well I don't want this topic to be about me, but I want to discuss the idea of religion in general. this is not if God exists or not, this is simply a question about based on what are we worshiping in these specific ways.
I was born and raised (still raised
) in a christian family, in a christian surrounding, my parents believe strongly in jesus and in christianity, my society as a whole is very religious, no sex before marriage, no divorce etc... and for very long, I was religious as well, always going to church and praying and reading the bible etc...
until I turned 18, left my christian school(who was governed by nuns who forced us to wear an ugly uniform and pray twice a day, and made fun of the evolution theory) went to the university(majoring in pharmacy), but we also took courses in sociology and general culture and statistics(I'll explain the relevancy of statistics later) and what I learned changed my whole view of religion
first of all, the idea of accident of birth. I was born to a chirstian family in lebanon middle east. I did not choose to be born here and to these specific parents, and I follow the same religion of my parents, just like 98% of people everywhere do, they follow the religion of their parents
if I were born in saudi arabia to muslim parents, I would have been a muslim, just as if I were born tel aviv to jewish parents, I would have been a jew. convertion is not a choice, it is an apparent choice, there is no physical barrier stopping you from converting, but statisticly speaking, how many people leave the religion of their parents and relatives and convert?(precentage speaking)
and so I realised I am only a christian because my parents taught me to be, and I realised that, for example, if I were not raised as a christian, I doubt I would have found jesus(or any other faith) on my own later
second of all, what are we following? the gospels were written 30 to 90 years(I think) after christ, there were like 40 gospels, but the church banned all but 4, and they decided these 4 are true, and they will never tell you about the other gospels
translation messed up most of the gospels, jesus says "if you get hit on your right cheek turn your left" in spain it was at some point understood as, if you get hit on the right cheek, use your sword(the sword is worn on the left side and hiting on the cheek is disrespect) no one ever saw jesus or any physical evidence of him, we believe simply what the priests told us to believe. people question all sorts of things but when it came to religious books, hardly anyone ever raises the question
third, evolution is proven to exist, I study pharmacy, the whole point of pharmacy is to understand antibiotic resistance and the ability of bacterias to acquire more pathogenic abilities, swine flu, bird flu are proof of evolution
adam and eve story is not true, earth is older than 3000 years old(as christianity claimed) and if adam and eve is a myth, then the original sin is a myth, then jesus died for nothing
fourth, I think it is needless to explain how people are giving their lives here for their religion. you have heard how muslims commit altruistic suicides defending their lands(by the way, altruistic suicide killing an invading armed soldier is not terrorism, terrorism is the act of killing unarmed civilains) israelis fighting for their holy lands, christians and muslims in arab countries in general(including mine) struggling for governmental power and representation
this is just sad, everyone(christians and muslims and zionists alike) considers himself the righteous and the rest are infidels or wrong
based on what?
some books written thousands of years ago but unknown people
so my question is to all the believers is, why do you believe? what convinces you?
by the way the "I feel it in my heart that God is there" is not a good argument, I used to have these feelings, muslims have these feelings, christians have these feelings, people who worship cows and statues have these feelings(I have asked). such things come from within the brain and not from outside factors
the mind is fooled into thinking it has done something that deserves a reward
similiary a christian that skips sunday church would have a moral crisis, while a person from any other religion does not feel it is wrong
long thread, sorry about that
again, no offense to anyone
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