Example: As far as sports go, I’m in the 3rd mentioned category, I don’t give a shit which side wins, and I don’t even bother watching.
Example: As far as sports go, I’m in the 3rd mentioned category, I don’t give a shit which side wins, and I don’t even bother watching.
Very true! But the same could also be said of many, if not most religious people. I was born to parents who followed this religion, grew up following this religion, and therefore this is my religion.
What does it mean to believe in different Abrahamic religions if they all believe in the same God? What about polytheists or atheists who follow an identical moral compass without the belief in the same God?
It’s the tenets that they choose to value what makes the difference, I guess. Those who don’t even read and just wear a cross and say “Jesus!” every so often, I’m not really sure what they value… but every Paulian doctrine has a clear disconnect between actions and the destiny of your soul (because you don’t merit God’s promise by your acts but it’s all grace and believing Jesus is God or something like that, whatever that means, lol) whilst Islam and Mosaic Judaism don’t (Jesus and his message are included, ofc, the man was a Jew of the times).
As much as I dislike saying this out loud because I don’t feel like hurting some good people’s feelings, the reality of things is that Trinitarians are slightly confused manworshippers who follow state Roman doctrines more than Jesus and “the law and the prophets” he followed, so I don’t really consider them as part of the same group. Islam and Judaism (and the OG Jesus followers who called him rabbi and not God are part of both or either, ofc) are actual Abrahamic, Mosaic and Solomonic monotheists, with clear rules (the Ten Commandments, or the whole Qur’an) and consequences. Like a disciple says in the Bible (the author escapes me right now): “you believe in God? Demons do too! Show me your faith without works and I’ll show you my faith through my works!”
And I guess it depends on the atheist but a more or less righteous one is walking the walk, because it’s right and they feel it, even if they cannot talk/cannot comprehend/are not interested in the talk. Sometimes the “problem of evil” and traumatic experiences with so-called religious folk just push people away from anything with the “religion” label, and it’s very understandable. 🤷
Regarding the teachings of Paul, that’s another area where we both agree. I’ve never understood why Christians put so much weight behind the words of a man, even when they contradicted the words of Jesus.
How do you feel about polytheists and atheists that follow the same moral compass, but do not share the same religious beliefs?
This is absolutely amazing. I said absolutely nothing at all about religious beliefs, but here we are…
This is exactly why I don’t follow religion at all, I prefer science.
Like what the hell, more wars are fought in the name of [insert diety name] than any other cause.
The following of a diety seems to cause more violence than anything else I’ve ever seen in my life, so I choose to not follow an imaginary diety in the sky.
I prefer to just exist and be a constructive, helpful person when I’m needed. Fuckall with all the wars over ‘holy land’ and all that violent jazz…
I never meant for this post to lead to arguments, but here you folks start it anyways.
Shame ☹️
I also prefer science and reason to faith and religion. With that said, I take full responsibility for driving this particular thread of the discussion in this direction.
I hope our discussion has been cordial, and hasn’t muddied the overall post. I didn’t mean to drag you or anyone else into this, and I’m sorry if this discussion caused any harm or triggered any negativity. I’ve experienced religious trauma in the past and I know how debilitating it can be.
Nah, you’re cool. Honestly, I kinda expected such discussion to come up somewhere along the way, I just didn’t expect it to come up so soon. It’s all good though.
If anything I figured such discussion needed to come up anyways, just not by my words.
Stay safe, stay warm, and bring happiness to the world. No reason to argue (though I’m not exactly innocent myself), but let’s try to have a good new year, new decade, and beyond…
I think belief in God, the Day of Judgement and Heaven and Hell act as stronger deterrents against immorality than just the (accurate but easier to bend) belief that some things are good and others and bad and you should pursue the former and avoid the latter (which can be believed by a non-religious person in a vacuum, but for the rest of us these limits are defined by God so if our feelings or whims conflict with it it doesn’t really matter cause it wasn’t up to us).
And, also, because I believe God is all the wonderful things He is, I assume He’ll also be soft on his approach, even if the person was yapping wild things online against God and whatnot at some points in their lives. They were just confused, perhaps emotionally compromised, but at the end of the day they tried to do the right thing regularly, and that counts for a lot. That’s the biggest part, in fact. IMO, if, for example you let go of a potential lucrative move because it was immoral, then whether you see it/want to see it that way or not, you were worshipping God.
This was never meant to be a religious post, but thanks for reminding me why I don’t follow, it starts too much shit.
Check my other comment, and can you folks please chill? There’s private messages if you wanna talk about the imaginary dude in the sky.
It’s been a very polite convo but fair enough, it’s more your thread than ours.
Much love, from a simple down to earth human. We’re all on this planet together, let us all be happy, healthy, and willing to help those in struggle.
I know I’m not a perfect person, but I prefer peace over war…
This is an area where I disagree. I personally think that the “golden rule,” treat others how you want to be treated, is the only foundation of morality that is needed. That can mean different things to different people, so perhaps a more accurate statement would be: “treat others how they want to be treated, because you want the same.”
If someone’s foundation of morality depends on an all powerful authority that can exclusively define what should and should not be punished, I worry about what they might do if they interpret the message of that authority to be harmful to otherwise innocent people.