Your thoughts on religion?

>>736592772
As a believer in "something", I've never understood why I need a middle man between me and it.

Religion is a self fulfilling prophecy and it just drove me towards atheism. If something goes right God always did it and if something goes wrong, it must have been part of a bigger plan. However, people can't cope with uncertainty and, in this case, death. For avoiding savagery and people just killing each other (or just themselves), religion is good. It's like this giant imaginary regulatory agency. Creationism is also bullshit. It's the most childish answer to problems. Instead of digging further into trying to find out where we came from, we just settle with "We were created by ..." and live in peace with no further questions.

>>736593080
Do you believe religion is slowing down the advancement in humanity?

However, I'm biased towards saying that catholicism is to a certain extent the best religion right now (Or Baha'iism). Not because of the religion as such but because it's the one with the most hypocrites that live normal, "sinful" lives without giving it too much importance. If anything, religion should be a part of your life, it shouldn't be your life.

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>>736592772
Personal religion good, organized religion bad.
God real, humans trying to define God and put him into concepts and words, silly.
Cut the middleman and stick to God directly, if you want to find Him, look inwards.
Religious texts have much wisdom in them, read all of them, but don't take them too literal, make up your own mind, don't let any authority figure who is just another man, tell you what to think or what to believe.
Those texts are like a sign post placed on a mountain trail, many people make the mistake of climbing the sign post instead of following the path it points to, upwards the mountain.

>>736593457
I don't really believe in anything unless you can physically prove it or back it up with evidence.

>>736593241
Yes and no. Many monks, for example, used their religion in the Middle Ages as a way to have peace of mind while learning, reading, and discovering new technologies and ways to perfect old ones. If religion helps you solve other problems by giving you a certain "peace of mind", then it's fine. However, as the Dark Ages showed us, religion becomes a weapon of dumbing down people for specific agendas. It still baffles me how so many people in poor countries have studied the bible thoroughly like a Maths book and can recite it verse by verse, but don't have the mental capacity to see that they could be using their capabilities for science.

>>736593292
I was raised catholic. Fuck, I went to church till I was 15.

A few years ago, my Ma wanted to go to mass for Ash Wednesday. She'd not been to church in years, and didn't want to go alone, so I said I'd go with her.

So we went, and the church was about half-full (half-empty). The service was dull as fuck like it'd always been, but I was there for my Ma.

As we were leaving, a small group had formed near the exit, I'm assuming they were regulars cos they all knew each other.

We shook the hand of the Priest and started walking to the car, and I overheard one of the group say, "Where are all these people on a regular Sunday."

I just thought, that's a nice forgiving catholic attitude.

>>736593577
Prove the laws of nature are uniform and constant.

>>736593577
Correct. That should be the way one always thinks. However, feelings get in the way too often.

>>736592772
There is no distinction between god and humans.
God is merely the aggregate of all human consciousness representing a cultural zeitgeist.
The metaphysical symbolism has been lost on the masses and modern christians look nothing like their ancestors. Though the masses back in those days were equally unimpressive to be honest. I mean there were spiritual sages but most were just epicurean opportunists who didn't give it much serious thought.

>>736593577
See, to me, that is as closed minded as the devout god-squad.

At the very most, all any of us can say is "we don't know."

We can measure the tangible by tangible evidence. But to completely dismiss the intangible based on tangible evidence is wrong.

We don't know when time started, so do you not believe in time?

We don't know where the universe ends, so do you not believe in the universe?

There is no physical difference between a body that is alive and one that is dead, so do you not believe in life?

Santa Claus for grown ups.

>>736593646
>I just thought, that's a nice forgiving catholic attitude.
Missing Mass without significant extenuating circumstances is a mortal sin in Catholicism. That's not the kind of thing they can forgive you for. Why do you expect them to?

>>736593689
Hi. Your question is bad. There will never be an absolute "truth", only something less false than the prior theory that's fitting on a time being. That's the first thing most students are told whenever they take Research courses. If you analyse Isaac Newton's proposals vs Einstein's proposals, both are equally wrong (or right). The big difference is that Einstein's theories apply more on a subatomic level, while Newton's on a more "general" scale., for example. Your research question is way too general. In case you ever want to do good research, you should specify which laws and to what extend and under which circumstances.

>>736593958
I admit I'm a sinner. Did what I had to do, just to get dinner. But I was told you was the first G. L.A. is a war zone, Lord, so could you have mercy.

