How can someone logically believe in Religion? Is Religion the biggest hoax in human existence?

Question

i do not believe in any religion or spirituality, i do have strong morals, i just like to rely on logic rather than faith. how can an educated person or a person who has any knowledge of science believe in God or any kind of spirituality and how can you devote yourself in complete faith to a book composed by different authors of the beginning of the religious movement, in my opinion a few copy-cat fiction authors trying to catch on in the praise of their audience, not trying to offend anyone just looking for answers.

My name is not supposed to advocate pimping it is a nickname my friends have called me for years, ladies, i'm sry if the name offends you if you are a prostitute i am not going to put you down for your profession you should do what you have to do to get by, to answer a few of your questions, before birth you are a combination of your mother's egg and your fathers sperm, earth is so far the only known planet where life has existed, why would god put uninhabitable planets around us and why would he put traces of water on mars? the most reliable theory i have found about how the earth cam to existence is the big bang.

by the way i meant you should do what you do as long as its not harming anyone else

Answer 1

Well, considering how little we know, anything is possible, and any religion could be the truth. So I can't say with any certainty that it is a hoax, at all. Maybe one of them is the truth. Maybe the truth was misinterpretted, in various manners, resulting in the religious diversity we see now. Maybe all religion is purely the product of human fantasy. The possibilities go on and on, and as far as we can know, one is no more likely than another. To devote oneself to one, and insist that you know it is the truth, on the other hand is, as you seem to be indicating here, completely delusional. To demand that others do the same, beyond arrogant.

It's pretty easy to understand how some people can get so caught up in it. Most religions promise the ultimate human desire, eternal life. Eternal existence, anyway. We're familiar with the "too good to be true" scenario, right? A scam promises, say, a million dollars. Some of us are gullible enough to fall for it. Or as a better example, think of a pyramid scam. And like a scam, ignorance increases one's susceptibility. You fall for it, you get your friends involved, and the chain reaction goes on like that. And think about it. I'm sure we all know some people who would get involved in a pyramid scam, and no matter what you told them, would insist that it was going to make them rich. Well, just think about how much more intense it would be, and how much easier it would be to fall for, if the scam offered you the most valuable thing you could possibly imagine. Here, we have religion. You're offered what you desire most, eternal life. So great is that desire, that you are willing to believe almost anything, for it. But you would find yourself questioning it, if you were alone. Another part of the human condition: The more people there are doing something, the more credible it seems. And so we seek to gain support for our beliefs from others, as well as drowning out anything that might cast doubt on those beliefs.

Answer 2

>how can an educated person or a person who has any knowledge of science believe in God or any kind of spirituality

Simple. As someone who knows a fair amount about physics and math, at least, I do not believe that science has the answers to everything.

Science cannot tell me what to live for, or how. It can't tell me what will give me a deep and meaningful life. It can't tell me anything about love or kindness or character or courage or compassion except at a level that is so deconstructed that it has no meaning for me (like, the chemicals released in my brain when I feel love for someone. Some areligious people claim that's all it is - chemicals - but they do not LIVE that way. So they are either horribly hypocritical themselves, or don't truly believe it)

I feel like science addresses the "How?" questions - questions about the physical universe. How was the universe made? How did the dinosaurs die? How are babies made? How does a cell divide? How does a magnet affect something else? How did life begin?

And religion and philosophy, depending on the individual, addresses the "Why?" questions - questions about meaning and being human. Why are we here? Why do certain things happen? What will give me purpose in life and why should I strive for that?

Science does the job of answering "How?" better than religion does the job of answering "Why?"

Science actually can reach the end of a question, close that file, and move on. Religion doesn't. But the questions religion ask are not about getting the answer but about the journey, IMO, and are also of more ultimate importance. Though with its ability to get answers, science can be a lot more fun :-)

So I am content to try to do what I see as the intelligent, educated thing, and let science do it's job, and let religion and/or philosophy do it's job.

~ Lib

Answer 3

The historical accuracy of the Bible from an archaeological stand point is amazing particullarly the new testament. When you study chaos theory more as you find that all events are interconnected and follow patterns the more you feel that everything had to have a designer.

It would have been impossible for one person to have written the Bible i mean Psalms alone took 1000 years to write. Remember since the books of the Bible have various authors the tone varies from Hebrew poetry to prophesy to eyewitness testimony and covers Middle Eastern history from the Bronze age to the Common Era.

You can no more logically deny nor logically prove the existance of God. Faith is just that a belief in things that cannot be proven for example the theory of evolution cannot be proven so logically a belief that evolution is a scientific fact is in itself faith and therefore not logical. Oh yes the "Well gravity is a theory too" argument won't work. Gravity is a force. Newton's ideas on how it works are theories and contradict with some of Einstein's theories on motion.

