You know, it isn't all about the 'big three' of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Research the ancient religions, particularly Gnosticism, Taoism and Hermeticism. What they teach may surprise you (they have certainly enriched my life considerably).

Consider reading the Nag Hammadi, the most important surviving Gnostic text that will give you an insight into the Biblical story before the editing and censorship during the third century (it includes aliens and describing the Judeo-Christian God as the deceiving enemy, which may interest you). Also visit /r/taoism.

About why? I just like it. It's a fascinating topic

thank you for the information. i'm not even dismissing the potential of a creator, it's mostly just that all the idiots i see saying religious crap on tv when they win at sporting events or the local pastor touching little boys really doesn't do it for me. religion is a product like everything else.

Look into the Flavian's and how they created Christianity. Then look at the oldest corporation (the Vatican). Kings bowed to it. Rome never fell...

putting this here for reading material tomorrow morning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavian_dynasty

Cheers. The Son god is not what you think it is. This is the tip of iceberg. Happy falling....

Religion isn't inherently bad, its the institutions that is rotten. Same goes for everything else. Our current institutions have twisted and turned everything upside down. Jesus' sermon on the mount is a master piece. The core tenants of Islam are wonderful. Hinduism teaches mysticism and symbolises the forces of nature as gods. Buddhisms teachings are timeless. All gods are the same. All religions lead you to the same goal. Religion itself isn't bad. It is the institutions that hijacked and used them for their own selfish purposes. Also many people take lots of things literally when it was not meant to.

just because the use of symbolism is prevalent, doesn't make the stories any more true. yes those religions have similarities, but they also have many many contradictions with each other.

All religions are the same. They use different narratives but they lead you to the same goal. The answer is within you. The voice within will guide you. Are you listening to that voice?

I don't know. I consider myself to be a rational person, for the most part, and I have every reason to disbelieve based on the many terrible experiences during my upbringing in a very cult-like church.

But I still have faith, for some odd reason. I've investigated religions, I've studied a great deal, and I've tried to be rational. But even though I know it's fairly irrational, I still believe.

Yeah I'm not saying there isn't a creator or that there isn't a god, just that all of these allegedly religious people have not even the closest clue to what they are talking about, and that they should probably stop shooting each other to death etc. when they are likely all wrong anyway.

I think that some willfully ignorant people are going to find things to argue about with or without religion as the motivating factor. Religion just happens to give some an outlet for that. But if religion didn't exist, I'm sure some percentage of people would still find something to disagree about to the point of becoming militant.

But even though I know it's fairly irrational, I still believe.

From your comment history, it seems to me that you are still quite wedded to the default or mainstream belief system. Your continued belief in a god, despite acknowledging it is irrational, is echoed in your reluctance to let go of the official narrative when it comes to conspiracy theories.

I'm not sure I agree with that assessment. Most conspiracy theories, by definition, require a certain amount of faith due to an inherent lack of evidence and basis on speculation and circumstantial evidence.

Granted, we certainly shouldn't have blind faith in "the official story" either. But, in general, if I have to choose between "trust a scientific paper I can read and understand and has been peer reviewed" and "trust an idea that's mainly based on speculation and circumstantial evidence," I'm more likely to subscribe to the former.

This is not meant to be a personal attack at any particular faith... I am just wondering why you choose to believe the alleged word of a made up magical man from a multi-thousand year old fairy tale.

Well, if you insist on defining all religion and spirituality as "the alleged word of a made up magical man from a multi-thousand year old fairy tale" it sounds like your mind is already made up.

Considering religious extremism is one of the largest issues we face today

Are you kidding? Abortion issues and a few terrorists are nothing compared to big $ and the mil-ind complex. Or our dwindling natural resources, or the damage we've done to the biosphere.

i guess that's what happens when you swear on a bible as an oath in the court of law and nobody believes their own bullshit or when you elect wackjob religious idiots to run your countries.

