Is Religion The Root Of All Evil?

AuthorMessage
Bleach
Rotting On Here
Bleach
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 47505
November 1st, 2008 at 06:24pm
lmflask

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_1Gpt6dKFo
I was looking at videos of Richard Dawkins cause he's the man, and I found this, just wanted to share
Princessrochelle__x
Geek
Princessrochelle__x
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 102
November 6th, 2008 at 10:13am
i see religion as an obsession
it takes over peoples minds
and all people care about is about their religion when theres other things that are more important
there might not even be a god
im not saying there is or there isnt
but imagin if people were just worshiping someone that didnt even exist
kind of wierd

mind you im agnostic so im not sure what to believe...i believe science but i also have beleifs in God

but i bet if people who handnt believe in god all their life and were suddenly on their death bed, i bet they would say they were religious just to get all there sins forgiven and just incase there really was a heaven so they could go there when they finally do die

and also ive noticed that because people seen religion as an obsession they take it as an extreme and protect it as much as they can when someone says something negative about it.....theres even still war going on in ireland over catholics and protestants...and also i dont get this whole terrorism thing...muslims say that they do it fo allah yet it doesnt saying anything about killing other people...although it does say that they should beat their wife, im sure it does anyway someone correct me if im wrong

ive been having this debate in sociology at college
quite interesting when you think about it
Weasil
Falling In Love With The Board
Weasil
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 7989
November 6th, 2008 at 05:50pm
Princessrochelle__x:
i see religion as an obsession
it takes over peoples minds
and all people care about is about their religion when theres other things that are more important
there might not even be a god
im not saying there is or there isnt
but imagin if people were just worshiping someone that didnt even exist
kind of wierd

mind you im agnostic so im not sure what to believe...i believe science but i also have beleifs in God

but i bet if people who handnt believe in god all their life and were suddenly on their death bed, i bet they would say they were religious just to get all there sins forgiven and just incase there really was a heaven so they could go there when they finally do die

and also ive noticed that because people seen religion as an obsession they take it as an extreme and protect it as much as they can when someone says something negative about it.....theres even still war going on in ireland over catholics and protestants...and also i dont get this whole terrorism thing...muslims say that they do it fo allah yet it doesnt saying anything about killing other people...although it does say that they should beat their wife, im sure it does anyway someone correct me if im wrong

ive been having this debate in sociology at college
quite interesting when you think about it


I'm in an "organized" religion, and it dosen't consume my life. Confused

You might want to be careful about generalization when addressing such a broad theme.

And about that end of life theory of yours, I don't think I'll be praying to anyone on my deathbed either. There's more important things to do besides trying to "make up" my life to someone or something that I've never seen or heard. Another thing is that many things that some religions count as "sins" are times and moments in my life that I consider to be "constructive moments". The majority of them I don't regret and never will. And if heaven is eternity spent praising someone forever,

I think I can make more progress somewhere else.

Beating wives or not, it's still not good. Not to mention that slaves are told to obey their masters in the Bible. Nice, much?

But yes religion is a funny topic to discuss. Cassie
Miley Cyrus
Basket Case
Miley Cyrus
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 15185

Blog
November 9th, 2008 at 02:22am
no, religion is not. it's just people who take it too far that are. and sometimes the root is religion but i feel like if they're really that violent and uncontrollable in the first place then they would take it out with or without religion
paper shoes
This Board Is My Home
paper shoes
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 34269
November 15th, 2008 at 11:30am
Is this just about religion or about the bible too? cuz the bible is full of violent shiz.
Weasil
Falling In Love With The Board
Weasil
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 7989
November 16th, 2008 at 10:12am
paper shoes:
Is this just about religion or about the bible too? cuz the bible is full of violent shiz.
People are getting confused and blending them quite easily, which is no good.
ChloeJayne
Shoot Me, I'm A Newbie
ChloeJayne
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Posts: 58
November 27th, 2008 at 06:02am
Well I personally happen to be a Christian.
A stong one too.
Religion becomes 'evil' when the person following that religion makes it.
For example,
I could go around saying that all homosexual's should be killed, which has NOTHING to do with religion, it just shows that i am seriously screwed.

