Christainanity Discussion

[Feed the Monkey]

Smartypants: Why would have the world trade centre not have been attacked? Why would GWB not have attacked Iraq? The point I was trying to make is that religion is not the fuel for these attacks. I repeat, in no religion does it say "Go and kill someone". It is peoples ignorance and hatred of those different from themselves, and greed that forces them do these things. I maintain my beleif that they use religion as an excuse. People have these feelings anyway. You're not a person of faith, but I'm sure you've wanted to hit someone before? Maybe got in a fight? Bad mouthed someone? Done something really bad to someone that you are ashamed of? We are all human, and therefore we are all flawed. Even christians, buddhists etc. Wars happen. Bad stuff happens. People are really shitty to each other. Its whether or not you want to view the differences between people as a negative or positive thing. Unfortunately, often people use differences as a negative force. And I'm afraid that in many of your views here, you do indeed see the differances between yourself and christians as a negative force. "Christians are ignorant because they beleive in the word of God" is equally as negative as saying "Only the word of God is right". As far as I'm concerned, what another human being chooses to beleive is none of my business, as long as they a: Don't try and force their beleifs on someone else and b: harm another human being. But, as you state, there are people who beleive things who are hurting other human beings. And I agree that this is wrong.

And Craig, yes, you're right. Religion does claim to answer the unanswerable. But I feel that it really answers these things through metaphor. I think that, for example the bible creation story is a fantastic metaphor: An unimaginable source of power and love (however you want to view that word) created this universe. Whether it is a concious entity or not is down to ones own beleifs. It created everything we see. Mankind was born out of this source of energy. Very quickly, mankind began to screw up and gave way to it's own desires. The minute this happened, the world stopped being a paradise because mankind always sought something outside itself to make it happy.

Now what I don't beleive is that God, a man shaped being, created the world in 7 days, made adam from the earth, made Eve out of his rib, and then cast mankind out of Eden for eating an apple. But its the metapor that this story, and any religious story represents.

It's like we are all children of the universe, brought together for a few years to live on this planet together. I mean, how amazing!!! And ultimatley how profound!!!

But agreed, it's when people are taking these a literal facts that things become distorted. Was Jesus really the son of God? Or a really great freedom fighter, who preached in an occupied land, beleived in non violence and was killed for his beleifs? He predated Gandhi and Martin Luther King by 2000 years, and we still talk about him today. Was he saying I am the son of God? Or was he saying we are ALL the son of God? I think Jesus would be very upset if anyone killed in his name.

I think people need to see with better eyes.