Religions are fairy tales for adults. Should we encourage them to grow up?

[GreatestIam]

Religions are fairy tales for adults. Should we encourage them to grow up?

My mind set is close to Daniel Dennett as far as what religious people / theist should become after they grow up.

Personally, I like a lot of the social functions and appeasement of our need for fellowship, hivishness and tribalism offered by religious institutions.



So I do not want to kill all religions but just encourage them to be more moral, tolerant and give equality to women and gays.

Having said the above, People and recent trends to read scriptures literally have cause many to forget that religions were invented as theatre and myth and were never meant to be read or taken literally. They were designed to seek God, not to find one.

Bill Moyers Journal . Watch Listen PBS

Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus, said that when asked to sum up the whole of Jewish teaching, while he stood on one leg, said, "The Golden Rule. That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah. And everything else is only commentary. Now, go and study it."

Please listen as to what is said about literal reading.

"Origen, the great second or third century Greek commentator on the Bible said that it is absolutely impossible to take these texts literally. You simply cannot do so. And he said, "God has put these sort of conundrums and paradoxes in so that we are forced to seek a deeper meaning."

As you can see from the following, religions and temples have always been about entertainment and fellowship.



If Christianity and Islam could return to the old way of seeking God instead of idol worshiping false Gods, perhaps jihadists and other fundamental believers might chill and get along the way they have at some points in our past history.

Religions are fairy tales for adults. If this is a truth, we should encourage Christianity and Islam as well as all other religions to grow up and return to their better past of seeking God instead of idol worshiping Yahweh and Allah. Both of them are mythical and manmade Gods.

To just leave Christians and Muslim idol worshipers to continue as is means that we may never rid ourselves of their institutionalized homophobia and misogyny. The kind and moral thing to do is to try to correct our immoral religious friends to recognize their myths as fairy tales for adults. Do you agree?

Regards
DL

 

[SassyIrishLass]

What you want is a man made religion and that is not how it's intended.

 

[Dajjal]

Daniel Dennett annoys the hell out of me. He had the gall to write a book called consciousness explained without explaining anything. He just skips over Descartes point that the mind is an un-extended thinking thing but the body is an extended unthinking thing. Hence the concept of dualism of which I am an advocate. As for theists they fall down because they stick to outdated religious doctrines. Myself I am a deist who believes God is the first cause of creation, and he set the laws of physics into motion as a perfect plan to allow us to evolve by personal experience. I think there is more truth in eastern religions than in the Abrahamic religions. But all religions are bound to fail to get a handle on an infinite divine mind.

 

[GreatestIam]

What you want is a man made religion and that is not how it's intended.

Yet all religions are man made.



If you are into the supernatural then the reality of the world and how our minds work will not interest you.

A shame because Freud's and Jung's Father Complex spell it out quite well.

Do you find it strange though that a God would create a homophobic and misogynous religion?

Both those concepts are quite immoral. Right?

Regards
DL

 

[GreatestIam]

Daniel Dennett annoys the hell out of me. He had the gall to write a book called consciousness explained without explaining anything. He just skips over Descartes point that the mind is an un-extended thinking thing but the body is an extended unthinking thing. Hence the concept of dualism of which I am an advocate. As for theists they fall down because they stick to outdated religious doctrines. Myself I am a deist who believes God is the first cause of creation, and he set the laws of physics into motion as a perfect plan to allow us to evolve by personal experience. I think there is more truth in eastern religions than in the Abrahamic religions. But all religions are bound to fail to get a handle on an infinite divine mind.

Yes. Especially when that mind hides.

That indicates of course that God wants nothing to do with his creation.

Perhaps that is why Gnostic Christians like me call him a vile demiurge.

Dualism has some value but I just finished chatting with another on it and we decided that it does not really apply to all issues.

Take love and hate.

You do not hate those you love so there is no yin to that yang.

Regards
DL

 

[Dajjal]

What you want is a man made religion and that is not how it's intended.

Yet all religions are man made.

I find that video clip misleading about what Rudolph Steiner meant.
Rudolph Steiner was a mystic who wrote the book, 'How to know higher worlds. Here is a quote from him.

“There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds. Mystics, Gnostics, Theosophists — all speak of a world of soul and spirit which for them is just as real as the world we see with our physical eyes and touch with our physical hands.”
― Rudolf Steiner, How to Know Higher Worlds

 

[GreatestIam]

What you want is a man made religion and that is not how it's intended.

Yet all religions are man made.

