Religiously inclined are Mentally Ill

by gravedancer 70 Replies latest jw friends

  • Skeptic
    Skeptic
    My opinion is that if you are religious/spiritual then you are mentally ill.

    I strongly disagree. I do agree that some mental illnesses can make a person religious or spiritual, but I fail to see how being religious or spiritual shows that one is mentally ill.

    Scientists believe that being religious is an evolutionary trait, wiring in the brain that at one time provided an evolutionary advantage. Religions organize people into hierarchies and hierarchies provide a significant survival advantage to the human race.

    Generalizations like "atheists do not want to be accountable to God", "Religious people need a crutch", or "if you are religious then you are mentally ill", etc. are just prejudical statements with little or no basis in fact.

    Richard

  • butalbee
    butalbee

    I know a couple people who's religious beliefs have drove them to the breaking pt of suicidal tendencies...

  • gravedancer
    gravedancer

    What is the definition of mental illness? Let's start there...

  • bitter mango
    bitter mango

    hi grave . my ask you what YOU base your whole life and value system on? thanks.

  • gravedancer
    gravedancer

    Bea,

    On pleasing myself.

  • DanielHaase
    DanielHaase

    Very good possibility! Maybe not quite "mentally ill", but just too lazy to use their head?

  • bitter mango
    bitter mango

    grave, cool. thanks.
    but maybe religious people feel they are pleasing themselves by revolving their lives around god. maybe.
    were you ever a jw???

  • aChristian
    aChristian

    GD,

    You wrote: Are you willing to base your whole life and value system on something that is not provable?

    Many who are Christians now were once skeptics but became convinced that the God of the Bible created our universe after much study. They became convinced of this only after examining much evidence. To such people God was "provable." Simply because you have not yet become convinced does not mean that there is not strong evidence of God's existence. It may only mean that you have not yet seen it or have for some reason been unwilling to accept it. Others who are now believers may have seen evidence which you have not yet seen. Or they may have had more of an open mind than you have had when exposed to the same evidence.

    By saying that God's existence is not "provable" you are only saying that it is not provable to everyone. But what is? Some people even still insist that the earth is flat. Nothing anyone says can prove to them otherwise. Does that mean that it is not "provable" that the earth is a sphere? No, it only means that some people are unwilling to believe some things no matter what kind of "proof" of it is presented to them. I believe there is plenty of evidence for the existence of God for those who are willing to accept it and not enough for those who are not. Hopefully, you are someone who has not yet come across the evidence that will someday convince you of God's existence, and not someone who would reject any and all such evidence that could conceivably exist.

  • Celtic
    Celtic

    Piffle!! But I've only had 5 hours sleep and now I'm back off to work.

    Briefly then. I'm still considered by friends a very spiritual outlooking person, have had the total all clear from the medical professions, still believe in jesus, in the meantime alongside this belief, I am so extraordinarily busy, I ain't got the time of day to waste on feeling down in the dumps and/or mentally ill.

    What are you trying to do GD, prove a point?

    Your'e wasting your time GD, the answers inside your own mentally challenged mind, I told you this last night.

    Have a good un today ya daft trout.

    Love and respect, peace

    Mark

  • plmkrzy
    plmkrzy

    [[GRAVE
    plm - where is that smoke coming from ;) ]]

    ......take that rafter out of your eye so you can see better.......
    ........

    "The fellow that agrees with everything you say is either a fool or he is getting ready to skin you."
    - Kin Hubbard

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