Does anyone know why people in the 21st century still believe in antiquated beliefs known as "Relig

I cannot wrap my mind around the idea that people believe in ideas over 2000 years old as "gospel" yet call Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Babylonian, Sumerian, etc beliefs as "mythology". Its funny how the human brain works... maybe most have to have a reason or answer for the unknown and the greatest unknown, known as death...

Because biblical prophecies made thousands of years ago are coming true right before our eyes. No one is so blind as he who refuses to see.

Because people have always been silly, superstitious beings. We've been making religions for thousands and thousands of years. We've been lazy of of late though, copying parts of older religions. Look to the stars, look to the Galaxies, follow the atom, follow its quirks. That is pure belief in reality.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
Because biblical prophecies made thousands of years ago are coming true right before our eyes. No one is so blind as he who refuses to see.

Come on. Seriously? It seems every generation believes its the end. Hell, read Vatican texts of different popes over the course of the past 600 years and in every example they believed that that generation was the end of the world due to biblical prophecy. I just don't buy it....

reply to post by pityocamptes


Mythology, religion, truth, lies... It is all subjective. One mans trash is another mans treasure sort of thing I would suppose.

My wife thinks that some people just need a crutch, metaphorically speaking and that religion gives that to them. People, generally, don't want to live in a world that says we are all just random occurrences.

My question is not how the universe exist or how we are alive but rather why? What created it, not who. Why does the universe even exist? I am not talking about the big bang but rather what preceded that, and what preceeded that and so on and so on. Makes my brain hurt just thinking about it. The mystery of the universe cannot be explained. When someone says "God did it" they don't have to think about it anymore and can just relax and decide for themselves that everything has a purpose.

I am agnostic myself but it does seem clear to me, if there is a god, we sure don't have any proof and he/she/it certainly isn't represented here on earth.

You make a really good point with your post, it is a shame this hasn't gained more traction but to be honest with you, if you were looking for any discussion my thoughts are it will be very hard to come by as people don't generally like to examine their beliefs critically, I have tried myself on various occasions here and it never turns out the way I plan. words on deaf ears.

Originally posted by pityocamptes
I cannot wrap my mind around the idea that people believe in ideas over 2000 years old as "gospel" yet call Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Babylonian, Sumerian, etc beliefs as "mythology". Its funny how the human brain works... maybe most have to have a reason or answer for the unknown and the greatest unknown, known as death...

When someone comes around and asks a question like this, it seems obvious that the answer could be revealed by the billions of people that you pretend to be above in intelligence. Is it possible the billions know something you are unaware of?

One example:

John, in Revelation, told us that a beast (Symbol of a world system) would control commerce with the mark of mankind. Here is the verse:

Revelation 13

15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

If you read one more verse, we are told what that mark is.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e or mark of mankind] That number is 666.

God directs the one with wisdom calculate the number. Remember, this was 2000 years ago before the periodic table.

Carbon is the mark of man. It has 6 protons, 6 electrons and 6 neutrons. Our fruit of knowledge (Genesis 3) is technology built on the foundation of fossil fuel and carbon based technology. The petrol dollar system is the only thing that allows a nation to buy and sell. Apart from the mark of the dollar, we cannot buy. Soon, that mark will be forced under your skin (Hand or forehead) as a microchip.

Are you sure you don't know why billions of people know the truth already? It seems you may need to be caught up.

Genesis 1

Genesis 1:1

In the Beginning (Time), God created the heavens (Space) and the earth (Matter). Let there be light (Energy).

The universe is made in an image of Energy, time, space and matter. You are inside the image and you are the image of God.

1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Let Leonard Susskind from Stanford fill you in on the physics of information, energy and light as a projection of reality in a hologram.



How did God do it?

1 Colossians 1:

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Again, notice the image. Why is God invisible?

Hebrews 11

3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Is it possible that the billions who have a firsthand relationship with God know something you are missing? Pride blinds. Humility reveals. Knock and the door is opened.

