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My op establishes my opinion. My secondary comment about it being possible that im wrong establishes my open mindedness without detracting from my opinion. To say otherwise is to say that unless I believe as you do im closeminded and frankly just stupid.There is nothing to tell. Your OP clearly establishes your posture, and the vast majority of the rest of your input furthers it. You clearly want to start a fight with religious people with a bumper sticker-like platitude of ridicule and then call them closed-minded when they respond unfavorably. I would imagine it's fun for you. "Religion is a crutch" is a shallow observation of a cultural constant that has been around since pre-history. If that is your observation, then fine. I'm saying it is shallow and closed-minded. Including a "I could be wrong" somewhere in the midst of it doesn't exactly add anything to the equation.
As to your opinion of why I posted this I really don't care.
That's bullshit. If you didn't care then why did you post in on a message board? You want to ridicule a certain section of society and make them feel stupid. That is obvious. Just be honest about it.
You are close minded.
And your OP is just opinion, no more valid than JJ's opinion.
Exactly my point.
What's most laughable is that he probably feels he has made a profound statement in the OP that will confound and shame Christians while making atheists marvel at his wit. He has done neither, except perhaps to the most dimwitted of either set of people.
You expected your opinion that people of superior abilities don't believe in God to be treated as ... what, exactly?
To explain away the things they didn't understand.
And for whatever reason even when we started to understand things we didn't give up the crutch.
My op establishes my opinion. My secondary comment about it being possible that im wrong establishes my open mindedness without detracting from my opinion. To say otherwise is to say that unless I believe as you do im closeminded and frankly just stupid.
As to your opinion of why I posted this I really don't care.
But again for grins and giggles, you base your opinion on what you think the religious' interpretation of the Scriptures is. If an advanced alien species visited Earth and the only thing they had to evaluate our culture, beliefs, lifestyle, etc. with was five years of transcripts of USMB postings, what do you think they would conclude about us?
That this was a diverse planet with diverse opinions.
The thing about opinions is they don't require proof unless they are portrayed as fact based.
And to be clear my op was more a statement of what I thought of ancient culrures and why their beliefs were formed to begin with.
You expected your opinion that people of superior abilities don't believe in God to be treated as ... what, exactly?
How did you get there from my op?
That this was a diverse planet with diverse opinions.
The thing about opinions is they don't require proof unless they are portrayed as fact based.
And to be clear my op was more a statement of what I thought of ancient culrures and why their beliefs were formed to begin with.
You are close minded.
And your OP is just opinion, no more valid than JJ's opinion.
Exactly my point.
What's most laughable is that he probably feels he has made a profound statement in the OP that will confound and shame Christians while making atheists marvel at his wit. He has done neither, except perhaps to the most dimwitted of either set of people.
I made a statement that countless millions before me have made. I claim nothing save this....
You are a butthurt tool
Your simplistic statement is that religion is simply a *crutch* for people to explain things they don't understand.
It's condescending, and simplistic. I don't believe in God because I don't understand the world. The implication is that people of faith are foolish, and fill in gaps of their understanding with fiction..and Christ and the disciples were straight up liars...and those who believed them were nothing better than cultists. In all, those who have faith are rubes who should know better.
Atheism is a crutch for those who wont try to understand things of the Spirit. Rather than put in the work to educate oneself, they choose to pretend that the spiritual side of life is non-existant.
ANASAZI DIASPORA,
BY SHONTO BEGAY
"Shi cheii, My Grandfather, where did the Anasazi people go?"
"Shi' tsoi, My Grandson, the Anasazi had to leave the land long before Dinéh, the Navajo people, came into the Fourth World."
"But Grandfather, their villages are still here. Please tell me the story of the people who disappeared."
"Yes, My Grandson, those ancient ones were blessed in many ways. They were taught by the spirits ways to live productive and holy lives. They lived and enjoyed the blessings. They built great cities, they made beautiful pottery, they had fields of golden corn. They needed nothing beyond that. But they became lazy. This offended the spirits."
"How?"
"They chose to live easy lives instead of living by the rules they were taught to maintain holiness."
"What were those rules?"
"They were to recognize the gods. To pay them homage. To observe ceremonies. To celebrate seasons. To celebrate births and other stages of life. Special healers were appointed and given power to remove illness and restore harmony. But the healers decided to perform this ceremony for everyone, regardless of their health and age. Four times they were warned not to abuse the ceremony. Four times, they chose not to listen."
"And . . . ?"
"On the fifth day, the great wind rose out of the canyon walls and roared throughout the land. People were lifted out of their homes, out of their villages, out of the canyons and valleys. They were scattered throughout this land never to come together again. The buildings were left standing to remind us for all time what will happen if we choose to forget our history, our stories, and above all, our relation to our mother, the earth."
