Religion: why you believe what you believe, and how can you prove it.

[tyler.durden]

...all religions meet at a point. And with a strong atheist worldview I don't know if you can mix and match In my opinion it is the people that boast which make for poor attitudes about religion. As a catholic I don't have much appreciation for those particular christians. The thing is, non-christian people of certain descents have the same 'nose in the air' attitude as the christian ones. To me, that is proof of the religion itself being less to blame than the people who peruse its message.

...yes, for sure. And, there are also 4 main points in the Bible (and other holy books) which will always be the same. A more modern take on that comes from the Myers-Briggs test, as an example. I think that the thoughts of that day shaped (or cladded, really) an undercurrent that has always been there - and will likely always be there.

...lol, it seems to be a theme

Well, think of a tree or other 'common' objects...think of any thing that is always there for every single person on the planet. Sunrise, sunset...you get it.

There are thoughts in the whole of man as a race - aka collective consciousness. These thoughts are like those 'common' objects. All people will have the same base thoughts, and the rest comes from experiences that make up the person's personality. In the holy books there are allegories that people will understand no matter what year it is.

Hey, Eye! This is exciting, I can actually understand what you wrote! Very down to Earth language. Is this a new trend, or did you miss your meds this morning?

 

[drive]

Why I believe what I believe and can you prove it. I believe that there is a GOD but it is nothing like the bible explains. GOD is not an appeaser. GOD does not grant wishes. GOD does not care if you believe or not. I know this because one of GODs represenatives told me

 

[Chief Walkin Eagle]

Why I believe what I believe and can you prove it. I believe that there is a GOD but it is nothing like the bible explains. GOD is not an appeaser. GOD does not grant wishes. GOD does not care if you believe or not. I know this because one of GODs represenatives told me

I too know a representative of god, hes quite a trip. Are you talking about a shaman?

 

[drive]

Mine has come to me in my mind. though he has friends in nature

 

[madmonk]

I believe very firmly that organised religion is the singular most dangerous threat to mankinds freedom-having said that I really dont care what you belive as long as you do not attempt to convert me or base a government upon your chosen creed.At which piont I will add-"I may not agree with what you say-but I will defend to the death your right to say it.(I will add a caveat here)As long as your comments cause no harm to be done to another!"People-we are all looking for the great answer-well most of us-for some its the choice not to believe while others dedicate there lives to a chosen diety or path.I dropped the great god out of my life and chose my path many years ago.I choose to live..my way.But-I will add this-I may not believe inb God per se-but I do believe there is absolute good and there is absolute evil and in many cases we make the chioce becuase I believe we are all born with the inherite knowledge of what right or wrong.

 

[crazyhazey]

Well of course you have your minority...

Tom Cruize
Madonna

Most people choose a religion because they actually believe what is being feed to them...

"knockoff religions" are created by members of an earlier religion that no longer believed everything the original religion told them. So they edit the religion to better suit their beliefs and then call it their own...

If that is what you mean, then I agree with you...

that was a better way to say, on point as well. +rep.

 

[crazyhazey]

The lack of mind control is actually the problem in virtually all cases. Lack of mental discipline. The heart of all these issues is the willingness to surrender the mind to ideas with no support. Accepting answers to questions which have none, and pretending they must be right. In most cases, the problem can be distilled down to the inability or unwillingness to think. It's that simple. Not to say a thinking man must be atheist, but if a person is truly conscientious there is rarely a problem no matter their beliefs.

i mean mind control as in they're controlling their minds, but you make an excellent point there. those who accept things without proof lack the mental discipline, i will only believe in things that truly exist, if theres no real evidence of it then i believe theres no fact to be drawn from it. i think you should be your own priest, dont let someone tell you things they cannot prove and simply take their word because a majority of people do. its tragic that this mental weakness still exists in the 21st century, im sure many philosophers from the past would have extpected us to abolish religion by now, if you look in hind sight nothing good comes of it(yes, they do donate and stuff but that money is given to them, they pocket lots of it too im sure). even china doesnt allow christianity, they know its a scam and confronted it before it took control of their nation, and leeched off of their economy like it does ours. some people cannot see through religion like others can, its like telling a guy he has an ugly girlfriend, but denies it because he's so used to her, yes beauty is opinionated but you see my point. you cant drive a mile in america without seeing a church, especially down south. hospitals and schools should replace all churches, thats all wasted space if you ask me. churches never taught anyone anything, if anything it makes you less intelligent if you listen to the things that the bible tells you. after all, dinosaurs never existed and the world 2000 years old right? and carbon dating is all the work of the devil. i think its hysterical how some people can blindly believe this shit and not question it one bit, its the same reason people listened to hitler, fear. thats all it is.(not meaning to take MixedMelodyMindBender's example, just a coincidence)

btw, its a sad day on riu.

• You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Heisenberg again.
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

[crazyhazey]

Mine has come to me in my mind. though he has friends in nature

lay off the acid buddy.

 

[crazyhazey]

Of course not. I've seen dogs save kittens from a swimming pool before.