I find that video clip misleading about what Rudolph Steiner meant.
Rudolph Steiner was a mystic who wrote the book, 'How to know higher worlds. Here is a quote from him.

“There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds. Mystics, Gnostics, Theosophists — all speak of a world of soul and spirit which for them is just as real as the world we see with our physical eyes and touch with our physical hands.”
― Rudolf Steiner, How to Know Higher Worlds

I understand the situation but fail to see the problem.

Jesus preached the same thing in his own way and so do I.

Science also preaches the same thing and so did Freud and Jung in their Father Complex.

All they all are talking about is accessing our higher minds.

The Vatican's largest carving is of the pineal gland that is thought to activate our third eye or higher minds. Jesus call it our single eye.
Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

https://www.ted.com/talks/iain_mcgilchrist_the_divided_brain

Regards
DL

 

[sealybobo]

Religions are fairy tales for adults. Should we encourage them to grow up?

My mind set is close to Daniel Dennett as far as what religious people / theist should become after they grow up.

Personally, I like a lot of the social functions and appeasement of our need for fellowship, hivishness and tribalism offered by religious institutions.



So I do not want to kill all religions but just encourage them to be more moral, tolerant and give equality to women and gays.

Having said the above, People and recent trends to read scriptures literally have cause many to forget that religions were invented as theatre and myth and were never meant to be read or taken literally. They were designed to seek God, not to find one.

Bill Moyers Journal . Watch Listen PBS

Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus, said that when asked to sum up the whole of Jewish teaching, while he stood on one leg, said, "The Golden Rule. That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah. And everything else is only commentary. Now, go and study it."

Please listen as to what is said about literal reading.

"Origen, the great second or third century Greek commentator on the Bible said that it is absolutely impossible to take these texts literally. You simply cannot do so. And he said, "God has put these sort of conundrums and paradoxes in so that we are forced to seek a deeper meaning."

As you can see from the following, religions and temples have always been about entertainment and fellowship.



If Christianity and Islam could return to the old way of seeking God instead of idol worshiping false Gods, perhaps jihadists and other fundamental believers might chill and get along the way they have at some points in our past history.

Religions are fairy tales for adults. If this is a truth, we should encourage Christianity and Islam as well as all other religions to grow up and return to their better past of seeking God instead of idol worshiping Yahweh and Allah. Both of them are mythical and manmade Gods.

To just leave Christians and Muslim idol worshipers to continue as is means that we may never rid ourselves of their institutionalized homophobia and misogyny. The kind and moral thing to do is to try to correct our immoral religious friends to recognize their myths as fairy tales for adults. Do you agree?

Regards
DL

How true or real is religion if it has to change? You like the benefits that come from a lie? Like Santa.

I'll go with science.

And what about the negatives? I heard in Minnesota we have a large Somalian poor Muslim population and many of their youth are joining Isis. Religion plays a role.

So a lie is a lie is a lie. Knowledge is better than belief based on ignorance.

Funny thing is when debating whether or not there is a God no atheists will accept any evidence or so called evidence from any organized religion because they are all based on a lie that God visited and told them things

 

[sealybobo]

Daniel Dennett annoys the hell out of me. He had the gall to write a book called consciousness explained without explaining anything. He just skips over Descartes point that the mind is an un-extended thinking thing but the body is an extended unthinking thing. Hence the concept of dualism of which I am an advocate. As for theists they fall down because they stick to outdated religious doctrines. Myself I am a deist who believes God is the first cause of creation, and he set the laws of physics into motion as a perfect plan to allow us to evolve by personal experience. I think there is more truth in eastern religions than in the Abrahamic religions. But all religions are bound to fail to get a handle on an infinite divine mind.

And you come to this conclusion with a lack of evidence. How wise is that? To assume a God created the universe without any facts or evidence verifying this this not even a theory. God is just a hypothesis. Do you get that? And what's the purpose? The universe is 14 billion years old and has less than 10 billion years to go. Everything dies including you. No soul moves on afterward

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

What you want is a man made religion and that is not how it's intended.

All religions are man made

 

[sealybobo]

What you want is a man made religion and that is not how it's intended.

All religions are man made

So is every God.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

"Religions are fairy tales for adults. If this is a truth, we should encourage Christianity and Islam as well as all other religions to grow up and return to their better past of seeking God instead of idol worshiping Yahweh and Allah. Both of them are mythical and manmade Gods".

The problem is religion exists also in the political realm, until the advent of the American Republic church and state were one in the same, citizens were compelled to adhere to religious dogma through force of law, and those who failed to do so where subject to punitive measures or otherwise disadvantaged.