-- from Navajo Visions and Voices Across the Mesa, Shonto Begay, Scholastic Inc., New York: 1995
Your simplistic statement is that religion is simply a *crutch* for people to explain things they don't understand.
It's condescending, and simplistic. I don't believe in God because I don't understand the world. The implication is that people of faith are foolish, and fill in gaps of their understanding with fiction..and Christ and the disciples were straight up liars...and those who believed them were nothing better than cultists. In all, those who have faith are rubes who should know better.
I'd like to reply to your comment, but first I need to point out that I speak for myself and am not responsible for beliefs or comments others express. I believe that organized religions (as contrasted to systems of belief) are human institutions which can and should be examined sociologically. This inquiry has nothing to do with the truth value of the belief system advanced by a specific religion.
That religion is used to explain observations of the world that have not been explained with satisfaction is a simple fact. This is what I surmise was the gist of the OP. Such a statement is based in fact and should not offend anyone. The same can be said about "just-so" stories which all cultures have; we do not consider them "fiction" or "lies" but rather as socially useful myths, right up there with the elementary teacher who tells her class "The policeman is your friend!"
There is nothing in being a person of faith that intrinsically makes one foolish. The behavior a person exhibits is what makes them foolish or wise. A sign of wisdom is not imputing evil motive where none exists and not taking offense a factual statements just because you are oversensitive in your faith. Just sayin'
Atheism is a crutch for those who wont try to understand things of the Spirit. Rather than put in the work to educate oneself, they choose to pretend that the spiritual side of life is non-existant.
Every culture has its stories and lore, whether arising out of religious concepts--most probably do have religious underpinnings--but the stories are to explain things and use for the purpose of teaching. The Bible is no different. The problem comes when we assume that every word of the Bible is intended to be taken literally as we in the 21st Century would take words literally. But words in the Bible can have as many different connotations and interpretations as some of our own words:
Nerd
Butthole
Egghead
Nut
Techie
Wingnut
Fundie
Etc.
Every one of us would probably write somewhat different descriptions for every one of those terms. Yet they have become commonplace in our culture and few of us make any effort to define them.
As an example of primitive people using stories or metaphor or concepts to explain things, the descendants of our own Anazazi peoples have developed their own lore and methods of teaching. Perhaps some become ingrained as literal history; but most do not any more than most Christians or Jews take many of the most beloved Bible stories as literal history. But both derive deep meaning and teachings from those stories.
From our historical Navajo lore and how they regarded the Anazazi who preceded them:
ANASAZI DIASPORA,
BY SHONTO BEGAY
"Shi cheii, My Grandfather, where did the Anasazi people go?"
"Shi' tsoi, My Grandson, the Anasazi had to leave the land long before Dinéh, the Navajo people, came into the Fourth World."
"But Grandfather, their villages are still here. Please tell me the story of the people who disappeared."
"Yes, My Grandson, those ancient ones were blessed in many ways. They were taught by the spirits ways to live productive and holy lives. They lived and enjoyed the blessings. They built great cities, they made beautiful pottery, they had fields of golden corn. They needed nothing beyond that. But they became lazy. This offended the spirits."
"How?"
"They chose to live easy lives instead of living by the rules they were taught to maintain holiness."
"What were those rules?"
"They were to recognize the gods. To pay them homage. To observe ceremonies. To celebrate seasons. To celebrate births and other stages of life. Special healers were appointed and given power to remove illness and restore harmony. But the healers decided to perform this ceremony for everyone, regardless of their health and age. Four times they were warned not to abuse the ceremony. Four times, they chose not to listen."
"And . . . ?"
"On the fifth day, the great wind rose out of the canyon walls and roared throughout the land. People were lifted out of their homes, out of their villages, out of the canyons and valleys. They were scattered throughout this land never to come together again. The buildings were left standing to remind us for all time what will happen if we choose to forget our history, our stories, and above all, our relation to our mother, the earth."
-- from Navajo Visions and Voices Across the Mesa, Shonto Begay, Scholastic Inc., New York: 1995
Atheism is a crutch for those who wont try to understand things of the Spirit. Rather than put in the work to educate oneself, they choose to pretend that the spiritual side of life is non-existant.
20 years ago I could recite word for word most bible scripture. Im in no way ignorant of the word of god. Since then things in my life have changed and things have been learned. Blind faith is no longer sufficient. There were books removed from the bible and books not allowed in. All of which were written by man, man who is full of sin and corrupt according to the gospel. Yet you take it on face value.
