dont get me wrong i have an open mind but answer me this?

Question

i dont mean to offend but i want peoples opinion on this. If religion is so high and mighty and so many people believe in it, then how come it can bring so much evil? like terrorism is a main issue that has arised from religion. and if religion says to love one another etc: then why are so many people prejudice to gay marriage and why do we harm one another? and why are some priests using religion to take out their sick fetishes?

like i said i dont mean to offend as i keep and open mind and embrace the concept of hinduism and buddha and other beautiful religions, i also like the idea that this isn't it and when people are introuble they can look for guidenance when alone and scared, especially when dying.

Also one other thing, why do christians and born agains other people have to preach their religion when they cant keep an open mind and slander other peoples beliefs and religiong?

Answer 1

When people want to do evil things (terrorism, war, etc.) they will often use religion to brainwash others to follow them. It is not the religion that is evil, but the people. Unfortunately, more and more churches are spreading lies, propaganda and hatred as part of their teachings. Then you have people who are brainwashed to believe all other religions are evil and gays are going to Hell. Rubbish- religion should give you peace and compassion, not anger and hatred.
Just study the religions that appeal to you and don't worry about being "right". The "right" path is the one that brings you peace and enlightenment, no matter what religion you choose.

Answer 2

Well, if you give me a shot, I'll try to address each of the points that you bring up from a Christian perspective. This should help with some insight.

1. "evil? like terroism" - First of all, terrorism is evil. That's a good call. Christianity does not advocate terrorism like other religions do. Particularly, right now, radical Islam is behind it. (This isn't a slam. I'm just stating a fact.) But, for the record, terrorism isn't right and is not advocated by Christianity.

2. "prejudice to gay marriage" - The fact is that the Bible draws lines. It does it all over the place. It draws lines between right and wrong. The definition of what is right and what is wrong should not be left up for a man or government to decide for itself. Else, every person or government would be a law to itself and could do whatever it wants. Who could correct them? Simply, our Creator is the One who makes the rules, and according to the Bible, there is no such thing as gay marriage. Homosexuality is a sin, and marriage is for a man and a woman. Homsexuality is a perversion of the normal desire for intimacy and Christianity is against it. It's not hate. It's also not prejudice. It's crossing the line between right and wrong.

3. "harm one another" - The Bible does not teach that Christians should look for ways to harm another human being. The Christian's job is to help others. The problem is that no one likes to hear that what they're doing is wrong or self-destructive. They want to be left alone. Real love, however, issues the warning anyway.

4. "priests using religion... sick fetishes" - That's absolutely sick, I agree. It should not be. It's wrong and sinful. Period.

5. "preach their religion" - This is simple. The Bible commands Christians to preach the Word! Christians carry the message of salvation to a lost world, and it is vital that we share it. It is the cure for the sinful and self-destructive life! Everyone should want it, but many don't. It's their choice. But it is our duty at least to warn and tell them.

6. "slander other people's beliefs" - It should not go to the point that it becomes slander. But, it is necessary to call things for what they are. If something is poisonous, is it wrong to say, "Hey, that's poisonous!"? How can we be so cruel right? It really isn't cruelty to try to, again, warn someone.

7. "the idea that this isn't it" - That's a good point. The fact of the matter is that this really isn't it. The born-again experience is real and the love of God is real. I know because I experienced it myself about nine years ago at an altar inside a church. I'll never forget how real God's love is.

See, it really isn't religion. The thing is that there is still a basic rule of right and wrong that no man or woman on Earth can overrule. Many try and many don't like to be told they're wrong, so they retaliate.

Just like darkness is the absence of light and cold is the absence of heat, the evil you see in the world is simply the absence of the good God who sent His Son so that people can find true life.

Answer 3

Because religion, nowadays, has become less of a belief and more of a business and an excuse.

You can be a bad person -- but that'll be just peachy if you're a Christian.

You can be a hateful jerk -- but you pay your dues at church weakly.

It's what the church is preaching, really, you can do all these atrocities and get away with it as long as you pray for forgiveness.

My interpretation of the Bible was always different.
My interpretation was that you are supposed to live a wholesome life and accept Christ.

But people have bent it around to fit the contemporary lifestyles of, like you said, priestly pedophiles -- the two entities contradict themselves and cancel out.

Christianity used to be far less forgiving.
It just grew with the corruption of people.

NOT ALL PEOPLE. I am not saying that. I am not trying to make generalizations about Christianity, it's just an observation that may provide a feasible answer.


So, I'm thinking that this is it.
Maybe you do to.

Answer 4

I'll try to answer this without offending.
there is currently a Buddhist group that are fighting with an Islamic group, innocent Christians are getting killed because they live in a village in the middle of the fighting ground. Men will use whatever excuse they can to do what they want. This is proven by the example I have just given, the Crusades, and the current so called "war on terror" in which George Bush (Christianity) is fighting a war against Osama Bin Laden (Islam). In realist none of these wars were based on religion, they are about greed, power and opportunity. This is proven because these religions are about promoting peace, brotherhood and non-violence. Religion is debatable on which is right and which is wrong, but they are ideologies and as such we cannot look to the followers of these religions to show us which is right, if we did this then Atheism which has killed over 100 million Christians in the last 100 years alone (which eclipses any killings that Christianity has committed in 2000 years) would be impossible to promote as an ideology.
Never look to followers as examples of what makes something true, there are very few examples, instead look at the best examples of these followers and the ideologies that they live by (i.e. what the religion itself says).

