by AK - Jeff 98 Replies latest jw friends
Would the world be a better place without Atheism/Religious-ism?
Militant extremism in anything is bad.
Moderation, and tolerance, are key.
I don't think so. People are often acting within the vehicle of belief.
People will always believe in something that is greater than themselves, even if not God-related. In the 20th century, we witnessed the death of hundreds of millions of people carried out in the name of non-God beliefs.
BTS
The world would be much the same. Religion is just a vehicle, a form of transport.
If religion did not exist, people would find other ways to play out the same power struggle. Find a way to pretend that death is not final. A way to impose rule and the burden of guilt.
Religion is not the problem; the problem is human nature.
John Lennon had it right:
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one.
It doesn't matter if it is Atheism or Religion anytime you try to force what you believe down the throats of others their will be problems. I don't see religion or atheism as a problem. The problems is those who think whatever they believe in is correct and there is no room for anything else and proceed to blame all the problems in the world on those that don't have the same faith as them. And atheism is a faith just like any religious faith because none of us really knows if there is something going on beyond what we can see and comprehend during our brief life spans on this planet. What you believe in reference to a higher being, beings, force, whatever is all about faith. It easy to prove a lot of religious teachings wrong but proving there is nothing beyond what we experience in our lifetime is a different matter.
I absolutely DO believe the world would be a better place without Antheism AND religion, dear AK-Jeff (peace to you!) and look forward to that day SO much that I often ask for it ("Let your kingdom come"). It is the very message I have been sharing here from the beginning: an absence of religion... which is absolutely a GOOD thing... does NOT have to mean an absence of God... and a belief IN God... does NOT mean an acceptance of/belief in religion. THAT... really IS the "kingdom" of God!
Both Atheism AND religion are simply tools that a very small few of earthling man have used... and use yet... to push THEIR agendas: they know that the "hoy-poloy" are, for the most part, selfish, self-serving, disconnected, numb, uncaring, apathetic, unenlightened... and so easily provoked, easily enticed, easily misled. It has been that way from the VERY beginning... when the Adversary used the desire to be "like God" (to entice the "religious" inclinations in Adham) and so no longer NEED God (to entice the "atheistic" inclinations in Adham)... as a means to fulfill HIS OWN agenda.
BOTH "desires" existed in Adham... as they do in ALL of us, earthling man. The problems arise, however, when we swing to one pole or the other... rather than staying balanced, CENTERED... IN THE MIDDLE... where we're supposed to be. Both the Tree of Knowledge... AND THE TREE OF LIFE... were in the CENTER of the "garden." The kingdom... is INSIDE you. And while Adham was given full authority to "eat" from the latter, had he remained CENTERED... he would have one day been granted to "eat" from the other, as well. Be like God... knowing good (life)... AND bad (death)... yet, live.
But he wasn't mature enough, yet (i.e., hadn't learn to SERVE enough, with his body AND spirit, yet)... to do so. And as a result, he let his desire to BE served be exploited... so that he partook of something his underdeveloped body AND SPIRIT... weren't READY for. Although he had lovingly been warned against doing so.
We think we know so much, we do, earthling man. So did Adham. And our Adversary knew that... and utterly exploited it. Not only to Adham's detriment, but ALL of mankind. But Adham was really only a seed... and undeveloped spirit being. As we all are. And so young as to the age of the creation. Infants. Embryos. Zygots.
And because of this youth... our quest to be "like God"... without first being like Christ... WILL fail. As will our opposite quest... to convince ourselves there is NO God. It, too, will fail... because it is lie. The first will fail because we cannot do it - there is NO way that we can become "like" God... without become like Christ. Because he is the image of the True God and the reflection of His very Being.
The second will fail... because ALL lies are eventually revealed and brought to their end.
A world without religion... or atheism. Imagine...
I bid you peace... and perhaps ears to hear when the Spirit and Bride say to YOU... as they will say to ALL:
"Come! Take LIFE'S 'water'... FREE!"
A very non-religious slave of Christ,
SA
And atheism is a faith just like any religious faith
I don't know how many times it has to be repeated, there is absolutely no faith whatsoever in atheism. Non belief does not require faith. Does it take faith for me not to believe in mermaids, dragons, santa claus riding around on his sleigh on christmas eve? Is it faith to hold a stance of non belief in Allah, Krishna or Isis without evidence for them? Hardly. It is a rejection of the claim of any gods existence in the light that there has been no evidence that any of them exist.
I truly believe the world in a general sense would be a lot better without religion. Most of the inequality and bigotry in the world comes from religious beliefs. Eg. men superior to women, homosexuality is a sin, coloured skin is inferior to white, doing deeds in the name of whatever god a person believes in. Without the "holy" books of various religions, people would not be raised with a false set of standards and moral guidelines with which to view and interact with the world and the people around them.
There will always be conflicts of some form because certain people are too focused on what they want, that they do not consider or care about the impact this has on others.
I will just finish with one point, and that is that Atheism has never once in the history of the human race, ever been the cause of any suffering whatsoever. The fact that someone rejects the idea of the existence of god does not require any action. If someone rejects the idea of god and then goes out and kills someone, the rejection of the idea of god is not the cause of them committing the crime. To say it is the cause or even part of the cause, is just idiotic.
ZeusRocks - I do believe, brother of mine, that we are cut from the same cloth. Well spoken!
Jeff
It might not take faith for you to believe in dragons and Santa Claus etc but it does take faith for you to believe in nothing because you are in the same boat as the rest of us are you really don't know and to say other wise does take faith.
"I will just finish with one point, and that is that Atheism has never once in the history of the human race, ever been the cause of any suffering whatsoever."
I don't know about that but what I do know is that some Atheist have done some pretty nasty things. Just as bad or worse as any religious person.
Rejection of a belief in god may or may not be involve in the the thought process of an individual who commits a crime just like the reiligious belief of the person may or may not be involve. I wouldn't paint atheist with such a broad brush and say never.
Here's the thing: If we were to remove all current religions and their supposed sacred writings, we would still have to root worship out of people. Otherwise, some con-person, nut job, or schizophrenic will say they have heard the voice of JAHESHUA MISCHAJAH who told them the real truth and that they are able to dictate new sacred writings.
They will tell us how it is great that all the other "voices" have been removed so that true worship can commence.
Otherwise, it's a great dream. I love what ZeusRocks had to say.
I will just finish with one point, and that is that Atheism has never once in the history of the human race, ever been the cause of any suffering whatsoever. The fact that someone rejects the idea of the existence of god does not require any action. If someone rejects the idea of god and then goes out and kills someone, the rejection of the idea of god is not the cause of them committing the crime. To say it is the cause or even part of the cause, is just idiotic.
I hope that this remains true, though I am not sure that it will.
But I agree that an atheist going out and killing someone does not mean that atheism killed that someone. Just as a religious person going out and killing someone does not mean that their religion killed someone. UNLESS either of them killed someone in the name of their religion (or lack of it).
I wonder if any of you thinks there is a difference between religion and faith?
Tammy
