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Wow how deep is this?

1) Absolutely. Christians as a whole cling to 'God' as a way to justify something coming after death. The problem is, how many religious leaders have died and can vouch that there is something else. Billy Graham claims he saw the light when he died for 8 minutes a few years back, but even he says he was unsure as to what he saw or did not see after he slipped into death briefly. But overall, most Christians can;t answer hard questions like this one.

I asked a preacher once: If knowing God is the only way to get into Heaven, then what happens to those in third world countries that die of starvation never hearing his name. Preacher's answer..ignorance is bliss, they never knew the truth so they were saved by God's grace. Now how does that make any sense if God demands you are baptized in his name in order to be saved. This is why I don't believe in 'God' anymore.

2) This one is easy. People want something to look for in eternity. They cannot live thinking that their time on Earth is all they have to look forward to.

A friend explained eternity in a way that made me think. Picture Heaven, a wonderful place filled with everything that you could ever want. And when you go there for eternity, it would seem great correct? And I am sure it would be for the first 100 years or so, but what about 1,000 years? 10,000 years? An Eon? There would come a time when even living in perfect would become redundant and repetitive.

When I first heard this, I was like wow, thats a good ******** point bro. why even bother worrying about life on Earth if their is truly something that great after death?

There was a time in my life when I wanted to be a preacher, now I can't bring myself to even talk that deeply about scripture because it is filled with things that contradict.

1. To an extent. The belief in superior beings (or a God) is mainly due to the fact that we -don't- know how the universe was created or even know what happens to us when we die. You don't have to be religious to rationalize what may happen to us after we're gone.

2. I do not believe so. The concept of heaven and hell come from personal morals and beliefs, and hoping for some just reward in the 'afterlife', should there be one.

1. I think people are drawn to religion for the personal experiences of being awestruck by the universe around them, the sense of community it can bring, and the idea that this isn't it. Death is terrifying for most and it provides comfort for the unknown. Do some believe in God because they can't explain how the universe works? Sure. Even science has come along way but still can't explain a lot of s**t. I think people want to be a part of something that's bigger than themselves, that the universe isn't random and that there's a point to being alive and God and religion fill that need. Some don't need religion to feel that way and that's fine.

2. The idea of Heaven and Hell and its requirements come from scapegoating. We have a survival instinct of forming tribes and anything on the outside is dangerous so we establish conditions of tribal citizenship, if you will. For example, saying that only good people go to heaven, generally speaking. Why? Because bad people don't. People want to think of themselves as good so they generate even more specific requirements to further isolate members outside of the tribe they belong to. A lot of this plays into point 1.

I think contradictions exist in holy texts if you don't read into them without the historical context and the audience that it was written for and if you take it at face value. This is the main problem with fundamentalists from any branch of religion: they don't treat holy texts as living documents all the time, and most don't even bother to research into the theater of who the text was addressing. Which is why you can end up with stuff in the Old Testament being thrown around in conversations as living law when New Testament circumnavigates a lot of the bullshit the Old Testament caused.

I also think there is a misunderstanding that one has to perform in religion for reward. That's a tribal thing we as people took from interactions with other people and thrown into our interactions with the idea of divinity. Because what other basis of behavior do we have, really? So when we interact with the idea of divinity, whatever our idea of that is, we treat it like a person instead of something different and when we don't get the results that we want immediately, it's not surprising that one would feel resentment about the whole idea.

Also, I think people would like the idea of religion better if there weren't those who abuse it with meaningless rituals and selfish actions always in the spotlight, but really we do that anyway as people because scapegoating, again, helps keep our sanity.

No, but he's allowed to point out how ignorant the statement. How was it ignorant, you ask? Because all he did was -attack- Christianity.

1.
Yes it is possible a majority of the people believe in God because they can't explain the unknown. So they turn to someone that can explain it.

2.
No... Because Heaven in Hell are a creation/idea based off of Religious text/belief. If who do believe the Religious Text do speak the truth when they say they we're written by the hands of man with glorious inspiration of God and not an Human thought then to assume that Heaven and Hell are a creation/idea from the Human subconscious is preposterous. If their was no Religious text do you think human's would even have the notion of a Heaven or Hell? I highly doubt it

Truthfully to fully understand the viewpoint of a "Religious Person" then I suggest you read the entirety of their respected religion's holy texts. I like to say that,

"The Bible is a puzzle, and the only way to see the full picture is if you put the pieces together. [Read & Study the Bible from front to back and top to bottom] Until then, and only then will the beliefs, and ideas of the Holy Scripture will remain an enigma."

So to speak on something that is an enigma to oneself, then one would be speaking ignorance, cause they are speaking of something they do not understand.