• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Why is one religion any better than any other?

dfnj

Well-Known Member
Why is one religion any better than any other?

Before you respond with why yours is better than mine first consider a few thoughts about the nature of our human language and how it relates to personal dogma. A dogma is a set of principles laid down by some authority you respect above all others. For other people absolute authority comes from within. In either case, wherever you place your authority, either out there in some person or some book, or within from your own insights, we are still bounded by the nature and limitations of our human language.

In order to have meaningful language, you have to have a set of assumptions or axioms you consider to be true without proof. From that point. you are then able to make statements in the language you can identify as being true or insane. For example, just like the word God is used in religion, science has the word "Time". Time doesn't exist anywhere. I can't touch it. I can't see it. Yet it's everywhere and eternal according to the scientists. Here's a really cool article on the idea that Time is not real:

"There Is No Such Thing As Time"

"If you try to get your hands on time, it's always slipping through your fingers," says Barbour. "People are sure time is there, but they can't get hold of it. My feeling is that they can't get hold of it because it isn't there at all." Barbour speaks with a disarming English charm that belies an iron resolve and confidence in his science. His extreme perspective comes from years of looking into the heart of both classical and quantum physics. Isaac Newton thought of time as a river flowing at the same rate everywhere. Einstein changed this picture by unifying space and time into a single 4-D entity. But even Einstein failed to challenge the concept of time as a measure of change.

But this thread is not about Time but why is one religion better than any other. Again, consider the nature of language and having axioms. Every system of thought has a set of axioms. This is where everything breaks down in communication between people. People generally do not share the same set of axioms or are even aware that they have a set of ideas they accept as being true without any proof. It's just the way it is between people. So if my axioms are NOT the same as yours, then things I will say will seem insane to you. And things you say will seem insane to me. And if you can ascertain what someone else's axioms are in a conversation, then if your mind is big enough to pretend they are true, then you can see what the other person considers to be "truth" from their point of view.

Every religion, regardless of the source, has a set of assumptions or axioms that are considered to be absolute truth. These axioms are not challenged and do not require evidence or proof of their validity for the faithful. Either they are given to you through a book from some authority you consider to be the source of truth.

For people who believe in the Old Testament God, they have a set of axioms most people would not accept as being true. But this does not mean their dogma is better or worse than the dogma you and I have.

So now the question becomes, in my way of thinking, what set of axioms are the "right" set to have? I'm not sure there is a correct set as far as I can tell. I like to figure out what other people consider to be axioms. I'm like a collector of thought systems. I hold sets of axioms to be true like wearing clothing. So based on this axiomatic language way of thinking ALL religions are equally true and valid to the faithful.

What I find really amusing is how people continue being a proponent of a particular believe system as if their own either spoken or unspoken axioms are God's given truth. Everyone has their own dogma. And my dogma is the only right one! The rest of you are insane! Prove me wrong and I will call you teacher.

P.S. Dear Moderators, I may have created this in the wrong area. Please move if required based on your dogma. Thanks.
 
Last edited:

Kemosloby

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Time is invisible until you have a watch, time is made manifest by the watch. God is made manifest by the word of God.
 

Aldrnari

Active Member
Time is invisible until you have a watch, time is made manifest by the watch. God is made manifest by the word of God.

...unless, of course, you count. That is another way to experience time. Also, cooking timers, sun dials, phones, nuclear clocks, etc etc. Some ways are more accurate methods than others.

Never forget, watches can be off as well.
 

Kemosloby

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
...unless, of course, you count. That is another way to experience time. Also, cooking timers, sun dials, phones, nuclear clocks, etc etc. Some ways are more accurate methods than others.

Never forget, watches can be off as well.

Correct. One religion is better than another by how well it keeps time.
 

Aldrnari

Active Member
Correct. One religion is better than another by how well it keeps time.

Heh... Or, by how accurately it reflects the life we live in. :D

Some things in religion can be taken on faith, while others can be compared to real life events according to the evidence we have...

Just like the fact we can measure if time is accurately read on a device by measuring predictable occurrences in life, such as the movement of the day/night cycles, the seasons, etc etc.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
No one religion is better than another one. A religion might fill what you are looking for and be personally reflective of your outlook on life. But for another person, a different religion or none at all might be just what's helpful.
 

sayak83

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Why is one religion any better than any other?

