<3

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Tell that to the Scientologists.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yah!But having a relegion makes this easier.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

How does religion make it easier?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Just having moral guidelines and (if you have them) a family, friends and church community that supports and encourages those same guidlines helps. The fact that so many others have believed, written about, explored, researched, meditated on, shown through example how to follow and encouraged these morals for such a long time really helps you to be encouraged and teaches you how to apply your beliefs. The help makes it easier. Besides that, if someone really believes in and loves God, they'll also love their neighbor (although many don't truly love their neighbor) and obey God's laws and treat their neighbor the way they would want to be treated. Besides that, God helps when you ask him and when you pray, so you have even more help from someone who can help you in a way no human ever could.*please no holy wars*

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I understand what you're saying. But to be fair and argue for the other side, religion has caused a lot of suffering in this world. So many lives have been lost in the name of someone's god because they believe that their faith is more worthy than any other. I have absolutely no problem with anyone believing what they wish, but when it is imposed on others who do not share their faith, that is wrong. I don't see why you necessarily need to have faith to "help" you be a better person when it has caused so much corruption throughout time. Some of the nicest people I've ever met are atheists. "There was a time and place when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages." - Ruth Hurmence Green.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If by " imposed on others", you mean missionaries or friends peacefully sharing their beliefs out of love, I dissgree. But if you mean people going against the beliefs within the religion itself, such as using force, violence, brainwashing, etc., to share the religion, or are doing it out of pride or another bad motive, then I agree. I believe Jesus would too. When he told his disciples to spread the word of God, he told them to go to a town for a while, then if they hadn't accepted the truth by the time they left, they were to abandon them to their fate. Not that they should stay there until everyone believed. Religion itself hasn't caused corruption. Corrupt people do wrong things in the name of the religion, but they would have been just as corrupt without it. If the laws of God were followed, the pain caused by things like the Inquisition & Crusades would never have happened. It was the corrupt PEOPLE, not the beliefs established by the religion that were bad. The bad things they did went AGAINST what the relgion said. Although there has been pain from thigns like this, there has been just as much pain from a lack of true love of God. If Hitler believed hate bad-no holocaust

by Anonymous 12 years ago

*please don't reply yet, not done*

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I didn't say you HAVE to have faith to be a better person, but having support from a sturdy, written guidline and a large group of people to help you understand how to go about doing the right thing and a community with the same values as you, it's a lot easier to find out how to do what you think is truly good because you have so many people behind you and God to help you. Besides that, as a Christian, I believe that God the only truly good, so his law and ways are truly good and to follow them completely without fail is to be perfect. Sadly, we all fail. that's not to say that being an Atheist means that you don't follow certain guidelines religions uphold, such as hating hatred, loving charity, valuing honesty, but each person, sadly even in Christianity, has certain aspects of it they choose not to beleive. Some believe that dishonesty, is sometimes the right thing to do.(note:even people like Rahab were rewarded for helping people by lying, so it's not ALWAYS bad, but almost) Or that it's not bad to hate someone who deserves it. So if the truth about what is good is only found in Christianity, believing in the goodness described & practicing it is the only way you can do good

by Anonymous 12 years ago

*still not done, sorry, I never shut up*

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You still don't neccessarily have to be religious to do good things on Earth, but a lot of things that are good are taught in religion, like loving your neighbor, being kind, charity, helping others, being just, avoiding bias, honesty & humility. Although you don't have to be religious to believe these things and put them into practice, it helps. Not only do you have the sense of goodness and desire to do so that we're all born with, even if we forget it or fail to use it, having it written down, reminding yourself of it daily, having God help you, and having a community in church, or maybe family and friends, that support these things rather than making fun of you for not conforming when you decide to do what you think is right and that God offers hope and comfort to believers makes thigns easier. Besides, the fact that you're trying to do good not just for yourself, or for your loved ones, but for all people, even your enemies, and for God, gives you more incentive to do the right thing. Anyway, YES, there are a lot of nice atheists. "Nice is different than good"- Sondheim. But that doesn't mean that having God in your life doesn't help and I've met mean atheists too.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You mention brainwashing. Isn't that what happens when parents raise their children to believe what they do? If they grow up being taught that the Bible is the truth and Jesus is the only way for eternal life, it's no coincidence that they would remain Christian instead of turn to another religion, say, Hinduism or Buddhism, for example. But that is the exact same thing happening in other cultures. Each religion teaches that it is the "right" one and that all others are either wrong or misunderstood. They all have morals and rules to live by that they believe to be the proper way to live and worship their god(s). What makes Christianity more valid than other world religions? What makes the Bible true but the Qur'an of Islam or the Vedas of Hinduism make-believe? There are so many contradictions in the Bible, not to mention the atrocities found in it. And then there's its condoning of slavery and demeaning of women. It also claims that it is an abomination to eat pork. If you don't believe those parts, then you're picking and choosing what to believe. Shouldn't it be all or nothing?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

