that is, and one takes all that was. Above the surface, on the surface, and below the surface. Getting the formula?

Here's an interesting one, Norse mythology, there is a god that lives above the Earth in a temple at the top of the tree of life, where those who served him in life go but only if they served him fully and gave their lives for. His name was Odin, and every year on the 25th of December, aka the Yule, he rode an eight legged Horse through the sky around the world giving children gifts and candy if they left something for him. He often participated in battles on Earth with men fighting evils and foretold of an event that would be his doom, call Ragnarok. After said even the world would flood and all that would be left would be two humans, a man and a woman. Alone they would repopulate the Earth.

Bringing us to today's religion de jour. Where in the beginning God created everything, and then made two people, one was bad and ate a forbidden apple and cause all others to have to be persecuted for her actions, banishing them from a life of awesomeness and leading to where we are today. If you believe in this religion then every year on the 25th of December you go celebrate the child that aparently this god had with a human woman(his creation, who also apparently had mystical powers and died so that you could do bad stuff and he would take the wrap for it) and then you lie to your children and tell them a fat man in a red suit flew to your house and left them presents cause they left him cookies and milk.

Truth be told, why cant we all just stop reading into the BS and instead worship the Earth, and do good for the Earth, and be kind to each other without prejudice and worry, and just live good in this life rather than hoping that you can go up Gods penthouse in the clouds and relax after you die?!?!?!?!

Complete madness to me.

the conspiracy lies in the fact that all religions are just a repeat of the last one with changes in names and times.

It's just a formula, and if used correctly it can create a pretty neat story that will live for hundreds if not thousands of years, until it is just forgotten.

reply to post by parry noid

It's just a formula, and if used correctly it can create a pretty neat story that will live for hundreds if not thousands of years, until it is just forgotten.

I agree, it's a formula, and repetitive at that.
As far as "using it correctly", I don't know....it's often used by those who want to wield power; and apparently has never been "forgotten." Just recycled to suit the culture and times.

Does that mean it's a 'formula' neat story, or that it's a truth that gets refashioned?
I don't have the answer, just responding to your OP.

When bible thumpers show me biblical prophesy to prove their truth, I just marvel and tell them, it's the same story, of course they know the end! It's the same story, different names and places, same old stuff.

reply to post by windword


Jesus, Nuff said

All I say is: "God is within" or "The Energy Force/Consciousness is within"

You are basically your own God.

Anybody who worships the Earth is just choosing to worship the creation instead of the Creator. Your conclusion in and of itself, is a "religious belief" of "Mother Gaia" worship - the very same thing that you knock in your other examples. And a "religious belief" that espouses a sinister meme - massive depopulation. Read up.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator - who is forever praised. Amen. Romans 1:18-25

reply to post by parry noid


I'm afraid I must disagree with your conclusion... and, well, your shoddy understanding and conveyance of the world's mythology. It shouldn't be seen as each religion copied the other—considering that a majority of these cultures had no trade/dealings with each other before imperialism and cross-seas colonization—but that these specific archetypes:

The Savior/Redeemer
The (physical) Creator
The (metaphysical) Creator
The King & his Queen
The Revered Son
The Lord of Our Dead
The Tamer of Nature

And all the various others are instead linked to man's way of interpreting, and rationalizing the world around him. Instead of seeing Zeus as a tyrant to be done away with, look at the symbolism of lightning as fast, potent, bright, and able to decimate anything in its way. Why do you think lightning was the weapon of choice for the Greek Lord? Maybe what you're asking for—Earth worship—is what we've been doing all along. You just missed the point of the story, because you were too wrapped up in what it said at face-value

Mythology is a form of writing. It's goal is not to be obvious, but to encourage thought, and meditation on the themes and archetypes explored during the telling.


reply to post by CaptainNemo


Horus. 'nuff said.

...

Or Osiris.
Or Ba'al...

Or Shiva...

Or Dionysus.
Or Adonis.
Or Mithra...

Or Odin.

Huh. I guess a lot can be said about the borrowed mythological traits of Jesus. As well as the stolen theological doctrines of the Jews and the Christians.

~ Wandering Scribe

Originally posted by parry noid
the conspiracy lies in the fact that all religions are just a repeat of the last one with changes in names and times.

It's just a formula, and if used correctly it can create a pretty neat story that will live for hundreds if not thousands of years, until it is just forgotten.

That may or may not be true, I've heard good arguments from both sides. And I'm not arguing, but I do want to point out one of the arguments from the other side. It's an argument that makes at least some sense to me.

The way I look at it. There was a creator, made matter, thought processes, emotions, souls, planets, stars, suns, elements, whatever you can think of.

And thats it! There is nothing further I need to know other than to treat fellow man with respect I would want. And to help others as I might one day need help.

I'm sure many religions have been warped to amass followers and do whatever the people who changed it wanted and used the justification of doing it for God.

