Accepting the premise that faith in God is self delusion and make-believe, isn't it better to live a life one believes is meaningful and hopeful?
2007-08-27 17:56:03 · 23 answers · asked by keri gee 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I'm aware that the majority of people executed were Jews. I'm also aware that a person can be Jewish in ethnicity and not religious. I'm basing this question on the work of Viktor
Frankl. I'm NOT saying that people who believed in God were spared, or that people who didn't believe in God deserved to die.
2007-08-27 18:15:39 · update #1
Makes me question what is a delusion and what is real, so far as belief. Does it really matter other than how it transforms you?
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2007-08-27 18:06:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
To what Holocaust are you referring to?The word means large scale destruction, such as Nuclear war. But if you mean the jewish holocaust, that is only a drop in the ocean. What about Hiroshima or Nagasaki? None of those citizens would have believed in a God or Superbeing.Their religions are deeper in Spiritual perception.Then again there has been countless destruction through thousands of years.Self delusional it may be. A Myth it may be. But the one true Truth that has existed throughout time is- Faith.It is faith alone that one lives for. A belief in a better existence after our earthly demise.
2007-08-28 01:12:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It all depends on how you look at it. A religious person could spend their lives either in comfort knowing there is life after death or being afraid of burning in hell for something--whereas a person who does not believe in G-d and by default probably believes that death is simply a biological function with no afterlife does not have these uncertainties. The life of a person who does not believe in G-d can have plenty of hope in it.
By the way, historically the Jews are some of the most "religious" people, so...how do you explain the Holocaust, if what you say is true?
2007-08-28 01:00:49 · answer #3 · answered by LadySuri 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You premise is wrong. Six million died and there is no way to know what the survivors believed in.
Your next premise that God is self delusion and make-believe offer less credibility. You can believe what you want, but knowing many survivors, it is difficult to generalize there belief.
One survivor was a Rabbi. He saw his extend family killed, and wonders why God left him all alone. That is if there is a God.
Answer: The will to survive is not couple with belief.
2007-08-28 01:12:50 · answer #4 · answered by J. 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A lot of atheists and non christians- or not god believers - survived too. Your point?
There wwre many survivors who rebuked and forsake god, because to them, they were the forsaken ones -why should they worship a god who cares nothing for them, allows them to starve, be tortured and die?
A lot of survivors had NO hope left - and it took a long time for them to find meaning in their lives again, and even longer to return to religion.
I used to frequent a yiddish old age home - a lot of Holocaust survivors there, some very bitter about god.
My life IS meaningful and hopeful - each of us assign meaning to our own lives. Some just choose to let religion fulfill that role rather than self determination.
2007-08-28 01:01:53 · answer #5 · answered by Cheese Fairy - Mummified 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Who the hell told you that? I'm not trying to diss anyone, but the major group killed off in WWII were the Jews; and THEY believe in God. It is always good to have hope (whether throug religion or other means) But when you're being tortured, maimed, and gased, there's no amount of hope that's gonna get you through it in this world.
There are absolutely no facts to base this "theory" of yours on.
2007-08-28 01:04:10 · answer #6 · answered by ferrisulf 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I would like to know how this guy thinks that he knows the hearts and minds of those who died in the Holocaust. Let me tell you something else..there are worse things than dying.
I don't really know what you are asking. I am an Atheist. My life is meaningful and hopeful..but not for eternity in ''heaven''
I pretty much agree with Batman.
2007-08-28 01:34:30 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do you really think that there was a difference in the survial based on how faithful they were? I sincerely doubt that it had much effect at all.
I think having a positive and practical attitude might help day to day but when some official decided to put a whole batrracks full of people to death I doubt if it made much difference if they prayed or not.
2007-08-28 01:01:51 · answer #8 · answered by ? 5 · 6⤊ 0⤋
What do you mean by "more people who believed in God ... survived the Holocaust".
I have to believe that the millions of Jews (and Christians) that Hitler murdered believed in their gods right up till they found out the truth.
2007-08-28 01:01:41 · answer #9 · answered by Gem 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
"Why do you suppose more people who believed in God or a supremem being survived the Holocaust?"
Uh, because the main targeted group was a religious one (Jews)? More survived, but more were also killed. This isn't saying much.
"isn't it better to live a life one believes is meaningful and hopeful?"
Pff.
"...it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." --Carl Sagan
2007-08-28 00:59:09 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 8⤊ 2⤋
as long as that belief is not a danger to oneself or others .
Could Christians back off just enough to respect those that have different beliefs . Such as not injecting religious imperatives into a secular govt. ; might should never make right it should be justified in higher thought not superstitious pretense .
2007-08-28 01:06:54 · answer #11 · answered by dogpatch USA 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