Why do most people need religion?

[Nakosis]

I can't but believe. Through my experience and understanding. I'm not seeking some kind of material or communal benefit from it.

Fair enough, I suppose. Through my experience and understanding I can't help but question.

Noahide laws seems, other than the need to acknowledge the Jewish God, requiring a person to be a deceit human being. Christians and Muslims would seem to fall under the Noahide requirements along with any polytheist that recognizes the Jewish God as a deity.

In fact, an atheist could also be a Noahide.

 

[Rival]

Fair enough, I suppose. Through my experience and understanding I can't help but question.

Noahide laws seems, other than the need to acknowledge the Jewish God, requiring a person to be a deceit human being. Christians and Muslims would seem to fall under the Noahide requirements along with any polytheist that recognizes the Jewish God as a deity.

In fact, an atheist could also be a Noahide.

It depends on how they are being interpreted. I would disagree that an atheist or polytheist could be a Noahide but that's a whole other topic and not relevant for here.

 

[Nakosis]

It depends on how they are being interpreted. I would disagree that an Atheist or polytheist could be a Noahide but that's a whole other topic and not relevant for here.

Ok, just curious what you get from being Noahide that you couldn't get from some other belief.

Perhaps a need to believe in the Jewish God without being Jewish?

You said I was wrong, which is ok, I'm just trying to understand why I'm wrong.

 

[Rival]

Perhaps a need to believe in the Jewish God without being Jewish.

A need. An experience. Call it what you will, I guess. HaShem is the only G-d I can 'connect' to. I have looked into (as many on here know) Zoroastrianism, Norse Paganism and when I joined I was a Theistic Luciferian. I own a few Dharmic texts too. Still, my experience hasn't been with those gods. So it's that connexion, that spirituality that I can't find within other faiths.

 

[syo]

Do you have a 'need' for religion and why or why not?

religion is like a compass, of course we need religion.

 

[Father Heathen]

For some it's a source of purpose and emotional fulfillment.

 

[Desert Snake]

A need. An experience. Call it what you will, I guess. HaShem is the only G-d I can 'connect' to. I have looked into (as many on here know) Zoroastrianism, Norse Paganism and when I joined I was a Theistic Luciferian. I own a few Dharmic texts too. Still, my experience hasn't been with those gods. So it's that connexion, that spirituality that I can't find within other faiths.

Ie just flipping between religions, until the 'easy' religion presents itself.

 

[Rival]

Ie just flipping between religions, until the 'easy' religion presents itself.

Uh, no. An easier religion would be Zoroastrianism. It's much simpler to defend. Or Dharmic religion, for the same reason. Modern people love to hate on Abrahamic religions and especially their holy texts. So no, it's not easy being a Noahide, let alone if I actually converted to Judaism and became part of what seems to be one of the most despised groups on the planet. The Jewish people have faced attacks left right and centre. They've been expelled, slaughtered, had their rights taken away, branded and genocided. You think that's easy?

You clearly have never been on a spiritual mission in your life.

 

[David T]

It seems that most people I meet need religion.
Do you have a 'need' for religion and why or why not?
An added question I ponder is:
Does the good that comes from religion outweigh the bad?

because they have a mental disorder called normalacy. Its not confined to religion.

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

The way I see it a person does not need nor should they desire religion. A person needs Jesus Christ.

I agree.
I think religion gets in the way of the relationship,
or becomes a substitute.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

I definitely have no "need" for religion. I would rather pack in a full work day of peeling potatoes than attend 2 hours of church service. At least at the end of peeling potatoes there is something to show for the time spent.

And, to answer your last question, I don't feel the good outweighs the bad, because I believe that the worst strike against religion is that it is an additional point of contention in an already contentious world. We humans already have enough to divide us up into "camps" of thought - and then we have to go and pile on fabricated fairy tales that we convince ourselves are real, and use them to keep others at bay while we sit in bubbles of "truth." It's pathetic.

