The invention of lying

[Segev Moran]

Hi All,
There is a great movie, "The invention of lying" starring Ricky Gervais (who also is one of the writers)
The movie presents an amazing insight about how religion was invented...
The movie might make some theists angry, But I'd really love to hear Theist who saw that movie give their word about it.

The movie in a nut shell presents a world where everyone must say the truth.. they cannot say anything else, excluding one man.

In a moment of weakness, when he's mother is dying and fearing death, he invents the after life concept and it roles further from there..

I Think the movie suggests a very understandable idea of why religion was invented and how it got to be the problematic thing it is now.

Regards

 

[ENTP Logician]

Hi All,
There is a great movie, "The invention of lying" starring Ricky Gervais (who also is one of the writers)
The movie presents an amazing insight about how religion was invented...
The movie might make some theists angry, But I'd really love to hear Theist who saw that movie give their word about it.

The movie in a nut shell presents a world where everyone must say the truth.. they cannot say anything else, excluding one man.

In a moment of weakness, when he's mother is dying and fearing death, he invents the after life concept and it roles further from there..

I Think the movie suggests a very understandable idea of why religion was invented and how it got to be the problematic thing it is now.

Regards

I enjoyed the film but I do not think that is the entire reason why religion was invented, religion more than likely came to be by a very complex process with numerous factors over thousands of years. I feel the movie functions better as a social comedy of why many people want to believe in them today.

 

[Rival]

Ah, Ricky Gervais, that amazing Doctor of Philosophy with a PhD in Theology & History of Religion.

 

[Segev Moran]

Ah, Ricky Gervais, that amazing Doctor of Philosophy with a PhD in Theology & History of Religion.

I'm sensing Sarcasm? Lol...
What does PhD in theology got to do with everything?
The movie shows a great view of being human.. you don't need a degree to be creative

 

[Segev Moran]

I enjoyed the film but I do not think that is the entire reason why religion was invented, religion more than likely came to be by a very complex process with numerous factors over thousands of years. I feel the movie functions better as a social comedy of why many people want to believe in them today.

Obviously I didn't mean that this is how religion came to be..
I explained myself wrong.. I Meant this is a great Idea of understanding the need humans have for a religion..and the presentation of how something that started with best intentions, quickly becomes something that is destructive and wrong.

 

[ENTP Logician]

Ah, Ricky Gervais, that amazing Doctor of Philosophy with a PhD in Theology & History of Religion.

If you do not need a PhD to praise a religion you do not need one to ridicule it.

 

[Rival]

If you do not need a PhD to praise a religion you do not need one to ridicule it.

Both require a lot of study. Studying Religion doesn't seem to be Gervais' field.

It is a mistake to think that religious folk are religious for emotional or otherwise non-logical, thought out reasons.

 

[ENTP Logician]

Both require a lot of study. Studying Religion doesn't seem to be Gervais' field.

It is a mistake to think that religious folk are religious for emotional or otherwise non-logical, thought out reasons.

Why?

I know plenty of religious people that are but have not heard of a reason they are that are supported by logic.

Given the evidence available to me it is a justified belief.

 

[Segev Moran]

Both require a lot of study. Studying Religion doesn't seem to be Gervais' field.

It is a mistake to think that religious folk are religious for emotional or otherwise non-logical, thought out reasons.

How would you rate someones knowledge of Spirituality?

I have red the bible many many times.. Yet i don't see a point to have a degree in the subject..
Also, I Can interpret the bible as I see fit, no one can really say my interpretation is wrong as it is the same as saying you are misunderstanding a song...
All I know is when I hear Garvias speak about religion, He raises deep and vital questions in the form of humor... Same goes for Woody Alan for example.
The fact that the questions are presented in a funny way, doesn't make them any less deep and important.

 

[Rival]

Why?

I know plenty of religious people that are but have not heard of a reason they are that are supported by logic.

Given the evidence available to me it is a justified belief.

Welcome to RF

 

[ENTP Logician]

Welcome to RF

So far nothing has changed in that regard.

 

[Rival]

How would you rate someones knowledge of Spirituality?

I have red the bible many many times.. Yet i don't see a point to have a degree in the subject..
Also, I Can interpret the bible as I see fit, no one can really say my interpretation is wrong as it is the same as saying you are misunderstanding a song...
All I know is when I hear Garvias speak about religion, He raises deep and vital questions in the form of humor... Same goes for Woody Alan for example.
The fact that the questions are presented in a funny way, doesn't make them any less deep and important.

Yes but the Bible doesn't apply to Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Asatruer, Wiccans, Druids...

There are many different conceptions of God, Gods, Afterlife, the Soul, Death, Rebirth, and so on.

I'd love to hear Gervais talk about Ahuramazda and Angra Mainyu, the Bridge of the Separator, the Amesha Spentas and the Gathas.

A lot of these arguments presented by such characters as Woody, Gervais, Dawkins et al. simply don't work, are shallow, and often completely miss the point. But the problem is that the masses believe them, think the arguments are workable and roll with them.

