Does religion bring man closer to God but separates man from man?

Question

Religion is meant to make us unite with our fellow man but a lot of the time it sets us apart. The different customs of the different religions makes people outside a specific religion stand out like a sore thumb. As has been said 'man made God in his own image.'

Answer 1

I'm having the best day of my life, and I owe it all to not going to church...religion is the root of all evil

Answer 2

As here is the rub. It has been said that religion is for the masses while spirituality is for the few. The general thought is that religion is a man made thing and therefore has hidden agendas and rules to promote certain ways of thinking and acting.

Spirituality on the other hand is separate and dependent only on the individuals own understanding of a higher power, God, or what other term you wish to use to describe the higher power.

So the short answer is Yes religion does separate man from man.I also think that religion also separates us from God as well. It is the tenet that we should be good to one another and be good to ourselves that is often overlooked.

Answer 3

Something's wrong somewhere, if that's the case. Religion should be cause of unity. No religion is better than disunity.

Religion is not one thing. It is two: spiritual and material-social. As you say, it's paying attention to the wrong things, clinging to the lamp and not the light. The world religions are in fundamental agreement in purpose, the light, of bringing enlightenment/education, happiness, and prosperity to humanity . People get hung up on the secondary characteristics, a particular universal educator and his social teachings and laws that are not meant for other than a certain period of time to advance civilization to the next level. Clinging to the lamp rather than the light causes disunity.

Answer 4

Hi!

This is a good question. Too many people talk about a God who just happens to share their own prejudices as a way to justify their being mean in the world.

But the truth IS out there and people of all faith's and none who have really sought it are able to come together as equals and discuss without fear of judgmental reactions stifling the conversation.

Good wishes.

Answer 5

You may have a point, however, that does not negate the reasoning or fact that man seems destined to worship a supreme being. I'm not sure the Supreme Being is the one to be blamed, but rather the judgmental people of different religions. Furthermore, the MOST damage actually seem s to be done by those worshiping the SAME God, Not by the Buddhists, Hindus and worshipers of sticks and suns.

Answer 6

Good question Twister, have a star. One of the things that has prevented me from getting involved with a religion is quite a few of them would require me to put God/Goddess/Giant Squid etc. first.

I can't do that. People have to come first for me. People are tangible, real, they live, they breathe. When people start to believe that they need to put (Deity) first and people aren't as important then they become more capable of doing things like blowing up abortion clinics and flying planes into buildings.

Answer 7

Religion is the great divider of people. Man did make God in his own image. Man has a good and bad side and so does God. But religion needed a scapegoat for God's bad side and they call him Satan.

Answer 8

i detect it humorous how the paper says that the similarities between Christ's loss of existence and ressurection and those of Pagan Gods are by using fact pupils sre using Christian language while comparing the two. Umm... this God dies and lives returned. THIS God dies and lives returned, too... would not rely what words you employ to describe it, it is nonetheless the comparable factor. additionally, ask your self what the rabbit, the logo of the Celtic Goddess of Spring, Ostara, is doing with Christ on a similar time as he's being crusified. and that i do no longer remember Jesus having painted eggs with him, the two. those are fertility symbols of... Ostara. I probable ought to and could have commented at something of the paper had i had the 4 days required to envision it yet I even have a existence.

Answer 9

Religion is the first problem. When people are religious about anything, it is like being a fanatic. The Pharisees were fanatical, and Jesus and John the Baptist attacked them for this very reason.

First, we have to understand that the Jewish race had scribes, who were responsible for copying the laws and teachings, as time went on, and parchments became old. These scribes HAD to copy them exactly as they were written, and were forbidden to change one dot in these manuscripts.

Jesus was Jewish, so he knew the laws and teachings. In fact, they could recite them verbatum. But the Pharisees were pedantic about the little laws, and attacked Jesus all the time. Jesus Christ fulfilled every prophecy relating to the coming Messiah.

