by BLISSISIGNORANCE 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
..........................a pre-disposition? like the idea that alcoholics have a particular gene, certain mannerisms we inherit from parents or grand-parents, red hair is a recessive gene etc. Is religion inherited as a life style or emotional dependency????????????????? is it low self-esteem and the need for others to decide what is right and wrong, how to live and even die???????
I'ld love to hear your thoughts on this, I've been wondering about it for quite a while.
Cheers, Bliss
Well good question I don't know for sure of course but to me it might be : emotional dependency
But not : low self-esteem ... it could be the reverse or both from time to time
and about : the need for others to decide what is right and wrong, how to live and even die : it might the part of the dependency it creates ... I mean not a choice just a consequence ...
Eddited to add : I think that if my mother haven't been raised in such deep rooted christian familly she might not have been that dependant to religion / My father for instance who had more religious cultural roots (because of his Chineses roots) never have been that much into it ... maybe it just gave him the capacity to thinkl : what is all this ??? first means before : God is everything ...
People want a material hope... paradise. A lot of people (including me) would like to think there is a better life than this. There is non-stop war all the time. Iraq this, Israel that. Nuke here, nuke there. Violence crime and then you die at 80 years old. Some people are rich, some are poor. Look at those tsunami affected areas and then look at our country BLISSISIGNORANCE.
Don't you want another chance of living without the evil intensions of this imperfect, corrupt world?
Holy smoke! I would like matters resolved with the WTS and get rid of all the monsters causing all the troulbe within the movement, and improve some of their doctrines.
every religion has it's good and bad..............some more of one than the other.
yes, we all need hope of some sort but does religion offer it?
I have found much peace since leaving organised religion...........I can live without it.
I plan to do my best with my life............and I don't need religious leaders or an organization to make me do it.
So my question remains.......................???????????????
Interesting question - i have often wondered the same.
I think, as already mentioned, you look around this crap world of depravity and think 'there has to be something better than this'.
I was brought up on a diet of church - it becomes part of who you are. It would be more interesting to ask people who werent brought up with any religion, who turned to it as adults.........Why? Why did they search for God?
BLISSISIGNORANCE, I think a number of factors can influence it.
If you are poor you are more likely to be religious. If you are rich you don't care about it because you already got everything.
Some people are drawn to it more than others because of personality, yes.
You have to "hear" something before you accept it and go to that church. Unfortunately a lot of people on here "heard" about the JW org. and have been hurt by them a lot, like me. Unfortunately for me too, a lot of their doctrines are fact. Some people are a cynic at heart and would be saved by not falling in the trap of ogranization religion like the JW's.
There are lots of people I know and in the media you think to yourself that person would never be religious because they are too sporty, too wealthy, too cynical or what have you.
No, the need to invent religion is a social condition not a biological one. Therefore the need to join a religion is purely governed by social factors.
I do believe it's a personality trait, but is harmless, provided the person does not get involved with destructive groups.
like the idea that alcoholics have a particular gene
PS--This is a common misunderstanding. There has not been a gene discovered that's responsible for addictions. There have been groups of genes associated with a person having a higher chance of becoming addicted, but even those with all of those genes are not all addicts.
or perhaps programming from society
I plan to do my best with my life............and I don't need religious leaders or an organization to make me do it.So my question remains.......................???????????????
I have always explained my position this way:
I am Roman Catholic. But my faith in God is independent of my religion. I say that because I've always believed in God and had faith, whereas I only became Catholic when I was 15 years old. That said, my religion is simply how I choose to celebrate that faith. With or without my religion, my faith in God would still stand strong.
I think the "need" for religion stems primarily from the fear/worry/belief that you aren't properly worshipping God unless you do so within the confines of a building (His "house of worship") ... be it a church, Kingdom Hall, Synagogue, or what have you. I think it also stems from the fact that it has been ingrained in people that without religion they are just floating aimlessly in their belief of God, with no real sense of direction - religion provides structure and direction.
That said, I do think that there are people who subject themselves to a rigid religion such as the JWs out of their need for acceptance, need to belong, need to fit in somewhere, need to feel worthwhile ... essentially to fill a need of one kind or another. If you think about it, JWs tend to appeal and gravitate to the "lowly", the people of need, people with no direction or support system, troubled people, etc out in the ministry. I don't think that is entirely unintentional, based on what I said previously.
