We are living in the 21st Century , When , Are We Going to Bury Religious Superstition ? Once and for all ?

by smiddy 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  David_Jay

  I hear where you are coming from, Smiddy.

  But obviously you are looking at everything from a bit of a closed prospective. Only Christianity deals in "faith." Other religions don't use the concept, at least not in the same manner.

  Buddhism doesn't require any type of faith or belief in a deity.

  Judaism sees faith or belief in concepts and creeds as irrelevant to their theology.

  Shinto is about ritual, not much else.

  Only Christianity makes a big deal about what one mentally accepts or mentally acknowledges, making faith a requisite to membership or acceptance. That is why Christian religions have a hierarchy and others often don't have a central authority (the three I mentioned don't have such a thing or an official set of beliefs). Christian leaders keep the membership in check based on claimants to a creed of some sort, and those that don't make such a claim get the boot.

  Other religions are not like that. Many Christians and former Christians have had little to no exposure to non-Christian thought and make broad judgments that are neither accurate nor show any critical thinking based on study or evidence of other religious movements.

  Forms of Buddhism and Reform Judaism, for instance, do not allow for people to make religious choices on the basis of credulity, superstition, or against reason and science. And since faith does not play a role in these theologies, it is hard to apply some of your views universally to all religions.

  This is not to say you don't have a good point. Those movements where faith replaces reason or logic show how many people are willing to jump to conclusions without first fully studying all the options and ensuring their conclusions are accurate, and that is indeed sad.
• 

  Fisherman

  Only Christianity deals in "faith." Other religions don't use the concept, at least not in the same manner.

  ...where faith replaces reason or logic show how many people are willing to jump to conclusions..

  You don't see it. All religions are systems of beliefs and hope in the realization of some reward in exchange for conduct. In Christianity faith means being sure ( reasons ) of the reward despite challenges, risks and uncertainties and such assurance produces conduct required by God.. -Hebrews:11:1 And in Christianity, Abraham's logic and reasons for his faithful conduct is the quintessence of faith, because although his faith was based on observable facts ( he measured miracles ) he did not know for a fact that his conduct would be rewarded although he was totally convinced that it would be, so trust was required of him. Since faith is required of Christians in order to please God, it would seem that God must provide some form of solid evidence for Christians to base their faith upon, because without solid evidence, faith is not possible.
  

  In other religions too, people also need to have some basis for being sure (faith) that their belief (conduct, rituals, etc) will produce the results they hope (reward.) In any religion, without faith, there is no logical reason for taxing your conduct and therefore in every religion just like in Christianity, faith is required in some way.
  
• 

  fukitol

  Religious superstition will indeed be a thing of the past one day..maybe 5,000 years from now....but there will always be a sense of wonderment about the mysterious. Without that we would not be human.
• 

  Mephis

  People just believe in a higher power.

  As you say later in your post though, it's a cultural and taught belief system rather than an inherent thing where we feel a sense of spirituality and link it to 'god'. There are belief systems which don't have 'god' as part of them, and they're still trying to minister to the same feeling.

  Religion is a social and cultural construct. In times and places it can be a force for the good, a binding agent, even a replacement for an educational system for a society. But at best it's always only ever been an inadequate substitute with a lot of flaws.

  Some people may well always choose to find meaning in belief in a skydaddy or skymummy or whatever. But the form it takes will be individual and personal and relevant to their own needs rather than having a belief system grafted onto how one chooses to then live one's life.
• 

  tornapart

  I must say those are questions I've been asking myself for a long time. If you believe in a God it gives you a strange sense of abandonment sometimes but then there are other times when he feels strangely close. I feel being in a religion can give you a sense of belonging, a higher power to tell you what to do and what to believe, maybe in the same way as a child with a parent. Only trouble is a child grows up and moves away, makes his own way in life. Who wants to be stuck as a child? The way I think of it myself, I can't shake off the feeling that there is a God. He does exist to me. Have I got evidence... no. But then neither is there evidence that he doesn't exist. I don't believe he is involved in man's affairs the way religion says he is. We have free will and free choices, Many don't like it when that free will and free choice is taken away by religion.

  It's good to keep asking questions... even if we don't like the answers. Sometimes there are no answers.
• 

  Fisherman

  rather than an inherent thing where we feel a sense of spirituality

  I never said that.