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Right or wrong religion?

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
If a human being accepts a religion that is because he or she is happy with it, or he or she will believe something else and perhaps adopt another religion or seek asylum out of the place that he is forced to live under under the guise of religion.
A religion should be chosen because a person thinks it is the correct one, not because it makes one feel good. Merely using religion as a tool to validate one's worldview is selfserving egocentricity and not a real religious search.
 
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Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
@am


Haha. thanks. Here's a way to do it in style:

"I know that god does not exist" as opposed to just saying, "god does not exist". You are staying your view and fact without imposing on the other without the phrase I-know.

People say I-believe and then say I changed beliefs. What I see is more they transformed to what they know is reality and how the world makes sense to them in that light. That's one thing I credit god-believers on. They arent afraid to not be politically correct outside of the people who share their belief.

Just the method kinda is, well, messed up for lack of better words. :)

I like your way of thinking :)
 

Shantanu

Well-Known Member
A religion should be chosen because a person thinks it is the correct one, not because it makes them feel good. Merely using religion as a tool to validate one's worldview is selfserving egocentricity and not a real religious search.
There is only one correct religion, which is to live like God as a human being: to search this God is necessarily a long process of discovery not amenable to any but a select few as it takes a lifetime to attain.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
There is only one correct religion, which is to live like God as a human being: to search this God is necessarily a long process of discovery not amenable to any but a select few as it takes a lifetime to attain.

What does God mean in your view? What did you do to become what you call god?
 

Shantanu

Well-Known Member
I see it this way. What is right for me is not subjective. What is right is my reality and how I see the world. Inwardly, I know everyone else who believes otherwise are attached to things that stop them from spiritual enlightenment. Unlike my evangelistic peers, I see no need to, one, proselytize this fact and two, judge people beliefs in light of my own.

If your religion is just shaped by political correctness in the opinion of others, is it really reality as you know it or something you grown to believe in but still unattached to thus consider it belief not fact?

That's how I see it.
Every person's spiritual enlightenment is different.
 

Shantanu

Well-Known Member
What does God mean in your view? What did you do to become what you call god?
God gave me thoughts to act in particular ways so as to live a life of dignity. Living a life of dignity means living truthfully at all costs.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
God gave me thoughts to act in particular ways so as to live a life of dignity. Living a life of dignity means living truthfully at all costs.
No offence to your view, But what you stated, how does that make you a god?
and why would a god live on earth where there is so much suffering when instead he/she could be in a heaven/paradise/nirvana ? Most of the Gods/Buddhas i heard of express that it is very difficult to be in human form on earth, they only do it to teach a truthful path.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
From an objective standpoint and in a simplistic fashion there is either:
  • One God
  • A Pantheon
  • No God/s
These are mutually exclusive and only one can be correct.


Actually, I have to disagree.

It is plenty clear that for most devotees their own gods are real enough. Yet the conceptions are mutually exclusive.

The simplest and perhaps the only explanation for that is that the number of gods that are real (and almost certainly their nature as well) changes from person to person (and, I figure, sometimes along time as well).

I realize that you are talking about deities whose existence is not tied to people's individual natures and perceptions. But I stand unconvinced that those are the true gods. They are certainly not the most significant.

How one worships isn't the issue necessarily, but witting it to 'whatever works for you' is, in my opinion, feel-good rubbish.

I agree with the words here, but I suspect that the meanings that we give them diverge.

Worship is a meaningful act - and may well be defined by the meaning lent to it. It is not always harmless, but there are certainly many valid ways of engaging on it; again, what is valid will vary from person to person, mainly because different personalities will respond differently to the same actions and stimuli.

On the other hand, "feeling good" is just not enough for an act of worship to be valid. Worship and religion do not exist on a solipsist vacuum.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
And it is total freedom to choose what religion to follow. No need to follow what parents or family tell you to believe. if their understanding of religion is not what you self think and feel then search for what is true for you, but then do not make critique of others religion, only by their action speech and thoughts can you "judge" other
I somewhat agree.

However, it is a clear fact that for many, many people sharing at least a nominal religion is a goal of some significance. It is very often a big part of the dynamics of a family (and that is not always a good thing) and of the building of one's self-image (again, not always a good thing).

If nothing else, we should probably acknowledge that one of the valid roles of religion is that of teaching people languages and concepts that they may use to share experiences and meanings and learn from each other.

That has to be balanced with the equally necessary recognition that people will not always have compatible needs and that some religious models will simply not resonate enough or even healthily enough with some people.

Freedom of belief and of religion are definitely necessary, and failure to acknowledge that is a serious flaw, if not worse still, for any doctrine. But there are real benefits in sharing beliefs, or at least awareness of reciprocal beliefs, among people who have a sincere intent to interact constructively with each other.

In any case, expectations that everyone should have the same beliefs, particularly about the nature and number of deities, are just misguided.
 

Shantanu

Well-Known Member
No offence to your view, But what you stated, how does that make you a god?
and why would a god live on earth where there is so much suffering when instead he/she could be in a heaven/paradise/nirvana ? Most of the Gods/Buddhas i heard of express that it is very difficult to be in human form on earth, they only do it to teach a truthful path.
They are right. It is very difficult (incredibly) to be in a human form on earth if you wish to follow the truth path: only God himself can do it.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
Religion isn't about feeling good.


Or at least it is supposed to be more than that. But to some extent that is in the eyes of the beholder.

If that were the case, many of them wouldn't come with so many rules and restrictions.
That is fairly unrelated, though.

A big part of the need for rules and restrictions is as tools for building a shared group identity. And much of the need for that shared identity, by its turn, comes from the confort of feeling integrated to such a group.

Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is not always easy to tell.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
A religion should be chosen because a person thinks it is the correct one, not because it makes one feel good. Merely using religion as a tool to validate one's worldview is selfserving egocentricity and not a real religious search.
By that yardstick, many people are seriously confused about their own religious status.

Of course, that is actually what happens, although it will be a nightmare to reach a consensus on who exactly is in such a situation.
 

sayak83

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
I have noticed that some religious people often tend to think that the religion they follow is the only "right" religion. But in my head that sound in some way incorrect.

I think a religion that is right for me does not need feel right for others,
Any thoughts?
I agree....though some religions are certainly wrong in the objective sense...for example religions that necessarily demand human sacrifice for example.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
Presuming one's own righteousness is normal. It's just part of being human. But being an adult human, and still not being able to recognize and respect the possibility that we are wrong, and that others may be right even though we don't currently think so, is a form of emotional and intellectual retardation. And unfortunately, it's a form of retardation that our current culture promotes through the constant onslaught of propaganda messages we receive from organized religions, commercial advertising, opinion "news", pandering politicians, and exploitative commercial practices masquerading as 'just business'.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
They are right. It is very difficult (incredibly) to be in a human form on earth if you wish to follow the truth path: only God himself can do it.

Can you clearify something for me? You say you are a god but then you talk about God as if there is one Huge God boss on top?
 
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