 

[InChrist]

It seems that most people I meet need religion.
Do you have a 'need' for religion and why or why not?
An added question I ponder is:
Does the good that comes from religion outweigh the bad?

I don't need a religion and think what people need is a Savior...not a religion.

 

[Rival]

I don't need a religion and think what people need is a Savior...not a religion.

What do we need to be saved from?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

The way I see it a person does not need nor should they desire religion. A person needs Jesus Christ.

I don't need a religion and think what people need is a Savior...not a religion.

No, thank you.

 

[Rival]

No, thank you.

Christophobe!

 

[gnostic]

It seems that most people I meet need religion.
Do you have a 'need' for religion and why or why not?
An added question I ponder is:
Does the good that comes from religion outweigh the bad?

It really depends on the religions, and what people needs.

When I first read the bible as a teenager, I didn't really understand that Jews and Christians didn't share the same needs.

Sure, Jews and Christians have the needs to believe and worship a god, but when I read it carefully I see that their respective motivations and needs are actually different, because they are totally different religions.

For Christians, they need to believe in the afterlife, the resurrection and the possibility of living forever in heaven. Muslims are like this with Islam, they worship with possibility of afterlife. The other possibility of afterlife is in hell, where the soul are punished.

If you read the Hebrew section of the bible, without Christian interpretations on the Old Testament, you would see that Jews don't accept such belief in their Judaism and scriptures, because they are foreign concepts.

In Judaism, from reading the Tanakh or what the Christians called Old Testament, every rewards that the biblical figures received from God and every punishment they received when they break their covenant (not worshipping their god) - are all done while they are alive and on Earth, and none of it involved with being rewarded or punished in the afterlife.

I said the Christian and Islamic teachings (about the afterlife) are "foreign concepts". I mean "foreign" as in the concepts originated in pagan belief.

It was the Greeks and Egyptians who have this belief in the afterlife (eg souls being judged, and they being allotted in heaven or in hell), before the time of Jesus. By the time of Jesus, Hellenistic belief have permeated into some sections of Judaism.

Some Jews readily accepted Jesus' and Paul's foreign religion, while other Jews rejected it because of the foreign and pagan origins of Christianity.

The needs of the Jews, are different to that of Christians and Muslims.

 

[idav]

It seems that most people I meet need religion.
Do you have a 'need' for religion and why or why not?
An added question I ponder is:
Does the good that comes from religion outweigh the bad?

The indoctrination that comes with some packages that humans are "good for nothings" , people take to that message a lot easier than to tell the person they are good people.

I think the need religion fills has to be addressed. There are better ways to dealing with things but religion may be the only coping mechanism some people have.

 

[arthra]

It seems that most people I meet need religion.
Do you have a 'need' for religion and why or why not?
An added question I ponder is:
Does the good that comes from religion outweigh the bad?

Hi Gerry and welcome to the Forum!
If you take a long look at history, I think you will gather how religion has had an influence on our civilizations. So do we today "need" religion? I think so. Ethics and morality are still important principles in our society today. By itself science cannot offer a why or reason for ethical and moral behaviour.. also the challenge today for our continued existence is establishing the foundations for a future world civilization. We need to accept the oneness of humanity and abolish racial and class prejudices. We need to recognize the equality of men and women and universal education. We also need harmony between science and religion. Let me offer a taste of what that could mean:

"The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its 280 state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will ajudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this universal system. A mechanism of world intercommunication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvelous swiftness and perfect regularity. A world metropolis will act as the nerve center of a world civilization..."

Bahá'í Reference Library - Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, Pages 273-282

 

[Inct1964]

Well they decide it on theyr own, u can have no religion!

 

[InChrist]

No, thank you.

Whatever...I'm sure you're a nice enough person if I were to meet you, but I don't see much point in discussing your comments related to spiritual subjects or taking them seriously because you seem to be change too fast and often to keep up with.