Is Religion doing more harm than good?

[blackout]

The question is/was: "Is religion doing more harm than good?"

Religion is not/cannot be good or bad. It is our interpretation of religion which defines whether or not it is good or bad. IOW religion cannot simply "exist" but has to exist in the minds of earthlings.
The believers and non believers define religion!

I completely agree with you.

Though I can't help but wonder WHY people who disagree
with their church's/religion's doctrines
continue to participate in that religion.

I know for example that MANY Catholics
do not agree with any number of their church's teachings.
And really BIG ones too.
So WHY do they continue to be catholic?
I know they must have their own personal reasons.
But I really don't get it.

 

[JMorris]

I completely agree with you.

Though I can't help but wonder WHY people who disagree
with their church's/religion's doctrines
continue to participate in that religion.

I know for example that MANY Catholics
do not agree with any number of their church's teachings.
And really BIG ones too.
So WHY do they continue to be catholic?
I know they must have their own personal reasons.
But I really don't get it.

never saw the movie "Dogma"? religion becomes a habit, and hell is a powerful motivator for those who arent strong enough to free themselves from such a threat.

 

[lockyfan]

The question is/was: "Is religion doing more harm than good?"

Religion is not/cannot be good or bad. It is our interpretation of religion which defines whether or not it is good or bad. IOW religion cannot simply "exist" but has to exist in the minds of earthlings.
The believers and non believers define religion!

Sorry even the bible classes religion as being bad.

calls it "babylon the great"as a matter of fact.

Religion exists as a power on this earth. it helps to dictate what goes on in the world.

So religion is a physical thing. And it is not very good at all

 

[Riverwolf]

Sorry even the bible classes religion as being bad.

calls it "babylon the great"as a matter of fact.

Religion exists as a power on this earth. it helps to dictate what goes on in the world.

So religion is a physical thing. And it is not very good at all

How can religion be physical when it's not tangible? Please explain how this is possible WITHOUT the Bible.

 

[MoonWater]

See above, part of the problem with the computers is the resilience to inevitabilities such as change. This problem has to do with a lot more than religion though.

It most certainly does. Seems to me it has more to do with human stubbornness combined with the intrinsic need to be right that so many humans exhibit.

 

[lockyfan]

How can religion be physical when it's not tangible? Please explain how this is possible WITHOUT the Bible.

As a world power it is a physical entity.

he three things that dictate what the world does are Money religion and politics.

As a world power she is corrupt and evil. It is not able to be touched but it is still an entity on this physical plain, and very much so like I said dictates to the world leaders and powers what it wants them to do. And this is often cruel and unjut thus the reason why it is therefore a entity that is going to be destroyed by humans hands at the instigation of God.

So not physical as in touching but exists as a world power

 

[Riverwolf]

As a world power it is a physical entity.

he three things that dictate what the world does are Money religion and politics.

As a world power she is corrupt and evil. It is not able to be touched but it is still an entity on this physical plain, and very much so like I said dictates to the world leaders and powers what it wants them to do. And this is often cruel and unjut thus the reason why it is therefore a entity that is going to be destroyed by humans hands at the instigation of God.

So not physical as in touching but exists as a world power

Physical does not mean touchable; it means tangible. We can't "touch" energy, but energy is still very much physical.

Religion is a concept that exists only within the minds of humans.

 

[lockyfan]

Physical does not mean touchable; it means tangible. We can't "touch" energy, but energy is still very much physical.

Religion is a concept that exists only within the minds of humans.

It is a power upon this earth. Politicians look to it to tell them what to do.

You think it is not tangible, but it is a power that hepls to govern this world today and wil lbe destroyed very shortly.

 

[Trusue]

Religion has never been a force for good, it has always been a force for redemption. Christendom, that is, all religions claiming to be Christian in the world today, are not acceptable to God, according to the book of Revelation in the Bible.

That book of prophecy shows every religion on earth is responsible for all the blood ever shed on this earth, in that they have not represented the true God of the bible. Especially the prince of peace, God's son Jesus Christ.

(Revelation​

18:23-24) . . .and no light of a lamp will ever shine in you again, and no voice of a bridegroom and of a bride will ever be heard in you again; because your traveling merchants were the top-ranking men of the earth, for by your spiritistic practice all the nations were misled. 24 Yes, in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.”​

 

[lockyfan]

It shows that the world empire of FALSE religion is responsible.

 

[Agnostic75]

I think that it is a mixed bag, and a very complex subject. Surely religion has done a lot of good, and a lot of bad. Even if religion has done more good than bad, people who realize that the Bible is probably not true must accept the worldview that they believe is the best. If a small group of religious people were the most moral people in the world, that would not necessarily mean that the believed the truth.

In the U.S., atheists have a lower divorce rate than Baptists do. In addition, in Denmark, the divorce rate among heterosexuals is much higher than the divorce rate among homosexuals. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who among us is the most moral of all?

If the truth fits, wear it.

 

[lockyfan]

Even Jehovah puts it into the hearts of man to destroy it.

Revelation 17:15-17
And he says to me: “The waters that you saw, where the harlot is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues. And the ten horns that you saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire. For God put [it] into their hearts to carry out his thought, even to carry out [their] one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished.

 

[Evandr]

Granted some attributes referred to by Religions are with a Positive, but after we consider the Negative, is all that - "that is fictitious being treated as fact" doing any good or not?

It’s funny how people proclaim that God has absolute power and ability and then turn and put limits on what He is capable of doing.

Everyone is looking for the all too elusive answer to the challenge to “Prove It”, or “show me the facts”. There is a good reason that God said that it is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks after a sign. We are here to have our character tested not to see to what lengths we will go to obtain the proverbial carrot at the end of a stick.

I believe that organized religion sets the stage for mankind to be able to receive God's instruction and to grow. I believe that God communicates with mankind on an individual basis, in varying degrees with regard to the stewardship over which they are called, a father for his family, a bishop for his congregation and so forth all the way to a living prophet for the whole of His church. I believe that it happens every day to a lot more people than most people would even begin to imagine; that that communication transcends mortal understanding. I believe that a person, once given knowledge by the spirit has not the ability to deny it inwardly even though they may not be able to communicate how they know what they have been given to know; that faith is the term used to describe such understanding, faith is based on knowledge and the strength of faith comes from the extent of knowledge gained and not the mere declaration of it. Faith cannot come out of thin air, pure desire, or simple declaration regardless how loud and far reaching; I believe that faith without works is dead, that works must include study, prayer, humility, pondering, and devotion.

Proof and facts have no value where the need for faith is concerned. When knowledge is perfect there is no need of faith and where there is no need of faith no further progression can be achieved and therefore where a man with no need of faith finds himself is where he will stay.

You should be thankful that your knowledge is not perfect, that there is no carrot on a stick to follow because, as a child of God, without those burdens of responsibility you still have time to prove yourself and to grow, to fall and be lifted again, to sin and be forgiven, to seek and be worthy to find, to knock and have it opened to you. All of this probational ability is available to you only before your knowledge is made perfect and judgment pronounced. We should make good use of this time, it really is so very precious that if we find, after absolute knowledge is gained and faith is laid dormant, that we wasted it then the resulting regret will qualify as if to be a burning lake of fire and brimstone within our soul.