Since it is obvious all religion is wrong why do so many believe?

by jwfacts 64 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Honesty

  What the JWs have told us about Christendom is NOT always true. Of course, just like the JWs, there are bad apples in every barrel. But almost every church (religion) I've been to, has expressed they realize they cannot ask people to adhere/believe 100%. Rarely is there someone that believes 100% of the religion's doctrine. And if they don't, they aren't shunned for it.

  Andi, you are so at the door on this! The churches of Christendom even says that any group that tells you they and they alone have the only truth about God is being decietful. Even the apostles had differences of belief so it should be expected. Unity in faith in Jesus is not the same as conforming to every whim of a religion that is apt to change without a moment's notice.
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  Satanus

  the hope of immorality is appealing

  Sure is

  Seriously though, christianity filled a void during a turbulent time: rome crushing the old mystical ways of the greeks, judaism and others. I think that's why christianity caught on so big at that time. Then later, it continued because it was such an excellent tool for mass control, keeping the empire together, more or less for centuries.

  The prechristian religions often had drug use involved at their roots. Blame drugs, i guess. Judaism didn't have much drug use, but it borrowed from the other religions. That is not really answering your question, though, of why it continues today. Hopefully others will provide.

  S
• 

  Ingenuous

  I was always troubled with why i was so lucky to be born a Witness. I wasnt any better or more special than anyone else, so why should I be saved and they wouldn't. JW's say that God draws his sheep, but that rang hollow to me. I knew that most people will never have the opportunity to be a JW, and i would never have believe it if i wasnt born it.

  I've had similar feelings. Wow, wasn't it great that I didn't have to search and suffer like everyone else - I had the "truth" dropped into my lap! Actually, I comforted myself with the idea that "God draws his sheep" because I knew there were likely billions of people out there who would never know the first thing about JWs and what they believed. There were people JWs would never reach.

  There was also an interesting phenomenon I saw at work in the congregations that I knew had to be at work in other religions as well: Once someone decided that JWs had "truth", they stopped thinking for themselves and let the Org do it for them. They submitted to every instruction and accepted every teaching without the slightest investigation. I thought - If there are people within God's organization who submit once for all time to the Org and refuse to ask questions or think independently out of "loyalty" to God, why would God adversely judge those outside of the organization who at one time were convinced of the "truth" of their system of worship and who refused to question it out of the same sense of loyalty?

  I was working the "God draws his sheep" line something fierce before I quit.
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  SeymourButts

  Religion is for those that can't handle the notion of an atheistic universe.

  The journey from JWism to Christianity (or any other religion for that matter) is nothing more than a jump from the frying pan and into the fire. The replacement of one set of beliefs with an equally comical set of beliefs. Nothing more than a crutch for those that can't accept (or refuse to face) reality. One religions claims of truth are no more valid than any others. Each and every one should be examined with the same magnifying glass used on the Watchtower. When you do....they all fall.

  I see more churchianity than christianity in the world. The JWs are wrong, so I am a Baptist. The Baptists are wrong, so I am a Catholic. The Catholics are wrong, so I am a Lutheran...and on, and on, and on.............
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  trevor

  SeymourButts

  I know you are new here but I think you have posted one of the most sensible posts I have ever read. There is not a word I would alter.

  I will however add a comment I made on a post the other day which was completely ignored.

  ‘God help and bless everyone!’

  Is this a request? A demand? What does it mean exactly? Do these words have any value at all?
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  JCanon

  Daunt, I think you make an excellent point!

  Christianity today, I feel, does not do much besides help people feel important in this life that does not give free importance tickets. I feel that in this day and age, we have too many other avenues that help individuals more than God-thought to go on their way of life.

  I believe the simple practice of some type of religion with some decent ideals has it's own benefits within itself, whether based upon fantasies or realities. Doctrinal issues and "truth" are another matter entirely. Case in point I dismiss the witness organization for their Biblical inaccuracies but if I had children to raise I'd definitely want them raised as witnesses in that envirnment because the social situation in the witness cult-community teach great practical life fundamentals (except not going to college!) Good observation.

  JC
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  Qcmbr

  Why would you want to join a religion that didn't believe it was the only true one? There is something scary to me in the thought that anyone would want to join anything as life altering as religion on an all roads lead to heaven ticket. Now of course I don't support the JWs but I stand fully by the fact that they have the balls to believe they are right. It is really easy to say that your religion is kinda goofy and not always right but gosh darn it the people are nice - that's the thinking that leads to doctrines getting changed according to public mood. Even those who dislike religion on this board at least have the consistency to speak with religious fervour and certainty.
  
  A religion is only worth what it asks you to give up. A religion only has authority where it thinks it is absolutely right. Anyone whose a christian must believe that Jesus wasn't just asking for the odd five minutes and a passing reference when you could be bothered. The whole symbolic point of baptism was that the old person was dying and a complete new life was beginning, no doubt, no fear and total sacrifice - just like He gave us.
  
  Q hands back the wooden spoon after that stir.
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  Shining One

  >Any religion that claims it is the only correct one is obviously wrong.
  
  What is your evidence for this assumption? Are you just another WT refu-gee who has decided that you believe the WT lie, "Where would you go (to find God)?"
  Rex
• 

  Narkissos

  What we call religion is a very diverse phenomenon. The problem is that we all tend to approach it through the lens of the religion we know best, and this pattern doesn't necessarily suit the rest of the "religious" world.

  The question of "right" and "wrong" religion comes up very naturally in a Christian mind, and especially a JW (or xJW) one. It implies a potentially universalistic religion (which could, or should, apply to all people) as well as an exclusivistic one (no salvation outside the "right religion"), with an emphasis on belief (the "right doctrine") over morals or rituals. Moreover, it is heavily influenced by the modern Western (especially American) notion of a consumers' religion which is to be freely picked up from a wide religious supermarket.

  But this simply does not apply to a lot of religions. Some are ethnically based (most Jews, Hindus, Zoroastrians or Shintoists would not expect non-Jews, non-Hindu, non-Persian or non-Japanese to join them). Others, although potentially universalist, are not exclusivist (this is the case of most types of Buddhism, and even of classical Islam). To many old religions belief is quite secondary to ritual.

  So there are many reasons why someone would practice a religion (the foremost being that s/he was born into it) without denying the validity of other religions in their own realm.
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  tetrapod.sapien

  what SeymourButts said.

  the thought of an afterlife is probably the strongest motivator for belief in any religion. reincarnation or heaven (or hell), it all means that death is not as it would logically seem, an end to consciousness. but rather just a portal. this should be commonly accepted as delusional and mad, but since it is SO VERY PRECIOUS to most homo sapiens, it's given a free ushering into regular, "normal" culture.

  parsomony and economy of observation are thrown out for comfort. religion, is as marx said, an opium. a drug. and where has it got us as a species? why, right here of course!

  TS