Religious Beliefs

[Prince Of Dorkness]

When I was a little boy I believed in God, faeries, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Then one day I grew up.

I don't need the threat of some magic land of lava and pain called "hell" to keep me in line. The idea that you're constantly being watched by God and being judged... it's just a way to keep people scared. To control them.

[EmBleve]

When I was a little boy I believed in God, faeries, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Then one day I grew up.

I don't need the threat of some magic land of lava and pain called "hell" to keep me in line. The idea that you're constantly being watched by God and being judged... it's just a way to keep people scared. To control them.

wow.

[Jeanwah]

I've never been dead before... how the hell should I know what happens?

It seems unlikely that anything will happen when I die... but science doesn't negate the idea of a creator. Science has no idea how life started... or how the universe came into existence. Evolution only tells us the story after life came into existence and the Big Bang only tells us what happened after the universe began.

Anyone who tells me they "know" what happens is full of shit or trying to sell me something. If you "believe" it that's fine and doesn't assume that factul evidence supports your idea. Just don't proselytize your beliefs upon me, whether they be theist or atheist (believing that nothing happens is still a belief).

Yet if you followed what science and the bulk of the stories of near-death experiences have shown, you'd be likely to change your tune. It stops being religious and starts being a study of what actually happens.

[Jeanwah]

When I was a little boy I believed in God, faeries, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Then one day I grew up.

I don't need the threat of some magic land of lava and pain called "hell" to keep me in line. The idea that you're constantly being watched by God and being judged... it's just a way to keep people scared. To control them.

Only man and their organized religions that they've created, believe the idea that we're being judged and punished. If that's what you believe, fine, but that way of thinking is right out of the religion books. Of course the religious leaders want to keep you scared...otherwise they wouldn't be leaders.

[_]

I believe in God & consider myself a Christian, though I don't believe in some of the things some Christians do (like Hell).

But I think the "religion bashing" you speak of is oftentimes misinterpreted as a critique of religion when really it's frequently just a critique of people trying to impose their religious beliefs on others.

[EmBleve]

When I was a little boy I believed in God, faeries, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Then one day I grew up.

I don't need the threat of some magic land of lava and pain called "hell" to keep me in line. The idea that you're constantly being watched by God and being judged... it's just a way to keep people scared. To control them.

Only man and their organized religions that they've created, believe the idea that we're being judged and punished. If that's what you believe, fine, but that way of thinking is right out of the religion books. Of course the religious leaders want to keep you scared...otherwise they wouldn't be leaders.

Thumbs up.

[markin ball]

When I was a little boy I believed in God, faeries, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Then one day I grew up.

I don't need the threat of some magic land of lava and pain called "hell" to keep me in line. The idea that you're constantly being watched by God and being judged... it's just a way to keep people scared. To control them.

Only man and their organized religions that they've created, believe the idea that we're being judged and punished. If that's what you believe, fine, but that way of thinking is right out of the religion books. Of course the religious leaders want to keep you scared...otherwise they wouldn't be leaders.

Maybe, maybe not. There are an infinite amount of explanations for "the white light". Maybe its an afterlife, maybe its your brain shutting down and neurons are firing in your visual cortex...who knows?

[gimmesometruth27]

i was raised catholic and was an alter boy and attended sunday school and yada yada yada, then i began to ask questions such as:

if god really loves us all why is there so much suffering in the world?

why can't priests get married? the ones i interacted with seemed like they would be good husbands and fathers..

why does church get to tell me who and what i should vote for and not have to pay taxes?

why is it a sin if i want to shag my girlfriend in the hotel on prom night?

why are we supposed to be against using condoms when aids is killing hundreds of thousands of people in africa?

and a few others....

for some reason people did not like that....

i am not anti religion, i am anti dogma, and i do not need to be converted to anything or be anything other than who i am.

[EmBleve]

i was raised catholic and was an alter boy and attended sunday school and yada yada yada, then i began to ask questions such as:

if god really loves us all why is there so much suffering in the world?

why can't priests get married? the ones i interacted with seemed like they would be good husbands and fathers..

why does church get to tell me who and what i should vote for and not have to pay taxes?

why is it a sin if i want to shag my girlfriend in the hotel on prom night?

why are we supposed to be against using condoms when aids is killing hundreds of thousands of people in africa?

and a few others....

for some reason people did not like that....

i am not anti religion, i am anti dogma, and i do not need to be converted to anything or be anything other than who i am.

Hear hear!!!!!

[keeponrockin]

I don't believe in anything that can't be proven, so therefore I don't believe in god and heaven.

[The Waiting Trophy Man]

I'm a sun worshipper and I pray to Joe Pesci.

[Idris]

There is no after life because "time" doesn't really exist. It is not a tangible thing. It is all relative to your conscious mind.

Like Einstein said, put hold your hand on a hot stove and it feels like forever. Talk to a pretty girl for an hour and it feels like seconds.

When you sleep, 8 hrs seems to disappear.. When you die, infiniti goes by. There is no time for an after life, because time is all relative. Why would anyone want to sit in heaven for infiniti, when they can make the best of what is going on now? Your consciousness will echo forever when you die.


That's my understanding, and I'm sticking with it.

And if there were some after life where you dream forever, there would be no heaven and hell because there would be no good and evil. Good and evil are human, physical traits. You can't kill, steal from something that doesn't have any physical properties. Think about it. Its retarded to make up a spirital world and then add good and evil to it. Unless you are trying to control and create fear in people.

The 'afterlife' is more real than the ground beneath your feet. But perhaps we should then call it 'hereafter',

I typed a few posts in this forum regarding consciousness, as it relates to everything, problems we have, every question we have, the nature of everything. The reality.

The problem, we have too much ego. Too much trash, too many lies.

Like you say, time is relative, to our conscious mind, so it (time as we know it) exists for people who have not raised or stayed above the level of conscious mind needed for it to collapse. Also, it's time and space.

[Idris]

i am not anti religion, i am anti dogma, and i do not need to be converted to anything or be anything other than who i am.

Exactly!!!, but...who are you?

One moment we are happy, the next moment, so angry. What is that? Who are we? When we find that out, we find the truth. Or at least, get closer to it.

[Jeanwah]

When I was a little boy I believed in God, faeries, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Then one day I grew up.

I don't need the threat of some magic land of lava and pain called "hell" to keep me in line. The idea that you're constantly being watched by God and being judged... it's just a way to keep people scared. To control them.

Only man and their organized religions that they've created, believe the idea that we're being judged and punished. If that's what you believe, fine, but that way of thinking is right out of the religion books. Of course the religious leaders want to keep you scared...otherwise they wouldn't be leaders.

Maybe, maybe not. There are an infinite amount of explanations for "the white light". Maybe its an afterlife, maybe its your brain shutting down and neurons are firing in your visual cortex...who knows?

So true!
No one knows for sure. But the white light has been documented.

[Idris]

I don't believe in anything that can't be proven, so therefore I don't believe in god and heaven.

Quite a bit of belief in that post,

If you can prove something, then belief is not really all that necessary. It becomes a fact, as it's been proven, but if a fact has not been proven yet, is it still a fact? Of course. Because what is, is.