2007-06-21 07:20:07 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Au contraire, mon frere!
God was not created as a primitive form of police. Not at all.
Rather, god (or "gods" more properly) was created as a substitute for science and reason. If you didn't understand why it rained on the corpse of your favorite goat, let "god" take the blame. If you wanted to know what the stars in the sky were all about, "god did it" is a great answer that requires no actual understanding at all.
Later, as society became somewhat more sophisticated and there was a professional "god man" in town (today, the village preacher, priest, imam or whatever), "god's will" was used to justify why things were so darn crappy for the average person.
Sure, sometimes civilizations tried to use their gods as moral instructors and threats, but clever criminals quickly determined that god's wrath ain't too specific. That is to say, when "god" get's po'ed because you coveted your neighbor's horse/donkey hybrid animal (ain't the obscenity filter fun!) or committed adultery or whatever, he tends to take out a lot of innocents and may leave the clever criminal untouched.
So that's where "god" came from. The fact that most people don't want to acknowledge their own mortality is why god persists, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that, if He ever existed, He is either senile or dead, but more likely was never there to begin with.
Occam's Razor is a sharp little tool, indeed.
2007-06-21 07:29:21 · answer #1 · answered by Grendle 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
CAVE MAN logic to explain the unknown universe. As scientific knowledge increases, the irrational belief systems are getting pushed further back. The 'religious experience' resides in the primitive limbic system of our brains. The more rational and logical thinking resides in our cerebral cortex, a more recent development within our species, say within the last 100,000 years.
Obsolete genes do not die overnight, so we'll be seeing a distorted worldview from the majoriy of earth's population for some time to come....as you can see from the majority of the responses you're getting.
2007-06-21 09:23:53 · answer #2 · answered by Its not me Its u 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Possibly because they didn't have over exaggerated egos like so many people on this page (including the questioner) who seem to believe mankind, and themselves, are the pinnacle of evolution (I'm sure this would be the consensus as well; even though, one can not escape the question of, if we came from monkeys...then why are there still monkeys?).
There was a time when science and spirituality were as one, unified in proclaiming not only the science of the First Cause, but the spirituality of being within HIM as well.
Like so many things it is the ego of man (and woman; wouldn't want anyone to feel left out ) that divides us from one another into groups and sub-sects of groups of political affiliations, gender/lifestyle "choices", physics theorists and the like. All striving to gain a single identity and be unique to satiate an ego that has no end in its need for reinforcement.
Under G-D all are one. All are committed to a single purpose that is beyond the self(ish). All are neither black nor white, man nor woman, right or left. No identity is required except that of a servant to the First Cause. Whether you believe in G-D or not, you have to admit that unification gains more strength than division and subdivision after subdivision, now doesn't it?
Maybe that's the reason they "invented" HIM. Maybe, people like you are the reason HE invented US.
2007-06-21 08:03:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Well, the notion of a higher being has always been in the human psyche. It helps us to make sense of things that we can't explain like Zeus(who throws lightning) or Poseidon(in control of the ocean). I believe it was serendipitous that we figured out that god can be used to control the masses.
2007-06-21 07:25:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Control
2007-06-21 07:22:35 · answer #5 · answered by souperbonez 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
No, because there wasn't anything she could do to you until you were dead. She was more like a "birth control" if you will, not just for sex though, for crime, sin and all that. She couldn't do anything about it unless you remembered to take the "Pill" so it could prevent these things. But if you didn't then you just deal with it, like an unwanted pregnancy or a prison sentence.
I hope that makes sense ^^;; .. at leat a little...
2007-06-21 07:29:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
i'm SO in. removing "straight forward words" is basically good politics, no count number the way you slice it. (a touch Pi humor there...) P.S. Does your blue armband have a Nazi swastika on it?
2016-10-18 06:40:30 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. To keep the peace by keeping people's actions in line.
2. To justify oppression of women and children.
2007-06-21 07:23:37 · answer #8 · answered by gouldgirl2002 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Baloney. What's stopping you from doing what you want but your own chicken heartedness? Unless of course there really is something bigger than two legged creatures who live on Viagra and die of liver cancer. Whoops!
2007-06-21 07:23:10 · answer #9 · answered by vanamont7 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
probably because then, as now, many many people refuse to get their sh!t together unless threatened by a supernatural boogeyman.
2007-06-21 07:23:29 · answer #10 · answered by dr schmitty 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