There are hundreds of thousands of people out there who are either agnostics, atheists or religious fundamentalists. A fundamentalist 'knows' that God exists and whatever is said in the holy book of his religion is the truth for him. Similarly, an atheist knows that God does not exist and to believe that he does is a dangerous delusion. Then there are the agnostics, in doubt about the existence of God or more precisely, what sort of God. Yet leaving all of them aside we get to the billions of people who merely have a profound belief in God.
For an atheist with his scientific reasoning, prooving how incredulous the existence of a supernatural God is, perhaps easy. Even a child can see the huge holes in the reasons offered by the major religious texts of the world to show the existence of God. Yet there still remains a large number of 'believers' who want to believe in a power out there just to hold on to a faith that their lives is not just about the material world but is also a part of some grand cosmic design that has some pre-ordained meaning to it.
These people have no doubts in believing that God exists just as much as their children or their parents or their friends. To them questioning the existence of God is a matter of survival. If there was no God then at the end there would be no point in their lives. So they just 'have to believe'! They just 'have to have faith'!
All the religions of the world just exploit this basic instinct of humans for their own materialistic needs. This world is just all about power and glory and whatever weapon is to be used to achieve this, man will use it. This has been prooved over the years and will continue to be the same. Just a look at how religions have 'evolved' over the years is enough to show you this. The old testament which proclaimed that a child who swears at his parent should be killed has over the years turned out to be unacceptable even though it was supposedly Jesus himself who said that only the strict adherance to the text of the testament can lead you to heaven. But with passing times came the New testament and with it 'gentle' Jesus. What is this 'new' 'sacred' book if not an attempt by a religious thinker to tinker with his religious believes in a way as to keep it acceptable to the changing world?
This is pretty much the same with almost all religions. If sati, casteism, child marriage and other social evils were propogated with the help of Hinduism, similar practices can be found in Islam, Judaism and almost every other religion. Over the passage of time all this has been conveniently 'modified' to ensure the safety of the religion.
But all this has been done only because there still remain people who 'need' their faith just as much as they need bread. As i have already said, it is a matter of survival. A religion or faith in a God provides people with some direction in life. Faith in reaching heaven or in karma etc. keeps the 'common' man going. To blame religion for all the problems of the world is unrealistic. Religions exist just for man. Man created religion and religions created god. At the end of the day the root cause for all evil is man himself.
For survival, man will do anything. It is afterall survival of the cunningest, boldest, strongest and the fittest.
9 comments:
ignore that comment...this is the real one...
"The old testament which proclaimed that a child who swears at his parent should be killed has over the years turned out to be unacceptable even though it was supposedly Jesus himself who said that only the strict adherance to the text of the testament can lead you to heaven. But with passing times came the New testament and with it 'gentle' Jesus. What is this 'new' 'sacred' book if not an attempt by a religious thinker to tinker with his religious believes in a way as to keep it acceptable to the changing world?"-correction. Jesus always said that your knowledge is not going to save you. Your deeds will. But more than your deeds it is about your motive. I can help a person but if I do so with the intention of getting some monetary gain out of this, then it is wrong.
And, according to Christianity, no man can reach heaven based on his knowledge. It is your faith in God and his plans that will save you.
Elvin, your point of view is completely religious and based on illogical spiritual (mis)understandings. Snap out of it, then we shall talk. No offence.. :)
I was not stating my opinion Ram. I was clarifying certain facts that Vineeth had got wrong. I was telling what is the biblical stand on it.
Yes.ok.
Dont you think the world has changed since the Bible was made?
ok...I guess all my comments should carry a disclaimer now: I am not here to defend any religion, faith, group of people or a school of thought. I am not a representative or 'lawyer' for Christianity. I speak what i think is the truth according to my experience. But I am ready to be moulded with the right opinions by the right people. I am not a staunch orthodox christian but i firmly believe in the concept og God n religion that i have. But I am very open on the inside and do not differntiate on the basis of religion. I defend the cause of the oppressed irrespective of their backgrounds.period.
P.S. please read this disclaimer before you read any of my posts.
The world has changed indeed but it hasn't changed so much that the Bible is completely irrelevant. It has principles that can be applied today in any of our works. It says stealing is wrong. The principle also refers to phishing even though it does not explicitly use the term per se.
Elvin, I used "Bible" as an example. I very well meant the Vedas or the Quran as well.
My point of asking that question is not what it looks like.
You have not answered Vineeth's question properly. The old testament gives the society the authority to kill a child if he swears. The new testament is more liberal, just because the society changed and the Kings and Popes wanted it that way. Now, tell me, if it was really God's words, how were they changed? Is it really that strong afterall??
How is your answer relevant to his question? Pls explain.
see Ram..if i start explaining then i will be termed 'religious' and a 'fanatic'...but all i can say is:
1. Every sin deserves punishment.
2. A sin is nothing but falling short of the glory of GOd.
3.The old testament is known as the age of law and the post new testament time is known as the age of grace...things became liberal after that cos Jesus died on the cross and paid for our sins once in for all..
4. it's not cos the 'popes' wanted so. it is indeed true that in the past religious leaders have used the religion for wrong purposes, but that does not mean that everyone did so. It was strong and it still is.
5.You have to interpret the Bible in its context i.e. understand the conditions that it was written under
P.S. I AM NOT DEFENDING CHRISTIANITY OVER HERE. BUT I AM PRESENTING THE BIBLICAL FAITH AND VIEW IN FRONT OF YOU. I AM ANSWERING THESE QUESTION ONLY COS I AM BEING ASKED TO DO SO. I AM NOT PROPAGATING ANY 'SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT'.
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