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>>736592772
Religion is pretty cool if you're with the right people and doing the right things. I'm not religious myself because I'm too lazy for all the rituals and prayers, etc.

Right now I myself am an agnostic. Maybe there is a God, maybe it's just a creator, a life giver, and not God in a traditional sense.

>>736592772
Believe or Don't believe. But big man not happy today with us. I know why doesn't he come save all of bus good ones? Well why does one throw away their toys. Maybe he out grew our asses. We are lazy and disrespectful.

>>736593958
>a mortal sin
By whose authority? Catholicism was invented centuries after Jesus and the last apostles died. Is his another addition made by human politicians?

>>736593958
But Catholicism is a moderate religion. You see, mortal sins were all watered down by Catholics. Nowadays, most Catholics don't go to Mass and use condoms, get divorced etc. It's a "decent" religion to have if you want a normal lifestyle.

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>>736592772
Is National socialism a religion?

Religion is money laundring

>>736593978
No absolute truth? No actuality of events? Oh please. Just because it's incomprehensible doesn't mean it is non-existent.

>>736594131
Then you're not really following that religion.
It's like saying you're straight, it's just that on the weekends you like to hang out at parking lots and get pounded in the ass by truckers. But you're "moderate" heterosexual.

religion has no scientific legitimacy to it. no. i accept that. what i also accept is the fact that it provides people with a comfort and an objective moral guideline to strive for which can be very helpful for some people to just exist in a world that is hard to find that in. personally, i would prefer to get to the root of my issues and suffer and sin and have the life experience rather than use religion as an emotional crux but to each your own.

>>736593577
I read something once about the proof of God, that I kinda liked.

Absolute proof in God would be the worst thing to ever happen to the Human race. Because we would all stop trying.

Why would we invest billions in finding a cure for cancer, when we can just pray for God to heal us.

Why should an athlete try to run faster than another athlete, when God has decided and created him to be faster.

I know it's another cop-out answer for the pro religious, but I still kinda like it.

>>736594126
Yes and no, remember that "Jesus" "said" that "This is my church, etc.". But yes, everything related to Catholicism was decided on the council of Nicaea. 300 years after "Jesus" died, people decided whether he is God, a separate entity, or a semi-god.

>>736593080
Anyone who went from theist to atheist is a total pleb who can't handle life

>>736594269
And then added in asinine rituals that boosted population growth tax revenue, and facilitated political divisions of fiefdoms and control of the serf population.

>>736594376
>population growth tax revenue
*population growth and tax revenue

>>736594180
Yes. No absolute truth. I never said it (??) was non-existent because of that. It's just that we will never reach an absolute truth, just a theory. The knowledge of theworld is composed of theories and not of absolute, unchangeable laws.

>>736594126
>By whose authority?
Catholics would say the Church's, which is derived from God.

>Catholicism was invented centuries after Jesus and the last apostles died.
Not according to Catholics. They consider the apostle Peter to be the first pope, and as Peter was the "rock" upon which Jesus founded the church, and the subsequent popes are part of the apostolic succession from Peter, the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus through Peter.

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>>736594485
>Catholics would say the Church's, which is derived from God.
I see no god here.

Rather than the fact that the burden of the proof has not been met for any religious doctrines. I find most religions rather immoral in one way or another.

>>736593457
bullshit op. there is nothing wrong with putting god into concepts, words, understanding what god is. "oh we can't define god, god is beyond our understanding". bullshit. that's why language was created. so we can communicate to one another and understand one another. do you really think a god would create us without wanting us to understand who he/ she is? do you have kids? that's like saying i want to create kids smart enough to go to school, get an education, but to stupid to understand me. if we can't understand who god is, then we can't understand his/ her reasoning for doing something. we would just be robots following commands.

>>736594412
Theories of immutable laws.
The forces of nature?

>>736594256
it's not a cop-out, it's just stupid

>>736592935
If you claim something, the onus is on you to prove it in some way. Since it will most likely contradict what we know to be scientifically or realistically accurate (e.g. Parting the sea).

>>736593080
This. It also can't be questioned in anyway.

>>736593629
>the dark ages
Please study history outside of highschool. It was the advent of humanism that was based on the study and translation of the Bible that led directly to the Renaissance. Most to all scholars were funded or involved with the church and were devout christians in that period.