Originally posted by sageofmonticello
reply to post by pityocamptes

 

Mythology, religion, truth, lies... It is all subjective. One mans trash is another mans treasure sort of thing I would suppose.

Yes, it is

My question is not how the universe exist or how we are alive but rather why? What created it, not who. Why does the universe even exist? I am not talking about the big bang but rather what preceded that, and what preceeded that and so on and so on. Makes my brain hurt just thinking about it. The mystery of the universe cannot be explained. When someone says "God did it" they don't have to think about it anymore and can just relax and decide for themselves that everything has a purpose.

Exactamundo!!!

I am agnostic myself but it does seem clear to me, if there is a god, we sure don't have any proof and he/she/it certainly isn't represented here on earth.

Exactly! Where is the proof? people say "Look around! Everything is proof!" But is it really proof?

words on deaf ears.

People don't want to hear what contradicts what they think they "know"...

reply to post by EnochWasRight


The "Bible" as it is known now was constructed from many different beliefs from many many years before it was written...

You do understand that the only place a "Jesus Christ" was mentioned was in the Bible, right? There are no ancient writings from any scholars during that period that include that name. If there was, please tell me where to find them...other than the Bible...

Originally posted by mastersmurfie
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

The "Bible" as it is known now was constructed from many different beliefs from many many years before it was written...

You do understand that the only place a "Jesus Christ" was mentioned was in the Bible, right? There are no ancient writings from any scholars during that period that include that name. If there was, please tell me where to find them...other than the Bible...

Josephus was a Jewish leader and historian with every reason to not record Jesus as important to the culture. He recorded Him just the same.

LINK

"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he . . . wrought surprising feats. . . . He was the Christ. When Pilate . . .condemned him to be crucified, those who had . . . come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared . . . restored to life. . . . And the tribe of Christians . . . has . . . not disappeared."

We also have the Nag Hammadi library.

Nero blamed the Christians for a fire in 64AD.

"Nero fastened the guilt . . . on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of . . . Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome."

What do you suppose Nero was calling an "Extreme penalty"???

Then there is Pliny the Younger in 112.

They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food--but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.

You are being lied to if someone tells you that there is no evidence for Jesus.

Babylonian Talmud

On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald . . . cried, "He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy.

Lucian

The Christians . . . worship a man to this day--the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. . . . [It] was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.

reply to post by EnochWasRight

I personally believe the paragraph describing Jesus the Christ was added via "interpolation."

Crossan said it well when he wrote, “The problem here is that Josephus’ account is too good to be true, too confessional to be impartial, too Christian to be Jewish”.  The Testimonium is all or certainly as a minimum a partial forgery. This is implied even by Christian scholars who use the term “interpolation”, which means to “insert something between fixed points, especially in order to give a false impression”. The term originated from the 17th century Latin and is a derivative of interpolat- meaning refurbished or altered, and related to polire, “to polish” [Oxford American Dictionary]. There are no reputable scholars that as a minimum deny that this section was altered; indeed altered, refurbished and polished for the faith is a fitting description. Listed below are the commonly proposed sections that are thought to be interpolated by many scholars who take the view that only parts of Josephus’ writings were corrupted (for example, Edwin Yamauchi and John Meier):

source
Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish philosopher who visited Jerusalem during the relevant time period, and was also related to the Herods. He wrote extensively on Judaism. But not a single mention of Jesus or any of his deeds. Some say this is evidence that the events of the gospels did not happen.

Consider the following list. These are the historians and writers who DID live within Christ's alleged lifetime or within a very short period after his death, yet not a one of them mentions Jesus the Christ, his "miracles", his birth, death, or ressurection.

