The difference between Christianity and Judiasm Comments

deleted7509826

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:23:48 +0000

Word!

BaldwinP

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 05:37:38 +0000

Nah. If God was an Ayn Rand fan he would have put all the productive engineers behind a giant force-field and let them piss out of it all over the unproductive financial shysters shuffling money into their own pockets. It always tends to amuse me that the biggest Rand fans are almost invariably people who (if not for their narcissism) are exactly the sort of people who a Randian society would look down on for being useless inefficient bastards.

kidscallmemom

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:39:12 +0000

A great deal of my issue with religion is the idea that there is a god who is active in the daily affairs of each and every one of us. That (s)he provides specific blessings and plans and helps and/or punishes us. If I did believe in a god, which I do not, I couldn't believe in an anthropomorphized god or a god who dabbles in day-to-day human activities. If god is god-- omniscient, omnipotent, etc. -- then I would have to surmise that god is as unknowable to humans as we are to an ant. So why on earth would a god like that be showering humans with blessings? Or throwing challenges in our path? Or helping us win the Superbowl? That god would likely be going about god business. (And also not expressing human emotions like jealousy, as (s)he does in the Bible.) I did a little religious experimenting in my youth, and the closest I ever came to embracing religions were the times when I found religious leaders/scriptures describing divinity that was within, rather than without. I guess I just always had a hard time believing that we have evolved to this place as humans and yet we were supposed to be waiting for gifts to be showered on us in the afterlife (and focusing on religiously driven activities during this life) rather than getting to work making this life better with all of the marvelous skills we have.

Daisy_Sage

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:11:52 +0000

I have to say I am totally nonplussed by this. What on earth does religion purport to be, if not a set of spiritual ideas? In the absence of one's genuine belief in this particular set of beliefs, what are you doing in the religion? Pretending to believe in these things and doing a series of rituals and secret handshakes for the purpose on not upsetting your relatives or clergymen? What kind of bond can you form doing something you don't believe in? Yes of course humans need social, and emotional connections to have a fulfilling life, I was never disputing it. There are myriad ways to find these connections in a genuine way; with relatives, friends, significant others, even work colleagues, social groups of all types. In fact in small churches and religious groups where everyone genuinely shares the same beliefs, I'm assuming there are good, genuine connections made through those shared beliefs. But I just don't think faking a belief in religion is a good or necessary way to achieve genuine human connections. Its just a very weak and fear based way to try to do this.

dostoevsky

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:03:32 +0000

I think she traces the development of religion in general-- so far she's touched on the concept of God in mono-and-polytheistic religions...I mean, it's probably too early for me to pass judgement on it, but I really like it. It seems well-researched and put forth on a very even-keel.

deleted4427282

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:56:10 +0000

Is it supposed to make sense? I'm not sure. Life just like evolution is nonlinear. Everything here either progresses or dies via trial and error. I suppose I take a more scientific view of religion as it was a forbidden topic in my household growing up, so I wasn't introduced to Theology until University. We can't all be living, and if we were we'd all want to die, plus, I'd hate to see the state of humanity if we lived forever. Lastly, I don't believe in a figurehead type God, but then again life is way too intricate to just appear and progress the way it has. With that being said, I'm content in never knowing because maybe we don't have the capacity to know. My 2 cents.

biocurious

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:50:13 +0000

Like our take on language, we have exactly opposite opinions on religious tradition versus metaphysical beliefs. I find peoples' spiritual beliefs irrelevant in their relationship with the world (from an outside perspective). But all humans need social connections. It's what makes us human.

Daisy_Sage

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:48:08 +0000

No I haven't read it. Is it about various religions, or believing in G-d or both?

Daisy_Sage

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:46:12 +0000

Well yeah, maybe it's easy, but that doesn't make it a great idea. Sure its a nice, enjoyable thing to be in a social group of people you have interests in common with, like a club connected with a hobby or creative or academic interest, for example. But if you're all participating in a religion, and privately ,you don't even believe in anything metaphysical, let alone the metaphysical specifics outlined in that particular religion, that just seems to me incredibly shallow at best and irresponsible at worst. You are pretending you believe in something, and by doing so supporting it, either in terms of reputation and/or finance, and ergo giving it more power in society. That fact that so many people do it, doesn't make it seem like any better a practice to me. Ironically, it seems like the largest, most structured and powerful religions ( like the Catholic church ) have the most go along to get along participants, who maybe don't believe in it at all by the time they are young adults, but they keep their heads down and do some minimal amount of ritual participation, so mommy and daddy don't get mad. And then they have kids themselves and repeat the cycle.

chaoswhimsy&euphoria

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:40:22 +0000

I'm not particularly religious and I ended up working for religious non profits for 20 years.

BettyCrocker

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:39:20 +0000

I would never, ever try to convince anyone to believe as I do. It's not what Episcopalians do. But when asked why I'm so calm or how I handle multiple horrible things at the same time, it does come back to this: I've been given gifts that others have not. And there's too much amazing in the world for it to be an accident. God and science can coexist very peaceably. And the Christian ethos of loving one's neighbor as oneself? If we all did that... it would be an interesting place.

dostoevsky

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:30:55 +0000

have you read 'The Case for God' by Karen Armstrong? I'm only fifty pages into it, but so far it seems like a thorough, thoughtful survey of modern religious thought.

biocurious

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:30:50 +0000

I was trying to edit in this, but you replied: ETA: By language, I really mean within a specific church community, not like a world-wide thing, although a shared religion would probably make it easier to connect with people from cultures decidedly different from your own. Regardless, I have neither, so this is anthropological for me.

badhatharry

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:29:30 +0000

My grandparents did this. They were culturally Jewish. They didn't believe in God, yet my grandfather was the President of his Synagogue.

biocurious

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:28:04 +0000

Some people participate in religion without believing in anything metaphysical, for the community. It's easy being in a group of people you have similar assumptions, shorthand, general values, and language with.

badhatharry

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:27:14 +0000

I have. What you're talking about is Deism, yes? I've thought about it many ways, and can't come around to some all-powerful entity outside of physics that controls anything.

chaoswhimsy&euphoria

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:24:21 +0000

These religions as well as many others came about as the result of the fear of dying. Maybe when you get older it will make more sense.

Daisy_Sage

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:23:49 +0000

Respectfully, I think it's possible to believe in G-d, and not participate in any religion. That's what I do. I'm not saying you should believe in G-d, I never try to convince my atheist friends or anyone to do that, it's much too personal, and frankly, I'm convinced that a lot of people who say they believe, haven't really thought about it much at all, and are just making the right noises to appease their relatives or other people around them that they are participating in the religion they're "supposed to", which always strikes me as not a very grown up or responsible thing to do. Just maybe think about separating the religion thing from the G-d thing a bit, and see what you come up with.

DogsOfWar

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:20:10 +0000

All Is Mystery.™

biocurious

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:17:02 +0000

People say they find the notion of a "plan" comforting. I find it more comforting knowing there's not some gigantic prick out there okaying all the terrible things that happen in life. If there is a god, I think it's an Ayn Rand fan.