Today there are those who wish to maintain or re-establish the paradigm of conjoining church and state, and the codification of religious dogma into secular law.

Adherents of Christianity and Islam as well as all other religions need to grow up and understand that although they are at liberty to practice their faith, they are not at liberty to compel other to believe as they do.

 

[sealybobo]

"Religions are fairy tales for adults. If this is a truth, we should encourage Christianity and Islam as well as all other religions to grow up and return to their better past of seeking God instead of idol worshiping Yahweh and Allah. Both of them are mythical and manmade Gods".

The problem is religion exists also in the political realm, until the advent of the American Republic church and state were one in the same, citizens were compelled to adhere to religious dogma through force of law, and those who failed to do so where subject to punitive measures or otherwise disadvantaged.

Today there are those who wish to maintain or re-establish the paradigm of conjoining church and state, and the codification of religious dogma into secular law.

Adherents of Christianity and Islam as well as all other religions need to grow up and understand that although they are at liberty to practice their faith, they are not at liberty to compel other to believe as they do.

We need a new religion. One that doesn't lie and say God talked to them. A liberal religion. One that admits it only believes and doesn't presume to know what happens when you die. Cosmology. Study the universe looking for god. God is knowledge type thinking.

 

[LittleNipper]

SO! Christians are immoral and bad. Homosexuals are pure and good and care only for the eternal welfare of everyone they meet...
Christians believe fairy tails and spread lies. Atheists can fix society and make everything perfect --- a heaven on earth, if only all the Christians were herded together and re-educated to modern governmental standards or disposed of...

There exist wide differences between various religions, and atheism is just another system of beliefs. The trouble we have been facing for about 50 years is that atheism has educational access in most schools without confrontation or scrutiny.

Sorry, but gay behavior does nothing to improve society. Homosexuality promotes hedonism and self-awareness as its goal. Homosexual behavior is in no way equal to a moral heterosexual behavior pattern. Within moral and godly heterosexual behavior, procreation and child rearing is in the forefront. And the protection of children becomes a deep seated emotional need.

The driving force of homosexuality is the desire for intimate relationships. Children while enjoyed, are not either the goal of such relationships nor considered more important than the need to fulfill an emotional void. The thought of celibacy among homosexuals primarily means giving up sexual pleasure with little if any consideration for procreation.

The Christian reviews his desires, and what he thinks he needs in terms of what God provides and expects. Atheists ultimately care only for what a desire will gain him. A lack of spirituality brings with it temper tantrums when personal gratification is not forthcoming quick enough.

 

[Vandalshandle]

SO! Christians are immoral and bad. Homosexuals are pure and good and care only for the eternal welfare of everyone they meet...
Christians believe fairy tails and spread lies. Atheists can fix society and make everything perfect --- a heaven on earth, if only all the Christians were herded together and re-educated to modern governmental standards or disposed of...

There exist wide differences between various religions, and atheism is just another system of beliefs. The trouble we have been facing for about 50 years is that atheism has educational access in most schools without confrontation or scrutiny.

Sorry, but gay behavior does nothing to improve society. Homosexuality promotes hedonism and self-awareness as its goal. Homosexual behavior is in no way equal to a moral heterosexual behavior pattern. Within moral and godly heterosexual behavior, procreation and child rearing is in the forefront. And the protection of children becomes a deep seated emotional need.

The driving force of homosexuality is the desire for intimate relationships. Children while enjoyed, are not either the goal of such relationships nor considered more important than the need to fulfill an emotional void. The thought of celibacy among homosexuals primarily means giving up sexual pleasure with little if any consideration for procreation.

The Christian reviews his desires, and what he thinks he needs in terms of what God provides and expects. Atheists ultimately care only for what a desire will gain him. A lack of spirituality brings with it temper tantrums when personal gratification is not forthcoming quick enough.

I was going to post that it is best to just tolerate religious delusions, since it gives some people courage to face life, and then you had to post this, which pretty much reconfirms all the sanctimonious self-righteousness that we atheists find so insufferable.

 

[RandomVariable]

Some believe in science and deny religion. Some believe in religion and deny science. Some are smarter than either of those.

 

[LittleNipper]

SO! Christians are immoral and bad. Homosexuals are pure and good and care only for the eternal welfare of everyone they meet...
Christians believe fairy tails and spread lies. Atheists can fix society and make everything perfect --- a heaven on earth, if only all the Christians were herded together and re-educated to modern governmental standards or disposed of...