There's a difference between teaching and brainwashing. Brainwashing involves typically inhumane methods and is designed to go against someone's will when they know a subject is unwanted and they violently force it upon someone. A parent teaching their child what they understand to be true is not the same. Besides, brainwashing eliminates their free will in certain areas, but how many people do you know who were raised Christian but aren't now? They changed their minds, they stopped believing. My sister was raised the same way I was by the same parents, but she's agnostic. What our parents taught us was the same, but we still had to free will to believe what we wanted and they never forced anything on us. Okay, the pork thing? Seriously? I'm sorry, but it just bugs me when people do that. The New Testament clearly stated that the old laws were fullfilled and that all food was acceptable in God's eyes now, for both Jews and Gentiles. There are some things in the Old testament, like stoning, that were condoned, but the New Testament abhores those things. There are some contradictions that I don't understand, btu many things that appear to be contradictory really aren't.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You seemed to have skipped over my "why is Christianity right and others wrong" question. I also find it hard to believe a book when it claims that God endorsed multiple accounts of rape, incest, slavery, torture, and infanticide, all much worse than actions taken by Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Sorry, I wasn't done yet, hold on.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I believe Christianity because it makes the most sense to me.I can't explain Christianity properly, but if you really want to understand what most Christians believe, you should read Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. If it can't explain something to you, I can't either.My point wasn't even that my religion was better than everyone else's (although I do believe it to be more truthful) My point was that religion CAN be helpful when it comes to trying to be good.Besides, is Christianity the ONLYa religion that seems to oppress women?I dont' even think it oppresses us that badly. I once heard someone compare being a woman in the church to being like the holy Spirit, because the woman is suppsed to be helping in a more subtle, but still extremely important, way as the Holy Spirit does. *not done*

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Slavery was bad, but I dont' know what it was perfectly like back then. In Africa, before the slave trade came to America, slaves were treated like live in servants, or members fo the family. Slaves at that time could have been treated similairly, or at least some of them. The bible does, however, advise slaves to take the chance to be free if they are offered it. But we are all supposed to offer our enemies our other cheek if struck, even in the face of torture. It's what Jesus did after all. Where the heck did God support rape? Even the Old Testament said that incest was bad, even marrying your step-mother was considered sinful. I don't know when God condoned torture or infanticide either

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Genesis 19:6- In Sodom, Lot’s home was assaulted by a homosexual mob seeking to have relations with two angels. Lot volunteered his virgin daughters to the crowd, saying "you can do what you like with them" as long as the guests are left alone. After offering his children to be raped, Lot was then appointed by God as worthy of rescue from Sodom’s destruction. In this instance, God condones rape. In Genesis 17:15-16, God bestows blessings on the marriage of Abraham and his half sister. Can you say incest? And none of this even compares to the millions of people that God had murdered. Floods, swarms, massacres. Isaiah 13:18 "Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children. This is one of many dozens of examples of the horrors in the Bible.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Dude, he wasn't saying it was okay, it was just that the mob was freakin crazy and gonna kill them, wreck the house, or break in & rape freakin ANGELS. Lot just knew that angel rape was worse than human rape. It was an evil that was committed, but it was the lesser evil. sister thing? that was like, 1 time. in those times it wasn't weird in some cultures to marry your full siblings or have relations with your parents. Besides that, the population was small anyway and she was probably one of the few decent people at the time because early on a lot of people were considered corrupt. The thing is: We believe that humans are immortal. Their souls anyway. Death is NOT the worst thing than can happen to you. Many believe children don't go to hell because they're too young to take responsibility for their actions in fact, in The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, a demon is writing that it can be very very good to keep someone alive for a long time because then they either grow weary of following God's laws, have mroe time to lose their faith or stop caring, or grow attatched to this world, something we're not supposed to do cuz the world & everything in it are temporary.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

