| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"charles" |
| Date: |
26 Jan 2006 12:39:36 PM |
| Object: |
'IT WAS A MIRACLE!!" |
We see it over and over in the newspapers. Someone lived longer than
the doctors said he would. "It was a MIRACLE!" we hear. Or one of the
houses that just happened to miss being swept away with the others or
burned up or blown away was, itself, saved. "Its a MIRACLE" we hear.
I once read about a poor woman who had her home totally destroyed by
fire; but the firemen found a paper doll shaped like an angel stuffed
in a crack in the lone standing wall.
Guess what? You guessed it. "It was a MIRACLE!"
To my surprise no one has ever really bothered to analyze just what is
going on here!
When you have lost something from something which the insurance
companies call, "an Act of God", you cannot collect from the insurance
companies! Also, you cannot get your hands, in order to serve, the One
Who you suspect is really responsible(!) So, since you have nothing
left to do, you try and find some "saving grace." by finding the
"angel." The poor women felt "touched by God." It comforted her.
You see, mythology and superstition serves a function. That is why it
persists. All people cannot be rational. It is a convenient way for
poorer people to find consolation.
But there is another facet to this.
It is the fellow who recovered from a cancer that the doctors said was
terminal, for example. He says, "it was a MIRACLE" and, by so doing,
infers that all those other people who have died from cancer were not
"blessed by God," perhaps because they were not as good a Christians as
he! They were not "given the same special treatment." He sets himself
apart from the rest of mankind and says, in effect, I am SPECIAL to
Him." It is a big ego thing. It is arrogance.
But you can see its appeal. It is a way to be arrogant without being
obvious about it. It provides a fool-proof way to puff up your own ego
without having to do anything to justify it.
Yes, religions serve a function, many functions, but why such chincy,
selfish, irrational ones?
charles, http://humanpurpose.simplenet.com
.
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| User: "Bill" |
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| Title: Re: 'IT WAS A MIRACLE!!" |
26 Jan 2006 02:26:53 PM |
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"charles" <charlesbrough1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1138300776.780851.298170@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
We see it over and over in the newspapers. Someone lived longer than
the doctors said he would. "It was a MIRACLE!" we hear. Or one of the
houses that just happened to miss being swept away with the others or
burned up or blown away was, itself, saved. "Its a MIRACLE" we hear.
I once read about a poor woman who had her home totally destroyed by
fire; but the firemen found a paper doll shaped like an angel stuffed
in a crack in the lone standing wall.
Guess what? You guessed it. "It was a MIRACLE!"
To my surprise no one has ever really bothered to analyze just what is
going on here!
When you have lost something from something which the insurance
companies call, "an Act of God", you cannot collect from the insurance
companies! Also, you cannot get your hands, in order to serve, the One
Who you suspect is really responsible(!) So, since you have nothing
left to do, you try and find some "saving grace." by finding the
"angel." The poor women felt "touched by God." It comforted her.
You see, mythology and superstition serves a function. That is why it
persists. All people cannot be rational. It is a convenient way for
poorer people to find consolation.
But there is another facet to this.
It is the fellow who recovered from a cancer that the doctors said was
terminal, for example. He says, "it was a MIRACLE" and, by so doing,
infers that all those other people who have died from cancer were not
"blessed by God," perhaps because they were not as good a Christians as
he! They were not "given the same special treatment." He sets himself
apart from the rest of mankind and says, in effect, I am SPECIAL to
Him." It is a big ego thing. It is arrogance.
But you can see its appeal. It is a way to be arrogant without being
obvious about it. It provides a fool-proof way to puff up your own ego
without having to do anything to justify it.
Yes, religions serve a function, many functions, but why such chincy,
selfish, irrational ones?
charles, http://humanpurpose.simplenet.com
Because the foundation of all religions is built on faith, myths and fear of
some after life.
.
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| User: "charles" |
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| Title: Re: 'IT WAS A MIRACLE!!" |
27 Jan 2006 05:01:28 PM |
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Well, that's true of the religions now; but they were not really
irrational when they first started. I read that Christianity, for
example, arose in an age when people believed in thousands of gods.
The idea that there was only one and that it had no shape or
description seemed to the people almost like atheism. So, it was a
relatively advanced belief for those times. Even the moral code, the
Ten Commandments was advanced then. Now, of course, that is no longer
the case. There are plenty of things that should be in the old moral
code but aren't, such as not to rape, committ fraud, kidnapp, stalking,
assualt, taking bribes and even selling another into slavery. None of
those are prohibited in the Bible.
You go back even further and you find Hinduism. It is older and so it
is more primitive. Have you ever thought of Chinese Marxism as a
religion? Scholars call it a "secular religion." It is a newer
religion, but just because something is new does not mean it is
satisfactory. Marxism is riddled with flaws. Yet, since societies
need some common system of belief in order to function, we will have to
eventually have something better than Christianity or Marxism to run
the world. This is because our secular beliefs are not replacing
religion. Instead, as you may have noticed, OLD religion is creeping
into our government, into our schools, and increasingly, into the
media.
charles, http://humanpurpose.simplenet.com
.
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| User: "wbarwell" |
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| Title: Re: 'IT WAS A MIRACLE!!" |
28 Jan 2006 05:28:35 PM |
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charles wrote:
Well, that's true of the religions now; but they were not really
irrational when they first started. I read that Christianity, for
example, arose in an age when people believed in thousands of gods.
The idea that there was only one and that it had no shape or
description seemed to the people almost like atheism.
Greek philosophy had created that god hundreds of years before
Christ. Many Roman citizens believed in a montheistic
god, Stoicism and others were definitely well known.
Its probable Christianty spread because its idea of god
was not really any diffrent from what many people
believed anyway.
Many people of the age of Jesus spoke of Zeus in such
terms that if you substituted god instead of Zeus,
their claims were no diffrent really.
You may wish to google for pre-Socratic philosophers and
read what they said about god.
So, it was a
relatively advanced belief for those times. Even the moral code, the
Ten Commandments was advanced then. Now, of course, that is no longer
the case. There are plenty of things that should be in the old moral
code but aren't, such as not to rape, committ fraud, kidnapp, stalking,
assualt, taking bribes and even selling another into slavery. None of
those are prohibited in the Bible.
You go back even further and you find Hinduism. It is older and so it
is more primitive. Have you ever thought of Chinese Marxism as a
religion? Scholars call it a "secular religion." It is a newer
religion, but just because something is new does not mean it is
satisfactory. Marxism is riddled with flaws. Yet, since societies
need some common system of belief in order to function, we will have to
eventually have something better than Christianity or Marxism to run
the world. This is because our secular beliefs are not replacing
religion. Instead, as you may have noticed, OLD religion is creeping
into our government, into our schools, and increasingly, into the
media.
charles, http://humanpurpose.simplenet.com
--
It's all coming down! It's all coming down!
IT'S ALL COMING DOWN!
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
Cheerful Charlie
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