Was it just out of ignorance of their surrondings? Why do you think some people need to believe in fairytale afterlifes?
2007-03-05 21:45:08 · 18 answers · asked by dino_ou812 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
We are a successful species because our intelligence has allowed us more control over own environment than any other, but the nature of that intelligence is such that we tend to make false positives - i.e. we feel or imagine intelligent agents behind natural phenomena when they are not really there. If we *didn't* have this characteristic then the next time the grass rustled and we incuriously ignored it, then we would likely end up as a lion's breakfast, so having a certain amount of false positives is the price we pay for being able to protect ourselves from real threats. Religious belief is largely an accidental by-product of that aspect of human nature, bestowed upon us by evolution.
This can even be shown in the laboratory, by stimulating a certain area of the brain - the subject often reports a sense of a presence, an intelligent agent - so this may well be a part of the brain which has evolved to deal with this aspect of human nature.
2007-03-05 21:48:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
What makes you think it is all made up or a fairytale? Just because YOU haven't had an out-of-body experience, or a run-in with a spirit, doesn't mean these things don't exist. The arguement that begins with ingnornce and lack of experience is a very poor one.
For a good beginning answer to your question, try reading C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity". Early on, he addresses the question of why people believe in spirits/afterlife at all.
There are lots of things in the world you haven't experienced yet. That doesn't mean they DON'T EXIST.
2007-03-05 21:56:00 · answer #2 · answered by MamaBear 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Man has always been curious and seeks to understand the World, the Universe and our place in it. Most, if not all, religions were formed at a time when science was unable to provide explanation. So instead these people sought answers from their imaginations. Early religions were based on Sun gods and the like - effectively worshiping nature and assuming it's supernatural. Religions evolved over time to become more complex and less fixated on nature - instead trying to answer the questions of how we came to exist and why.
It's interesting to note that religions tend to absorb aspects of one another as they develop (such as Christianity incorporating pagan traditions and taking many of its core concepts from Mithraism - including the virgin birth - and the date of that birth, the bread & wine and the baptism in water).
2007-03-05 22:19:45 · answer #3 · answered by The Truth 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
First of all you are ignorant of your surroundings. We think that Faith in unseen things is against today's science. Certainly not. Smallest particle which we know today is in the size of 10 power minus 30 metres. In reality we cant even imagine 1/1000 of a millimeter. The boundary of our universe which is expanding at the speed of light is 4 billion light years. In reality we cant even imagine 1 light year. But with today's super computers we calculate and prove these things. Without God how these come into existence. How do you prove it? We say that the mere ignorance of man to imagine such real things itself is the manifestation of a super power.
2007-03-05 22:05:14 · answer #4 · answered by meena 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
There is only one God and there is none like him no not one.
The Bible says he is the beginning and the end the first and the last The Alpha and Omega The bright and morning star.
God is a spirit who dwells in Jesus, bodily.
But
Man invented gods are an illustration of their own imaginations toward want, lust and greed.
2007-03-05 21:59:01 · answer #5 · answered by saynhope 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
One was invented by middle eastern bronze age goat herders, telling stories at night around the camp fire and playing to scare each other off. A selection of those stories was chosen to become the Bible.
2007-03-05 21:55:10 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Paranoia and a desire to hedge our bets leads to appeasing gods on the off-chance that they exist and that we can direct their behaviour.
2007-03-05 21:50:33 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
To keep him company through the lonely, cosmic night.
2007-03-05 21:54:27 · answer #8 · answered by Just Ask Ashley 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
One God created us, we invented multiple Gods. If there are multiple Gods then the One God created them. Don't assume you know the truth about whether or whether not there is God. Your opinion is of no matter, neither is mine, I have no opinion on whether there is God because there just is.
2007-03-05 21:53:08 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Man not invented, created or discovered GOD. Man prays GOD to live a happy life.
2007-03-05 21:51:45 · answer #10 · answered by Naren_RocksU 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