Why do religions invent problems that aren't there?

Question

Then make people paranoid and scared, then offer a fix! "Believe in my made up god and you will be saved" But hold on, I never did anything bad. "Don't question, believe or you're in hell" But I only had sex with my girlfriend who I love and one of my friends is gay.... I think they have actually caused most of the harm in the world by telling man that he is inherently 'sinful' You keep telling someone that they are bad and eventually you will get what you asked for. What does anyone think?

Answer 1

They are trying to make a buck out of gullible people, conmen pull this same trick all the time, they confuse and disorientate... then they take your cash while you are worrying about the confusion.

Answer 2

Instead of directly answering the question (you know how we Christians are, we never like to directly answer questions, lol), I'm going to tell you a story. As far as I know, it's true.

A pastor had been debating with one of the women in his church for quite some time over the concept of original sin. She insisted that all behavior was learned, not inherited because of man's sinful nature.

One afternoon, the pastor, his wife, and the woman were sitting in the living room drinking coffee. The woman had baked cookies earlier that day, and left them cooling on the counter. The pastor and his wife watched as the mother told her two children that the cookies were not to be touched; they were for later.

Some time later, the daughter, who was three, came in with crumbs on her face. The mother became angry, and asked the daughter if she had taken some cookies. The little girl answered that it wasn't her, but her brother who had taken the cookies.

The pastor immediately stood up and prepared to leave. The mother, bewildered, asked him why he was leaving so soon. He replied, "I'm afraid I can't stay in a place where children are taught to disobey their parents, steal, and lie."

Like it or not, we ARE inherently sinful. Every single one of us has done something, or many somethings, in our life that was wrong. Ever felt jealous, or envious? Ever been disrespectful towards your elders? Ever stolen anything? Told a lie? I know I have, and it's the same with everyone else. There is NO ONE who can say they NEVER, even as a child, did anything wrong.

I see nothing wrong with questioning it. Questions are healthy! And by the way, fornication (sex outside marriage) is considered a sin too. I had to repent for that one myself.

Answer 3

Nietzsche said that Christianity has tried to tame the noble Teuton and has made people sick so as to make them well.

That doesn't mean that there aren't any problems. It's just that what creates them is denial of growth. Things always change.

James 4:13, 14 says: "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

Answer 4

I heard a good analogy to those sin-and-redemption systems: someone who cuts you and then offers you a bandaid.

With or without a god, people's actions have consequences. The common "moral consensus" that we see in civilized societies -- such as don't murder, don't steal, tell the truth -- can arise simply from a rational attempt to live together.

A thought experiment of Plato's demonstrates that "goodness" is independent of a god's prescriptions or proscriptions. Imagine an alternate reality where God's commands were the opposite of what we're taught here; where the Ten Commandments include "Murder! Steal! Cheat! If you're in a monogamous commitment, break it and Commit Adultery! Lie!" Serial killers would be praised in the churches as virtuous and righteous... after all, God Said So! (Don't say "God would never do that!" That's the reality in this world we're talking about.)

In that kind of world, people would remain holed up in their caves/apartments/whatever for fear of being stabbed in the back. They'd quickly conclude that those teachings are crazy. "I don't care if the church says I'm damned; I'm not murdering my kid/ mother/ father/ sister/ brother/ spouse/ friend!" People would (re)discover the "moral consensus" we know, as a secular social contract that helps them have some sort of quality of life: "Nobody will murder anyone, and if you do, we'll chase you down and put you away so others won't have to be afraid of you."

Religions fill(ed) a number of roles: as a means of social control; as a mechanism for a small tribe to remain distinctive and survive and grow among hostile neighbors, "being fruitful and multiplying" and gaining "market share" for that religion, while avoiding practices that would encourage assimilation with its neighbors. Religions can also help the nonverbal primitive brain, which understands emotional intelligence, parenting, and pack socialization but not abstract reasoning, to understand a society's ideals and fears and hopes... often through a mythic Superdaddy in the Sky... who becomes a convenient justification for those who seek power and control.

The god concept isn't surprising.

How do the able-bodied among us move our hand to grab a rock, or a pen, or a mouse? You just will it and it "just happens". Early humans, faced with unpredictable, uncontrollable phenomena in the world -- will the sun return? will the crops grow? -- were much better at asking questions than finding answers. It was easy to impute our own power of making our movements "just happen" to various spirits and demons in the world, in charge of their own domains, and then to A Big Cheese in charge of everything.

The conservative Judeo-Christian-Islamic sexual mores you're referring to had roots in the ancient Hebrews' need to "be fruitful and multiply" while vehemently rejecting their "heathen" neighbors' customs, which included homosexual sex with temple prostitutes as a symbol of fertility; as well as in a patriarchal society without our modern effective birth control, a society where impurity in the family bloodline was an "abomination" that could trigger visceral disgust.

Millenia later, some of us know better.

The challenge will be to get people's primitive brains to finish the Enlightenment.

Answer 5

back in the day when there were no rules, your argument would be shot down in a heartbeat. I suppose you'd like it if murderers just came through your town and took what they wanted, and there was no consequences. You have no idea how full of pain and suffering the world was in because of tyrants and arrogant pr*cks. and as flawed as our own society is right now, we live in a veritable paradise compared to that.

Answer 6

Because the bible is being read wrong. It is a symbol or a great novel of parables. I revealed truths within it that did not condemn homosexuals, adulterers, or the others. Those in translation made these illusions. Good question and great sub statement

Answer 7

God does not bless sexual immorality and homosexuals. Proverbs 16:25. " There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. " The death being separation from God.