Like anyone who actually compares, say, Krishna, to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is obviously out of his depth...

 

[ENTP Logician]

Yes but the Bible doesn't apply to Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Asatruer, Wicca, Druids...

There are many different conceptions of God, Gods, Afterlife, the Soul, Death, Rebirth, and so on.

I'd love to hear Gervais talk about Ahuramazda and Angra Mainyu, the Bridge of the Separator, the Amesha Spentas and the Gathas.

A lot of these arguments presented by such characters as Woody, Gervais, Dawkins et al. simply don't work, are shallow, and often completely miss the point. But the problem is that the masses believe them, think the arguments are workable and roll with them.

Like anyone who actually compares, say, Krishna, to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is obviously out of his depth...

Both are beliefs without evidence.

 

[Rival]

Both are beliefs without evidence.

Go to the Hinduism DIR and see if they agree that Lord Krishna and The FSM are equals...

See what they say.

 

[ENTP Logician]

Go to the Hinduism DIR and see if they agree that Lord Krishna and The FSM are equals...

See what they say.

Are you suggesting that someone's belief changes whether or not something is true?

 

[Segev Moran]

Yes but the Bible doesn't apply to Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Asatruer, Wiccans, Druids...

There are many different conceptions of God, Gods, Afterlife, the Soul, Death, Rebirth, and so on.

I'd love to hear Gervais talk about Ahuramazda and Angra Mainyu, the Bridge of the Separator, the Amesha Spentas and the Gathas.

A lot of these arguments presented by such characters as Woody, Gervais, Dawkins et al. simply don't work, are shallow, and often completely miss the point. But the problem is that the masses believe them, think the arguments are workable and roll with them.

Like anyone who actually compares, say, Krishna, to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is obviously out of his depth...

The Flying spaghetti monster is a very important social experiment..
The fact theist see it as a stupid concept, is only due to the fact that it is supposedly presents religious in a bad light.

But NM the God we speak of, The Idea is all the same...

I Am not familiar with all the ideas of many religions, But I think the concept is the same.. the bottom line leads to passing the unknown to a path of guess work.

I'm not saying that all the guesses are wrong.. It just might be that one of the thousand of religions is somewhat a close presentation of the natural processes we are yet to figure out (Like Quantum theories that might connect well with a lot of "Spiritual" concepts)

But again, Most problems with religions are related to organized religion and mostly monotheistic religions..

Assuming a 5yo boy(Just as an example.. not referring to anyone specific) can be a holy child is a problematic concept as far as I'm concerned, for both the child and the people who worship him, even if it seems harmless, It holds a lot of abusive and mental problems.

Again, Garvias, Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and many many of the recent active atheists, are mainly concerned of the Abrahamic religions.. but nonetheless, anyone who claims to know something he doesn't really know, might cause problems when people actually believe him.

 

[Scott C.]

Hi All,
There is a great movie, "The invention of lying" starring Ricky Gervais (who also is one of the writers)
The movie presents an amazing insight about how religion was invented...
The movie might make some theists angry, But I'd really love to hear Theist who saw that movie give their word about it.

The movie in a nut shell presents a world where everyone must say the truth.. they cannot say anything else, excluding one man.

In a moment of weakness, when he's mother is dying and fearing death, he invents the after life concept and it roles further from there..

I Think the movie suggests a very understandable idea of why religion was invented and how it got to be the problematic thing it is now.

Regards

I didn't see the movie. It's probably entertaining. True religion was not invented. True religion encompasses reality as it is, was, and is to come. It simply exists. We humans come up with all sorts of false religions for many reasons.

 

[Segev Moran]

I didn't see the movie. It's probably entertaining. True religion was not invented. True religion encompasses reality as it is, was, and is to come. It simply exists. We humans come up with all sorts of false religions for many reasons.

What do you mean we came up with false religions? so what is the real religion?
How can you claim to know what true religion is? based on what?

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Religion is basically shaping the world how we want it to be (interpret it and perceive as we want and agree to believe) to learn more about our selves, our environment, and others as well as our place in the skim of things however defined.

I don't see how religion can cause problems unless people abuse each other's rights to their view of the world and place within it. Religion itself does nothing. If we followed the "true" religion, whatever that means, I'd assume that people would respect each others differences and rights to believe whatever they choose (given it isn't detrimental to society). But even finding criteria to know what is detrimental or not is a religious act because we are defining what is "bad" for society compared to what is "good" without full societal input (votes aren't enough).

We live in religion. How do we not know if we are making it up as we go?

 

[Quintessence]

I Think the movie suggests a very understandable idea of why religion was invented and how it got to be the problematic thing it is now.

Yeah, when I was far more ignorant about religions and culture than I am now, I probably would have thought it was a very understandable idea too. Nowadays, I'd recognize it for the rubbish that it is. The truth is nobody knows the origins of religion because it pre-dates any written records or artifacts. Stuff like this is superficial speculation at best. If folks really want a good understanding of the speculated origins of religion, stick with cultural anthropology and the academic literature, not this sort of garbage.