So, because some guys thousands of years ago made god mad at them, millions of their descendants still have to suffer from it in 2006 a.d., even though they're trying their very best to make him pleased?
That's not meant as an offense, just a (probably very common) question... IMO that doesn't really fit in the "god loves us all" idea. I'm probably just missing something here, please educate me.
Hey no problem man, a lot of people ask this question actually, so I'll do my best. If we were all MADE to not sin, that would basically be slavery. We wouldn't have a choice. God wanted to make people, in his image, that would actually have a choice to praise him. It wouldn't be the same if he just made people to had to love him. So we all had a choice. Why does everyone else have to suffer? Because right now, the Prince of Darkness has his hands on the earth. God gives us a way to beat the curse that was created so long ago.
As for religion in general, I'm always surprised at how so many people can be so sure that their understanding of god (or several gods) is true and all other people believing in different religions are wrong or "misguided".
Just look at how many different religions there are on this planet, this fact alone makes it impossible for me to really believe in any one religion. Even within one religion, people still often differ in their understanding of god.
IMO, it's very likely that religion is a product of the human mind, it's just much easier to cope with pain and suffering when you "know" or feel that there is some reason behind all of it and that there is someone somewhere looking after you. It's a typical human necessity.
Interestingly, it has also been observed that the human mind tends to see patterns in things where there aren't any (in series of completely random numbers for example).
Yeah, there are a lot of people that believe, and won't even entertain the idea of anything else. One thing you have to look at, if you have an open mind. The Bible has never changed it's meaning. All other books have changed when mistakes have been found. The Bible has NEVER changed it's message. Yes, different translations have been made, but the message is the exact same. That's the only book in the world that is so old, and has never changed, when dealing with religion. What better base for thought than something that never changed.
Furball, I found it really interesting to read about your visions.
Just out of curiosity, I hope you don't mind me asking: are there any cases of epilepsy in your family?
I recently watched an interesting documentary on TV, stating that there seems to be a close connection between people experiencing religious visions and their temporal lobes' activity. Higher activity in the temporal lobes is also connected to epilepsy, so many religious people experiencing visions have cases of so-called temporal lobe epilepsy in their families or are epileptic themselves.
On this background, scientists managed to make (non-religious) people have visions by stimulating their temporal lobes. Very interesting to say the least.
Of course it's unclear if this is a mechanism intentionally made by god, so it can't be used as an argument for or against the existence of (a) god.
Just a comment here, people will have vissions from brain tumors and passing out. When I looked into this a little while ago, most people saw loved ones, or lights, or other things like that. What Furball saw, and what other people some times see, is an actual message that they remember, which didn't come from memory or anything that happened before. Sure you can explain it away as a medical problem, and we can't prove you wrong. But we don't need to, or even care really. I guess it's just another "Well, if you don't want to believe it, you won't" type of thing.
Just to make myself clear, I'm not trying to convince anyone of the non-existence of god, I hope it didn't sound that way. I'm just very interested in the backgrounds of religions and spirituality
And you worded it that way, and I very much thank you for that. Any other questions you might have based on this I would actually enjoy answering, cause it's fun to me