There exist wide differences between various religions, and atheism is just another system of beliefs. The trouble we have been facing for about 50 years is that atheism has educational access in most schools without confrontation or scrutiny.

Sorry, but gay behavior does nothing to improve society. Homosexuality promotes hedonism and self-awareness as its goal. Homosexual behavior is in no way equal to a moral heterosexual behavior pattern. Within moral and godly heterosexual behavior, procreation and child rearing is in the forefront. And the protection of children becomes a deep seated emotional need.

The driving force of homosexuality is the desire for intimate relationships. Children while enjoyed, are not either the goal of such relationships nor considered more important than the need to fulfill an emotional void. The thought of celibacy among homosexuals primarily means giving up sexual pleasure with little if any consideration for procreation.

The Christian reviews his desires, and what he thinks he needs in terms of what God provides and expects. Atheists ultimately care only for what a desire will gain him. A lack of spirituality brings with it temper tantrums when personal gratification is not forthcoming quick enough.

I was going to post that it is best to just tolerate religious delusions, since it gives some people courage to face life, and then you had to post this, which pretty much reconfirms all the sanctimonious self-righteousness that we atheists find so insufferable.

A Christian realizes that his nature precludes him from pleasing GOD. The atheist imagines he is a god and thinks believers are inferior to him.

 

[LittleNipper]

Some believe in science and deny religion. Some believe in religion and deny science. Some are smarter than either of those.

And then there are those that have faith in the LORD and realize that science is only as absolute as man is perfect.

 

[sealybobo]

I

SO! Christians are immoral and bad. Homosexuals are pure and good and care only for the eternal welfare of everyone they meet...
Christians believe fairy tails and spread lies. Atheists can fix society and make everything perfect --- a heaven on earth, if only all the Christians were herded together and re-educated to modern governmental standards or disposed of...

There exist wide differences between various religions, and atheism is just another system of beliefs. The trouble we have been facing for about 50 years is that atheism has educational access in most schools without confrontation or scrutiny.

Sorry, but gay behavior does nothing to improve society. Homosexuality promotes hedonism and self-awareness as its goal. Homosexual behavior is in no way equal to a moral heterosexual behavior pattern. Within moral and godly heterosexual behavior, procreation and child rearing is in the forefront. And the protection of children becomes a deep seated emotional need.

The driving force of homosexuality is the desire for intimate relationships. Children while enjoyed, are not either the goal of such relationships nor considered more important than the need to fulfill an emotional void. The thought of celibacy among homosexuals primarily means giving up sexual pleasure with little if any consideration for procreation.

The Christian reviews his desires, and what he thinks he needs in terms of what God provides and expects. Atheists ultimately care only for what a desire will gain him. A lack of spirituality brings with it temper tantrums when personal gratification is not forthcoming quick enough.

I don't know what you are saying. Do you have evidence your God is real? Then don't use it as a defense why gay is wrong.

 

[sealybobo]

SO! Christians are immoral and bad. Homosexuals are pure and good and care only for the eternal welfare of everyone they meet...
Christians believe fairy tails and spread lies. Atheists can fix society and make everything perfect --- a heaven on earth, if only all the Christians were herded together and re-educated to modern governmental standards or disposed of...

There exist wide differences between various religions, and atheism is just another system of beliefs. The trouble we have been facing for about 50 years is that atheism has educational access in most schools without confrontation or scrutiny.

Sorry, but gay behavior does nothing to improve society. Homosexuality promotes hedonism and self-awareness as its goal. Homosexual behavior is in no way equal to a moral heterosexual behavior pattern. Within moral and godly heterosexual behavior, procreation and child rearing is in the forefront. And the protection of children becomes a deep seated emotional need.

The driving force of homosexuality is the desire for intimate relationships. Children while enjoyed, are not either the goal of such relationships nor considered more important than the need to fulfill an emotional void. The thought of celibacy among homosexuals primarily means giving up sexual pleasure with little if any consideration for procreation.

The Christian reviews his desires, and what he thinks he needs in terms of what God provides and expects. Atheists ultimately care only for what a desire will gain him. A lack of spirituality brings with it temper tantrums when personal gratification is not forthcoming quick enough.

I was going to post that it is best to just tolerate religious delusions, since it gives some people courage to face life, and then you had to post this, which pretty much reconfirms all the sanctimonious self-righteousness that we atheists find so insufferable.

I agree. I feel bad attacking religion because it makes so many people feel good but that doesn't make it any less a lie. Ignorant bliss is not good.