Nonbelievers, how did you lose your religion?

[Padawanbater2]

Its not about religion, its about your relationship with God. The difference Between God and heroin, is God does not just offer comfort but hope, strength, peace, etc... I can go on.

Why couldn't a drug user say the same thing? Their drug offers them hope, strength, peace, comfort, familiarity, enlightenment.. etc.

 

[undertheice]

This is a very good question and one that I'm guessing a lot of the religious people in here and everywhere may get offended by...
I have no definitive answer for you Padawan, I've never sat down and thought about it...

don't bother. it's one of those things that sounds quite profound until you realize just how stupid it is. one might as well ask the difference between a boulder and an elephant. the simpleton will redefine the elements of the question and break them down into the most convenient terms. a fool will look at the boulder and the elephant and say that both are big and grey and sort of roundish, so they must be the same. a similar operation is performed to prove to us all that religion is a drug designed to dull the senses. hell, it isn't even an original comparison.

 

[Shannon Alexander]

don't bother. it's one of those things that sounds quite profound until you realize just how stupid it is. one might as well ask the difference between a boulder and an elephant. the simpleton will redefine the elements of the question and break them down into the most convenient terms. a fool will look at the boulder and the elephant and say that both are big and grey and sort of roundish, so they must be the same. a similar operation is performed to prove to us all that religion is a drug designed to dull the senses. hell, it isn't even an original comparison.

I can see what you are saying so please don't be offended as I'm not taking opinions on the answer and that I'll consider it in my own time and at my own pace to come to my own conclusion...

 

[cannabineer]

don't bother. it's one of those things that sounds quite profound until you realize just how stupid it is. one might as well ask the difference between a boulder and an elephant. the simpleton will redefine the elements of the question and break them down into the most convenient terms. a fool will look at the boulder and the elephant and say that both are big and grey and sort of roundish, so they must be the same. a similar operation is performed to prove to us all that religion is a drug designed to dull the senses. hell, it isn't even an original comparison.

For a spell there, my religion was masses of opiates. It Marx a fellow. cn

 

[Heisenberg]

Why couldn't a drug user say the same thing? Their drug offers them hope, strength, peace, comfort, familiarity, enlightenment.. etc.

If I must contrast only these two examples. The difference is inspiration to consider things outside of yourself. Religion is an attempt to understand the world and our place in it. Religion is indication of a person at least attempting to find their principals and guidance. I'm afraid you may be conflating physical euphoria with a sense of security and righteousness. While both may bring comfort, heroine use is most often an act of misery, while religious practice is often a source of joy.

 

[undertheice]

I used to be a Christian, I know exactly what Christians face. Why do they deserve sympathy for not learning themselves out of it? I did, why couldn't they?

sorry, but i had to stop reading right there. this sort of self-righteous drivel sets me to giggling uncontrollably. just what was it you "learned"? you learned nothing, you traded in one set of beliefs for another. you traded a belief in the unprovable for the disbelief in the unprovable. nothing proven, nothing learned, nothing to base the decision on but disillusionment and confusion. if the reasons given in the OP really were what you based the denial of your faith on, then it is folks like you that i really feel sorry for. all that cute little story showed us was that you always were a follower and, when faced with crisis, you predictably chose the path of least resistance. so now you have your new faith to follow, with precepts clearly laid out for you and a new set of enemies to blame. that's all fine and dandy, but don't go thinking this gains you any moral high ground or superiority over your erstwhile compatriots. anyone with a bit of integrity would be more impressed if you'd gained a little humility along the way. you certainly haven't gained anything to be particularly proud of.

 

[cannabineer]

If I must contrast only these two examples. The difference is inspiration to consider things outside of yourself. Religion is an attempt to understand the world and our place in it. Religion is indication of a person at least attempting to find their principals and guidance. I'm afraid you may be conflating physical euphoria with a sense of security and righteousness. While both may bring comfort, heroine use is most often an act of misery, while religious practice is often a source of joy.

Exactly. Hard drugs offer an escape, a turning in, a negation. Abdication.
In its best guise, religion can be an inspiration, a call to engagement with both nature and community. cn

 

[undertheice]

For a spell there, my religion was masses of opiates.

i too once consumed massive quantities of opiates religiously. it definitely left marks.

 

[cannabineer]

i too once consumed massive quantities of opiates religiously. it definitely left marks.

