What do you believe?

God was created in a frightened, guilt-ridden MANKIND'S image, not vice versa.

"Fear of God" God judging people, an almighty omnipotent divine loving being of our universe cares if we sin or use profanity or drink or smoke or have casual sex or (LAUGH) have sex before marriage? Yeah ok.

Those are all things that imply ego. Ego is man-made. Guilt is man-made. We needed something greater in our lives, God was the perfect answer. He is only as real as humans make him. We control our own destinys.

When a bus full of Nuns goes off a cliff and they all die. It isn't God's will. It is bad driving and a sharp turn at 60 MPH or ice on the road. God didn't provide me the food I eat. The big bang did and a few hard working farmers and Mexicans and some huge food corporations. God doesn't care if I smoke weed or sin. MANKIND DOES. Don't push your guilt ridden beliefs on me, I'm not that stupid to fall for it.

The Bible was written by Mortal men. Everytime you question someone on their faith notice how quick they are to quote the Bible, but give you NONE Of their own opinions. The Bible is just a book, God is just a device created by mankind Jesus was just a charismatic clairvoyant, not a prophet, not THEE son of God. Just a son of a hooker who lacked birth control.

I ask myself that question all the time...

The Big Bang theory doesn't DISPROVE the existance of such a being as God. If you subscribe to that theory, then at some point you have to ask "What caused the Big Bang?". After all, matter doesn't just materialize from nothing... At least not since I, or anyone else, have been alive. So SOMETHING caused the Big Bang, right?

As for the God of The Holy Bible... I just don't know. If the Holy Bible is the real deal, then I'm probably doomed to that proverbial lake of fire, because I simply don't know. Too many unanswered questions, which basically implies a complete lack of faith. I look for meaning in everything but never find it. I feel emptiness, but I can't just drop every bit of knowledge and experience I've retained in my meager twenty-four years on this planet and devote my life to a book written by people, just like me, thousands of years ago.

These people that spout scripture just seem so robotic to me... Probably the same way I seem to them. This movie really strikes a chord with me. Both of my parents are Christians, I went to church when I was a kid, but it's just not the same reality for me that it is for them. Am I damned, or simply growing up in a different society? Who knows? I sure as hell don't. Sometimes I feel like an idiot ultimately answering all questions of God, the Great Beyond, the Afterlife, Heaven/Hell, the eternal soul with "I don't know", but it's the only honest answer I have. And lying's a sin.

What is religion? Belief? What does an individual believe? Why? How does an individual interact within a society? What does a society believe communally? What happens when different beliefs conflict within a society?

These are some questions to consider while pondering the evolution of a civilization. For a civilization cannot exist apart from its doctrine. The doctrine which dictates hierarchy, order, law, government, power, need, endeavor.
Early civilizations arose in the midst of ignorance, where knowledge which imparted the means of survival was divine power.
Knowledge of the seasons and agriculture, of migrations and hunting, of toolmaking and industry, of elemental forces which bestowed benefits or disaster.
Such knowledge was beyond the scope of one man and needed by everyone within the society. Such knowledge (like astronomical charts) required discipline, writing, and a priesthood devoted to its study.
The early city states of Sumer were founded upon such principles, and each city had its own "God" as its benefactor and protector. And the priests of that God had the knowledge of the divine (when do I plant my crop? when does the river flood? how do I forge metal tools?) to impart to the laity for their benefit. This knowledge was often in the form of "scriptures" (writing).
As societies grew, they came into conflict with each other. Gods of warfare were called upon (what tactics and weapons should we use?). Societies intermingled. Nations and Empires were formed. Now new elements arose. One was polytheism or pluralism of Gods as Gods from different cultures were absorbed into new cultures. Another element was consolidation of power, or a redefinition of the hierarchy. Mighty men took upon themselves the attributes of Gods and commanded the priests and controlled their knowledge. An excellent example of this is found in Xerxes of Persia.
But now new conflicts arose. A power struggle between the polytheistic Gods and the rule of the Emporer. Some cultures adopted national Gods or monotheistic practices to consolidate power (Egypt for a time under Akhnaton, and Israel under Moses who came out of Egypt near the time of Akhnaton). An alternative to monotheism was a polytheism which mandated the inclusion of a specific God among the many gods. Such was the Roman rule at the time of Christ and was their reason for killing him and his disciples - they would not acknowledge Caesar as their God.
When Alexander conquered Asia 200 years earlier, Buddhism was brought westward into Israel and Greece. This is why much of Jesus' teaching is a direct quote of Buddha. He merged the Jewish national religion with Buddhist values in order to overthrow the Roman rule with a passive resistance much like Ghandi did in India to the British. Only Jesus failed where Ghandi succeeded.
But Jesus' followers were persistent, and eventually they infected and overcame the Roman Empire with their new religion - Christianity - which owes much to Paul of Tarsus. Paul applied logical Greek thinking to Jesus' Buddhist philosophies. The Romans greatly admired Greek thought and came to be persuaded not by Jesus' doctrines, but by Paul's (which improvised Jesus' philosophies to suit Greek thought and Gentile minds).
As the Roman Empire crumbled, the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox priesthoods maintained learning, knowledge, and power through the Dark Ages. Concurrently, in the Near East, Mohammed wrote a book called the Koran, and proclaimed a monotheistic religion. For his God, he chose one of many gods, Allah, the moon god. And he was the prophet. With force of arms (acknowledge Allah and Mohammed or die) he conquered the Near East and obliterated polytheism, and all power was his.
The middle ages saw the clash of powers, the Crusades, with Christianity fighting Islam. Eventually both sides wearied of the struggle and called a truce. Much lost Greek thought was now reintroduced into Europe, having been lost for a millenium. Thus began the renaissance and the birth of scientific thought and rational humanistic philosophy and Atheism. Also, the Reformation coincided with this as local lords and kings (like Henry VIIIth of England) sought autonomy from the Roman Catholic church. These kings no longer had to fight together against Islamic Moors under the banner of the Catholic church - they could now fight each other and rebel against the Catholic church.
The birth of science resulted in both new modes of living as well as new ways of thinking. Inventions brought about a wealthy middle class. Weapons of warfare were transformed, mostly by gunpowder brought from China by the Muslims during the Crusader years. People no longer wished to be subject to kings, or to religious authorities, which gave birth to America and France, which preach democracy and separation of church and state. Incidentally, this was not to keep the church from influencing the state, but to keep the state from exterminating the church.