Apollonius Persius
Appian Petronius
Arrian Phaedrus
Aulus Gellius Philo-Judaeus
Columella Phlegon
Damis Pliny the Elder
Dio Chrysostom Pliny the Younger
Dion Pruseus Plutarch
Epictetus Pompon Mela
Favorinus Ptolemy
Florus Lucius Quintilian
Hermogones Quintius Curtius
Josephus Seneca
Justus of Tiberius Silius Italicus
Juvenal Statius
Lucanus Suetonius
Lucian Tacitus
Lysias Theon of Smyran
Martial Valerius Flaccus
Paterculus Valerius Maximus

The truth is, only the Bible talks about Jesus, and it never says he is God. I do not know where this idea came from originally. The Christ Ascended, did he not? Don't you think he wanted us to Follow him, rather than worship him, and create a religion about him?

It always seems comes back to this circular argument that he never existed or that only the bible mentions him. I mean really? I've not even looked deep into this subject and I know he was quite the talking point in his time.
Here's some good videos from Chris White to demonstrate this.
Part 1 of 4
Part 2 of 4
Part 3 of 4
Part 4 of 4

People want to feel special and want to be "better" than everybody else. It legitimizes their beliefs because if they can't be special then what kind of person are they and why should their beliefs have any merit if they aren't special?

That's the way society is, if you aren't special why should we (as in society)listen to you? You're nobody, so STFU!

If you look at all the travesty religion has done in our world, why would anyone want it? I'm talking about ALL religions...

The same reason people vote for schmucks,,their mind has been manipulated to think things that arent true..

Originally posted by autowrench
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

I personally believe the paragraph describing Jesus the Christ was added via "interpolation."

Crossan said it well when he wrote, “The problem here is that Josephus’ account is too good to be true, too confessional to be impartial, too Christian to be Jewish”.  The Testimonium is all or certainly as a minimum a partial forgery. This is implied even by Christian scholars who use the term “interpolation”, which means to “insert something between fixed points, especially in order to give a false impression”. The term originated from the 17th century Latin and is a derivative of interpolat- meaning refurbished or altered, and related to polire, “to polish” [Oxford American Dictionary]. There are no reputable scholars that as a minimum deny that this section was altered; indeed altered, refurbished and polished for the faith is a fitting description. Listed below are the commonly proposed sections that are thought to be interpolated by many scholars who take the view that only parts of Josephus’ writings were corrupted (for example, Edwin Yamauchi and John Meier):

source
Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish philosopher who visited Jerusalem during the relevant time period, and was also related to the Herods. He wrote extensively on Judaism. But not a single mention of Jesus or any of his deeds. Some say this is evidence that the events of the gospels did not happen.

Consider the following list. These are the historians and writers who DID live within Christ's alleged lifetime or within a very short period after his death, yet not a one of them mentions Jesus the Christ, his "miracles", his birth, death, or ressurection.

Apollonius Persius
Appian Petronius
Arrian Phaedrus
Aulus Gellius Philo-Judaeus
Columella Phlegon
Damis Pliny the Elder
Dio Chrysostom Pliny the Younger
Dion Pruseus Plutarch
Epictetus Pompon Mela
Favorinus Ptolemy
Florus Lucius Quintilian
Hermogones Quintius Curtius
Josephus Seneca
Justus of Tiberius Silius Italicus
Juvenal Statius
Lucanus Suetonius
Lucian Tacitus
Lysias Theon of Smyran
Martial Valerius Flaccus
Paterculus Valerius Maximus

The truth is, only the Bible talks about Jesus, and it never says he is God. I do not know where this idea came from originally. The Christ Ascended, did he not? Don't you think he wanted us to Follow him, rather than worship him, and create a religion about him?

Consider the evidence on both sides of the argument. Misplaced concreteness is often the mistake of missing perspective. No Radio. No TV. No newspapers or Internet. The first century was not as today.

As far as the historians of the day were concerned, he was just a "blip" on the screen. Jesus did not address the Roman Senate, or write extensive Greek philosophical treatises; he never traveled outside of the regions of Palestine, and was not a member of any known political party. It is only because Christians later made Jesus a "celebrity" that He became known. Sanders, comparing Jesus to Alexander, notes that the latter "so greatly altered the political situation in a large part of the world that the main outline of his public life is very well known indeed.

