Quote:
Originally Posted by jsarno
What, peace and civility as well as love for Man is not good enough? You feel Christians need to "sell it".
Trust me when I say, there is nothing to sell. You either believe or you don't. You will always make excuses not to believe, and not a single one to believe. That's your choice. Enjoy.
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I responded to a retort regarding this quote by you:
Quote:
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"Why would you choose a path (not believing) that has absolutely no chance (that's 0%) of having a positive affect after death?"
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Certainly, peace, civility, and love of your fellow man are also aspects of religion. But the predominant tenent of Christianity was Christ dying for the sins of man, so he can ascend into heaven. I've always thought that the purpose of organized religion is to amass as many members as possible, and to collect as much money as possible -- with the idea that if you live by a certain set of rules you'll be rewarded in the afterlife.
If you disagree with my thought, that's fine. I'm simply saying that's the way I've always seen it.
Since the dawn of man, when we evolved into a species whose brain developed to the point of the capability of cognitive thought; the fear of death, and what happens to us when we die is the single most perplexing and horrifying question we have ever faced. Someone came along with an idea to ease our fears, who claimed to know all the answers from a Supreme Being, and sold to all who were desperate for those answers a grand scheme for eternal life in paradise. I'm not saying that person was Jesus Christ -- those themes had been around long before the beginnings of Christianity.
In my mind, religion has been both a tool of the clever to prey upon the weak, just as it has been a force for good, and a philosophy by which we can strive for a purpose that's higher than ourselves.
I go back and forth with it. Sometimes I pray, sometimes I'm a card-carrying atheist. Just depends on my mood. It's a question we all have to ask and answer for ourselves. But it's not a question of "making excuses not to believe" -- sometimes, people just can't believe it.