Religion lies?
 

My parents being Christian and what not, raised me to follow the same religion. But is it normal to have doubts over religion? I was thinking, "Why does every religion claim to be correct?" So somewhere along the line, somebody is lying. But I don't know what's correct and what is false.

Will somebody help me here?

Is there direct evidence that God DID/DID NOT exist? I DON'T want an arguement here, just reassurance one way or another...

Re: Religion lies?
 

Re: Religion lies?
 

There is no evidence that God exists. However, there is also no evidence that God doesn't exist. There is, perhaps, some intangible evidence that the Christian God as described in the bible does not exist based upon criticism of intelligent design, general biblical teaching and statistical likelyhood , however that is another argument altogether and doesn't necessarily mean a god of some type does not exist.

However, if there is no evidence to suggest the existance of something then the only logical position is disbelief. You can't prove a negative, and by that I mean there is no way to prove that something does not exist. In that same idea, it is impossible to disprove that leprecauns or the tooth fairy exist either. Therefore I believe that the existance of God is just as likely as the existance of lepreacauns or the tooth fairy.

I might help if you read up on things such as "Russell's teapot" which is an excellent example.

Re: Religion lies?
 

What Lizzie said is pretty much spot on. There might be a matter of fact as to which set of beliefs, if any, is correct, but there's no way for us to ever know. What's important isn't the factual truth, but that you find a set of morals and values that you feel are important, then if you like you can pick a religion or title that matches those values, or you can just live your life as you think best without worrying about it.

So no, there's no direct evidence for or against the existence of god, nor do I think there ever will be.

Re: Religion lies?
 

I have to commend Lizzie for hitting the mark straight away - faith is not certainty by definition, as most people who turn away from faith do so in search of reality.

Re: Religion lies?
 

I see. I just don't want to spen my whole life believing lies or something that's not even true-if that's the case. I know that sounds bad on my part, but...I just don't know.

Thank you much :D

Re: Religion lies?
 

No it doesn't sound bad, it's just common sense :)

Re: Religion lies?
 

There is no direct evidence for what god did because there's no direct evidence god actually existed. The only evidence is an ancient book with a ridiculous amount of contradictions, etc... .

The way that people believe in whatever it is they believe in, when it comes to religion is by faith and faith alone. It acknowledges that there is no hard evidence for you be to right or wrong, the only evidence ends up being as what you perceive and what you think is right or wrong religiously.

It's very normal to have doubts over it and in the end, some people just don't know if there is a god, some believe there is, some don't and some believe it may exist. If you don't want to believe or disbelieve, then that's your choice.

I believe people tell others they're wrong by ways of simply saying "look, this book says that and this book says it's right" because it's easier to challenge other peoples' beliefs than to challenge one's own belief. It's easier and usually more pleasurable to know you are right, however, you end up having 1000+ sides thinking they're right. Some may debate by more logic means but ignoring those, it's a matter of reinforcement and to an extent, fear that if you're wrong, then you're flat on your ass not knowing where to go. People strive to be in a group and so once you think you're out of the group, people get uncomfortable.

There are other theories concerning it, such as Max Weber's view that religion serves as an escape route for those who feel overwhelmed by the "iron cage" of bureaucracy and science. This "iron cage" he viewed as a conceptual idea that human diversity gets squashed out by the very things we created. To him, religion is a way out by burying your head in the sand and not knowing what the world of science and bureaucracy are doing. He then constructed models of rationality (he believed behaviors or actions had to be meaningful for people to do) and traditional-rationality is you do something one way because that's how it was done before. Doesn't mean it's right. He was a famous sociologist and did plenty of sociological work in many areas.

Re: Religion lies?
 

What Lizzie said is correct. I just wanted to add that you can know the correct religion as to its actions. Focus on the one which promotes good will towards all men.

Re: Religion lies?
 

This might be completely irrelevant, what Lizzie said is right. But I read a book a while ago called 'Are You There God It's Me Margaret' by Judy Blume which is about a girl searching for a religion that she could 'feel' God in.
In this book, she went to temple with her grandmother, and to church with one of her friends. She basically experienced a couple of different religions to try and find out which one felt right for her.
I can't actually remember how the book ended or what her final decision was, but it was a good read and certainly helped me a little with religious conflict.
Good luck with this :)