Everybody's got to believe something. If God were not real, man would invent him. And politics and religion are inseparable.

This won't take long because I am not a bible-thumping-religous-freak like some people are, I loved the movie very much and I was so inspired to think about my views on God. I am a free-spirit, I follow Abe Lincoln 'When I do good I feel good, when I have done bad then I feel bad and that's my religion' My problem with some people is when they blame God for their problems and situations in they're lives. Like when a kid that was molested by priest, they blame God, a angry that he cannot walk or move anything by himself, or Mimi Rogers character.

My advise to her would have been this; 'Honey, God didn't tell you to go to the desert and wait for days and night for a so-called Rapture, you did it by yourself because you believed a bunch of religous zealots. I don't believe God wants His children to fear Him or to even be sad and alone like you were. My relationship with God is like my relationship with my mom, I don't ask for so much other then like I am now 'please help me fight my urge to withdraw money from my account at least till I can save up' or I ask for 'happiness for my mom and my sisters'. You know little thing, I can't tell you that there will be a Heaven or Hell after we die but I can tell you this; we just have to keep an open mind on things and try not to judge what we cannot see or touch. Watch the movie 'Wide Awake' that is an example of what my faith is in God.

This movie just came on TV today and it was so weird I came here to see what the heck it was about.

There are probably hundreds of religions out there. They all believe different things but they all believe what they are doing for god is right. So they are all the right religion and they will all have whatever heaven they believe in regardless of believing in jesus or not. Does that mean all the good people in the world born and died before jesus ever came can't go to heaven? That's a sh*tty god if that's true and I don't want to be in that heaven.

As for is god a man or a woman? If he's a man then you are saying he is not a god at all, just a man.

As for me, save your 'my prayers are with you' to yourself. That would be a lie anyway. I want nothing to do with a god who does nothing to save anyone from rape, terrorism, cancer, murder, suffering, kidnappings, war, etc, etc, etc. *beep* that guy.

Life is here now. I'm not living all my days looking forward to dying. If there is a god then I would think that god would want me to live this great gift called LIFE and be a good person. Nothing more. And if he can do anything about war and other bad things, he won't. What a jerk.

Men wrote the bible and it's interpreted the way men want to view it. The same passage is viewed thousands of different ways depending on who you talk to.

All I know is those who believe in the bible or whatever other religious books or religion are all good people and all mean well wanting to save others. So I thank you for your kind thoughts but don't need them. I'm good thanks.

And it's terrible to see all the wars and deaths caused by who's god is the right god. It's sad.

Anyway what is heaven anyway? Paradise forever? How boring is that going to be aver a few hundred years? What if your wife died in a car crash and 24 years later you got remarried and the two of you now die. Will that man now have 2 wifes in heaven? Isnt' that wrong? What if heaven is being allowed to live on earth now and make your own decisions and choices?

blah...

I believe . . . I'll smoke another bowl!





"It's a trap!"
- Admiral Ackbar