Why do you need Religion.?

Question

Doesn't religion take away your zest for life. Why limit your life?

How much do you actually know about other beliefs.?

Answer 1

Why religion???? The communists called religion an opiate for the masses.....meaning that religious beliefs helps to ease the pains of daily living but ties the believer to the church or sect that makes the "opiate" feel best.

In that one small facet of communism, the reds were right.

However.........the results of religion on most people is good as the basic tenets of most religions is for the good of society such as the Golden Rule and that man should help his neighbor and who can fault the Ten Commandments.

The main problem with religion, in my belief...(which is to doubt almost all I hear and much of what I see)...is that God or the Almighty Force or whatever you believe formed man and woman in the intricate and delicate way we are formed and in a way that even the smartest industrialist could not duplicate a brain or an eye even for the promise of the most munificent of reward...would not appoint his or her agent to be most of the preachers, priests, or evanelists...on horseback or radio or TV..that try to tell what the Almighty word is.

The Bible and The Koran and the works of Buda and most of the founders of the different and diffuse sects are all good books and all contain suggestions and good planning for us to follow in life and our dealings with others. But...regardless what is said...God or the Almighty Force did not leave his words laying around to be copied in those books but the words that are claimed to be His are written by mortal man like you and I. Jesus and later on Mohammed were good men who inspired others to be good or at least try to be good. There is no harm in any person seeking solace from the cares of living in this world to look for it in any of those books or many others.

However.........The world is what it is and people are what they are and babies are born..(.no factory can do that ) and people die like light bulbs that cease to glow ( no Pope or preacher can stop that event from happening) and those are the facts of life. If going to an organized church makes you happy...go with my blessings but as to eternal life or the joys to be found in the hereafter....if you die and find they are indeed in heaven.. come back and tell me I am doubter who doubts wrongly.

Answer 2

I have no use for religion in my life. But some people do need religion for a variety of reasons. For some it's just something that makes sense. For some it's a crutch to help them deal with the world. And I'm sure there are a thousand other reasons.

I am not a student of religion and I don't really study religions. However, I know a good deal about the basic principles of Christianity and some of it's denominations (like LDS). I know a little about Hinduism; but I really should know more about the basic principles of Islam.

Answer 3

I have studied as many religions as I could find out about. They all seem to play on neurosis in the human that leads them to desire a feeling of belonging, and a feeling of being cared for. Generally, it is intellectual cowardice that drives people to religion. The alternative is a very big universe that doesn't really care for you. Religion makes people feel they are special.
Over the last 30 years of study I have observed that all religions (including Capitalism) have these three basic premises in common:
1. I'm special and you are not.
2. It is OK to kill you if: you don't agree with me, or have something I want
3. My religion is the only true faith (see 1 and 2)

It makes me very sad, sometimes, when I see some of the truly ignorant and bigoted comments that people make in Yahoo Answers. Most of them are in religion or from users with handles like christdied4u. I often suggest that they attempt to read another book besides the Bible.

Answer 4

Don't you realize that pretty much all Christians have been on both sides of the fence?

There was a time when they weren't believers and didn't take salvation seriously, and then there was a time when they did and changed the way they live.

So if you think about it, Christians are experts at both choices. Perhaps you should stop pretending that we know only one way of living.

Personally, I think that when you believe in something like an afterlife, you have a far greater basis for hope than someone who has the defeatist basis of nothing to look forward to but death. So how does this take away zest for life?

Answer 5

Religions are supposed to be guidelines for the right path. The smooth path without the bumps caused by unpleasant consequences of harmful, though self satisfying, actions and attitudes. All of the non-evil religions have the guidelines for the smooth path, the pleasant life. Most of them have God as their ultimate goal. Kind of like, our bus is going to God's place, hop on, lets go meet him. Unfortunately, some people are busy worshiping the bus and not the Creator. Christ Jesus seemed pretty irritated by the self righteous.

We limit our life near a fire, because we don't want to get burned. We don't do bad things because of the bad consequences. And if you want a life worth living, do things that yield only good consequences. Limit yourself to the good life.

Religion as defined by the self righteous wouldn't be so repellant if they weren't arrogantly worshiping the guidelines.

Answer 6

I think there is a innate human need for "spirituality". Why? I don't know but its not an accident that all countries have it.

One explaination offered in "Why people believe Wierd things", is a "pattern matching engine" that evolved in our brains.

How much do I know about other beliefs? Quite alot.

Religion does not have to be LIMITING. It very much depends on the individual and their belief system. Mine's pretty open but its still my religion, just not a formal one. Kind of Taoism.

Answer 7

I would say no. Begin looking for it. If it starts to take away your zest for life move on.

Also, begin with daily prayer. I am a bit of a hypocrite bit I think it helps. Make your prayers in a such a way that if they were granted no one would be hurt. Make your prays in a way that God is not pinned down. When you have thought of your prayer, look deeper and then see what part applies to other people and your self and make that your prayer.

Answer 8

I have studied the ancient and the recent and text from all of them .. and everything i can get my hands on even the new age and many make sense and gives you hope but many are just hocus pocus i feel ,but its very important to your life to have some beliefs in something.I used to believe in this and that and then i didn't believe in anything and then i started mixing and matching what my theories were on life and what the end and the beginning was and everything in between.Its just best to do all the research and read everything that you can and make up your mind but then again .. just try to be open minded and have hope in something because without it you will cease to care thinking that life doesnt mean anything and what is the use in caring..Hope this helps..

Answer 9

So that I can have a market for hyssop, if my gardening plans go well and my future vision of an exporting company works out...I am planning it now..

I will do this but I am just kidding...religion is not a problem and is a good thing that reminds people of their culture, family and roots. It creates a sense of values. That is not a bad thing.

Fundamentalism (mixed up with extremist politics, colonialism, warmongering, revolutionary movements, greed, excessive nationalism and hate) is a bad thing. Just because someone is more conservative than I might be or more devout than I might be doesn't give me the right to bash them. That is wrong.

The people who want to legally enforce religious law on people are missing the point. We have an obligation to accommodate different religions and cultures in our countries as well as minority languages. We do not have an obligation to sacrifice national security, democracy, our own culture, etc. to do so.

Answer 10

religion is man made in the first place. it's usually based on some guys theory or belief. the whole thing is what is in your own heart..do you do the right thing? do you live a consciencetous life and make a difference every day?or, do you return the shopping cart back to where it's suppose to be ?