What good does religion offer the world today?

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. And yet you cannot resist the urge to talk about it.

Why is that?

You've mistakenly interpreted my pointing out the inconsistencies in both the character of, and the story about, the god as an irresistible urge to talk about it. Confronting the believers of the biblical god is an interesting study in how the mind of adults will remain blind, deaf, and dumb to that which shows the belief to be baseless. It's called book deification. But believers are always to the last to recognize the fetish. Fetishes always feel like the way to satisfaction. And like all fetishes, yours is no less a mental construct.

What have religion and the five sense to do with each other?

Well like a kingly ruler is one who stands above people, we wonder why?

Because they followed the straight and narrow path?

How does one do that?

Well with a measurement ruler...

You lay the ruler one end on zero and the other end on rule.

Then you draw a straight line and that is the straight and narrow path.

If you deviate from that you may not reach your destination.

What causes one to stray from the straight and narrow?

Religion says it is temptation and relying on the five senses to make decisions.

Lets break that down...

Without the five senses we could not see, hear, taste, touch and smell.

Supposedly (according to the scriptures) lust and our animalistic (demonic) urges comes from these...

Without our five sense we could not know how to say the word "water" and we would be blind (or some used to say "dumb")...

I suppose that would be though straight, too narrow...

But to blame our ability to see and desire beauty is a gift, to some degree, not a curse.

Without our five sense we could not discover truth because we would be so far removed from it.

Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh [five senses]. 17 For the flesh [five senses] lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh [five senses]: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Comment: (I added the [five senses] for clarity)

How can we see the way to go if we are blind?

How can we feel if we have no feeling?

Does the fact that we can feel incriminate us in every malady of the human condition?

And what is walking by the spirit?

Closing your eyes and jumping off a cliff for God?

Is that direct but too wide of an interpretation?

Today, religiously radical people interpret it that way.

What exactly is this spirit that is diametrically opposed to our senses?

Are five senses common sense?

Senses common to most humans.

Does being dogmatically blind win out over observation of the evidence?

Is this "spirit" nothing more than superstition?

Ok but a lot of this has to do with our interpretation of god. People who argue against religion and god tend to sum god up to some all powerful, all knowing, all good, super cool loving guy who wants us to do battle and give money. A lot of religious people also make this assumption. God does not have to be any of that though....... If you ask me he can't be. That does not mean that god does not exist though. Neither the big bang, evolution, natural disasters, or bad things happening disprove god. It just explains who god really is. I think God is actually very human-like. We were created in God's image after all. I think people have a hard time accepting that god doesn't have to necessarily be "pure".

I argue against religion. However, my summation of the alleged god is based on the depiction found in the text from which it was born. I take it that you are not in agreement with the biblical description of the god-being.

I think the interpretation of god is based on one's culture. The christian god is a relative new-comer. That to me is what's mind-boggling.

Are you saying God wears a sporty hat and lurks in the shadows?

God is a good dancer and likes fancy cars?

Cuban cigars?

Maybe God is cool?

I think it's all the same god that people are worshipping. It works like the game telephone. Kids sit around in a circle and one whispers a message to the person next, until the message gets around the circle. The bigger the circle, the more the original message gets mixed up. Religion works the same way, because each generation has used the concept of god for their own purposes, whether that be for economic reasons, power, war, etc. I put pieces of what I read and what people say and take from it what REALLY makes sense to me and try to figure out what I actually believe in. Certain parts of the "biblical god" seem like they fit. You have to remember though, "biblical god" is kind of a dick. He drowned the entire world. God cursed a man and wrecked his entire life, killed his family, plagued him, and him poor, over a bet with Satan. He sent the angel of death to kill peoples first born.

So, is it really hard to believe that there is a god and he is kind of a dick sometimes? That god makes mistakes? That not everything god does is always what we see as perfect? I think God's plan was to give man the world just to watch what we do. God TV. Without a creature that can think and build and create through it's own free will, God would be pretty much reading the same book he wrote for eternity. There is a lot more to what I believe, but basically God created man so that he would not have to be bored, alone, and unloved for his infinite existence.

Nicely said. That's about the only logical conclusion you can come to about creation if you believe there is a God.

I usually condense it down to 'God made us because he wanted interesting company'. Or put another way, All God or men need to be happy is something to look forward to.

We truly are made in God's image.

And yet you find it within yourself to love and worship this . . . dick? Perhaps its behavior would explain why it is alone, bored, and unloved.


Here you have projected human attributes onto a non-human entity whose thoughts and ways are not like your own.

Which begs the question - How would YOU know?

I know that s/he did this because I quoted her/him projecting human attributes onto the god.

According to the bible, the god's thoughts and ways are not like the thoughts and ways of humans. So . . .

Thoughts and ways are a result of long time development of one's nature. It's understandable that man in his 40 - 100 year lifespan would not develop to the extent of God who's been around for untold billions of years.

But their nature is a different story. That's what I believe being 'created in their image' means. His desire is for us to grow into his thoughts and ways. We do have the nature for it.

So we are to become gods?

And does this mean that when our creations cause us regret, we are to kill it?

It would seem if God has faults then another "God" could come along in time and supersede God.

The whole idea of a "supreme" God is that they are immutable.

Ok quote one explained, yes. Actually sometimes I find it funny. Of course I love god, why wouldn't I? He created man his own personal playground, keeps it interesting, and sorts us all out in the afterlife anyway. What is not to love? Worship is as in I love, like a father. I pray for understanding, as in ask god to help me understand things. I think you are getting the idea that I say the hail Mary a million times on a rosary followed by an "our father". Nope.

Answer to quote two, the bible is like the game telephone, so I take it for what it is. Yes, things did happen, but the bible was made by, messed with, and manipulated by man, as was every other religious text and religion. The only true way to connect with god is through myself, which is one of the perks of being created in God's image.

Monotheism is the only way it makes sense to me logically because of that reason, along with many other reasons.