Any way, i happen to be bisexual myself =S

So really it's not the religions fault that the people following it are doing evil things, it just happens to be that person who is screwed up.
THEOWNAGE
Shoot Me, I'm A Newbie
THEOWNAGE
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 5
November 27th, 2008 at 06:21am
I agree with the first page. I'll be open, I'm Christian (feel free to flame me if you must), God's a god of everything so the Bible is voilent, David was a war-king, and Jesus whipped people out of the temple, but I think Christians must wage a different war, of the mind. So all religions should battle for peoples mind and not physically harm them. Many wars were fought on the grounds of reigion granted, but most people have thought well God or whoever doesn't like these people so I'll kill them (maybe not in so similar or simple terms). Jesus says, and not in some riddle like way, but blantly says bless those who curse you, doesn't sound very voilent to me. And according to all belief if the world turned to only one religion all the world would be in peace, so techniqually the beliefs arn't evil but the actions that are carried out because of are evil. Also man isn't entirely evil, so therefore nothing is the root of all evil, not even people, since there is good in us, ok maybe we've caused all evil in the world, but scientists cannot prove nor can they disprove (it seems) that God or higher being does not exist, so if there is a good extreme then logic says then there must an alternate and opposite, something that is evil. So maybe the evil thing infuenced man, and now part evil flows in our blood, also the BIble says Money is the root of all evil. So maybe every conflict maybe not centers around money but it may be an incentive, apparently the Crusades were about power and money as well as Christianity. Religion has been used to control peopl in the past and is now still used, but the true belief (which I believe is mine, but your entitled to your belief) will have freedom not bandage, and from what I've read Jesus presents us with this. Though the Bible does split hairs saying religion is evil but not belief in Christ which is a relationship, so money may be, people may be and so religion may be. Or maybe those three leading evils contribute to make one massive evil that influences mens choices. I think that the only thing truly evil is Satan, so he twisted everything good and make it somewhat evil and because God cannot stand even a hint of evil, it thus becomes wholly evil in his sight. So 'Religion' is evil (but not relationship), money is stated to be the root of all evil and people are definetly partly evil. I'm afraid I haven't helped much but muddy the waters. Let me state a hypothetical case; you tell a little girl off for shop lifting, saying stealing is wrong and she replies
'Says who?' You might reply the Bible, God or any deity or the law. But who are we to make laws? Our judicial system has criminals slipping through it's system daily, so maybe society needs some all powerful, all knowing and loving, God who has the final say who can't put a foot wrong. In my experience (vicariously or not) the Bible works, so one should earnestly live out a faith for the glory of God or chosen deity or the benefit of man keeping in mind whom these actions may directly harm (not just offend) and in living you act like whomever the Bible or other 'holy book' says you must be and if these principles give you happiness, fullfillment, life, possesions and peace then I think you would have your proof whether the belief is evil, the religion is evil, the person who interpereted is evil (possibly you), or whether this is the right belief to follow. So in conclusion there may be one thing that is the root of all evil (eg money) or things that contribute to evils in this world, but I don't think religion can be pegged for all of it
Sherlock
Board Parasite
Sherlock
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 35331
November 28th, 2008 at 05:25am
Geevampire:
Well I personally happen to be a Christian.
A stong one too.
Religion becomes 'evil' when the person following that religion makes it.
For example,
I could go around saying that all homosexual's should be killed, which has NOTHING to do with religion, it just shows that i am seriously screwed.

Any way, i happen to be bisexual myself =S

So really it's not the religions fault that the people following it are doing evil things, it just happens to be that person who is screwed up.
But if you believe that the bible is the word of God. then how can you justify not believing in this one particular part of it, and not others?
Matt Smith
Admin
Matt Smith
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 31134

Mibba Blog
November 28th, 2008 at 02:57pm
Frodo Baggins:
But if you believe that the bible is the word of God. then how can you justify not believing in this one particular part of it, and not others?

Nobody can follow the whole Bible. It's physically impossible. Therefore, I think people who pick and choose which bits to follow have the right idea; of course, there are always going to be those who say you can't pick and choose with a revealed text but in this case, when following the whole thing is just not viable, what else can people do, really?