A high ranking member of the Senhedrin, Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Ruling Council. came to Jesus at night, obviously because, he did not want anyone to know. He called Jesus "Rabbi", which means he KNEW that Jesus was a great teacher, and even acknowledged that he(Jesus) had come from God, because Jesus could not perform the miracles he did if he were not from God.

Jesus replied to him,"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." Logically Nicodemus asked how he could enter into his (Nicodemus) motnehr's womb a second time. Jesus went on to explain how the Kingdom of God is a Spiritual one. Not a tangible one. You can read this in the Gospel of John Chapter 3:1 - 22.

Jesus was saying, accept me into your heart as the Messiah, and let me be the Lord and Master of your life. And your sins both past, present and future will be forgiven. Because he knew that he had to die for the sins of the whole human race.

But over the centuries, starting with the Holy Roman Church, people have twisted the sciptures, added to them. And then came the Protestant Revival. Thank God for it. It's a live changing experience if ALL Christian churches, just stuck to how the early Christians were in The Book of Acts, and practised what the Epistles tell us to do.

But they don't all do that. Jesus made things simple. MEN have made things complicated and that is why there is so much dissention even among Christians. To their shame.

No book or 'faith' in History has been attacked as much as that of the Christian Faith and the Bible, over the centuries, and evil men have USED it for their own gain, to make wars etc...

But no other Religion can say that their "Master" rose from the dead. Buddah and all the others are still in their graves. We even know where some of their graves are today. That's what puts true Christianity apart from the other beliefs (Religions).

The Cannon of the New Testament, was written by people who KNEW and SAW what Jesus did. The only exception to that is the Apostle Paul, who was a highly educated member of the Jewish Ruling Party, but when he met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, his life changed. He did not even go up to Jerusalem to meet with the other Apostles for 14 years, because he was not sure they would believe or accept them. They knew him to be the biggest murderer of Christians. He just planted churches and kept writing to these churches.

Books that were written after 35 years of Christ's death were NOT put into the Bible. The theory that is propounded that they have all been lost, is just a lie.Archiologists and historians can proove this. MAN to blame.

There is another point here. The Messiah had to fulfil certain prophecies which were written about Him. One of the prophecies is that he HAS to proove, in the writings of the Jewish Geanologies, that He is a DIRECT descendant of King David. But in 70AD, the Romans burned all the Jewish genealogies. So no other man after that, or any other man who comes in the future will ever be able to proove that he is a direct descendant of King David.

Read a book by Josh McDowell (First publication) called, "EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT'. Mc Dowell set out to proove that Jesus Christ was not the Messiah, Christianity was a big lie.He has several Degrees and is highly educated. At the end, he gave his live to Jesus, and became a born again Christian. Why?

And please let me know when you can create an earth as beautiful as ours, and
a living,breathing human being, from NOTHING, but a void. Not a test tube. Please excuse mistakes, but the spell-chek doesn't seem to work well on long posts. And God bless you. I really mean that. Jesus told us to love one another, "as I (Jesus) have loved you"

Answer 10

Yes and no. Religion can make us feel close to God, while feeling distant from mankind, but there is always something within us that makes us want to be able to feel that closeness with EVERYONE.

I think if we nurture our relationship with Divinity, and receive from Him a very strong confirmation of our faith then it is much easier to tolerate our fellow man. I was afraid of being tempted to doing wrong, and also I was afraid that I might discard my faith (and salvation), if I got too close to others who did not share my views (made me separate).

Now I don't have that problem, because my faith is more sure, and I know myself better. Every difference that I see between people who believe (in whatever religion) is just fascinating to me, and a cause for celebration, that people of so many different belief systems can feel the same love, which comes from God, and give the same dedication from their sincere hearts.

What comes to mind is this: "Allah loves wonderous variety." (Asseim, from "Robin Hood - Prince of Theives" LOL).

Answer 11

Religion is the way of life fixed by God for human. It is the collection of rules obeying which men can live in peace in society. Obeying religion brings man closer to man. It's not the religion that separates man from man...it's man that separates themselves from man.