Awwww you neutered my pun! I played all the Engels. Kapitally. cn

 

[Padawanbater2]

sorry, but i had to stop reading right there. this sort of self-righteous drivel sets me to giggling uncontrollably. just what was it you "learned"? you learned nothing, you traded in one set of beliefs for another. you traded a belief in the unprovable for the disbelief in the unprovable. nothing proven, nothing learned, nothing to base the decision on but disillusionment and confusion. if the reasons given in the OP really were what you based the denial of your faith on, then it is folks like you that i really feel sorry for. all that cute little story showed us was that you always were a follower and, when faced with crisis, you predictably chose the path of least resistance. so now you have your new faith to follow, with precepts clearly laid out for you and a new set of enemies to blame. that's all fine and dandy, but don't go thinking this gains you any moral high ground or superiority over your erstwhile compatriots. anyone with a bit of integrity would be more impressed if you'd gained a little humility along the way. you certainly haven't gained anything to be particularly proud of.

I learned we don't have all the answers.

I'm confused, you're claiming atheism is the 'path of least resistance' and 'predictable', yet 90% of the worlds population is religious. Wouldn't the 'predictable' path to take be the theists?

How you can fault a child for following what his parents told him was true is a little strange, isn't it the parents fault the child was indoctrinated (having been indoctrinated themselves)?

That new faith of science... That predictable, testable, measurable, evil dogma...

 

[Doer]

What God would that be? clarify please.

What god? I've never accepted there was more than one thing, we all call god, but we define it and thus reduce it to various concepts.

So, before any religion, this 'one god' thing was invented or discovered in the pre-dawn of humanity.

 

[Shannon Alexander]

I'm fairly confident that a lot of ancient peoples had multiple deities that governed many individual aspects of the world around them...

 

[rpgdude]

you traded in one set of beliefs for another. you traded a belief in the unprovable for the disbelief in the unprovable .

Wile he definitely sounds high and mighty. I do think you can learn your way out of it. You say he has a new belief system and its unbelief. So unbelief is believing? Wow you just blew my mind! So dirt is not dirt its just not air. so I can point at the ground and say" Hey look its some "not air"!. I need some of what your smoking so I to can be enlightened. Sorry but life can teach you there is no God or at least not a good one. On the news a couple years ago a little 3yo girl was placed feet first into a pot of boiling water by a baby sitter. she died from shock "THE NEXT DAY" If God is all powerful and sees all and didn't stop that he is one crual pos. Nothing, not even her forgetting would justify letting it happen in the first place. Hate to break it to you but if you think God would save you and let a 3yo be boiled alive your the arrogant one.

 

[rpgdude]

What god? I've never accepted there was more than one thing, we all call god, but we define it and thus reduce it to various concepts.

So, before any religion, this 'one god' thing was invented or discovered in the pre-dawn of humanity.

There are many Gods and just as many concepts about any of those Gods. Mid east God=all powerful creator. Norse Gods=more like angels but can be killed...etc...etc. The belief in many Gods predates the belief in one god. To me the most intelligent belief systems recognize the balance such as Yin/Yang all others lack even that small glimmer of reality. If God exist he is at least half evil. No way out of it.

 

[WyoGrow]

When you face inevitable death, you will pray to God. Trust me.

I have, on numerous occasions, so I prayed to me and I saved my own ass!!! Since religion is man made, the only way "God" exists is if you place faith in that idea. Since I choose to place my faith in myself I therefor become my own God.

 

[WyoGrow]

Exactly. When people are about to die, majority of them snap back into realizing that life is too precious for a god not to exist.

Life is life man. Everything dies. We create fables to tell ourselves to help us deal with the things that scare us most. If enough people believe those fables they eventually become a religion. Death is scary shit. "Religion" began as a coping mechanism because fuckers huddled around a fire couldn't explain shooting stars and whatnot. Modern religion is such a perversion of what it started out to be it's disgusting.

 

[WyoGrow]

The problem with the question "why?" is that it is the only question, that has no ultimate answer.

I disagree to a point. The "why" has an answer. Where we fuck it up is in our arrogance as a species. We have this notion that we have to be special. Religion is a way to make the universe revolve around us. We can't accept that the answer is really damned simple. We have to make the answer complex because we can't fathom the fact that we aren't special. I mean we are to a point. But the reasons "why" we are here have absolutely nothing to do with "us" as a species. I prefer to think of our planet, solar system for that matter, as a winning mega-millions lottery ticket. We just lucked the fuck out and ended up with a just right mix of conditions and elements. Given the right set of circumstances life is inevitable.

 

[Trolling]

If their is a god that made everything, who made god?

 

[WyoGrow]

Meth addicted gremlins....

 

[cannabineer]

If their is a god that made everything, who made god?

Turtles all the way down, baby. cn