Religion specifics. Questions about a religion?

Zanthos · Postby **Zanthos** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:08 am

im pretty sure pie just gave the most accurate recollection on religious dialogue ive seen to date.

DylPickle · Postby **DylPickle** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:11 am

Pie, nobody said you had to participate. These discussions are a great way to practice argumentative skills, personal expression, and also allows us to gain knowledge of others. If you have something better to do, then go do it. Dictionaries are always fun to read.

I am a lot like Nakranoth when it comes to religion. My theory is that it all comes down to morality. And no, I don't believe we as humans needed "God" or "Jesus" or any other deity or prophet to hand us a set of moral rules, or "make us" with a preprogrammed understanding of them. Look at the ancient Greeks, who were a highly spiritual society. They're Gods were anything BUT moral, yet the Greeks recognized that murder, theft, and adultery were unmoral actions within their society. They could be "good" people on their own. Unfortunately, some people (especially nowadays) need a little extra something to stay within the boundaries of morality.

On the large scale, I believe that if faith in a religion can help filter someone into being a positive, contributing member to their society, the human race, and the world as a whole, then they should go for it. It doesn't work for everybody, that's for sure, but it works for some people.

On a personal scale, I believe that (mainly for myself) life is all there is. There is a heaven and a hell of sorts, but it's no afterlife. Heaven and hell, to me, are simply synonyms of good and bad situations in life. It's more a karma than anything, or at least it should be.

If you donate money to a cancer foundation, you will live heaven, as you will feel better about yourself and know that you are helping others, or at least trying to.
If you murder an innocent in cold blood, then you can suffer in the hellish atmosphere of prison, where your dreams can haunt you.

When life is over, the light simply goes out. When you unplug your lamp, electrons stop flowing. Science. Reality. This is why I will never, ever, live a life unnecessarily bogged down by religious rules. As long as you're not hurting anyone to an extreme, go out and live and learn.

Haha... I should publish this as Dylanism scripture :roll:

Doug R. · Postby **Doug R.** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:49 pm

formerly known as hf wrote:I'm sure all those heretic, evil, devil-eyed muslims actually think they're a pretty good religion, and that the christians are the blasphemous, evil, devil-eyed ones...

It's my understanding that Muslims take exception to the Godlessness, decadence, and hypocrisy of the West much, much more than they take exception to Christianity.

formerly known as hf · Postby **formerly known as hf** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:00 pm

Yeah, sure - we're godless, decadent and hypocritical.

But we don't stone women.

Pie · Postby **Pie** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:52 pm

umm.. dyle, just to point something out, it is NOT a natural law that "good things happen to good people", in fact, in some situations, it's entirely the opposite.

HF, just to point out, not all muslims are alquida members. just look at Dee! werever she is.........

Doug R. · Postby **Doug R.** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:31 pm

formerly known as hf wrote:Yeah, sure - we're godless, decadent and hypocritical.

But we don't stone women.

Not now, but hundreds of years ago we stoned them, burned them, and drowned them. Salem witch trials. Spanish Inquisition. Women are still treated unequally in the workplace despite all the efforts to equalize things.

Islam was founded in the 7th century. It took 1500 years for the protestant reformation and 1962 years until the Vatican II reforms. If Islam follows the same time-table, there won't be any serious reforms until 2100. Islam will modernize eventually; they're just a little bit behind everyone else, and religions can't modernize until they sort out their own internal problems, which is arguably what's been put into motion in Iraq right now. (Remember, Catholics and Protestants went about slaughtering each other back in the day too, all the way into the 20th century in Ireland).

DylPickle · Postby **DylPickle** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:23 pm

umm.. dyle, just to point something out, it is NOT a natural law that "good things happen to good people", in fact, in some situations, it's entirely the opposite.

I never said it was a law. Humanity is a fusion of good and bad. *shrug* I could have explained that better, but I was fairly tired last night. There's lots of things that could be phrased better, I guess. I'll have to refine my points some time. And please, "Dyl" will do just fine. No sense adding a silent e. Ce n'est pas en francais, mon ami.

Nice observation, btw, Doug. Lots of people forget to look at social patterns like that... It's just like trying to force premature democracy on a society that just may not be ready for it. If the people really want a democracy, they will find their way to it. Is the French Revolution studied down South?

Talapus · Postby **Talapus** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:43 pm

DylPickle wrote:Is the French Revolution studied down South?

Yes, but not nearly to the extent that our own revolution is studied, obviously. Mostly just a footnote in world history class (or at least it was for me).

DylPickle · Postby **DylPickle** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:34 am

Oh, well I hope the footnote was at least a couple paragraphs

formerly known as hf · Postby **formerly known as hf** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:45 pm