Why do people believe in god, and why are there different religions?

Question

and why do people from one religion think that other religions are wrong or that their religion is the best one, and why do religious people often try to persuade others (like me) that they should become religious? Is it not dangerous to hold beliefs so strongly? Will religion ever cease to exist? If so will we have a more peaceful world? I know a lot of nice religious people, so I don't have a problem with them. My problem is that I don't understand this at all, and I can't in any way relate to the idea that there is something like a god anywhere except in the minds of people here and there, and some of them seem not to be very wise and reflective people who have just accepted these beliefs because they were taught them as children. Please help.

Answer 1

Please read my words carefully:
If you see footmark in the sand, you'll say that someone passed from here...
If you see a piece of dog sh*t on the ground, you'll say that a dog passed from here...
So what about the enormous universe, the sky, stars, planets, earth and all the beauty in it, doesn't it lead to that someone made it?!!!

Some people say that everything is created by itself after the big-bang... I won't ask you about what caused the big-bang, but I'll ask you a simple question:
If you take all the letters of the alphabet, multiples of them, and you threw them randomly on the floor. Do you expect (by a chance of one in infinity) to get a poem like shakespear's??!!

Can't you see how organized our universe is, the planets, the eco-system on earth, look even in your own body... Can you control your heart-beat? Can you control your breath while you're sleeping? Who stopped your eye-lashes from growing after reaching a certain length? Who told the baby turtles to move towards the sea and not to the earth after they come out of their eggs? Who taught the bird how to make nests?

My friend, think with your heart and brain. If you're still lost, think about the following:

Do you know how to play safe?
Your point:
If there's no God and you do all what you want in life, then nothing will happen to you after life. But if there was God and you were mistaken, then you'll blame yourself FOREVER...

Believer's point:
If there's God and I followed His commands in life, then I'll be in Heaven after life FOREVER. But if there was no God and we're mistaken, then nothing bad will happen to us after life...

Now you know how to play-safe, in case you're not convinced?

Answer 2

Some theologians say that there is a deep longing in every person that can not be filled except by the God that made us.

As life goes on we have difficulties that try us to the core and it seems that even those of us who were once atheist often come to believe in a Higher Power of some sort. There is a saying that "there are no atheist in foxholes". And this is very true. People tend to get to a point where they either kill themselves or believe.

You might want to talk to an Anthropologist for the answer from a sociological POV from the early development of the human race. It does seem that every culture from the beginning of time had some believe in a God. In the study of world religions we call God "Ultimate Reality" because in that way all religions can talk to each other to look at this reality.

At the level of experience it seems all people in all times and places have the same experience when they have what is called to a Christian a 'mystical experience of the presence of God'. Since Ultimate Reality is one Reality for everyone, in all times, the experience is the same. If you get a group of deeply spiritual people together and ask them about their experience you will hear the same thing. What you hear after that is the experience being interpreted differently based on the culture, believe and education level of the person. But at the core, the experience itself is the same. That points to some Reality that is central to the human race and outside of the person.

There are different levels of spiritual development, just as there are different levels of emotional development. Some people do not progress very far and they can only progress up to a point based on their emotional level. If you look at those in every religion that are considered the most spiritual you will find a similarity among them. They are loving, non-judgmental, bring peace to those around them and live in harmony with all beings. Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, etc.. the Holiest among us are peaceful people

Answer 3

I think people believe in God as they {us} need to have something to believe in. Religion gives you a set of morals to follow and a way of interacting with other people in an acceptable manner.
I dont think that any religion is wrong or better than another and I dont push my beliefs on anyone else.
The reason some people try to "persuade" others of their bekliefs is best explained using Jehovah's witnesses although i am not one myself. Jehovah's witnesses believe that only they who believe in Jehovah will go to the afterlife henct that their "purpose" is to get as many people there as possible and in order to do that they need to be "converted" to their faith.
Holding beliefs can be dangerous as recent terrorism acts has shown. This can happen when people either misinterpret something or it has been "twisted" for some reason or gain. Muslims believe it is wrong to take anothers life, it is acceptable however, in a holy war. So terrorists have used this by stating that it is down to religion.
I think that religion has caused lots of problems and fighting, but don't feel that it would cease and result in a more peaceful world as there is always something that can be fought over as lots of wars are over land aswell as religion and beliefs.
I think that a lot of people, even if brought up religious, examine their beliefs and others at some time before they become "happy" with their religion; whether through a crisis of faith or some other reason such as the death of a loved one or being afflicted with an illness.
I think faith grows from a wondering of how we came into being and whilst I have beliefs I dont think 1 person made the world in 7 days. My feeling is that faith is to give comfort and find some kind of understanding and forgiveness for things and a way to treat people fairly and equally.
Religion is a lot like having the belief in other things, such as; What goes around comes around; a belief in fate having a helping hand or determining events.
Hope this has helped.

Answer 4

It's called the listening effect: each person in a group based on their life hears things in a different context, or meaning, will break it down:

god had 12 disciples
each disciple told 12 others =144
all 144 heard a different version of the same story (at that time there was no common written language, most was passed on verbally)
all 144 each told 12 more people =1728

don't believe me, try it.

Set it up as a game, start off with something stupid, like:Sylvia's cat wore purple shoes to the beach last Christmas
By the time it gets back to you can guarantee it will not be the same

So if all of these disciples all told a different version of the same story, and all the people they told had yet another version of the same story, do you start to get a glimmer of how religion can fragment so much. Sorry if this wasn't more help, but have seen the "story game" played, at a church, to teach about the tolerance of others for their religion, go figure.