>>736592772
unnecessary

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>>736592772

>>736593241
In the west, yes. This anti-abortion, anti stem cell shit with GWB and now climate chance with Trump.

In the MIddle east, I don't know. Would they be even worse if they have no allah? Terrorism is an issue, but they're crazy fucks either way.

>>736594760
Tell that to Luther.

>>736594565
That's nice, dear. Sophistry is fun for a while, but you should really try to grow past it.

I'm not even Catholic. My original response was inspired by my amusement at an anon who went to a Catholic church, then got butthurt about un-Catholic behavior being commented on by some of the parishioners.

Or, to take another example, eat bacon if you like. IDGAF, it's pretty tasty. But if you claim to be Jewish and walk into a Jewish religious service munching on a crispy strip of bacon, don't cry your eyes out if you get a few "Oy vey!"s.

>>736594760
>It was the advent of humanism that was based on the study and translation of the Bible that led directly to the Renaissance
Nice try, but it was the rediscovery of the Greek and Roman classics that was largely responsible for the Renaissance. The Catholic Church continued to use the Latin Vulgate, and most of the widespread translations of the Bible into vernacular European languages occurred well after the Renaissance began in southern Europe.

>>736594587
I know what you mean with them. However, all theories of "Immutable" Laws take place under given circumstances and are the current (Focus on current) least false theory.
Remember Phlogiston in the 19th Century. Whenever something burned, all scientists believed that a substance called Phlogiston was released into the air. Every technological advance then pointed towards it.
As technology advanced, people found out that it was actually Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide what was released.
The same could be happening to us. Like Elon Musk said, we could be living inside a simulation. All of our current technologies and knowledge point towards something else, but it will never (dis-) prove it definitely.

>>736595136
For practical purposes,however, it's easier to accept everything as it is.

>>736595017
Martin Luther? The man took his inspiration for his interpretation of the Bible from Erasmus, a humanist?
>>736595110
Who do you think was running about "discovering" these Greek and Roman classics? Humanists. Where do you think these classics were stored? In monasteries.

>>736595110
>Sophistry
I don't see how it's sophistry when the whole concept of a Catholic council is a violation of the core principle of the whole family of abrahemic religions.

Furthermore don't give me that drivel about others being authentic. For one thing Catholicism always was a perversion that bastardized a spiritual doctrine into a political device. For another there are exactly zero real catholics or christians left in the world.

For a start slavery and polygamy have been abolished. I could go on but we're out of the ballpark right fucking there.

>>736592772
I believe god has given up on humanity, as why he created the soon to be end of times. I believe Satan will soon rule earth so that is why i turn to him for guidance. You'll see when it is broadcasted all over the news, when ocean waves sweep the cities, volcanos erupt, mass plagues and war takes place, economy will fall looters rioters and murders will show them self's... God is nothing but a joke, he has allowed for it to come as far as our past wars WW2 and the war in Iraq he has let humans fall. He in my mind should be sent to wiped from existence. Muslims are disgusting pedophilic rapist and murders. Jews are ignorant. However my religion is true i accept my death, my eternal spiritual prison id die for satan to win the war when it comes it is the right doings for he is the true, the lord as you all know is corrupt. Pray to the true spiritual higher power for if your one with satan he will be one will you in the end times.
I hope you Christians, Mormons, Catholic, Jews, Buddhist, and Muslims know your fate for what you believe in is false prophet, and when the time comes i will take pleasure in bringing you to your knees convert now or take the pain later.

>>736594760
Yes. But the Bible helped indirectly to it, not directly, the same way that war is the fastest, most efficient way of coming up with new technologies. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is a higher incentive to innovate as war.

>>736595266
>Martin Luther? The man took his inspiration for his interpretation of the Bible from Erasmus, a humanist?
And was persecuted by the church for it.
Both Erasmus (a mathematician) and Luther (a theologist sure) were part of the Dutch republic which as a whole was under siege for centuries by the Roman catholic church and its client states. So don't give me some jibber jabber about them being supported, they would've been drawn and quartered had the heretics not kept the Catholic hordes at bay.

>>736595349
Holy shit. You got Wi-Fi at the psychiatric hospital?

>>736595353
The wars were over religion too, silly.
>>736595384
While he also caused significant wars to break out, had a bad temper, wrote many letters encouraging soldiers to murder en masse his "followers" while not taking a firm stance on predestination to cause further splits with Calvinists. There was a lot to go after the man for as any independent state based on the problems he caused.

