Christianity, like most religion, is the systematic marketing of fear all wrapped up in the delusional pursuit of an eternal life, supposedly with the hope of a fairy tale ending from a wretched life, that was caused by the first two fictional characters, and a talking slithering amphibian, taking from a book that contains talking donkey, talking-burning bushes, two she bears that miraculously filled their stomachs with 40 kids, walking sticks or staffs transformed into snakes, and other stupefied and absurd stuff that probably inspired the likes of the Grimm Brothers & Hans Christian Anderson, but never match up to the epitome of this so called antecedent baloney, and no one will ever again be able to pull off such an act of pandemic proportion, that was inoculated well over 5,000 yrs. ago from some bronze age provincial minded individuals, that are held by modern minds in the age of scientific discoveries that had refuted such claims as childish or ridiculous and delusional to say the least. :Hangman:
To sit around waiting for a fantasy to become a reality by simply wishing it to be so, that was created by stone age or perhaps bronze age minds is a good indication that you're suffering from some form of psychosis or a loss of contact with reality... and the sad part of it is that you might not know...luckily there's a cure...
I do think that the Genetical Theory Of Ken Selection is the most probable caused for altruism in us, than a set of of beliefs that became organized over time concerning the unscientific cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, made by the hands of a rather inconspicuous entity or entities called by many names. We are beings stemmed from primates, hence, religion is not a necessity for us to have developed our egoistical and altruistic natures. Having now viewing it that way , I've concluded that religion has out lived it's usefulness, and it's basically unnecessary in our present framework.
Many of us glued on to traditional teachings handed down through the ages because we were indoctrinated by them when we had no choice but to accept, others are like pollens blowing in the wind and whatever resonate with them they swallowed. We may seem empowered for a period of time but we also gave up our personal freedom and are oblivious of that salient fact. The reason is very simple. They're not yours to begin with, secondly, yes ! you're a part of a cultural settings hence you'll mimic or pattern what you've observed within that settings or environment. This simply means that you're not in charge of your life...something or someone else is doing that for you...Therefore it's best to step back and examine your beliefs, and in that way you're in fact examining your life. It's your beliefs or whatever you fervently held to be true, determined or defined your life or the way you act and react to your environment including others. It's best to examine your life in a critical way by using a systematic tool, that can be learned, and what most academia called Critical Thinking. Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness. One of the most influential traditional structure, and approved by a large portion of the nation, is religion. I leave by quoting Socrates " The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living " Our emotions often needs the guidance of reason and our reason likewise needs our emotions.
That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.
Quote from: "Epicurus"Many of us glued on to traditional teachings handed down through the ages because we were indoctrinated by them when we had no choice but to accept, others are like pollens blowing in the wind and whatever resonate with them they swallowed. We may seem empowered for a period of time but we also gave up our personal freedom and are oblivious of that salient fact. The reason is very simple. They're not yours to begin with, secondly, yes ! you're a part of a cultural settings hence you'll mimic or pattern what you've observed within that settings or environment. This simply means that you're not in charge of your life...something or someone else is doing that for you...Therefore it's best to step back and examine your beliefs, and in that way you're in fact examining your life. It's your beliefs or whatever you fervently held to be true, determined or defined your life or the way you act and react to your environment including others. It's best to examine your life in a critical way by using a systematic tool, that can be learned, and what most academia called Critical Thinking. Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness. One of the most influential traditional structure, and approved by a large portion of the nation, is religion. I leave by quoting Socrates " The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living " Our emotions often needs the guidance of reason and our reason likewise needs our emotions.
Uh... welcome. Tell us a bit about yourself? :P
I'm A Jamaican and Preferred to dubbed myself as an Antitheist...I work in the capital city Kingston as an industrial security contractor...I love reading on matters that have a lot of controversies pinned to them as well as few readings in philosophy and psychology...I Love music to the bone especially reggae, soca, and R&B...I was once a disc jockey... I see religion as a mental stumbling block to the advancement of humanity...I see Atheism or people of such ilk as the vanguard in this matter to aid our species to get past this prolonged bump...therefore I thank the creators or administrators of this forum to able to have accommodated me with the hope of shaping or widening my understanding of atheism or freethinking on a whole...many associates of mine will be happy to know there's one that we didn't see but surely happy to have discovered...again thank you very very much...
Hey man, welcome :-)
Welcome.DON'T PANIC!
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My name is... [blink:3mezk3iq]CLOWN BABY![/blink:3mezk3iq]
But seriously, my name's Farroc. And coincidentally, Epicurus is one of my favorite philosophers. Have fun on the forum!
I agree fear is the bases, but I think believe in magic from caveman logic is what keeps it going. :roll: Solitary
This guy is a wordy lil' bastard. =D>
Welcome.
I do agree with the fear factor, but comfort also plays a pivotal role in maintaining belief. The comfort of thinking that heaven awaits is more appealing to theists than there being absolutely nothing after death.
Hi & welcome.
Well, fear is a broad term. I would think that the main thing that makes people believe is indoctrination from an early age. Very few people convert to a religion after they have learned to think for themselves, probably less than 5%.
There's another factor. Some people just can't accept "we don't know" as an answer; they're much more comfortable with an "answer, even if it's made up. (Even if, sometimes, it's totally ludicrous.)
uhm... hi?