Fear IS your only God.

it is fear that makes man take up religion.ask yourself this one question and be honest with yourself;

Why do you pray to God? Is it for longer life? more money? a new car/house/partner? or that the cancer cells will dissolve from a loved one? no hungry children in Africa? for global warming to stop? or that God gives you a safe passage to heaven? We pray because we fear the outcome of whats to happen.

This is why we have religion, to grant hope to mere mortals like ourselves to get by day after day after day on this existence we call life.

life without direction is useless.

whats with all the BvNB derivative topics in pHD nowadays?

anyway, personal IMHO, human being as a species still need religion. individual people may not need religion depending on their thinking.

here's to hoping human being as a species may one day do without the need of religion

Religion is an ideology and belief. It is not an argument that can be challenged and there is no such thing as need or dont need. If u think you dont need, then who are to you to tell others they dont need? People believe in what they want. SAme if u think religion is important you cant tell someone that they will go to hell because they dont believe in religion.

Dude, I think you should start something about this extraterrestriality you've been reading. I really don't know why they're so significant to us lol.

Religion is religion, and culture is culture. Not all religions are derived from culture. Religions that has "holy books from god" are not cultural. And the Godly "figure" aren't just a figure, you know, they aren't just cough syrup bottles (a figure) you call God.

And actually, culture are affected by these kind of religion, but these kind of religion does not get affected by culture. Obvious examples are the Malays ”tahlil" culture that are affected by Islam, and Black Friday culture from Christianity. The religions that are derived from culture are like Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucius that are actually philosophies created by respective Gautama and Confucius, which are derived from culture. That's why we classify religions as "revealed" (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) and "non-revealed"(other than the stated), they are definitely not the same.

"..like God is something idealistic and wonderful to believe in."

I agree on this statement anyway. God is supposed to be a superlative of everything, thats why we call him God. And that's why we don't call a bottle of cough syrup "god". That's because cough syrups aren't superlative, cough syrups doesn't impress me.

And yes, I do think there is a chance that we are the most intelligent creatures in the universe. I don't know about those hardcore UFO-aliens-extraterrestrial believers though, but personally I don't believe in them. Too many controversies and too many unproved proofs around, and it made me went so-what-if-they-exist?-they-are-none-of-my-business-i-dont-kacau-them-they-dont-kacau-me, sorta attitude.


You know, if everyone thinks like you, the world will be individualistic. We understand perfectly well that people believe what they want, but then discussing mind-over-matters over these aren't the same as preaching.

Religion definitely can be challenged - too many people are questioning the too many religions here, seeking for the true one, and the wisdom that came with it. You said it yourself, religion is THEOLOGY and belief, thus there must be a purpose for it to exist in this world. And to know that purpose, people discuss, learn, compare from one religion to another, searching for the best. Thus, it is challengeable and there are such questions of needing and not needing religion - there MUST be a cause why religious people and atheists co-exist.

I don't like to refer religion as an “ideology", not all religions are ideologies - how will you explain revealed religions that has holy books as ideologies? Only certain ones are ideologies, like Confucius and Zen.

This post has been edited by annariana: Nov 16 2009, 08:57 AM

Then how do u say we can compare and serach which is the best religion? So if you comapred and say islam is the best religion. DOes it mean i am on the lower class religion if i am a christian? This is

if you look in history, religion is generally used to
1. explain the unknown/allay fear of the unknown
2. guide people to do good
3. give courage in times of uncertainty/fear

these are generally the positive aspect, i'll ignore the negative aspect such as compel people to obey a leader, etc

given point 1 to 3, religion is no longer needed when
1. knowledge increase and/or people no longer fear the unknown
2. people do good for the sake of doing good
3. people learn to control their fear and doubt

And again, my decision does not affect your decision isn't it? I'm a muslim, doesn't mean that I'm of a higher class religion than others - this is what I believed after a lot of reading and research, as I used to be a rebel over the fact that I inherited my religion from my parents before. If you're a christian, I assume you'd know why you choose christianity too. Religion has no "higher" or "lower" class, and class, is not what we've been talking about, isn't it?


True, I respect this.

But then, I do think that human need something to control over them, so that people do good for the sake of doing good. There are sooo not-many Mother Teresas around. And people will never learn to control their fear and doubt, as self-help books still exists. So, I don't think the situation in which religion is no longer needed can exist simultaneously.

Well im born a christian but personally i dont believe so much in religion to the point that we have to be a fanatic. I do believe a person needs a religion as guide for them in life. If not they will get influenced easily by bad things.

I also believe that every religion is the same. That there is one God the creator. Its just we worship God different way and call God by different names. Its like language. It has the same meaning but different way of saying it.

For others, like buddism its a way of life which I believe is a good practic also.

I think I needto corerct t his.. Culture is the general word.. which mean religion is the sub of culture.. where religion it self is a culture....

what is culture? culture is the common perspective; behaviour; ritual performed; language and symbol....

even lowyat.net is a culture.. talk to your mum about RWI and she might not know it...

