The chances of being right when it comes to religion.

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

@Lorgar-Aurelian : it might be a good idea to attempt to clearly state (to yourself at least) what is the purpose and structure of a religion.

What are you on about?

 

[LuisDantas]

What are you on about?

I think that you are attempting to justify and pursue a specific religious model that may easily not be the best fit to you personally.

Raising awareness of the diversity of models and nurturing ease of mind when confronted with the unavoidable need to choose what works for you and let go of what does not is probably a good idea.

 

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

I think that you are attempting to justify and pursue a specific religious model that may easily not be the best fit to you personally.

Raising awareness of the diversity of models and nurturing ease of mind when confronted with the unavoidable need to choose what works for you and let go of what does not is probably a good idea.

i'm saying none of them seem to have enough evidence.

 

[sayak83]

And even then, it is only a problem if one insists upon thinking in "either-or" or "black-white" terms rather than "both-and" terms or "use this here and that there" terms.

Yes, there are many ways to cut the cake. One can go for instrumentalist route, non-reductive pluralist route, Phenomenological route, Existential route, multiple modality route etc. etc. As long as one has done some careful examination and reflection and is not in denial mode regarding obvious inconsistencies, there exists many ways that may work given the experiences one has and the way one approaches the world.

 

[sayak83]

i'm saying none of them seem to have enough evidence.

Could you explain, which one has the most evidence? If you are planning to trample other people's hats, its only fair to put yours in.

 

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

Could you explain, which one has the most evidence? If you are planning to trample other people's hats, its only fair to put yours in.

I am not trampling other people's hats but ican not accept said hats without some reason to do so.

 

[sayak83]

I am not trampling other people's hats but ican not accept said hats without some reason to do so.

I was making a joke. Seriously, what model or worldview, according to you has the most justification and please provide reasons.

 

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

I was making a joke. Seriously, what model or worldview, according to you has the most justification and please provide reasons.

Couldn't tell ya.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

I am not trampling other people's hats but ican not accept said hats without some reason to do so.

You were saying that they have no reason to wear their hat earlier. Even went so far as to assume their experience of affirmation could only be feelings based or be invalid. There's no way for you to know that. There's no way you could know it isn't that either and it's totally reasonable to reserve judgement on their beliefs until you have similar experience, if you ever do.

 

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

You were saying that they have no reason to wear their hat earlier. Even went so far as to assume their experience of affirmation could only be feelings based or be invalid. There's no way for you to know that. There's no way you could know it isn't that either and it's totally reasonable to reserve judgement on their beliefs until you have similar experience, if you ever do.

Yes yes we went over that already.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Yes yes we went over that already.

I thought it bore repeating.
Do you disagree with it?

 

[sayak83]

Couldn't tell ya.

Well, I am planning to wear some hat. So, if you don't have a hat to sell..I am keeping mine.
See..very rational.

 

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

Well, I am planning to wear some hat. So, if you don't have a hat to sell..I am keeping mine.
See..very rational.

I'm not looking for you to loose your hat i'm look for a hat myself.

 

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

I thought it bore repeating.
Do you disagree with it?

No way I could know it's not valid? No I don't agree.
If it's not feelings based I've never heard any of the people saying they had an experience explain it with something other than feelings.

 

[sayak83]

I'm not looking for you to loose your hat i'm look for a hat myself.

Well, that is an invitation to preach which is kind of not allowed in this forum. The only thing I will say is this. Incorporating meditation practices (either Hindu or Buddhist) is likely to be helpful anyways, so you can try that out. Since I suspect that you are not religious, you should go the philosophical route. The website below has a very illuminating set of small podcasts that cater to Western and Indian philosophy from the classical era. All done by actual philosophers. Try some out and see what you like,
https://historyofphilosophy.net/india-origins

 

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

Well, that is an invitation to preach which is kind of not allowed in this forum. The only thing I will say is this. Incorporating meditation practices (either Hindu or Buddhist) is likely to be helpful anyways, so you can try that out. Since I suspect that you are not religious, you should go the philosophical route. The website below has a very illuminating set of small podcasts that cater to Western and Indian philosophy from the classical era. All done by actual philosophers. Try some out and see what you like,
https://historyofphilosophy.net/india-origins

Damn rules preventing people from preaching. Some people should get a soapbox damnit.

 

[LuisDantas]

i'm saying none of them seem to have enough evidence.

Belief in gods is not a matter of logical deduction or scientific research for that to have significance.

 

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

Belief in gods is not a matter of logical deduction or scientific research for that to have significance.

Didn't say they did. At least I don't think I did.

 

[sayak83]

Damn rules preventing people from preaching. Some people should get a soapbox damnit.

Check out the link. It has excellent 15 minute podcasts on major ideas within Greek, Roman, Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. That should provide enough food for thought. If you have any questions regarding Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, I and other Hindus/Buddhists can help. I think its better that you adopt something that suits you, which is not necessarily what I hold at all. I believe that everyone should have one's own custom-fit hat, but styling advice is always freely given.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Lets pretend all religions are equally possibly correct. If one goes by nothing but the numbers the chance of you being correct are 1 in 19 if you count the large religions of the world . From there if you add in religious sects and dead religions the chance goes down even lower.

So how do you figure which religion is the correct one if there is indeed a correct one?

I've seen people approach this issue in two different ways, one is simply that you feel a connection to a certain belief therefore you follow said belief. You seek out the gods you feel a connection to and go from there. Of course there is one big problem with this being that you relied on feelings to get you here.

You can feel a lot of things but that doesn't make them valid. You may feel it is for instance racist to criticize Judaism or Israel but that doesn't mean it is actually racist to do so. You may feel something is a religious experience but is in fact perfectly mundane. Mental gymnastics can only take you so far with your feelings.

Then you have reason. Some people try to reason out their beliefs and make sure they make sense. They'll argue and defend their beliefs to the very bitter end in some cases. Over the years they may even get very good at this.

Of course a problem arises here as well. You can not demonstrate that a god and even more painfully your own god/gods exist. You can not prove it and I know you can't because people have been trying for centuries now, millennia even and have as of yet come up with nothing.

"Ah ha!" they may say "But I can give you reasons it seems plausible that God exists!" There is usually a note of excitement among the younger apologists when they say this. The older ones may or may not even bother.

The issue here seems obvious to me. Any reason you could give still has to be taken with a certain measure of faith. The reason sometimes given is that life Is too complex to come from nothing. This of course ignores evolution but even then it's not really an argument for anything but a deistic god now is it?

I've heard just about every reason in the book now I think or at least a good portion of them. If you have another feel free to apply it here if you wish. I can't say I don't listen for good reasons even today.

In the end when I stop and think about it, the lack of evidence and the sheer number of religions makes it neigh unto impossible to determine what religion could be right. Of course many don't claim the exclusivity to the truth that others do but this is of little consequence.

So tell me , why would you think your particular interpretation of the spiritual is correct?

There's a pretty big drop-off after #1