>>736595646
And they would've killed Calvin too had he not also sought protection in the Dutch republic, since you bring him up.
For a look at how the RCC handles sedition, look at Galileo.
While you're attempting to slander the man now to bolster the RCC's image by contrast in this scenario, fact is that this history has already played out, and they both thrived in a secular domain that guaranteed their sovereignty. The RCC is a political organ that has since its inception served to subjugate and control people, and has little to no connection to its christian roots.

>>736595434
Your probably some atheist scum thats worse for you when all else fails you have no hope what so ever you' be bleeding out your neck from a decapitation when it all settles so go ahead laugh... I hope i see you id slice that smile strait from you stupid little face you worthless petty scum i pray satan to torment your soul in the life after death you no good worthless walking meat bag

Religion is nice...
except the abrahamic ones...

>>736595751
Then again I don't think this really needs to be pointed out given that the vassal hierarchy was fundamentally enmeshed with "divine mandate" as stated by the church.
From 500 AD through 1600 AD christianity existed for the sole purpose of telling illiterate proles to shut up, work the fields and hand over their material goods and daughters to their political lord because god tells them to.

>>736595839
Oh, I'll definitely laugh. As a matter of fact, I'm laughing right now.
Now: Let's check your grammar.
Atheist*
You're*
That's*
Whatsoever*
I*
I'd*
Satan*
Learn how to write properly at least.

>>736595839
By the way, how old are you? Is it a youth psychiatric hospital you're in or a regular one?

>>736595751
Wew lad. You're so wrong it almost hurts. First of all, Luther stayed in Wittenberg, where he got his educstion, did most of his evangelizing, which is far, far from the "Dutch Republic" which didn't even exist as any independent entity until far, far after his death. Calvin spent his life in Switzerland, where Calvin ism to hold.

Just bringing up Galileo really shows the extent of your highschool education. He was put under house arrest "oh no" after he slandered the Pope in his works.

>>736592935
You wouldn't "believe " in shit if your parents hadn't forced it upon you

>>736593457
Where is your proof in god? Don't you fuckin'say : gotta have faith" because that's a bullshit response to anything...do you still believe in Santa Claus ?

>>736596036
Oh im sorry you are completely brain dead you look for little mistakes instead of the colossal mistake your making rn your completely lucky i dont know how to do anything with computers id kill you soooooo fast you disgusting petty worthless putrid being... Murder you in cold blood and send you to your parents in a box to let them know they have misguided you in life as what brought you to your end you idiotic moron.

>>736596124
Not to mention there was scientific evidence brought against heliocentrism at the time that was equally reasonable and would only be proved wrong until years after Galileo's death.

>>736596078
Im 19 and im heavy with my beliefs for i will be on the winning team, you will be dead you will have been a failure to everything you believe in, disgusting wretch..

>>736595751
This

>>736596267
What you just said is not only legally binding, but it is a threat punishable with prison. If your best defence is to make death threats, you are a danger to society.

>>736593814
Wow such confidence in your blathering.
That most certainly is an attempt at sounding interesting, it only comes off as annoying

>>736596494
You can just call it "Pseudo-Profound Bullshit", that's what it is.

>>736596434
I dont care, you stupid human being, you think you can laugh at me, you think your cute, id cut you up like a pig and feed you to one too, go ahead call the police no one will care you smuck.

>>736593814
Except the Jewish culture around 0 BC wasn't one of charity and forgiveness but one of stoninh someone for saying the wrong thing.

>>736595136
Yes, but the theories posit a truth. It may be an approximation of reality which is later replaced by a deeper understanding of what is underlying phenomena, but facts are being proclaimed. The logical conclusions gathered are based upon at its foundation, an inductive reasoning process. You can't absolutely prove that reality is what is being claimed. All this talk of "least false", just means most true or factual.