You do not need religion to tell you to be nice, but reading knowledge from 100 generations ago and from several continents helps me feel connected to our ancestors helps me live a frame of mind where I view myself as one with the you, God, and the Universe.

that sounds like a picture on a calendar or something, amazing how even animals have sympathy. or maybe he was hungry...?
and i fully support your view, i would say read as much as you can and learn from everything you come across, but take everything into account before believing. we are all connected, i dont know much about string theory but i do believe our minds have some sort of connection, like the 6th sense of someone watching you. theres no scientific proof for that, but maybe one day we will figure out why, maybe we put off certain smells or some sort of telepathic wave that travels from brain to brain. like i was saying earlier, the mind is the most amazing thing in the world yet people decide to not use it. who knows what lies in the depths of your mind, its all mystery to me. id say the most interesting thing would be the pinneal gland, but theres so much more to know about how our mind functions. exercise that muscle we call our brain, it will pay off one day. any knowledge is beneficial, a wider view is always better.

 

[crazyhazey]

Which is why I think people need to have their own thoughts.

But thinking outside the box doesn't mean you can't revere and honor the box.

my point exactly, hold what you believe to yourself, dont put it upon other either. there is good things in this hypothetical box, but i believe you should try to interpret the verses in as many ways as possible, whatever one seems morally justified would be better, so you do require outside beliefs if you truly want to use religion the way it was made to be used; to keep people in line, morality wise.

 

[crazyhazey]

Oddly enough while at the dentist last week I was reading an article about the Amish in a magazine. Unbeknownst to myself but the Amish have the largest rate of suicide outside of Islam. Which kinda makes sense to me, as I have seen just how horrific they can be to a non-believer or someone who is "exiled". shunning, especially in the Amish community, can be the blame to such a high suicide rate. If I remember correctly the average age was like 18 or right around the time of Amish "courting" or dating period where they have the option of leaving the cult.

thats they type of mind control that religion, taken to an extreme.

 

[cannabineer]

Oddly enough while at the dentist last week I was reading an article about the Amish in a magazine. Unbeknownst to myself but the Amish have the largest rate of suicide outside of Islam. Which kinda makes sense to me, as I have seen just how horrific they can be to a non-believer or someone who is "exiled". shunning, especially in the Amish community, can be the blame to such a high suicide rate. If I remember correctly the average age was like 18 or right around the time of Amish "courting" or dating period where they have the option of leaving the cult.

Wonder how many of them chose electrocution ... cn

 

[crazyhazey]

Wonder how many of them chose electrocution ... cn

hahaha thats not a very amish way to go.

 

[mindphuk]

Never said it was wrong m8, just highly not idea place. I mean this place has the attention span of a 8 year old with adhd. Your not gonna get anything of merit or relative to merit.

Cannabis Users are a wide realm I get that yes. But I would like to think when your sick and you need advice, you go to a Dr. and not the homeless wisemen down the road. But, to each their own.

Its mostly a poke of fun, if your remove it from context, well then it can be whatever you would like it to be. I mean he asked why I believed in what I believed in and I told him the skittles riddle Don't take my post to heart. Its comical advice, do what ya will with it

Again, like I said, I didn't say to not pick and probe the community with religious question. I recommended he chill and hinted that its just not the ideal place to ask such questions.

Go to church and ask??? Might be an ideal place to start....certainly better than a canna forum.

I mean if you want to know about a certain dr in life....would u go to a hospital or a graveyard????????

Or per say a famous musician....would you go to a landfill or maybe a museum???? Just sayiinnnnnn

I have often asked this question of those that claim evolution has no basis in reality. After trying to explain to them how they are misunderstanding evolution, they will often link or post information they pulled from some ID or creationist website to support their POV.
I ask, if I want to know about Jesus, should I ask a scientist? If not, why do you go to a fundamentalist Christian to learn about evolution? I usually don't get any responses.

 

[eye exaggerate]

Hey, Eye! This is exciting, I can actually understand what you wrote! Very down to Earth language. Is this a new trend, or did you miss your meds this morning?

...one word - headband

* random picture from the internet

 

[crazyhazey]

I have often asked this question of those that claim evolution has no basis in reality. After trying to explain to them how they are misunderstanding evolution, they will often link or post information they pulled from some ID or creationist website to support their POV.
I ask, if I want to know about Jesus, should I ask a scientist? If not, why do you go to a fundamentalist Christian to learn about evolution? I usually don't get any responses.

i would speak to someone who doesnt let something like religion get in the way of their view of natural selection, or over time what we call evolution. its happening as we speak, theyve recently found an electric catfish in the congo river, so fuck whoever says thats blasphemy because thats solid evidence. it happens when a species faces extinction, the force known as natural selection takes place when numbers get small, its almost as if nature is directly connected to everything around it. darwin proved it with the evolving shape of a birds beak, to get food it needed a longer beak to be able to reach into tree trunks and feed. theres not much explanation for it, but this is where id expect someone to say "god did it!", but instead they deny another fact about the way life goes. congrats to anyone who can believe their bullshit.

