.... But isn't the fact that there is such a great diversity of faiths / religions / creeds (some arguably more sophisticated than others) out there, among ALL cultures of the world (primitive or otherwise), the perfect confirmation in support of the hypothesis that religions are in reality manmade phenomena / spiritual inventions? … I realize that religious/theological discussions can often lead to heated arguments and controversial viewpoints. Again, I am NOT making a judgmental and/or comparative statement regarding anyone’s religion here, I am merely asking a question based on factual observations. … Serious answers only please. ... Thank You!
2006-10-08 15:13:45 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I agree that religions are in reality manmade. For evidence I offer that there have been "gods" throughout human history. Nobody worships Zeus anymore, for example. So what happened? Do we admit that Zeus was manmade? Of course we do. I see no difference between any other manmade deity, or as I like to refer to it, a "god du jour." Who knows, maybe in 500 years (should humanity last that long) we will have religious wars over the god Bart Simpson. Great Simpsons episode on that subject.
2006-10-08 15:21:36 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I agree that faiths/religiions/creeds ARE manmade phenomena, but that does not necessarily mean that God is a manmade phenomenon or a spiritual invention.
In fact, you could argue that the fact that every civilisation has independently recognised that there is a God, is an argument that He must exist. Because if He didn't, it's unlikely every civilisation would have invented Him independently.
My explanation is this. The human race are mere mortals, and therefore cannot fully understand the mind of God. So even if a man receives a direct divine revelation, it is unlikely that he will understand it perfectly.
Therefore the different religions of this world reflect man's different interpretations of how to worship the same God. Clearly, some religions have got it all wrong, some have got it right, and some are a mixture. But unless you are God Himself, you're not in a position to know which is which!
2006-10-08 15:29:50 · answer #2 · answered by Kylie 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The diversity of religions is the result of people wanting it their way. It all began with Adam rebelling against God.
Religions can be man made. God gave us the ability to be creative, some choose to use it for evil, others for good.
There is a book written by C. S. Lewis called Mere Christianity. It is worth your time to consider what is described in its pages. Lewis wasn't always a believer, but he always was a seeker of answers to questions like yours.
2006-10-08 15:38:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The great majority of them are man-made religions. But all it takes is one that is God-made (no matter how small or well hidden), to throw that hypothesis out the window; and of course, there would be only one that is God-made, if there are any at all.
The Bible declares that Satan is the great deceiver; and one of his greatest deception is false religion -- especially religions that seem similar to God's truth. The Bible also declares that Satan has deceived the whole world. That could not be true unless your hypothesis seemed true also.
2006-10-08 15:45:17 · answer #4 · answered by BC 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a hypothesis that God is, by His very nature, far too great for any one, or any number of faiths/religions/creeds to completely comprehend. The commonality of belief in a God or Spirit would indicate that He is universally perceived, yet different aspects of His being are perceived by different cultures.
2006-10-08 15:19:44 · answer #5 · answered by dave 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe that is doesn't support the hypothesis that religion is manmade but that we all have a void and a yearning to be filled with something greater. I know the only true way to fill that void is through Jesus.
2006-10-08 15:22:58 · answer #6 · answered by alisocks80 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"support of the hypothesis that religions are in reality manmade phenomena / spiritual inventions?"
That could be seen as a support for this hypothesis. Or it could be that what the Bible says is true. That all of mankind was made to have a personal relationship with our Creator and that as we observe his attributes in the physical and celestial realms something in our inner being cries out and says that there has to be a God out there somewhere and so where people lack the divine guidance that comes from the inspired Scriptures contained in the Bible they invent ways of their own to find God.
Psalm 8
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
"Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.
And some said, "What does this babbler wish to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities"--because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean." Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said:
"Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him.
Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." Acts 17:16-31
2006-10-08 15:25:06 · answer #7 · answered by Martin S 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Enough nice arguments have been said.
Summing up....as I see it...
Suppose we believe there is God.
Then, God existed before religion.
Therefore religion is indeed man made.
So, in a few words I think,
spiritually believing in God derives from the
Will of God
Whereas in religion,
Throughout the ages, it derives from
the heart of man
and involves the interpretation he gives for his
God or Gods.
2006-10-09 01:16:43 · answer #8 · answered by Ylia 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
faith has not something to do with respecting or disrespecting others. i think of that some human beings use faith as the thank you to particular their hate against others and this is what makes some human beings have faith that faith does not appreciate human beings’s attitude. yet have faith me whether or not a individual has a faith it does not recommend that this individual will appreciate different using fact of their faith. it is purely basic use faith to enhance their hate or racism in the direction of others.
2016-10-19 01:32:26 · answer #9 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually...many religions are very, very, very similar. While the differences include different names and different languages they are almost the same. Over thousands of years, as mans intellect grew, some things were changed and that is how religions "split" into so many sub categories. For instance Catholic to Protestant to Anglo to whatever.
2006-10-08 15:19:01 · answer #10 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