Why Finding the One True Religion is Impossible

by Simon 50 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Simon
    Simon

    JWs like to think they have found the one true religion. But like so many other religious people, it's usually the religion they were born into, the only religion they know because it's the first one they found or, at the most, one of two or three (typically the second one after they left their first / born-in faith).

    The trouble is, there simply isn't enough time to explore and investigate each and everyone of the many thousands of belief systems, religions and sects around the world.

    Think of it this way: which is the best neighbourhood to live in where you would be most happy and most successful? Not just in the city or even the country you are in, but the entire world.

    How would you ever know? It would take a year at least of living somewhere to really truly know what it was like and what all the people were like, more likely 3 or 4 at least.

    Picking a branch of religion like Christianity or Islam maybe like choosing a country to live in (sometimes they go together). You can discount some and pick one but most often people are born into the place they are and that is the choice made for them.

    But then the number of cities and neighbourhoods within a city are so many, the best you can do is pick one and be as happy and successful as you can there.

    In your lifetime, if you changed every few years, you'd likely only ever have first-hand knowledge of maybe a dozen at most. And wasn't the purpose to find the best one to spend your life in? If you're moving about, you never really get to live in the best one you found because you spent so much time moving.

    It's impossible.

    And yet some would have us believe that "God" expects us to find the right one and will kill anyone who doesn't. What a twat.

  • steve2
    steve2

    Fascinating OP!

    Decisions about "which" religion is the true one are premised on so many ideas that have already seeded in the individual's mind, many of them not even at an explicit level of awareness, such as, "Because I believe there should only be one true religion, I need to find it and I should find it", and "Because I believe there should only be one true religion, such a religion must exist." Such statements are incredibly naïve and leave the individual at the mercy of their pre-existing beliefs. Besides, this kind of "one true religion" mentality is further premised on the inerrancy of some "Holy" writings, and in Westerners case, most usually the Bible. And that too presupposes so very much.

    Add to that the framework lots of religiously inclined people use to shape you up for joining them, such as, "There has to be a divine purpose in life" and "Life without belief in a deity is not worth living" and "Only religion gives meaning to people's lives.

    And on and on and on the premises and assumptions go.

    Then when the individual believes he or she has "found" the one true religion, they build a wall around its "sacred" teachings - meaning the search now stops. Invariably when confronted with seemingly contrary information about their one-true belief system, they avert their gaze and block their ears. Their interest in finding the one true religion has been satisfied and they can now safely close the door on their interest in looking beyond what they have found.

    Trouble is, each of these people who declare they have found the one true religion belong to vastly different belief systems - each of which imposes "consequences" for questioning it, quite apart from leaving it. And that's an entirely separate but related topic.

  • never a jw
    never a jw

    Great point and analogy!

  • redvip2000
    redvip2000

    And why would Gawd punish people for not choosing the right religion, if choosing the right religion is highly dependent on things that you have no control over, like nationality, ethnicity, family?

    In other words, Jeekavoova should not be looking to punish someone in the middle east, because they happened to be born there and thus adopted the local religion, especially considering that JWs insist on not preaching on that side of the world.

  • truthwillsetyoufree
    truthwillsetyoufree

    Brilliant point made. I will be using this analogy.

  • evilApostate
    evilApostate

    Excellent analogy.

    John Legend - Everybody knows, but nobody really knows...

  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    All religions have been built upon an agreement to set of lies (mythological expressions) to be honest and truthful but their effects within human social behavior vary from one and another.

  • just fine
    just fine

    I agree. What are the chances out of all the people and religions in the world, God chose a white guy in America, who was a drunk, cheated on his wife, as the leader of his one true religion. Really?

  • OUTLAW
    OUTLAW

    Why Finding the One True Religion is Impossible

    I Strongly (5% alc / vol) Disagree..

    ...........................................

    Image result for church of beer

    Image result for church of beer.Image result for church of beer

  • Reopened Mind
    Reopened Mind

    LOL Outlaw!

    When we walked into a Unitarian Universalist church for the first time, it had a KITCHEN! And in that kitchen was a refrigerator with beer and wine. We said this is our kind of church.

    Reopened MInd

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