Speaking of Einstein he had a belief in the Bible read the interview he gave George Sylvester Viereck, in "What Life Means to Einstein", The Saturday Evening Post, 26 October 1929.

You can't say that the ones who wrote the Bible sought self praise if so they did not ask nor recieve any at the time they crafted their writings. Some of them died horrible deaths.

Why would someone knowingly be involved in a profession that would bring them no financial or social gain and an excrutiating demise?

Answer 4

Pimpsy, My friend.... There is one thing you must understand. You do not know everything. You think logic is the best way to go, and I agree with you. But you do not know everything. When people think of all the suffering in this world, it is comforting to be able to turn to someone who can do anything, who you can trust with full blind faith.

If you look at the universe, you see the billions of stars. You see people, so intricately designed with emotions so complex that even scientists are baffled. Your friends are each unique, and each has hopes and dreams and losses and falls. The butterfly is so fragile and delicate, yet it is still alive after millions of years. The lion of the serengeti is so proud and majestic, yet you'd think that a predator would care not of such things. The intricate web of life is intermingled with our world, with so much mystery forming the fabric of the universe, and everything is in its own right special. Loves and Losses, Humor and Grimness, Good and Evil, Success and Failure, Complexity and Simplicity, Mystery and Fact, Faith and Reason, Friend and Family, Dead and Alive, Innocent and Guilty, Young and Old. We are all intertwined. Yet something has to tie the knot. Something had to have started it all. Something had to have created this vast intricate web of life that exists and binds us today. And trust me when I say it couldn't have just been an explosion. While there are people who take religion too far and condemn, hate, and threaten those who are different, and compose wacky conspiracy theories and force fact on faith, the main thing still remains: There is a God. He is around you. Only a fool can deny it.

Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah

Answer 5

If you want to talk true logic then Anselm's ontological argument purports to be an a priori proof of God's existence. Anselm starts with premises that do not depend on experience for their justification and then proceeds by purely LOGICAL means to the conclusion that God exists. His aim is to refute the fool who says in his heart that there is no God (Psalms 14:1). This fool has two important features.

He understands the claim that God exists.
He does not believe that God exists.

So I would have to say no religion is not a hoax but is based largely on faith.

Answer 6

Well you are correct about the composition of the Bible, though none of that is relevent to the question at hand.
You suggest you have strong morals yet choose a sexist, exploitive name.
Logic - you do not claim education or knowledge of science, so how can you question those who have either/both and belief? Illogical.
I am Mensa qualified and hold a doctorate. I believe. I don't devote myself to a book. The faith I grow i devote to God. The means are not the ends - another point of logic.
Try Pascal's Wager - famous for both its logic and is faith conclusion. You might want to try his whole tome The Pensees.

Answer 7

I find faith and reason compatible.

And these things:
"Regarding St. Therese, in 1923 the Church approved of two spontaneous cures unexplained by medical treatment. Sister Louise of St. Germain was cured of the stomach ulcers she had between 1913 and 1916. The second cure involved Charles Anne, a 23 year old seminarian who was dying from advanced pulmonary tuberculosis. The night he thought he was dying, Charles prayed to Therese. Afterward, the examining doctor testified, "The destroyed and ravaged lungs had been replaced by new lungs, carrying out their normal functions and about to revive the entire organism. A slight emaciation persists, which will disappear within a few days under a regularly assimilated diet." These two miracles resulted in Therese becoming beatified. "

Answer 8

See this requires lot of discussion. There are many questions which science cannot reply, many times miracles happen. U must have read baby falling from high rise building but nothing happening , not even a scratch mark. Many times u do all perfect preparation planning etc, but still things fail. At these times you have to take help of religion. May be the books u got may be of that type but you can not remove religion from your life

Answer 9

People have been trying to answer this question for centuries upon centuries; wars have been fought over religion. Slaughters, peace, lies, truths, ulginess, and beauty are all knit up in it, regardless of what religion you are talking about.

That being said, this question cannot even come close to being answered in a yahoo answers forum.

But to respond to your question in simpliest form, I think part of your answer comes from your own bewilderment: "I just like to rely on logic rather than faith." You choose to rely on logic; others choose to rely on faith. This point I'm about to make could be argued, but I think it's safe to make a general statement and say that most humans are dependent in a lot of ways. Religion, to put it bluntly, can be a crutch for people who need to be supported, and there's nothing wrong with needing support. Your reliance on logic could be seen as a crutch as well. Why? Because you need support.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Answer 10

Those are large questions, but I suggest you pick up a philosophy of religion reader or textbook. It will show basic arguments back and forth and some of the historical development of philosophical questions regarding religion. This field of philosophy has grown in importance over the last 30 years and there is much to read.