You think the bible being used to swear oaths is behind the problems of the world? That's an interesting theory.

not directly, but i do think people use religion as a way of removing their own accountability.

re: "it was god's will"

just because you put your hand on a book doesn't mean you are telling the truth. what a ridiculous fucking concept. oh wait, it's based around organized religion.

You seem to have a bone to pick with a very specific subset of spiritual/religious people.

I'm not particularly a fan of any form of religious extremism or even worse, the favoritism of being a part of a cult.

Some people choose to believe that they exist by chance. Trillions upon trillions of random events lead to their being based on "survival of the fittest. Such a mindset can lead to trying to outdo each other. It provides legitimacy to power structures and not only enables exploitation, but demands it.

Others, like me, choose to believe that the guiding force which allowed the trillions upon trillions of chances that resulted in our being was not random. We believe that life is a gift to each equally. We agree to a set of rules that enable non-destructive societies. We believe God is everything, each proton and force between them is God and that by hurting each other, we are hurting God, ie ourselves.

To me that is the essence of the question: life was random or ordained. Either way, our acts are eternal. Individual eternity is length of existence. If upon death there is no more, then that was eternity, if there is more then that is eternity.

We see light from far away bouncing through our solar system. A supernova's explosion is witnessed here after ten years, there after 100 and way over there, after 100,000. Our acts reverberate around our universe. Small acts that happen in your life ripple through society and through the universe forever.

How would you like those acts to affect your community? How would you like them to be viewed? Believing in God is to care about their effects. It is to say this wasn't based on random events but eternal ones, and ensures people try to act as eternal beings.

Acting as eternal beings eliminates shameful acts because the shame is yours forever. You acknowledge the shame, realize it's yours and act to prevent it. Acting in a non-eternal manner encourages shameful acts. Taking candy from a baby is not shameful but showing your "strength" which is your highest calling.

This sounds to me like religious mumbo jumbo. If i asked god to strike me down a thousand times it wouldn't happen. I know this, because I already have to prove my point, and yet here I am.

The truth is you are bunch of water and hydrogen molecules. The way jesus turned water into wine was by adding grapes and stepping on them.

I already act "eternal." I believe in the infinite, just not god.

In the vanishingly remote likelihood that a supernatural deity exists, I reject him absolutely, on the grounds that he creates needless pain, suffering and injustice in this world, or he incapable of stopping it.

God is either ineffectual or a psychopath, and should be ignored.

no young son. this is a part of god's plan.

God is a fictional bogeyman wielded by the elite to control the ignorant masses.

I mean, they do ultimately rule over you....

Freeing your mind from their control is the first step.

I believe we all are One. This "One", is God.

I'm with you on this "collective consciousness" type concept, but I think the religion almost everyone subscribes to is money.

Word

If you can call this "religious" then so be it. The prophesies written in the KJV Bible are 100% accurate, 100% of the time. It not only tells you what to look out for, what makes God angry and how to be saved from God's wrath through believing He sent His son, Jesus, to lead us out of this darkness. No matter what anyone says, or what anyone thinks, the KJV is a treasure trove; it's poetic; and I believe wholeheartedly it IS the Word of God. Read the Book of the Lord to get to know the Lord of the Book. And if you're not interested in getting to know Him, He'll let you go your way and follow whatever pied piper you've chosen.

Although this is interesting, I believe there are many rich powerful nutjobs doing their best to fulfill the prophecies of nonsense they believe in.

Like I said, you can believe what you want; there are also rich powerful nutjobs trying to keep prophesy from being fulfilled to disproved the accuracy and make you think it's nonsense.

this is also true

Yeah I'm not saying there isn't a creator or that there isn't a god, just that all of these allegedly religious people have not even the closest clue to what they are talking about, and that they should probably stop shooting each other to death etc. when they are likely all wrong anyway.

But even though I know it's fairly irrational, I still believe.

From your comment history, it seems to me that you are still quite wedded to the default or mainstream belief system. Your continued belief in a god, despite acknowledging it is irrational, is echoed in your reluctance to let go of the official narrative when it comes to conspiracy theories.