I think this is a Marilyn Manson quote, but people just pick the lie they like best. If it works for them, then great.
Bleach
Rotting On Here
Bleach
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 47505
November 28th, 2008 at 08:34pm
Bloodraine:

Nobody can follow the whole Bible. It's physically impossible.
how/why?
does it just contradict itself too much?
well, yeah. jesus says to love thy neighbor. that speaks for itself.
Sherlock
Board Parasite
Sherlock
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 35331
November 29th, 2008 at 06:51am
Bloodraine:
I think this is a Marilyn Manson quote, but people just pick the lie they like best. If it works for them, then great.
Hehe, I love it. tehe
Sherlock
Board Parasite
Sherlock
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 35331
November 29th, 2008 at 06:53am
Bleach:
Bloodraine:

Nobody can follow the whole Bible. It's physically impossible.
how/why?
does it just contradict itself too much?
well, yeah. jesus says to love thy neighbor. that speaks for itself.
There are too many out-dated ideas in the bible, like the punishments for adultery is stoning someone to death. All the 'clean' and 'unclean' beasts which you are to avoid/eat. Plus the bible's attitude towards women is appalling.
Dr.Hymen
Geek
Dr.Hymen
Age: -
Gender: -
Posts: 192

Blog
November 29th, 2008 at 07:28am
People still get stoned for commiting adultry.
Sherlock
Board Parasite
Sherlock
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 35331
November 29th, 2008 at 09:07am
Not in the Western world, they don't. Murder is illegal.
Miley Cyrus
Basket Case
Miley Cyrus
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 15185

Blog
November 29th, 2008 at 11:47am
how can you only follow parts of the bible and not others is the question now?
well i do my best to follow as much as possible and i admit that there are parts i do not understand or i don't believe we've understood/translated correctly. the parts i strictly abide by are what jesus taught, because then it is directly from the mouth of God himself and has not been polluted or twisted by man
Matt Smith
Admin
Matt Smith
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 31134

Mibba Blog
November 29th, 2008 at 12:49pm
Bleach:
Bloodraine:

Nobody can follow the whole Bible. It's physically impossible.
how/why?
does it just contradict itself too much?
well, yeah. jesus says to love thy neighbor. that speaks for itself.

Exactly, it does contradict itself too much.
I'll illustrate this with one point, there are probably thousands.

From Deuteronomy, 19:21: "And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye"

From the Sermon on the Mount: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

How can a person do both?
Sherlock
Board Parasite
Sherlock
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 35331
November 29th, 2008 at 01:00pm
Miley Cyrus:
how can you only follow parts of the bible and not others is the question now?
well i do my best to follow as much as possible and i admit that there are parts i do not understand or i don't believe we've understood/translated correctly. the parts i strictly abide by are what jesus taught, because then it is directly from the mouth of God himself and has not been polluted or twisted by man
But the bible was written by man, so how can you possibly know whether it is a faithful record?
THEOWNAGE
Shoot Me, I'm A Newbie
THEOWNAGE
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 5
November 29th, 2008 at 09:36pm
Ok, we can't physivally follow whole bible apparently. but cant we just keep on tryin instead of picking and choosing? There's an interesting arguement between the old and new testaments, Jesus basically has made new laws. Jesus died on the cross so an eye for an eye can't apply to us because Jesus's righteouenss is inside us, so when God turns his all seeing eye in our driection he sees his perfect and wonderful son, not our sins, the moment we accept Christ as Lord and Saviour and acknowledge and submit to him, then bam God sees us yes but a pefected version of us. But he is still aware of our failures. God knows and sees everything, he's made laws and what happens when an upstoppable force (God's power) meets and immovable object (God's law), well they might cancel each other out and the second he goes against his own law eg forgiving us, then he is no longer God but only a very powerly entity, but the beauty of it is God's not tempted to do wrong. Now here is where the arguement comes in, over half of our blessings are in the old testament (those that are Christians should know what I'm talking about). So people say we follow the new testament, then they can't say 'I am strong and courageous' because God said it in Joshua because that would contradict themselves (people not God). So I think the answer would be to follow both testaments, old and new, and people will undoubtedly say but the eye for an eye and..., but we follow the 2 commandments which sums up the 10 'Love thy God with all thine heart, with all thine soul, and with all thine strength and the second one is like it, love thy neighbour as you love yourselves' this two sum up all the others and since God sees perfectness instead of sin when one says you poked my eye so I poke you back, we could not be judged under old testament law because God sees Jesus not us; that does not mean to say we can do what ever we want because that would not be following the second commandment and another scripture says 'obey the laws of the land because God placed that man in authority above you'. People might say that Christians in China aren't following the Bible and therefore they're not Christians, but if the government isn't Godly then God did not place them there, and people will answer but isn't God allpowerful? He is but he works through humans and he won't force obediance out of someone so if no one is willing then the government continues. Also christianity thrives on persecution, in the West people don't care or don't know in the East they care and know and let everyone else know too. So if Australia suddenly said all Christians must die, we would see exponetial growth. Sorry I just went off on a long tanget.

