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people feel the need to be guided by someone who cannot betray them.. hence christianity. Most people are like sheep who will be easily led into this system of dogma that can save them from their own evils or magically heal them through prayer. I'm not just saying christian either i'm saying all who follow a religion with dogma and rules.. It gives them a sense of belonging even if they don't belong anywhere else. If you truly believe in this god no church or dogma or rules are necessary to worship it or feel it's presence. THIS INCLUDES SATANISTS.. satan and god come from the same source.. therefore they are one in the same. satanism is about self gratification i'll give them that.. but it involves gods and dogma just as any other religion. I have studied satanism and catholisim and christianity extensively and have looked into Islam also.. They all have the fundamental flaw of a non-existant higher power. Buddhism isn't all that bad but it still has a diety !! If you are not your own power who will be?

MY point is that people should have gained the intelligence to realize that the religion is not necessary.. but then again most people never realize.

religion is for those who lost in themselves
it is not a sign of weakness
we, as individuals, cannot shun people for being religious
for that is not moral
we cannot pursuade them to change either
they alone must take their own path to what they believe


BUT
for those religious bastards who makes us look like monsters
they shall perish

I concur thus far.

There are a lot more factors in play.
People crave a sense of purpose, guidance, meaning, and answers to the unknown. Religions, in general, offer these things.

Something that people generally crave. If you were raised differently, you might be led into a system of dogma, too.

You should rephrase that;
Unproven and unlikely higher power.
Keep in mind that you can never be 100% sure you're right.

This is new to me...
Since when?

'God', obviously.

Not necessary for what?
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Threadstarter;
What sort of 'weakness' do you refer to?

well i was raised in a christian household where we went to church every sunday and some wednesdays ... i chose not to follow that !

You're right that i should have refrased that ..i was in my ranting mode at the time sweatdrop

The buddah becomes like a diety in ways ..at least from what i have seen
but it's not necessarily true for all buddhists

well "god" shouldn't exist to rational people ..but that is purely my opinion !

the weakness i'm referring to is the lack of ability to become your own person..not just a remodeled version of their parents !

Then Buddha might become an idol.
But as far as I know, "Buddha" means 'enlightened one', and basically means that the Buddha is in nirvana. It doesn't mean that they're anymore powerful than a normal person.

I wouldn't say that this is weakness, but simply a matter of circumstances.
Your circumstances allowed you to have reason to 'rebel' against your parents' idealogies, I would say.
Y'see, I don't think that people have free will. Y'can go to the link on my sig if you wanna see why.

So that's what you all think. That's a load of crap. Let me give you a little bit of history about me.


I was born into a low/lower middle class family.
My parents got divorced when I was 5.
From when I was 6till I was 8, my dad dated a borderline abusive woman, who was responsible for my low self-esteem and my almost losing my sight.
When I was 10, my mom's fiance died.
When I was 12, my mom was struck by lightning.
Last summer, my grandmother started dating some dude who keeps sending emails threatening to kill my mom and I.
I go to an inner-city school where I'm discriminated against and threatened with death daily.
But I know there's God.
And yes, that is very reassuring.
It's nice to know that death is nothing.
It's nice to know that God is here to protect me.
Don't you ever want protection?
Think about it - It's really quite simple. You see, we live by faith, not by sight.
On a more logical note, there are over 2,600 scrolls of the Bible that have been found and correspond word-for-word.
People have found evidence of places and people mentioned in the Bible. PM me if you want more reasons, I gotta go now.

Doo yuo think I'm stupid? I told you that from the beginning.

look, you can pull all the trump cards you want, but it's not gonna work. You don't understand, nor will you. It's not something I can explain.
I know God is real. I don't know how i know, but I just do.
So you have a vested interest in continued belief, i.e. that a lack of belief will leave you feeling vulnerable.Now you have assumed too much. You need to look at this from my point of view as well, even if you find it faulty. If I didn't believe in god, i wouldn't find th world worth anything. I wouldn't see a reason to get out of bed. Maybe i would feel vulnerable, but not necessarily. The world is corrupt, my beliefs give me hope. What does evolution give you? Logic? Sometimes things aren't logically explained.

It's only an illusion because you think it is. Of course you're not going to feel it if you don't believe it.

I speak for all other Christians here. We are called, whether you like it or not, to live by faith. your senses include your feelings, which isn't always good to trust. Thus, you run the risk of being a corrupt person.

Were you around to verify the names? Did you ever consider that empires rose and fell, cities disappeared, were wiped out, or renamed in the 2000 year period since then?