Answer 5

Religion has grown all over the world in various forms, not all worship the same way or even the same God. This has been over centuries and shows mans need to believe that there is a larger force than ourselves at work. Those who believe have a strong conviction....the strength of this conviction can lead to hidious acts being perpetrated in the name of God and the good. On a smalleer scale religion can justify treating someone badly, being cruel and saying sorry to God makes it alright. ie do what you will to or with someone and then confess....receive absolution and everything is roses again. It does not work in such simplistic terms. Wars faught over religion and the destruction of lives goes to prove this. Think of the way the church dictated the treatment of unmarried mothers?
I am kind of with you on the understanding bit. Indoctrination accounts for much of the religious belief........I feel.....but then there are adults too who make up their own minds and the child does not have to follow all through life.
I found this to be a good question..........religion breeds good people but also hypocrites who spout the knowledge but do not live by it. But their God knows of all the small untruths and deceits.

Answer 6

The problem is that nature/the universe does exist and humankind has always tried to copy its balance. Humankind's copy of nature is "God." We think that being all "lovey dovey" and united will solve all the world's problems. Still when we want to produce love, we produce crusades and when we want to stand together, we create the inevitable split. Someone will always come along in the group with new ideas and create another group off of the original. For example, Judaism lead to Christianity lead to Islam.This is why there are some many religions and sects of religions. When it comes down to it a religions is just a set of beliefs. Thus, everyone has their own religion, their own set of beliefs. So as long as why try to form one large group it will ultimately split down into smaller and smaller chunks. This will lead to us then becoming united through all major religions because all major religions are flawed. We just need to focus on what we believe as individuals and let that guide us, we usually do anyway. In the end, nature has a plan and will continue to flow no matter what we do, we are just characters playing our parts right?

Answer 7

Because we human beings are always looking for answers. This webiste is proof of that! We want to know who are we? Why are we here? How was life created? So we turn to religions for answers. Another reason for religion is social control. In most religions there's life after death. If you lead a good life you will go to paradise, heaven or be reborn into an even better life than the one you had before. If you're bad then you go to hell or reborn as something lesser than you were. Ever thought that maybe someone devised this as a way to stamp out anti social behavior long ago?

Answer 8

I am a Muslim who will not force you to embrace my beliefs. I am answering your question since you said "pls help".
God created the galaxies, not only earth, with all the solar system. Earth itself is a beauty, imagine the water around it never falls down. Imagine people in the southern half are not living upside down. Can't you see the wonders? Don't you feel the beauty around you? How about the wonder of little insects and the intelligence they have? Do you watch documentaries? Does it move you? I can go on and on, but I must be brief. How about the human body, the millions of cells and tissues? Do you know if the DNA strip can be wrapped around earth twice? All of this in a human body….This is God and His wonders.
Religions: well to some point, after Adam and Eve, people went pagan and started to worship idols, they forgot God. He sent messengers to tell the people: "do not worship idols". This is how there are so many religions. Moses was sent to tell Pharaoh in Egypt : "you are not god, stop tricking the people" his followers were the Jews. Jesus was sent as the Romans were oppressing the believers in God. Mohammed was sent to Arabs as they were worshiping idol too, even though they still remember Abraham who called for the one God.
If you refuse to believe, I cannot force you, but why are you lost (hope you are not) leave everyone to practice their beliefs and tell them to leave you alone (if they press you). The world is not in madness because of religions, it is the people who are corrupt, the ones in power. I doubt if Bush is religions, otherwise why he does not feel no remorse when invading countries. Peace.

Answer 9

People believe in God because He created us and every person has a natural instinct to want to know our Creator. There are many different religions because man at times has decided that he knows better than God and has adjusted the religion to his own personal beliefs instead of what God has taught us. There is but one true relgiion in which God revealed to us. All others go agianst this religion. People of a religion believe that theres is the true religion or why else whould they follow it and so since they believe strongly they either like to force their pride on others or they would like to convert them believing that they will help them. Of course only the one true religion will accomplish understanding of life. It is not dangerous to hold beliefs so stongly, infact many people are void of any conviction for their beliefs because they don't want to hurt any one. It is true charity to share the one true Faith for the love of God. Religion will never cease to exsist because God is our creator and we will always have a desire or yearning to know and love Him. The reason that it is hard to understand is because there are sooo many religions thus because of people twicking the one Faith to thier liking and fitting toward what they want to do with life. They make up a new religion so that life feels right instead of changing what they think should be right to what actually is right. This is were the preivous comment of pride comes in. The old saying misery loves company, some people of certian reglions just want some company so they can feel better about what they are doing. There are those sincere about their relgion and truly belive it is the One but are deceived. That is why they are not wise, they are ignorant or they are full of pride because they want their laws instead of Gods.

Answer 10

The history of Easter Island demonstrates what can happen when one group of people have a different view to another group.

Exactly what happened on Easter Island will never be known, however one version of events goes like this.

The island was populated by a small group of Polynesians who worshipped a particular god. To honour this god the people carved stone statues.

The people split into two groups because of some argument on how to honour their god. So now a competition ensued between the two groups on who was better in honouring the god. Each group carved and erected bigger and bigger statues.

The statues were carved from the island rock and moved by cutting down trees and using them as rollers.

The net effect of this was to rapidly use up the island's resources and the consequences were catastrophic for both the island and its inhabitants.

I'm sure you can see a parallel in whats happening in the world today.

See link below or enter Easter Island in your favourite search engine.

Answer 11

It's man's inability to accept mortality, a need for 'something more'. It's more comforting to believe there's someone watching over you than to accept that 'this is all there is''. Faith is a crutch that supports many, especially at a time of loss - comfort gained from believing there is a spirit or afterlife. It isn't religion that causes trouble it's man - the world would be no more peaceful without it.