Why do you think christianity has survived so long when it would have been so much more appealing to make up a religion that did not involve animal sacrifice, blood atonement, death by crucifiction that gets blamed on you, the crusades, the spanish inquisition, Salem, and the Bush administration? What are these people thinking? I really don't know how this stuff continues to be perpetuated...
PS... If a christian quotes scripture in response to this... it is further proof that there is no independent thought in christianity.
2006-11-02 14:19:00 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Religion is a "mind virus" it grows and spreads, like a virus. Inhabiting each victim with a belief system that is 2,000 years old. At a time when there was very little knowledge of the actual world and the Universe. These beliefs are spread from person to person, inhibiting people from believing and understanding truth, logic and reason. Something that science, atheists and in most cases, agnostics can understand. Science carries the human consciousness to a higher level. Religion lowers it.
2006-11-02 14:44:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The same reason any religion survives - people want so bad to believe in something bigger than themselves - in a supreme being - in life after death - the details don't matter as much as the image they wish to cultivate for themselves.What I find is that most of the religious pick and choose to follow what concepts they like and the heck with the rest.
But basically, when a person is indoctrinated from birth even obviously bizarre practices seem natural to them. If you're raised to eat goat brains raw you don't question it. If you're raised to hate a certain type of person or race, that's normal to you and easily embraced. It's like a fortune teller who predicts things by squeezing a goats testicles or reading the bones, if people are taught something from birth they usually accept it. And, this is a key point, it takes courage and effort to go against what you've been taught by the people you trust the most. It's easier just to conform.
I too cringe when I hear President Bush envoke Jesus or Christianity but so has every president in my life time. It doesn't make them a bad person, but if they are making decisions based on faith I have a real problem with that. I've heard Bush many times say he doesn't, but there's a fine line there that I think is easily crossed. But how an intelligent (and Bush is intelligent) can believe in a God period is beyond me. It doesn't make a person dumb, but their motives and actions have to be questioned.
2006-11-02 22:44:54 · answer #2 · answered by Da Vinci's Code 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the answer to why Christianity lasted as long as it has is simple. For the same reason it became as popular as it did in such a relatively short time.
It offers a never ending buffet of forgiveness for all manner of "sinful" behavior, yet all the while promoting an unattainable moral standard. Going so far as to say that only God is perfect and we are all born "sinners". So we are born needing a service only Christians offer. ( not Jews, Muslims, Buddhist or Hindu )
It is human nature to look around for the cause of the problems we face in life (when we most often need to look in the mirror) Jesus dies on the cross for our sins. That means he took responsibility for our screw ups. So Christians can live life being told that its not your fault God loves you.
And the kicker is that the message is one of salvation. Every person on earth no matter how wealthy, healthy or happy they are has felt like they were cheated or wronged some how. Don't worry "the meek shall inherit the earth". So no matter what you do in life we are holding your seat in heaven and when you get there your revenge will be served on those that held you down.
The answer to "what are these people thinking?" is ... NOTHING! Are you kidding me? Thinking is a sin. To explore any other possible ideas is a stonable offense.
2006-11-02 23:15:43 · answer #3 · answered by Bat Man 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The early catholic cult convinced the Roman emporer of the time to pervert - oops, convert - to their religion. After conversion, they convinced him to use his power to expand and destroy other religions. For example, the gnostics (the followers of James) were persecuted and murdered in much the same way as the Nazis killed jews, nearly eradicating that cult.
As it has always been, religion is about money and power, not morality and righteousness. The only reason christianity survived the fifth century CE was latching onto the powerful, not by having a better argument.
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2006-11-02 22:48:09 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It has survived be cause it is truth and you cannot hide the truth. Independant thinking would be the ability to think outside the relm of the here and now. There have been many horrible things done in the name of religion, and there have been worse things done outside of religion. I PRAY that mom or dad or sis ter or wife is not in the next world trade center you piece of S*H*I*T when the true religous fanatics blow their sorry selves up. mine were so get the F off of Bush. Maybe we can give them lollipops and ask then pretty please, while you colloect your next gov't grant check while I bustin my A in the real world while your out spreading your false love and peace. Instead of trashing Christianity maybe you look into practicing it instead of hate mongoring. Better yet instead, get on a plane and go to Iraq and ask them yourself. I promise you that no american will put a bullet through your sorry a
There no scripture - may the peace and love of God the Father be with you always and forever
Father forgive them for they know not what they do -- O.K. a little scripture. Look it up.
2006-11-02 22:40:43 · answer #5 · answered by micheal777 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's survived so long because it is very compelling. Have you heard of Selfish Genes and Selfish Memes? Religion is a viral concept, and Christianity is about as virulent as they come.
People are very prone to appeals to authority. I think we evolved that way. I'm sure that for hundreds of thousands of years our ancestors had a better chance of survival when tribes had strong leaders. To make the tribe cohesive, it helped for the leader to be a "spiritual leader" (priest, shaman, etc.) or to be allied with one. Before written language, the spiritual leader would be the best story teller, and stories about Gods were probably some of the most compelling stories.
Western societies tend to love mythic hero stories. The story of Christ is one of the most powerful stories in that genre.
Anyway, looked at with this anthropological point of view, its not all that surprising that Christianity and other religions have flourished.
2006-11-02 22:35:53 · answer #6 · answered by Jim L 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good question. One that I'm not sure there is an answer for. I'm currently reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins and chapter 5 deals with the very question you ask. What possible benefit would there be from a survival standpoint for the human brain to develop religious belief? I haven't finished reading it yet, but my guess is that superstitious belief is a by-product of our imaginations. Our imagination was very important for us in our early cognitive development. The establishment of religion was a concerted effort to enshrine our tendency towards superstition. A poetic expression made consciously by a subconscious function.
2006-11-02 22:28:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
To understand why it lasted so long you need to understand the minds of millions of people.Like micheal777 some are so much into the bigotry of religion they let it pervert the words of any religion and let it effect their interpretations of them.The only way Christianity survived is by converting their leaders and forcing their believes down every ones throat and then telling them that what they believed prior was from the evil force of their beliefs and perverted the holidays and wording of those people to help their efforts in conforming the world.
2006-11-02 23:05:33 · answer #8 · answered by rsbalent 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I can't tell by your question if you are for Christianity or against it. What is the question here? Are you really asking why Christianity has survived so long? There are many other religions that have survived as well. Christianity simply got a boost when Constantine decided to stop killing Christians. If not for that, it would have died out centuries ago.
2006-11-02 22:24:30 · answer #9 · answered by AuroraDawn 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Whatever we think, we fall in a group. Deists, Atheists, Agnostics,... Groups... This is horrible, but any solution ? Can one of us one day claim to have found the truth ? A truth ? any truth ?...
A good drink, a good health, and plenty of nice moments in life are the most rewarding proofs we do exist for a while, before we fade away .
2006-11-02 22:33:02 · answer #10 · answered by Sweet Dragon 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