Today after class, I tried to figure out why people believe in their religions so much. If someone came forward today and said, “God has been speaking to me every night for the past two years. I have written down all He has told me. The book is called the Modern Testament,” he would probably be labeled as a nut case. However, that basically is what a prophet is.
People took the words of prophets like Mohammad as facts, as if God had actually spoken to him and told him to write this book. Not knowing much about these individual prophets, I cannot really state this as fact, but I believe that most of them were really high on something. And in their hallucinations, they had these visions. Vision that are nothing more than hallucinations. However, they somehow managed to gain armies of followers.
Jesus isn’t exempt from this. In fact, I think he was even worse then everyone else. He wasn’t a prophet, he was actually God in human form. Call me crazy, but if someone were to walk around proclaiming that he is God in human form today, a large percentage of the population would think that he is insane, perhaps more so than the prophets. Of course, there would be a few people who would believe this guy; there always are.
Maybe I should go around claiming I’m the son of God.
so true.. my brother went through some sort of breakdown a few years ago.. he thought he was the second coming of christ.. he went to TBN (Trinity Broadcast Network, for those of u who don’t know) and told them this and they sent him to a mental institution.. they put him on meds and stuff.. hes out now and off the meds.. they say he was just stressed and not getting enough sleep.
religion…
in my opinion.. is a veryyy confusing thing. especially for me cause my family believe in a religion.. that i dont beleive in.. BUT i pretend to..so its hard..like the religions have HIGH exceptions for me..and there way too stricttt. for me. i cant enjoy life because of this..i cant be free and experience things in life. because of this ‘religion’ because im forced to believe in…
Are all those people actually believers? May of them just claim to be, but turn out nothing about it. In my opinion, it’s now just ‘cooooool’ to belive in God, claim that he speaks to you. Thet’s just preposterous! The world is just going insane. Take the religious situation in say Moslim countries.
I enjoy many of your writings, it actually captivated me. You’re right though, many people nowadays would be simply cast away as heretics. Odd, isn’t it?
There is a big difference between the claims of the various religions who say they have had direct revelation from God. Mohammed claimed the Koran was dictated to him in a cave by an Angel. Witnesses: none. Jesus was supposed to have risen from the dead. Witnesses: 3 claimed. The Jews claim god spoke directly to them at Mt. Sinai and gave them the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible). Wintesses: 2.5 million. Both Islam and Christianity agree that the Jews’ claim that God spoke to them at Sinai is literally true. Check it out. Christians claim, although the Jews and Muslims dispute their claim, that their revelation superceded the revelation of the Jews, but without an ‘old testament’ there could not have been a ‘new testament.’ Christians all believe the Jewish Bible is true—just that it no longer applies. If you want to examine the competing claims in a more objective way, try reading Permission To Receive, by Lawrence Kelemen. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1568710992/ref=dp_olp_2/103-1863632-9144601
your pal,
Ben
virtual_rabbi
Hey man i totally agree i think that god is an idealistic fantasy that someone wrote down, while they were stoned, they put it out there and called the most common hallucination god, probably usto be something else but has been translated from Hebrew and etc so many times that its ended up god. i think god is something short form. My sister is a firm believer in god and when my three grandparents died, she (each time) Became obsessed with the idea that they were in a better place. I think right now they are in the ground. its physically impossible to rise into a place called heaven, unless there is a subcoincious part of our brain that actually turns on when we die, and shows images of happy things if u have lead a happy life.. or of bad things if u have lead a bad life.. Hence the Heaven and Hell theory.. But thats almost impossible to because of the heart not beating.. so you know what.. i dont know.. nobody really knows.. but come on be realistic people how is it that god is real.. i think most christians are just ignorant.. after that they become stubborn, because of the idea of sunshine and lolliepops when they die
If you have ever met a monastic, there is something very different about them. Either they are crazy or they really do here from God.
JL
i believe money and religon are the root of all evil. But everyone is is free to believe what they wish. If we didnt have religon, we would have less wars. But i think people need it. Its a coping mechanism really. i think some people would go insane if they didnt believe in god:
.it helps mourners of the deceased eventually stop grieving and get on with life
. it stops people taking revenge on bad people because they believe they will get whats coming to them n the end
the list goes on. i find religous people are somewhat nicer (when they arent trying to convert me lol)
it really shits me though when i tell them im atheist and they dont want nothing to do with me or try to convert or are just plan mean to me. i accept their beliefs why cant they do the same for me! i love mythology and religon though i find it intruging what people believe and other cultures. if we all believed the same thing wouldnt the world be kinda boring?