I have a question to Atheists and Agnostics??

Question

This is not to offend anyone--but I expect scholarly answers.
Some of you believe that--probably religious figures like Jesus or
Mohammed are historical figures and what they did(being intelligent enough to convince the mass) is to creat some religious dogmas about God, angels etc.--some of which they borrowed from the existing religious traditions and some were unique. Do you really think that they believed in the stories or sleight-of-hand(miracles)
that they used for some selfish purposes(according to non-religious views) or they didn't? Doesn't that mean they were Atheists themselves? So--do you think that it can be another theory that--most
so-called revealed Theistic missionary religions are Atheistic Conspiracy and created by Intelligent Atheists with some concrete agenda? It seems to me that imposters like Benny Hine who use religious feelings to deceive people--really don't believe anything--implying that they are Atheists also.What do you think?

answer to hillbilly:
there are examples of fanatical believers of other creeds who died for what they believed and considered martyrs. even these kinda thing happened in the 20th century(9/11 for only one example).

Answer 1

I think the early church fathers created Jesus and the new testament
I think Mohammad was a charlatan

Answer 2

Maybe they actually thought they talked to God. Maybe they were faking their miracles, or simply didn't understand the science behind them. Maybe the miracles didn't happen, but were attributed to them to make them more "Holy". (The Council of Nicea decided on the Jesus is God thing. There's an Italian man right now suing the Church claiming that Jesus is fake and another man actually wandered the country preaching). Maybe their purposes weren't selfish. Maybe they genuinely wanted to help, but knew that the uneducated masses needed a Higher Power to help them. Alot of people live and die for their religion, a prophet with enough of a backing could make change in the religion in the name of God.

Most religious works started out as word of mouth. Most are altered from their true form by translation into modern texts, omission from 'canon', years of poor storage in caves and the like, and many many many burnings of 'heretical' works that may have been more true than what made it through.

Answer 3

From the early formation of Christian, Judaism, and Islam all borrowed from other polytheistic religions to some degree.

I am a reverent agnostic. (making me a deist).

I think many "dogmas" tend to stretch doctrine to fit what they are trying to sell at that point in history.
Some things are constants in faith and religion. "Treat others as you'd wish to be treated" and do the "next right thing". That said Constantine in order to maintain social order in the empire established Christianity as the "state" religion in 330AD. Similar efforts abound throughout time. But generally the dogma was adopted by politicos and not religious leaders until after the fact

Answer 4

There are 2 questions. a million. do you already know no count if or no longer there's a god/do you think of it somewhat is time-commemorated no count if or no longer there's a god? in case you answer no, you're an agnostic. in case you answer confident, you're no longer an agnostic. 2. Do you have self belief in a god? in case you answer no, you're an atheist. in case you answer confident, you're a theist. those 2 questions provides you with 4 effects - agnostic atheist, agnostic theist, "gnostic" atheist and "gnostic" theist. because of the fact agnosticism is a philosophy of expertise, it would not settle on the question of perception. All agnostics are, subsequently, the two atheists or theists.

Answer 5

I believe Religion was created to keep a society from falling apart by the form of rules (commandments). So, in essence, some of these religions could have been founded with the same principle by people who didn't believe in anything themselves. Of course, if you can convice anyone to believe in something "imaginary", then they're eventually going to believe it themselves and pass that teaching along. Is it all a conspiracy of some sort? Highly probable.

Answer 6

Religion of the Bible can't be decided intellectually, and isn't supposed to be. Let me put your curiosity at rest-- in the days 2000 years ago(about), there were a couple of news writers (secular, non-Christian) guys who wrote in what came down to the present age as history about a "man" who was crucified and rose on the third day named Jesus who was assumed to be the one a religious movement which arose after his Resurrection and became a troublesome bunch in Rome, so the emperor had to deal with them in drastic ways. I doubt they teach this in school in these atheistic days of political correctness however it can be found in older books on world history. So, did Jesus live? Yes. Did people who walked with him also willingly go to their terrible deaths as martyrs, rather than to say, "Hey, just kidding, guys!" No, they died praising God. Makes me feel they really believed in Jesus, don't you think so?

Answer 7

"Sincerity is the easiest virtue", so it is possible that Jesus, Mohammed, and maybe even Benny Hine (although hard to believe!) were/are sincere. My personal theory re Jesus is that he didn't think he was divine or was inventing a new religion, but that Peter, Paul, etc., were the "cult leaders" that started a new religion for their own power trip.

Answer 8

I think the people who record history in written form have manipulated the stories of soothe-sayers throughout the ages.
My own perception of the stories written about Jesus is that they were tales used to influence the masses to attain good behavior. The same as we tell children stories to give them morals.
Some written evidence suggests that 'Jesus' was an amalgam of several prophets of the time. Being written as one character gave credence to the tales.
I think the original concept to assist in moral development via guilt-tripping the masses has back fired, the backlash is just beginning...

Answer 9

The question is worded a bit funny, but I'll try.

I think Jesus and Mohammad and all other "prophets" really did believe they were prophets. They weren't trying to deceive people, and they weren't simply being selfish, they really believed that God was speaking to (or through) them. But this is only my opinion.

Answer 10

I agree with you that at the heart of these religions is some other agenda being pursued by people using religion as a tool.