In a way I actually envy people who died so young. If you've ever tried to be really really good, even for one day, it's hard. I get confused and upset and sin all the time and if I had died young I would have gone to heaven and not had to worry about all that. I'd just get to wait until the end of the world and go live with God on the last day. In a way, it's almost merciful to die as a small child.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Not only did he say that it was okay, but he awarded Lot for his decision. It was definitely not "just like, one time." Genesis 9:1- Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth." 8 people of middle-eastern descent practiced incest to produce over 5,000 of today’s ethnic groups in only a few hundred generations? Not only is this clear incest, it's unrealistic. If you honestly believe that our lives are that unimportant, then I'm terribly sorry you feel that way. But the Bible is so full of so much more hate and intolerance than love. Baby slaughtering isn't a quality that fits into my idea of a wonderful person, religious or not. If you disagree... then I worry about your role models.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If you read the Bible going into it with hatred, you'll be looking for those things and see only the hatred and anger and ignore the love that's in it. There is some scary stuff, but when I read the Bible I see far more love than you do. I never said life was unimportant. I said that dying wasn't the worst thing that could happen to a person. Life is important, and wonderful, and something created by God to enjoy and use, it's just not the most important thing in the universe.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

so when your parents teach you to say please and thank you, or that it's wrong to hit someone, or that you have to eat your vegetables before you get dessert, it's brainwashing? OF COURSE i'm not saying that people shouldn't think for themselves; they absolutely should! but i really don't think that teaching your child what you believe is true, or morally right or wrong, is brainwashing. just like anything else, people will accept or reject those beliefs when they get older. my parents raised me to believe that being gay was wrong and having sex before marriage made you a sinner and you had to go to church every sunday or else you'd go to hell, but i don't believe those things now. have i been brainwashed, then? also, for the "all or nothing" comment, you're looking at it in a very black-and-white perspective, but i think everything is shades of gray. if you're the type of person who says "the bible MUST be taken literally; it is the ABSOLUTE word of God," then yes, you should have to follow everything it says (although sadly people who say that never do). if you look at it the way my faith does, which is as more of a moral guideline and source of inspiration, then no.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

No. Raising your child to practice a religion is not brainwashing. All parents attempt to instill morals, values, and respect of traditions in their children. It's not brainwashing, it's called parenting. Also, there are not as many contradictions as you would think. The Bible does not condone demeaning of women, you could interpret it that way if you wanted too but the Bible initially did advance and promote the status of women. Not following the laws written for the ancient Jewish kingdoms is not "picking and choosing", it's interpreting passages and applying them to modern day situations. And no, relgion is never all or nothing.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Not having religion doesn't mean you always do bad things and having religion doesn't mean you'll do good things. There are many atheists and Christians who do good things, but I do believe that religion helps.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I agree that you don't need a religion to be moral. I've met tons of nice awesome atheists too. However, I do not agree that religion is immoral and harmful. If all the people of the world stopped worshiping a deity, I don't think we'd see any change in violence, bloodshed, or intolerance. Hatred is not caused by religion, it's caused by human nature.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I respect your opinion.. but a religious person is following those morals for God and their church. I have my own morals for myself... I don't do it to obey someone else.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't do anything for "my church". Do I like that the church teaches us and does what God wants it to do? Yes. But I don't try to be good for the church. I don't even try to be good just for God. God doesn't need us. If we do something good or bad, it doesn't technically hurt him, except for the fact that his children are driving themselves away from him. I do try to be good for God, but that's not all. I try to be good also for myself and for other people, which God also wants because he loves all of us, meaning he wants good for us and for other people, so we have to be good so that that is possible. I don't do it JUST to obey God. I do it because it's right.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yes I understand that and all. I'm not talking about you, mainly others. I feel that some people without religion, wouldn't be very good people. I can think of a few people in my life where that would happen to them. I think morals and God have really nothing to do with each other.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But you just said that You know a few people who wouldn't be as good without God in their lives. My whole point was defending the person who said that religion does help, and right there, you agreed with me.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I am agreeing with you partially. I just want to make it clear that some people are naturally "good" all on their own. While others need a higher power to influence them into being "good". I don't know if my point makes sense but I really don't know how to describe it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But the point I was making in the first place was that religion does make it easier. And going by your beliefs, it does.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Ugh, this sentence...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

and whether you believe in God or not, you can be a total asshole!

by Anonymous 12 years ago