Religion is a Comforting Dogma, but Think For Yourself First

[LittleSally]

Being a person of faith, no matter what faith that might be, the first thing you have to do is think for yourself.

Why?

Because in the past - and obviously extremists today as well - people of faith can and a lot of them do take the words of their holy books literally - and even expand upon the meaning to take advantage of the weaklings who haven't learned to think for themselves yet.

First think of your morals, of what's good and what's evil, think of it logically: What makes sense? What makes you feel like a good person? Take the answers to those questions into consideration prior to deciding to believe in every word someone tells you or that's written.

People should always think for themselves first.

Your religion can be a calming thing, a meditative need, a stress relief and a belief in something greater than us humans - so you never feel alone or abandoned, but be sure that all of your beliefs match your moral code - because if they don't, it's time to change those beliefs.

[BCRanger10]

I see what you're trying to get at, but you're still missing the mark.

First of all, what you're talking about is not religion. It's rationalism, this idea that what makes sense defines "good". It replaces divine moral law with human reason, which is limited and flawed. I might be hungry. One conclusion could be to steal money to buy food, or simply steal food. Another would be to spend my own money, get a job in order to make money, or to implore the kindness of others. They're both logical. Which one is the right one then?

The next problem is the part about what makes you "feel like a good person." Religion is not primarily about simply being a "good person" and it's CERTAINLY not about "feeling good"; come to my parish sometime and you'll get a crash course in the whole "not-feeling-good" bit. The main purpose for divine worship is to give God the honor and glory that is rightly and justly due to Him. If feeling good happens to be a secondary effect of worship and involvement, fine. However, I can't remember the last time that I got a warm and fuzzy feeling after having received Our Lord in Holy Communion.

Even so, how many cheaters, liars, thieves, pornographers, murderers, and criminals go throughout their lives thinking that they're "good people"? No, religion isn't even about (at least not primarily) being a "good person". That "goodness" is most excellently demonstrated after a submission to divine moral precepts (Luke 10:27, John 15:14).

Think about this. Christianity, for example, teaches that sex should wait until marriage. What does how a someone "feels" about it have to do with it? A faithful Christian can "feel" all they want as strongly as they want that sex outside of marriage isn't sinful, but that won't change a thing about it.

And what exactly do you mean by "expanding upon meanings"? Do you mean researching the origin or a certain word or an original context to shed new light on it? Or do you mean what many churches do today, which is to claim that their own interpretation of a passage is the correct one? And who exactly are these so-called "weaklings"?

[Maria321]

before i go into it let me ask you this, if there is a good father and she decides to take away his children, when he was already feeding them, raising them, doing what fathers do to the best of his ability should she be allowed to take the kids away when there is nothing wrong with him
so is it wrong for him to fight for his children

now lets get down to the facts
the earth is flat with a dome not really up for debate anymore
the only debate I would considered would be which GOD but other then that its set EVERYONE is accountable it sucks but its better that way honestly

flatearthscienceandbible.files.wordpress.com/.../img_0039-1.jpeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAcp3BFBYw4&t=14s

[Maria321]

and you have to test the books before you exclude them from reality

[razor97]

did you knew that atheists aren't welcome here. if you want to discuss things find a g+ community on google, like i did

[Soulife]

Religion is a metaphor for what existence, life, the soul, etc are. Where does religion cross a line? When people take it literally and see God as an authority. Who the hell has the authority to tell me if I may do or not do something? We are only supposed to be slaves to ourselves. Just like politics. Why should I care if you think something different? Just like you shouldn't care about what I think! Religion, just like marriage, is to confort us from the dark thought of: we all die alone.

[Asad1ONE1]

Correct.

Religion is a property of God and extremists have forced Cultural effects upon it, forcing others to believe differently from how God originally intended.

There was a time when only Race and Culture divided us all. Religions were sent as God's guidance to Humans, and obviously only one is divinely correct, as the others were corrupted.

[Midget_Hug]

This is oversimplified. The process of choosing a religion is not a logical one and actually what "Aligns to your morals" is usually the worst thing to try and shoot for since morals shift very quickly and easily.

[vekin]

I do believe in God but I agree with you that we should use always our own abilities to determine what is good and bad and no following blind our leaders.

[cupidkisses]

good