Before you respond with why yours is better than mine first consider a few thoughts about the nature of our human language and how it relates to personal dogma. A dogma is a set of principles laid down by some authority you respect above all others. For other people absolute authority comes from within. In either case, wherever you place your authority, either out there in some person or some book, or within from your own insights, we are still bounded by the nature and limitations of our human language.

In order to have meaningful language, you have to have a set of assumptions or axioms you consider to be true without proof. From that point. you are then able to make statements in the language you can identify as being true or insane. For example, just like the word God is used in religion, science has the word "Time". Time doesn't exist anywhere. I can't touch it. I can't see it. Yet it's everywhere and eternal according to the scientists. Here's a really cool article on the idea that Time is not real:

"There Is No Such Thing As Time"



But this thread is not about Time but why is one religion better than any other. Again, consider the nature of language and having axioms. Every system of thought has a set of axioms. This is where everything breaks down in communication between people. People generally do not share the same set of axioms or are even aware that they have a set of ideas they accept as being true without any proof. It's just the way it is between people. So if my axioms are NOT the same as yours, then things I will say will seem insane to you. And things you say will seem insane to me. And if you can ascertain what someone else's axioms are in a conversation, then if your mind is big enough to pretend they are true, then you can see what the other person considers to be "truth" from their point of view.

Every religion, regardless of the source, has a set of assumptions or axioms that are considered to be absolute truth. These axioms are not challenged and do not require evidence or proof of their validity for the faithful. Either they are given to you through a book from some authority you consider to be the source of truth.

For people who believe in the Old Testament God, they have a set of axioms most people would not accept as being true. But this does not mean their dogma is better or worse than the dogma you and I have.

So now the question becomes, in my way of thinking, what set of axioms are the "right" set to have? I'm not sure there is a correct set as far as I can tell. I like to figure out what other people consider to be axioms. I'm like a collector of thought systems. I hold sets of axioms to be true like wearing clothing. So based on this axiomatic language way of thinking ALL religions are equally true and valid to the faithful.

What I find really amusing is how people continue being a proponent of a particular believe system as if their own either spoken or unspoken axioms are God's given truth. Everyone has their own dogma. And my dogma is the only right one! The rest of you are insane! Prove me wrong and I will call you teacher.

P.S. Dear Moderators, I may have created this in the wrong area. Please move if required based on your dogma. Thanks.
Well, off the top of my head, a religion that requires monthly human sacrifices to satisfy the moon God appears to be prima-facie bad to those blokes getting their hearts cut out of their chest for the ritual. So, a religion that does not require human sacrifice appears to be better for the victims of cult sacrifices than one that does not.
If we are agreed on this, we have a good base to start off discriminating between religions, don't you think?
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
1) No suicide bombers.
2) No dogma.
3) No hate for others of different beliefs.
4) No funny hats.
etc...
:D
I don't find anything funny about a colander at all, so I guess my religion is still safe.

Here is an image of a newly elected town councilperson being sworn in, as you can see there is no humor in this picturel:

schaeffer.jpg


Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
1) No suicide bombers.
2) No dogma.
3) No hate for others of different beliefs.
4) No funny hats.
etc...

If we did not have any religion in the World at all we would still have suicide bombers. They would just be strapping on the bombs for other reasons. Religion does not cause war. Human nature does.
 
Last edited:

dfnj

Well-Known Member

There's a big difference between the word God and the idea of the Flying Spagehetti Monster. The word God is often used to represent every possible thought and reality. So in this sense, the word God is different than every other word in our language. If you use FSM to represent every possible thought and reality then you are just creating synonym for God. The point is the idea of God is more than just something out there flying around with no evidence of its existence.
 

Koldo

Outstanding Member
There's a big difference between the word God and the idea of the Flying Spagehetti Monster. The word God is often used to represent every possible thought and reality. So in this sense, the word God is different than every other word in our language. If you use FSM to represent every possible thought and reality then you are just creating synonym for God. The point is the idea of God is more than just something out there flying around with no evidence of its existence.

No. It is not.
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
There is one God, many covenants. Differing religions are expressions of faith. If they were really lived up to there would be no sense of 'better than'. We ought not to judge another's faith, but the corruption of that faith that creeps in over time.
 
Top