Ok, God can't judge us because he sees Jesus (that's if you have accepted him in our heart) so therefore the Bible doesn't contradict itself on one occasion at least (I don't think it ever does). The reason no one can follow the Bible fully is that it demands full and perfect righteouness, we can measure up, the Bible demands that we must act almost exactly like God, simple fact we can't. But God doesn't see that, we need God to be perfect. So we shouldn't pick and choose because them we would be as Pharasees (I don't know how to spell that word) who look righteous and pious but are actually completely evil on the inside, they say and do all the right things but their heart isn't in it. We have been made perfect through faith in Jesus, by Jesus and for Jesus
THEOWNAGE
Shoot Me, I'm A Newbie
THEOWNAGE
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 5
November 29th, 2008 at 09:36pm
Ok, we can't physivally follow whole bible apparently. but cant we just keep on tryin instead of picking and choosing? There's an interesting arguement between the old and new testaments, Jesus basically has made new laws. Jesus died on the cross so an eye for an eye can't apply to us because Jesus's righteouenss is inside us, so when God turns his all seeing eye in our driection he sees his perfect and wonderful son, not our sins, the moment we accept Christ as Lord and Saviour and acknowledge and submit to him, then bam God sees us yes but a pefected version of us. But he is still aware of our failures. God knows and sees everything, he's made laws and what happens when an upstoppable force (God's power) meets and immovable object (God's law), well they might cancel each other out and the second he goes against his own law eg forgiving us, then he is no longer God but only a very powerly entity, but the beauty of it is God's not tempted to do wrong. Now here is where the arguement comes in, over half of our blessings are in the old testament (those that are Christians should know what I'm talking about). So people say we follow the new testament, then they can't say 'I am strong and courageous' because God said it in Joshua because that would contradict themselves (people not God). So I think the answer would be to follow both testaments, old and new, and people will undoubtedly say but the eye for an eye and..., but we follow the 2 commandments which sums up the 10 'Love thy God with all thine heart, with all thine soul, and with all thine strength and the second one is like it, love thy neighbour as you love yourselves' this two sum up all the others and since God sees perfectness instead of sin when one says you poked my eye so I poke you back, we could not be judged under old testament law because God sees Jesus not us; that does not mean to say we can do what ever we want because that would not be following the second commandment and another scripture says 'obey the laws of the land because God placed that man in authority above you'. People might say that Christians in China aren't following the Bible and therefore they're not Christians, but if the government isn't Godly then God did not place them there, and people will answer but isn't God allpowerful? He is but he works through humans and he won't force obediance out of someone so if no one is willing then the government continues. Also christianity thrives on persecution, in the West people don't care or don't know in the East they care and know and let everyone else know too. So if Australia suddenly said all Christians must die, we would see exponetial growth. Sorry I just went off on a long tanget.

Ok, God can't judge us because he sees Jesus (that's if you have accepted him in our heart) so therefore the Bible doesn't contradict itself on one occasion at least (I don't think it ever does). The reason no one can follow the Bible fully is that it demands full and perfect righteouness, we can measure up, the Bible demands that we must act almost exactly like God, simple fact we can't. But God doesn't see that, we need God to be perfect. So we shouldn't pick and choose because them we would be as Pharasees (I don't know how to spell that word) who look righteous and pious but are actually completely evil on the inside, they say and do all the right things but their heart isn't in it. We have been made perfect through faith in Jesus, by Jesus and for Jesus
Register