Jesus did not change the social, political and economic circumstances in Palestine (Note: It was left for His followers to do that) ..the superiority of evidence for Jesus is seen when we ask what he thought."

Harris adds that "Roman writers could hardly be expected to have foreseen the subsequent influence of Christianity on the Roman Empire and therefore to have carefully documented" Christian origins. How were they to know that this minor Nazarene prophet would cause such an uproar?

Jesus was executed as a criminal, providing him with the ultimate marginality. This was one reason why historians would have ignored Jesus. He suffered the ultimate humiliation, both in the eyes of Jews (Deut. 21:23 - Anyone hung on a tree is cursed) and the Romans (He died the death of slaves and rebels.).

On the other hand, Jesus was a minimal threat compared to other "Messiahs" of the time. Rome had to call out troops to quell the disturbances caused by the unnamed Egyptian referenced in the Book of Acts. In contrast, no troops were required to suppress Jesus' followers.

To the Romans, the primary gatekeepers of written history at the time, Jesus during His own life would have been no different than thousands of other everyday criminals that were crucified -- at least until his followers inspired a reason for depth investigation.

LINK

reply to post by EnochWasRight

Consider the evidence on both sides of the argument.

I do, actually, and the only real rant I ever have is when people believe one Myth as ultimate truth, while another is an outright lie, even when both are of the same period. A Myth is defined as:
"a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature."
But, any and all Myth has a strong basis in Facts. Ancient Man wrote about his life, things he saw, felt, tasted, experienced. Ancient Man did not knowingly write fiction stories, it is doubtful at this time period anyone knew of the concept of fiction. In fact, it is widely believed that the Sumerians were the first ever to write down their beliefs, which were the inspiration for much of later Mesopotamian Mythology, Religion, and Astrology. The Sumerians developed a complex system of metrology in 4000 BCE, this system resulted in the creation of arithmetic, geometry, and algebra. From 2600 BCE and on the Sumerians wrote multiplication tables on clay tablets and dealt with geometrical exercises and division problems.
These were the First Human Civilization, and the First to write down anything, and yet, what they said is all discounted as "myths" and "fiction stories." Many things in our lives today were discovered, and practiced by the Ancient Sumerians, and it is my opinion that most of the Bible Stories in the OT, and the NT, were taken from these older stories. The ETS who created, and taught the Ancient Sumerians, the "Black Headed People," were made into Gods and and worshiped all over the world.

Religion is slowly dieing, people are starting to think logically, hopefully n the next 50-100 yrs, our current religion will become a "myth" like Hades, Posiden, Zeus etc.

Hopefully getting out of this mindset will advance humans in technologically and scientifically.

reply to post by pityocamptes

I cannot wrap my mind around the idea that people believe in ideas over 2000 years old as "gospel" yet call Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Babylonian, Sumerian, etc beliefs as "mythology". Its funny how the human brain works... maybe most have to have a reason or answer for the unknown and the greatest unknown, known as death...

Many answers really, and different ones for different folks.

Some are simply indoctrinated in it since birth, so any other way seems false.

Some simply need some kind of hope.

Some feel that if they don't, they'll go to a Hell (or equivalent) and so do so "just in case"

Still others don't really believe, but it's their social outlet.

There are at least as many REASONS for religion as there are different religions.

The only real harm it does, is when folks feel their religion is "right" and all others are "wrong"...

I have to believe that if there is such a deity (or deities), that they'll look more towards what's in a person's heart than in any particular belief they hold. And if not, well, to heck with 'em...his or their fault for not making themselves clear and weeding out the pretenders! I won't be held accountable for his or their lack of clarity...not if he or they demand my obedience and worship.... I just try and live my life as a good person, and if I am to be judged on anything, I'll simply let it be THAT.