>>736596586
Schmuck**

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>>736596586
Your either a fucking nut or a real good baiter

I dont believe in a "god" in the way that there is an actual person in the sky who cares about my sins but i do believe that there has to be some higher force which we are part of btw i believe it is part of our cocioussnes and i also believe that it has to do something with higher dimensions...so what i would consider god/s is probably a species or a single beeing which can see/understand and do much more than we can comprehend (look at the flatlanderexample it explanes dimensions in a good way imo) i think that we are somehow connected to that god/those gods which makes us consiouss and curious there is no way that chemical reactions and flying electrons could result in such complex thinking and acting such as the question if god exists i think it has to be something higher

>>736596360
Stop listening to Ghost My child this pop music garbage is rotting your brain

>>736597775
I listen to The Ramones, The Clash, The Cry, GBH, The Sex Pistols, The Dead Kennedys, the music i listen to is far from modern days pop, have you even read bible scripture we are in the end of times read between the lines

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>>736597988
>read between the lines
Meme

>>736596124
Both of those territories being allies at the time. The republic definitely existed, but was an occupied territory under Spanish rule by orders of the RCC in their lives. Those same German states assisted the Dutch republic in its bout for independence.

Note that Luther always was in Saxon turf and Calvin fled Catholic controlled France because he was indeed persecuted by the RCC. Now Luther died before the end of the war, and he wasn't in the occupation zone no, he was just off to its east. Calvin was actually about 35 years old when it ended. Though for a long time afterward the English, French and Spanish vassal state would continue to skirmish with them to try and reestablish the RCC empire.

You're operating from a singular interpretation of European history, I'm guessing you're American? There's this popular narrative of all Europeans being one big happy bunch with occasionally e.g. skirmishes with Moors or Ottomans. Truth is the German people were - at least those north of Austria, into Scandinavia and Saxony - regarded the Ottomans as allies if anything because they had to deal with hundreds of years of attempts at fundamentalist foreign overlord bullshit from the Catholic region. This is why they're so fundamentally atheist/secular in culture and definitely do not identify with this deus vult bullshit interpretation of the RCC as some sanctified crusader utopia that brought milk and honey to the Europeans.

>>736596124
>Just bringing up Galileo really shows the extent of your highschool education. He was put under house arrest "oh no" after he slandered the Pope in his works.
He was put under house arrest after revoking his statements against heliocentricism. Before that they tortured his mother to put the squeeze on him.

Just because they later on realize that as other astronomers come out they can't contain it anymore, doesn't mean their original intent was to set up a sharia empire. For entirely selfish and political reasons at that. It was a very transparent societal device to legitimize the feudal system.

>>736599573
>was
*wasn't

>>736593577
"I can't prove to myself to a point of utter certainty that everyone else are not npcs and that it's not just me here, and I don't believe in things I can't physically prove, so I'm a solipsist."

"i can't prove to myself to a point of certainty that I'm dreaming and that everyone else are npcs, and I'm not one for believing in things you can't physically prove, so I am not a solipsist."

Are not both these statements technically consistent with "not believing in things that can't be proven", and yet they contradict each other?

>>736592772
Religions are so silly and far fetched that I cannot believe the play they get. You have to be pretty weak minded to play along.

>>736592772
The caveman in OP's pic looks a bit like Aaron Ra

>>736596126
Not in any religion maybe, but the idea of a god is reasonable. What you think no one has ever asked if there's something more?

>>736592772
if theyre right were fucked, if theyre wrong it feels like im wearing nothin at all

In this thread we post illogical and, frankly, childish arguments for why there is no creator.

Father: No food in the Living Room!
Son: But you eat in the Leaving Room...

Grow up already.
This is our generation's problem; everyone cares so deeply and is strict to the nth degree - where it doesn't matter, and no body gives a damn where it actually counts.

The universe has a creator and it wants things from you. Yes, sometimes its hard, but you're not a 12-year-old girl having her period for the first time.

GROW UP!

>>736603653
>reasonable
Actually, no.

Religions are like cocks. It's fine to have one, it's fine to be proud of it, but don't try to shove it down my throat and keep it away from kids.

God is not real. We are by-products of evolution, chain of unpredictable events. Just look at us, we have animal instincts, we are nothing more than multi-cellular organisms stranded on a rock in space. There is no life after death and there is no meaning of life.

Though, I do believe that we live in a computer simulation. The fact that we can describe how the universe works purely with mathematical equations means that we will be able to simulate our own universe in the future, it's just a matter of time and resources. Have you heard of things like speed of light or Planck length? They are fundamental constants, just like in a computer program.

It's all bullshit, religion is.

I used to think religion was the cause of the majority of the violence and wars in the world, but I don't think that's true; most are fought about political and cultural issues, but religion makes it so much fucking worse.

I'm not even going to start on how retarded it is to think the world is thousands of years old and the other silly stuff people believe, it's too obvious.