Do you feel that humans will ever realize that god, and all that religions teach, is wholly a HUMAN construct?

Question

After reading and considering the information published in THE DENIAL OF DEATH (E Becker), and many years of personally chasing the truths of numerous religions - seems to me that human egos need at least 'one' god, and an after-life. Living without a belief in either (pretty scary) comes very close to realizing John Lennon's message in 'Imagine'.

Thanx to SB & DMZ for referrals to Becker and Baxter books - and sharing what I feel are very insightful opinions/comments.

Answer 1

Becker is great! Now, go read the sequel to Denial of Death, "Escape from Evil". To answer your question: Yes, probably...one distant day. I think the big question raised though, is "what will replace it?" We all need some sort of "moral compass" and even though Kant worked out a really good metaphysic for the basis of morality, I don't see it getting taught schools or in homes. I'm not religious, but I definitely see the value in it...I mean, moral ideas from the best minds of the last 3000 years...there's definitely something there.

Answer 2

I've read an interesting book by Stephen Baxter called Evolution. He tries to neatly tie this and other points into a coherent whole that allows us hominids a way to understand who we are and why. Also he states that mankind's intelligence is based on social networking, where consciousness was developed to better understand others thoughts. A sort of empathic evolution. Religion was tied into this development process by creating a hierarchy based not on strength or courage so to speak, but on subtle control of others by creating belief in a non-physical realm. I suppose a vehement supporter of this realm would have become a shaman of sorts. This has since been around for perhaps a hundred thousand years or longer and has been strengthened by breeding like minded individuals to create more like minded people. Those that were different, had to leave the group or die, and hence they have vanished from the gene pool.
So I don't think any change will occur quickly. Most people want simple lives and social compliance of all members. Hence the reason for warfare. I personally would like to see it ended or changed into an energy for change and betterment, but alas, I don't believe it will occur any time soon.

Answer 3

And what ,if so?

Heavens(Excuse me, with no gods there would no heaven also) will not fall down(Or will they with no god to support them?)

n fact, such a realisation would make us more mature men deserving the world given to us(again excuse me, since there is no god there cannot be any giver. Should I say inherit the world?).The present frantic efforts to disprove Darwin is a symptomatic of the fear a heir has while ascending to the imperial throne.But let's try to fathom the state of mind of Darwin and his contrmporaries in a society still under orthodox influence, when they struck upon Evolution. They displayed an examplry maturity in pursuing this theory to its logical conflusion. They kept their eyes fixed on the sun not winking even for a moment at every moment facing the danger of losing their eyesight.There is no question now of 'whether humans will ever realise etc. We have alrady realise it thought we are afraid to admit it to ourselves. We need not blame the Creationists for their pitifful efforts to hold on to sticks of grass in their vain attempts to stay afloat.The acceptance of this devastating truth is the more painful in the West and Middle East on account all the accounts of the Genesis and the fundamental requirement of belief in god. Comparatively the Indian mind is free from such dogmas. Even the archaic Upnishads(The Chhandogya ) contains a stanza which says that' They say that the secret of the world is known to somebody named god who is stated to be residing behind the start. Dunno even if he knows.Apart from the openly atheistic treatises of Charwak, the Samkhya Upnishad tried to explain the universe figuratively as an interaction between Purush(the Male principle) and Prakrati (The Female counterpart) It does not posit god.Even the Meemansas give precedence to rituals over god.Currently there is an unfortunate tendency in the indian society to disown these liberal tradition and harking back to the exploded theories of creation.

Answer 4

I think that lumping god and religion together is a mistake. Religion is totally man made. The notion of a supreme being or force, however, is observable through existence itself. Something, I will not speculate or try to say that i understand what the nature of it is, but something had to create the order behind the physical Universe.

Answer 5

I don't blame the religion. I blame people. If you think about it, people are going to behave the same, in general, whether it be religion or politics or getting ahead at work. The difference is, most religions do teach love, joy, peace, kindess, etc. It is not the fault of the religion if man takes matters into his own hands and does things "in the name" of his religion that actually shame the religion. For example, people who killed and conquered in the name of Christianity were not practicing true Christianity. They were using religion as an excuse to fulfill their selfish ambitions. If they were true Christians, they would have went as peaceful missionaries who helped the people they came across, not killed them. All this to say, it is not religion that divides. It is man's nature.

Answer 6

Actually, no, I don't feel that. Right now, I feel kind of chilly. I think that someday, atheists will realize that man, and all that science teaches, is wholly a SPIRIT construct, and that humanists and people who think that our senses represent the totality of reality are in for a very unpleasant awakening after death.

I also think, that if I'm right, you will feel very silly, but if you are right, I won't care at all.

Answer 7

To me it all comes down to faith. Faith is believing in something you can't see or hear but still believing that it is there. I could harp on my own personal miracles but people are skeptical of all things until it happens to them. I've have never actually heard Imagine all the way through. But, I don't believe in God and Jesus Christ because I don't want to die. I believe in God and Jesus Christ because He has shown Himself to me in remarkable and unremarkable ways. Everyday I feel the prescense of my Lord and I feel pretty okay with that. Plus, I'm pretty sure that the Bible is talking about spiritual death and not actual physical death cause let's face it everyone dies and everyone will be judged by their actions while they were here on Earth. Whether by God or by man.

Answer 8

I think one one of most important things that Jesus said was "The Kingdom of God is within you." When people look for God outside of themselves (stemming from the belief that they are seperate from God) they always doubt and waiver over God's existence as they need some outside proof to validate their belief for themselves.

However, if you have a direct experience God within yourself, there is no doubting that God exists and you don't need anyone from outside yourself to validate it for you.

To answer your question, when you experience God within yourself there is no doubting. When you look for God outside of yourself as some outer savior, some sacred text or some being in the sky there will be doubters forever.

Answer 9

Humans already know deep inside of them that god doesn't exist and that religion was made by humans but I'll tell you something: There's a reason humans created it.

Answer 10

Humans already believe that, that is what the ecumenism movement is based on. However, I don't think that making a religion soup is a good answer for anything.