Ancient Alien Theory, although not a religion by any means, is prevailing, in my opinion.

The more we explore space, its vastness and our true perspective place in it, the more we start to acknowledge that we are not the pinnacle, the most intelligent, nor the most advanced.

We did have a beginning, and that's what the bible historic purpose was written for. Just like any other history book; nothing magical or even relevent to our lives today.

However, the history proves that humankind was jumpstarted/ genetically engineered by an advanced race of beings: Aliens were called Gods.

Ascribing to the AAT does not require any religious rituals or practices. It is simply regarding the fact that the AAT is the plausible theory to our origin.

So, to answer your question, religion is slowly becoming outdated, as it should, especially as we advance. But the acknowledgement of the extraterrestrial beings and technology of the bible is what is being understood more.

'Gods' were what ancient civilizations called the more advanced extraterrestrials that were here on our planet...

not the 'magic wand' god.

Those aliens were in fact using science:

1. Genetic engineering (Genesis 1:26)
2. Artificial Insemination ( the impregnation of Mary)
3. Weapons of Mass Destruction ( Soddam and Gomorrah-nuclear)
4. HAARP (Gilgamesh- the epic flood)
5. Submarines (Jonah's 'whale)
6. Rockets/ space craft- (chariots of fire/ fire breathing dragons)

and so on....

reply to post by ButterCookie

However, the history proves that humankind was jumpstarted/ genetically engineered by an advanced race of beings: Aliens were called Gods.

I am at this time reading The Fifth Gospel by Haissnan and Levi.
I am a mere 50 (if that) pages into it, and the authors have already (more than once!) brought up the Ancient Aliens theory.... that the 'angel' who told Mary of her impending birth then had his way with her; and it also talks about the OT stories of Giants being here who were "Sons of God", who were very much attracted to the women of Earth.....

Well worth the read for those interested in the Eastern texts that also document the life of "Jesus Christ" as St Issa, who not only learned but taught in India before coming back to his people in the West and teaching the same spirituality that the monks of India practiced.
This is info that has been suppressed, and the texts explaining it burned, by the "Church". It is important that people recognize the fact that there were "journals" and "diaries" and "manuscripts" that the Church refused to acknowledge.

reply to post by ButterCookie


I've tried to give the Ancient Astronaut Theory the old college try. Unfortunately, I just can't get behind it. I'm sure, in part, it stems from my understanding of religious doctrines, teachings, and holy texts as being metaphorical, allegorical, and mythology instead of them being historical treatises.

For example, the Bible is full of historical, biological, and mathematical inaccuracies: such as Jewish slaves being mistreated, and escaping from Egypt of which zero evidence exists outside of the Bible; Pi being equal to 3 exactly, as opposed to 3.1425...; bats being birds instead of the mammals that they are; women being made from male ribs, not that all humans are born out of the union of male sperm and female egg; humans living to be 1000 years old (or more), in spite of life-expectancy being on-average about 30; the Earth being flat, and the center of the universe, despite both being untrue; and many more.

Additionally, it is also rife with borrowed religious doctrines: like baptism, a solar messiah, the 3-day death and resurrection, a miracle-performing teacher, as well as outright impossible events/circumstances: like the sun stopping, Jonah and the whale, God creating light and earth before the sun, etc.

All religious texts, likewise, contain the same faults when approached as history.

The Ancient Astronaut Theory, in my eyes, is flawed more than religious texts, because it espouses to take already fraudulent accounts, and make them even more fraudulent by adding another, completely invented, layer of subtext. That additional layer being that the already mythological or invented deities are now aliens. Somehow, in the eyes of Ancient Astronaut Theorists this makes the gods (patently nonexistent) into existent beings... but they never explain why.

As another example, Garuda (a Hindu minor deity) was the mythological mount of Vishnu. Garuda was a demon-cum-god who appeared as a flaming flying monster-bird. Akin to the Thunder Birds of Native Americans, and the "big bird" phenomenon of cryptozoology. These mythological Thunder Birds and Garuda never existed outside of the myths and tales of their people. The ancient astronaut theorists, instead of accepting that Garuda is a myth meant to educate the people, espouse that instead it is a modern aircraft, that somehow existed back in ancient times. Their evidence? It has fire, and flies.

If an airplane existed back in ancient India, where is it now? Their ancient rock carvings, and other ancient mud houses, and lumber art remains intact, but somehow a metal, engineered, capable-of-breaking-the-sound-barrier aircraft does not survive the flow of time? I am not buying it at all. Sorry.

Ancient astronauts, gods and heroes, mythology, religion... it all stems from the same thing: archetypes.

~ Wandering Scribe

Its ALWAYS AMUSING how the MOST-DEVOTED of our religious types among us know ZERO about other superstitions and faiths, YET they FULLY believe that THEIR faith is the RIGHT one and ALL others are FALSE.

Mindless foolish cult victims are as good as brainless zombies. WHAT "god" would EVER reward that type of human being???