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Added on November 16, 2009, 12:15 pmyes.. Don`t you think its weird that certain selected people like priest etc can connect with God... and it is said that God is fair and just.......

have you watch the doc "the secret" it is said that god power them.. but look closer, it is actually the power of believe...

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Added on November 16, 2009, 12:29 pmBuddhism is a study... study of self.. your self and the mind

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Added on November 16, 2009, 12:29 pmthere is no such thing to fear.. but fear itself

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Added on November 16, 2009, 12:30 pmI would change the word best to suitable....



This post has been edited by Awakened_Angel: Nov 16 2009, 12:30 PM

"Religion is the sub of culture"

I think it's the other way round? Culture is a sub of religion. Christianity doesn't emerge from culture, isn't it？

The phrase they used when they say "god power" them, I think it's just a metaphor, what they meant is that the thought of God makes em energized? Lol I'm not a fan of self help books haha

the majority of the negative emotions like fear/doubt/aggression/selfishness/territorialism/etc are instinctual remnants of evolution (if you believe in it) they stem from the lower portion of the brain (the reptilian brain - as coined by carl sagan) and is vital for survival in less civilized times (it is still vital, now, in some extent) religion, as i see it, serve to control and channel this portion of the brain.

accordingly, on top of this "reptilian brain" is your logical and analytical "thinking brain" or the cerebrum. many decision making is a contest between these two brains. religion will no longer be needed if the upper brain is able to fully suppress the lower brain and thus controlling the negative emotions and urges. perhaps at this point, the human race would achieve some form of "enlightenment" as coined by some religion

No.. I studied sociology before... culture its like this...

culture got like age, sex, race, religion, school etc... all got each culture.... even same malay but different state got different cultural group....

and even me and my twin brother have different religion we have different religion cultural group... though we might share same cultural group like age, sex, race, family interest etc....

culture a group of people share same language, view on something, ritual symbol etc....

p/s ritual does not mean religious ritual... like MLM might have their ritual of shouting "yes we can"...
and their cultural symbol is their company name...
or, malay from Kl may have different style when eating when together with Kampung malay... even the slang is different...

it depends on how you subdivide people... and race is just one tiny puny part of it...

and one person have many many cultural group..

eg. I might belong to malaysian culture when I`m with korean buddhist etc... get it?

This post has been edited by Awakened_Angel: Nov 16 2009, 02:14 PM

Haha, i definitely agree there. Religion didn't create culture. Culture created religion & the person who made it fine-tuned it accordingly.

@f4te: asking about whether humans NEED religion has nothing to do with which religion is as you put it, 'best'. Look at the word "need" in the larger sense of the word. It's not like "I need my morning coffee" or "I need you in my life". Without that coffee/person, we CAN live but it's just something we have to grow above/ adjust to. We need religion like we need coffee. It helps us a lot and the world will be in an uproar if they lost coffee but we will live. Hence, we don't need coffee.

It's talking about our basic want to have something to believe in and whether we can live without it. If so, will we be better off in a moral/physical sense, etc...Am i right in presuming this is the direction you want this thread to go, TS?

smack down.... bingo....

but one thing wrong.. I need my coffee to make my day

True.. But I'm still quite convinced that not all religions are created by culture. But thanks for the heads on anyway, I understood what you meant



Yep, perfectly right. I'm quite prepared of that sort of sway over "religion classifications" or whatever we can put it, when I produced the statement on the best religion for me. But then, f4te's right over people's choices, human has the choice to need religion or not, and to need which religion. And come to think of the most suitable religion choices, I am not against preachers but I do detest preachings that classify other religions as second best of the one he is preaching about. As I did heard conversations and talks on different religions to compare before, I really don't like preachers who does not research on the normal philosophical questions the religion should answer - like "why we must worship this God?" "why are we created?" "why there are so many versions of this holy book if all are true?" "why do we have to pray?" "why must we eat kosher?" et cetera.

So here, we're not talking about which religion is best for you - that's up to you to do your homework. We're talking about whether we need religion or not. And if we do, should we follow the whole religious aspects of the religion, or just take some part of it and diffuse it with another to 'create' a suitable belief for us? Do we actually need to believe the sin-and-merit concept in every religion? And a lot more. What we need, is just to keep and open mind and keep comparing and comparing until we find the answer.

EDIT :

So here, I'm not talking about which religion is best for you - that's up to you to do your homework. I'm talking about whether human need religion or not. And if humans do, should they follow the whole religious aspects of the religion, or just take some part of it and diffuse it with another to 'create' a suitable belief for themselves? Do they actually need to believe the sin-and-merit concept in every religion? And a lot more. What everyone who is replying here need, is just to keep and open mind and keep comparing and comparing, not by making selfish assumptions etc.

This post has been edited by annariana: Nov 16 2009, 05:40 PM

I think you cant say something or come out with a conclusion that generalize and cover everyone...

Ahaha

Okay, wrong use of address. It's not a we

probably yes. religion has killed more people, started more wars than anything else.

religion is probably the only effective mechanism that successfully dupe humans to die, to make way for the stronger and the new.

much better than natural selection, what survival of the fittest blabs.

in this world, we need to have faith. Without it, life is pointless and meaningless.