 

[Heisenberg]

Never said it was wrong m8, just highly not idea place. I mean this place has the attention span of a 8 year old with adhd. Your not gonna get anything of merit or relative to merit.

Cannabis Users are a wide realm I get that yes. But I would like to think when your sick and you need advice, you go to a Dr. and not the homeless wisemen down the road. But, to each their own.

Its mostly a poke of fun, if your remove it from context, well then it can be whatever you would like it to be. I mean he asked why I believed in what I believed in and I told him the skittles riddle Don't take my post to heart. Its comical advice, do what ya will with it

Again, like I said, I didn't say to not pick and probe the community with religious question. I recommended he chill and hinted that its just not the ideal place to ask such questions.

Go to church and ask??? Might be an ideal place to start....certainly better than a canna forum.

I mean if you want to know about a certain dr in life....would u go to a hospital or a graveyard????????

Or per say a famous musician....would you go to a landfill or maybe a museum???? Just sayiinnnnnn

Perhaps if someone wanted to write a paper on the subject, cannabis forums wouldn't be the best place, but for a cannabis user who is trying to satisfy idle curiosity and express frustration, I think this place has a lot to offer. We are talking about a very common belief that is shared by most of our peers and ancestors, and also a very common subject that intrigues people when they are stoned. I myself have learned more about religion here than anywhere else or any other time in my life, and a good deal of what I have learned has come from people who believe differently than I do. Even though most of the information is located on other sites, it is the conversations here which drove me to learn. I happen to be quite proud of the little community we have in this sub-forum, and feel we have some valuable insight to share. I personally welcome questions on subjects like these and do not discount responses simply because the person likely uses cannabis. I realize you are trying to be light hearted and I of course have no problem with your conduct, just the sentiment that someone should feel silly for asking this question here, or not expect to get thoughtful answers. Many of us here are honestly trying to communicate and put effort into our replies.

Sending someone curious about the mechanics of religion to a church to ask the worshipers why they believe is a bit like going to an asylum and asking the patients why they are crazy.

 

[Geronimo420]

Why I believe what I believe and can you prove it. I believe that there is a GOD but it is nothing like the bible explains. GOD is not an appeaser. GOD does not grant wishes. GOD does not care if you believe or not. I know this because one of GODs represenatives told me

If he looked like this guy it was your imagination

 

[crazyhazey]

If he looked like this guy it was your imagination
View attachment 2195479

any picture you put up to represent "GOD" is part of your imagination, everyone sees a different one due to culture although, flying spaghetti monster seems the most realistic, but thats my opinion of course hahaha.

 

[Dr.J20]

crazyhazy, while you make some points in your op that are indisputable empirically, i think they're are some flaws in logic.

while there are many people who claim to "know" what God wants us to do based on reading what are some very old texts, indeed, this does not mean that those books were necessarily written for that purpose. Nor is it of any value (for argument's sake) that these religious texts are very old.

In my opinion, the purpose of the religious text is to provide a space for spiritual meditation or the contemplative pose. By and large, the world's religions preach similar primary messages: Love each other, take care of each other, and be happy. Many eastern religions focus this through the lens of divesting yourself of desire which, in western terms, means getting away from materialism. If one reads these texts--the vedas, the upanishads, the mahabarata, the bhagvad-gita, the bible (in all its incarnations), the tora and talmud, the koran, the writings of great religious leaders and philosophers--it can offer great instruction on how to approach, how to formulate and maintain, an existence in which love, peace, justice, and happiness are maximal.

I agree that many institutionalizations of these messages have fallen to the corruption which always becomes possible when power structures are invested in those institutions. what this means, i think, in short response to your op, is that the problem is not with the religion itself, but with the churches, mosques, temples, etc.

I think there is an instructive Buddhist vis-a-vis Hindu principle that you will find enlightening and agreeable: Do not believe anything that does not make sense to you. or, contrariwise, believe only that which makes sense to you.

NOW, the whole bit of searching for proof in all this, well, you will never find that. there is no proof. that is why these become matters of faith and debate. We can sit on and argue endlessly about the merits of rationale, emotion, spirituality; we can go back and forth on moral conundra forever; we can approach philosophical questions from diverse vantage points and still resolve nothing. Thats, in my suspicion, part of the fun of being a human being. God, or whatever you want to call the primordial force of the universe, had a pretty good sense of humor when he started the evolution of man on earth: now there's a whole big faction of our species that does nothing but sit around and argue about what our purpose in existence is when it has never changed: be happy.

my two cents

be easy


--------EDIT------
above I say "what God wants us to do"... I think, upon reflecting, God doesn't "want" us to do anything, as God doesn't want. So, it is better to formulate the discussion through the language of our purpose. I believe that was a clear point covered above: our purpose is to be happy. The hard part is figuring out the "how" of that "being happy," because it is subjective--specialized, if you'd like to euphemize--