The Rebel said: The question of man/woman naturally leads to the question of God.
I
disagree with this. You have to have first been indoctrinated into a
belief system of God. There are so many different flavours of god too.
As children, we have no choice about what our parents do. We believe
because we trust them and do what we are told. As we get older and as
adults, our knowledge increases. It is key to develop critical thinking
skills and adhere to intellectual honesty. Our knowledge of the natural
world is far greater than it was thousands of years ago. The gods or
god, just don't add up.
The Rebel said:Why does man need God?
If
you look at ancient history, the gods and goddesses were created to
define the natural world. Ancient man did not understand thunder,
lightning, volcanoes, infection, disease, winds, love, evil. Multiple
gods and goddesses were defined to explain these. But somewhere along
the way, someone decided that there must be just one all powerful god,
probably because something didn't work out that they were sure would. It
may have been a conquering tribe's primary belief system that had to be
adopted by the conquered tribes. Certain ancients decided that one God
was all that should be worshipped and a new belief system was born. I
think it is key to note, that the ancient belief systems of multiple
gods does still exist today. The Jews, Christians and Islamists
were/have been unable to eradicate them even though they tried/try.
Again, looking over history, you can see religious beliefs evolving and
new ones being born. Once created, God can then be used as a mechanism to control people.
Humans
also know they can suffere from sickness and calamities, and they know they are going to grow old and die. These are unpleasantries.
So they dreamed up a reason for these and an after-life to appease their unease.
It's all a bunch of fantasy. There
is no evidence to support these beliefs. The knowledge we possess today
contradicts many religious claims. It is interesting to note how the
instances of 'god' speaking to humans has diminished in proportion to
mankind's increase in technology and knowledge.
Perry said: left to himself man serves his fallen flesh
