What do you think of religion?

So what your saying is.. I'm being punished for the first sins in the garden? Lmao. I didn't do nothing except inherit a curse. Which I'm punished and judged for. Makes sense.

 

You've inherited the world Adam chose for you. Citizens of a country inherit the consequences of their leaders decisions. There is no injustice in that. I will inherit the consequence of my Presdients actions but I won't blame the universe for this, I will blame my President. Your beef is with Adam not God. Furthermore God has even given you a way to bear this world and to reclaime what Adam took away from you, and not only that but to reclaim it in a greater glory, through Christ, who came down to this world and bore all of the suffering and death without complaint, and who conquered it and transformed it from a punishment to an act of love we can give back to God. This was something God didn't owe you but freely gave to you as a gift. It's up to you to take it or to continue living your life blaming the one person who didnt want this for you and who's been trying to help you.

 

Who said or claimed religion has explained everything or that, that's its purpose?

Good according to whom? Bad according to whom? To what authority do you determine what's good and what's bad?

 

The primordial way to connect to God is "spirituality" in my opinion.
Religion is full of doctrines and rules. It uses carrot and stick tactics - if you do that you will go to heaven, if the other thing, to hell.

Religion is okay i guess, but it doesn't determine the persons virtue. You don't need rules to love the creator.

 

Saying "I'm spiritual, not religious" is like saying "I like money, but I don't invest." Religion is not opposed to spirituality, it is there so that we practice our spiritually correctly, free from error.

You call them rules when they're really guides. You might as well say we don't need laws in mathematics in order to practice math. The reality is yes we do, so then we don't perpetuate the error that 2+2=5. The thing is you're not born with the understanding or knowledge of how to love. You need to be shown and taught this, and it is religion which teaches this to you, so that you might love God correctly according to His dignity and yours. You see by loving God correctly you will in-turn love all things properly. Learning this love is our highest priority since this is why we were created with an intellect and will. That we might know and love!

 

On the contrary, there is nothing cruel about God judging us on that for which we are responsible. You may as well say that it's cruel for a court of law to judge people on their crimes. Perhaps if the court were to judge unjustly then it would be so, but God cannot do so. What would be actually cruel is if God did not judge anyone. Then there would be wrongs left unpunished and rights left unrewarded. That would be unjust.

We worship God to show him honor, to show our love for him, and out of gratitude for our creation and redemption.

If they are doing it sincerely, out of love for God, then that is good, even if odd. I would add, however, that it is always best to worship him in the way he asks.

Some people are ignorant and/or prejudiced. Sadly, this is usually because others have taught them to be so.

If you love the creator, won't you choose to follow the rules that he has given?

 

Well anyway...

If god is real.

I'm very glad he gave us Donald Trump.

 

Nobody that I know says this.

Ditto. I deny that we take theological or philosophical shortcuts in order to avoid unpleasant thoughts.

We believers will actually say that while we may not know exactly why God allows a certain evil, he does not allow it without bringing a greater good out of it. How and when he does so is usually unknown to us, but he does so nonetheless.

As for the problem of suffering, it helps to remember that this temporary life would look like nothing if viewed next to eternity. Even if one suffers one's entire life, it is only temporary and ends with death. Let us take childbirth as an analogy. A woman suffers pain during labor and delivery, but after the baby is delivered, the pain is gone. While it is painful for some time, the reward is well worth the temporary ordeal.

More importantly, we catholics believe that suffering has great value. In order to understand why that is the case, one must understand this part of our catechism:

• As Adam and Eve committed the original sin in the garden of Eden, they fell out of God's grace, forfeiting their right to the beatific vision (heaven), not only for themselves, but for their descendants. God punished the human race with fallen nature, including the inevitability of death. In his mercy he promised to send a savior to redeem the human race, and restore to us the opportunity to merit heaven. That redeemer is the son of God. In order to merit forgiveness for our sins against God, it was necessary for God himself to take the punishment intended for us, because as we are finite beings, we could not ourselves secure forgiveness for offenses against an infinite being. Thus, Jesus suffered a human life and was put to death on the cross in order to gain forgiveness for all our sins.

Now in addition to his ordeal, we can bear our sufferings patiently in order to gain graces and make reparation for both our own sins and those of others. Bearing our suffering (which is punishment for sin) patiently and even cheerfully is greatly pleasing to God. That is why catholics hold the suffering that comes our way as an opportunity for great good. It is also why we exercise self-denial and mortification such as fasting, abstinence from meat on Fridays, etc.

Except for the part about not being judged, you are right. God has given us free will, and respects your decision to love or not love him. Your destiny is indeed up to you. However, it is wise to remember that when one sins, one hurts not only oneself, but others as well. There is very grave guilt in negatively influencing another person's soul, which we are quite capable of doing.

Dictators possess certain authority over their people, but that authority does not give them the right to abuse their power. God cannot abuse his power, and he certainly has rightful authority over his creation.

Again, we simply acknowledge our duty toward rightful authority, which God certainly holds. We are often accused of being "sheep," but would you accuse the soldiers of the U.S. military of being sheep just because they follow the orders of their president? A good general is loved and obeyed by his soldiers. So it is with God's faithful.

No. A great deal more is necessary than simply belief. One must love God, love one's neighbor, follow God's law, and do what he asks to the best of one's ability. However, the thought of losing heaven or falling into hell can certainly instill the fear of God. Fear of God is a very good thing, as it can help us to avoid sins that we might otherwise commit.

Hell is for those who willfully reject the mercy of God. By telling people of this, we inform them of what God has revealed. It would be wrong for us not to do so. If there is a danger, isn't it better to know and acknowledge that danger?

Amen!


I hope it doesn't seem like I'm just harping on endlessly, but I'd like for everyone to at least gain a better understanding of our faith. Ignorance on such an important matter is not a good thing, and there are a lot of misconceptions out there that could use clearing up. Thanks for taking the time to read here.

 

I can respect everything you say.
But I can't believe most things you say.
Please don't take offence.

I don't like to put belief in things I do not know are real, seen with my own eyes and engraved in my own memories.

Now if I saw a modern age Jesus walk on water. I will believe then. But while it's still all written in text with no physical evidence (Art works and oldest bibles don't count as physical evidence just to clarify what I mean by physical evidence) to back the written text, I will treat it the same as a scientific theory.

Half in belief, half in disbelief.
Neither here nor there.

Dont get me wrong, I think it would great if it's all as true, but I don't want to believe something that may not be true, until I know it's true.

I hope this can be respected.

 

Certainly.

BTW, is the guy in your signature using a reptile as a microphone? lol

 

Yeah haha.
It's the opening credits scene from guardians of the galaxy.

 

If that is your believe, then that's fine.

 

What if that religion wasn't made by god but man-made?

 

I think this too.

 

I don't say that a religion doesn't have a divine spark. But it's influenced by humans and therefore, has errors.

 

This is false. Just because something is influenced by humans does not automatically mean it has errors. By that logic you might as well never study or learn anything. Please, stop the insanity.

 

Do you have proof though?