Answer 5

first of all the key to the answer to your question is the word religion. Terrorism is a by-product of man, not God. No true man or woman of God would condone Terrorism of any kind. We need to blame man for the atrocities and sins of the world , not our true Creator. Now about people being prejudice against gay marriage. I know people who are gay, and I do not hate them, as others say Christians do, however , when there is something that is against the will of God, then it is sin. I cannot lie and say it is ok. - anymore than I can terrorism. Just because priests were molesting children that does not make God bad- it is man.

RELIGION- man's attempt to reach God
RELATIONSHIP- God reaching down to man, through Christ

Loving each other does not always mean agreeing with everything someone does. If you have a child and he/she does something wrong, you always love them, however you would not "excuse" their behavior because of the love you have for them. A matter a fact a parent who does not discipline really does not love their child. does this help?

Answer 6

well, this is a tough Q. First off, i think that many people who claim to be religious are hippocrites. Just because they have some label does not mean that they walk w/ God. I'm a Christian. And i sure don't want to hate anybody. plus i believe that christianity is the only religion based on love and forgiveness, which is different from the others. in some religion you have to earn a way to heaven. I think that if Christ were to come to live on Earth today, our 'religion' would make him sick. (that is, all the crap that people do and put a relgious 'stamp' on it) ridiculous!

Answer 7

Remember, just because some one professes to follow something doesn't mean they are. Take for example a doctor. They claim to help people, but thousands die because of malpractice. Should we assume that the medical profession is bad, because a few doctors are bad? The same goes with religion. If someone is not following the teachings of Jesus how can he claim to be acting as a Christian? Isn't that the same as a doctor that isn't following his medical training.

The Bible teaches that Homosexual activity is sinful. It is like when a doctor cuts off an infected arm. Isn't that evil that he cut the mans arm off, when he says that he helps people? But God wants to help us too. It is undeniable that the homosexual lifestyle is not healthy. It leads to aids and numerous health problems from sodomizing one another. Their intestines get messed up, and it is not a Godly act.

Answer 8

The true God of the Bible does not approve of false religion.
Revelation 17:5 speaks of false religion as a prostitute on the governments back. She will be destroyed by the very governments she trusts in.
Read Revelation 17 and 18.
Babylon the Great is the world empire of false religion , the kings of the earth represent the governments of the earth, and the merchants represent the commercial part of this world. In Revelation 18:4 God pleads with us to get out of her before her destruction.

Answer 9

Sometimes you have to separate the people from the relgion.

Relgion doesn't do terrorism, people do terrorism.

Anyone can put the blame somewhere else "I did it in the name of god!" sounds really good and you'll probably get a few followers.

Also, doctorine has been known to be very malluable. You can twist almost anything anyone says to something wrong.

Have you ever seen comedic shows where a guy is very thirsty and a girl comes out carring 2 big Jugs of water (and has ample breasts) OHHH the laughter that comes out of that.

Have you ever read a line of scripture and heard 30 different descriptions of why that is important?

Answer 10

Have you ever heard of the Chinese concept 'ying and yang'?
It means that there is a balance of positivity and negativity in almost all aspects of life. I like to believe in this concept.

For every religion, there are effectively three kinds of followers. One is the weak-hearted followers (most of us), another is the faithful followers (moderate in number) and another one is the extremists (a small section of people).

The extremists misunderstand the true teachings and values of religion and instead use it for exploitation and defamation at the same time.

The weak-hearted disregard the teachings of the religion and resort to murder, torture, racial discrimination etc.

No religion encourages terrorism, merciless killings, harm etc. Its the followers who are tweaking its significance and putting it in the wrong use. The only reason for such a situation is the absence of a TRUE religious leader to guide its followers.

Priests, clerics etc. lost their importance as guides and propagators.

Answer 11

unfortunately, in christianity, christians don't always set the greatest example or witness to the reality in Christ.

i've heard it explained this way metaphorically:

say a girl has really bad hair; it's burntish, dead ends, horrible color, the epitome of bad hair.

That doesn't mean hair dressers don't exist; the girl did it to herself.

Just because there is pain in the world and terrorism, it doesn't mean there isn't God; it means that people disobey and do bad things against what He tells us to do.

Another thing to consider:

Of course there would be chaos and cruelty and war and terrorism if there were no God- it would be completely natural and expected.

If there were no God, or no higher power to answer to, it would be unnatural to have peace, it would be the only thing we knew- you might say that there wouldn't be anything wrong because there would be nothing to define what "wrong" is.
However, the fact that we can recognize that there is in fact something wrong is evidence in itself that there is a higher power and authority.

Hope this all made sense.