Oh, I could go on forever :D Just stop me if you don't want to read my comments anymore.
Well, here it goes.
The standards of what you believe should not be controlled by someone besides yourself. I would just try to separate people from their arguments. If you listen to an argument, try to figure out whether it makes sense - to you and in general. End if it does: who cares whose mouth it comes from? On a number of points I happen to agree with people I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
If you happen to agree with something, you are agreeing with the argument, not with the person. That is how I look at it.
Back to religion: surprisingly, most religious people I've ever spoken to don't even know what it is that they believe. Basic questions, like: "Do you hold a deist or a theist position?" remain unanswered. In debates, people usually only defend the deist position, which says that God is an entity which has created the world and has not intervened in human affairs since then.
It is, I suspect, because the theist position is just untenable. How do you move from this entity to following a book, which was written by people, who by definition knew less about the world than you and I do?
How come there are so many books people claim to be holy? How come they are mutually exclusive? How come there are mountains of factual mistakes in these so-called perfect books? Just questions to reflect upon.
You have mentioned utilitarian arguments. Religion has helped people, and so on. It is certainly true that religion can be utilized, it can be useful.
But it does not make it true. Neuroscientist S.Harris speaks interestingly about it here:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrDlVLbtKbQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrDlVLbtKbQ</a>
But, as I mentioned before, you don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater. You can still enjoy the company of your friends, you can still be spiritual, you can still transform your perception of the world by controlling your thoughts. All of these things are not exclusive to religious people, we, non-religious, have them as well.
So, remaining culturally XYZ(Christian, in your case) without believing in unjustified things is possibly a good option, when you realize that there is less and less meaning in being religious.
Sorry i didn't respond, life gets ahead of ya. BUT-
I think if you have something to say about Christians (if you know about them or have been one) opinion on gay marriage? I think being a christian is great sometimes, but when they start talking about how gay marriage is wrong I just think that there is no logical reason to. I just wonder if they think, "We love the sinner not the sin.". but isn't that actually saying, they love the person but they don't think they should have the same rights? How can you love someone or show respect to someone but down want them on the same level as you in society. It honestly feel that it's a hypocritical opinion.
Is it normal that I'm extremely confused about religion?
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Thank you for your message , I would like to learn as much as I can, anymore info would be helpful :)
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Unimportant
8 years ago
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Oh, I could go on forever :D Just stop me if you don't want to read my comments anymore.
Well, here it goes.
The standards of what you believe should not be controlled by someone besides yourself. I would just try to separate people from their arguments. If you listen to an argument, try to figure out whether it makes sense - to you and in general. End if it does: who cares whose mouth it comes from? On a number of points I happen to agree with people I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
If you happen to agree with something, you are agreeing with the argument, not with the person. That is how I look at it.
Back to religion: surprisingly, most religious people I've ever spoken to don't even know what it is that they believe. Basic questions, like: "Do you hold a deist or a theist position?" remain unanswered. In debates, people usually only defend the deist position, which says that God is an entity which has created the world and has not intervened in human affairs since then.
It is, I suspect, because the theist position is just untenable. How do you move from this entity to following a book, which was written by people, who by definition knew less about the world than you and I do?
How come there are so many books people claim to be holy? How come they are mutually exclusive? How come there are mountains of factual mistakes in these so-called perfect books? Just questions to reflect upon.
You have mentioned utilitarian arguments. Religion has helped people, and so on. It is certainly true that religion can be utilized, it can be useful.
But it does not make it true. Neuroscientist S.Harris speaks interestingly about it here:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrDlVLbtKbQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrDlVLbtKbQ</a>
But, as I mentioned before, you don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater. You can still enjoy the company of your friends, you can still be spiritual, you can still transform your perception of the world by controlling your thoughts. All of these things are not exclusive to religious people, we, non-religious, have them as well.
So, remaining culturally XYZ(Christian, in your case) without believing in unjustified things is possibly a good option, when you realize that there is less and less meaning in being religious.
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lislis5
8 years ago
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Very interesting, I'd love to listen to more of what you have to say!
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Unimportant
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Which direction would you like this conversation to go? Is there something you'd like me to write about or to comment on?
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lislis5
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Sorry i didn't respond, life gets ahead of ya. BUT-
I think if you have something to say about Christians (if you know about them or have been one) opinion on gay marriage? I think being a christian is great sometimes, but when they start talking about how gay marriage is wrong I just think that there is no logical reason to. I just wonder if they think, "We love the sinner not the sin.". but isn't that actually saying, they love the person but they don't think they should have the same rights? How can you love someone or show respect to someone but down want them on the same level as you in society. It honestly feel that it's a hypocritical opinion.