3 religion questions
1. What do you get from your religion?
2. What does your religion get from you?
3. What does your religion give the world?
For non believers, bearing in mind that even though you dont believe in god(s) others do, and religion at least, is real, you can replace do/does with should if applicable to your response.
Thanks!
I recently went to a cancer institution for children to donate food and money. There were kids on the verge of dying. They told me not to cry because they're going to see Jesus. Normally, little kids like them would be afraid of dying. But these kids were calm, some were even happy. It made me believe that perhaps there is something more to life than meets the eye.
It\s not exactly false hope as it is just something that doesn't add up to what is being claimed it might mean. Okay these kids think they are going to "meet" Jesus. Why is that something that equates to God being real or any of that? I'm just saying children are highly impressionable and these kids are dying on top of that. They will believe whatever an adult tells them.
It doesn't mean the hope is false, it just means that hope comes from their parents..not God or Jesus. In other words the situation doesn't tell us anything in regards to if God truly does or does not exist. Faith can be immensely powerful, even if the deity you believe in isn't real.
Originally posted by riv6672
Thats pretty interesting, though i wish you'd answer the OP questions specifically. I think i'd get a lot out of those responses.
Well I currently don't have a religion, but I was raised a Catholic. Went to a Catholic grammar school that was co-ed. Was forced to go to an all boys Catholic high school. Some of the teachers were normal people, others were Brothers who lived at the school(or in a place connected to it). The Bro's were kinda creepy mostly. One time in class I accidentally dropped a condom out of my wallet because I was taking out my wallet to get my school id. The bro picked it up and took and a pin and poked a hole through it.
Anyways enough with that, for the #1 question I didn't get much from the religion. It was hard to have the sense of faith some others had and the religion teachers pretty much disliked me for all the questions I would ask. Their anger at me simply questioning certain things about our religion started me on the road to truly questioning the faith and then walking away from it. As a kid church was a chore. My family only went once a year on Christmas Even. But my school was directed connected to a church, so they would bring us in there a lot for mass or the stations of the cross.
I shit you not sometimes a funeral would be going on and they'd still bring us in and sit us in the back. I remember when a kid in my grade's dad died. They had the funeral at the church and once again took the entire 3rd grade classes to go. That is 4 classes each with like 20-25 kids. This was a funeral that also had the family members and they were very emotional and I remember a lot of students were very upset over this ordeal. So what I got out of it was boredom and some upsetting situations.
For #2 the religion didn't get anything from me but money lol. Which was actually just money from my parents that they would give at church when the donation plate came around. No I didn't volunteer or give anything back unless I was forced to do so. But I was a kid and already disliked religion so I didn't want much to do with it. I was forced to do community service before I could graduate from grammar school. The same thing was forced on me in high school, but I will admit I cheated. My grandma was sick and came to live with us and thus I counted any time I was home with her alone as taking care of her..even though she didn't need much taking care of.
#3 What does it give to the world? It should give nothing but hope to people, but it doesn't. It can breed discrimination and hatred. My personal opinion is it does more harm then good.
I'm an atheist currently. Was raised a Jehovah's Witness. My family members are still varying denominations of Christianity and Judaism. It's been my experience in dealing with my family members, and my mother and younger sister in particular, that their faith gives them strength and comfort when they're fearful and unsure of how to proceed or of circumstances out of their immediate control. I can appreciate that utility (easing the mind in times of doubt and worry) for religious faith, and won't attempt to dissuade them from utilizing it, despite not seeing anything empirically valid about any of the other teachings or alleged historical occurrences that faith is based on, just like I can see the merits of Bushido or Zen philosophies, or the fables of Aesop. I don't have an issue with hope or putting one's mind at ease. It's just when it comes to navigating our shared reality I'd like to base things in my life on something more falsifiable than bronze and iron age superstitions.