Why would man make up a Religion or God, who required them to live a life contrary to the there own desires?

Question

Just a thought, please hear me out before you answer.

okay say men did make God Jesus etc. up, why not make up something more desirable to the flesh?
Why make up some supreme being that requires you to do opposite of your fleshly desires?
like: forgive those who hurt you, etc.
wouldn't man have made up a "god" who would allow them to indulge in all their fleshly desires, promote self , and the most amazing one ....why would they create hell?

why not everyone lives forever in "happyland" because everything is okay and no sin etc.?

okay, most say here to control people, but wouldn't people follow something that pleases their fleshly desires more then restrict's it?
and if you was gonna make it up , wouldn't you think...hey I'll give them what they want?
it would be eaiser to control masses with pleasure's then prayer etc.

BGrimey.....you said; Utilitarianism - Which you are referring to. (Everyone please their own desires) Does not work well in a society.
if this is true then why is everyone fighting so hard for that movement?
why it's considered a "hate crime" if you dare point out to some they are living in sin.

Many answers here are attacking the Catholic Church and saying it's to control.......God existed long long before the Catholic Church....I'm talking about "God" not a church or religion...and in N.T. times Jesus himself often corrected the "religious" groups. And Jesus Christ is where "christainty" sprang from not denominations.....point being AND NO ANTI - GOD/RELIGION GAVE A GOOD ANSWER...why make up one so displeasing and contary to the flesh? Honestly if I was gonna make up a religion it would not have restictions /sins and I would not go to my DEATH to defend it, and the Apostels did just that.think about it.

Truth Seeker..........it isn't that I don't like your answer, I do I love to hear others opinion's, and thank you for that, it's just we don't agree, but thanks for answering and being nice...peace

Answer 1

You hit the nail on the head.God had to give you that one.There is no way any human could come up with such a terrific analogy.

Answer 2

because religion is about fear! Christianity is born has its foundation in the OT, the Ot was written through fear and used to subjugate the masses and try to gain control of the ones that had strayed from the path written within the Book of the dead, remember Moses came from Egypt, thus part of his work represented the myths and fears of the ancient civilization. The NT, is something that was written with an agenda, political and spiritual, for the writers of the Gospels were just men, they had a view and they represented that personal view within their writings, thus the four Gospels of the bible are different in context. I could quote contradictions, but I dont think I have too, to make my point. The NT Gospels were written by some who di not even know Jesus, Mark for example, he got most of his info from Barnabas ( his brother in law) and Paul, someone else who did not actually know Jesus. The reason for the choices' made in the bible are quiter apparent to those that are not taken in by its lies, it was just a tool used by Constantine the Great, to unify the Christian belief, so that it could use its power to help him defeat Licinius and break his Edict of Milan. The Catholic faith began with a vote, how can this be the true faith and word of God, they voted on what should be in the bible. The fact that the Chrsitian faith did not just rule the earht from the time of Christ Death seems to fall from peoples minds, they did not really take ove the world until the downfall of Rome and then they prgressed slowly to becoming the Holy Roman Empire in 800 with the King of France as the newly ordained Holy Emperor, Charlemagne ( Charles the Great). Everything that is known as truth within the faith of Christianity was decided by Councils and Popes like Gregory the Great. there is nothing that tells us that the faith of Christ is the tru word of a God, Jesus was seen more of a Prophet in his time, it was only whaen Saul ( paul) bgan to preach and set up the paauline doctrine that has become the foundation of all Christianity, that we are told that Jesus was infact God. The truth of the Trinity did not even exist b4 the council of Nicea and all evidence to the contrary was destroyed on their orders, luckily we have some evidence that escaped them and other Popes, which sheds some light on the truth of Jesus. maybe you should read a bit more about the foundation of your church religion, for it is interesting and would help you see clearly what was done,said and acknowledged as false and true within its walls, plus what the things were they didn't want the rest of the world to see.

I asked a question about the suppression of the Gospel of Barnabas, a man that actually met and followed Jesus, unlike Paul, alot of Christians said that the gospel was not written by him that it was a false Gospel, but how do you know that the four Gospels of the bible are the true Gospels, God di not choose them, they did, there are no real early copies to look at, just fragments, but the Dead sea scroll s found in 1947 speak of JESUS and are alot earlier than others, but they are Gnostic, why? because the church says they are! because they do not fit into their ideology of the trinity, just like Barnabas and St Thomas.


sorry for the spelling mistakes I was in a rush.

Answer 3

Because it was NOT made up to control the people who made it up.
It was made up to control the people around them.

Religion has always been a political tool meant to help in controlling the masses as far back as we can go into history. Even the politics of the most primitive tribes of today are framed as religious concepts.

This could become a long answer, there are quite a few texts on it in university libraries.

I will only point out that at least a quarter of the Old Teatament is concerned with social conduct including laws, the rights of kings and how people are to deal with each other. Two whole books, Numbers and Deuteronomy, are nothing but civil law.

Answer 4

So you claim that the Biblical God is real? But how about Jainism and Buddhism. Both also appeal to people to live out austere and ascetic lives, foregoing the pleasures of the skin and such.

Gautama Siddharta was brought up as an Indian prince lived in a palace of pleasure, for 30 odd years. He had a son and wife. but upon chancing the sick and weak, he decided that there was more to life than pleasure. He went about seeking knowledge from the Hindu and Jainist ascetics, and arrive at his own school of Noble Truths, which are similar to the 10 commandments.

Hence, it can be seen that at a separate time, without the intrusion of Christianity, a man was able to arrive at that concept of right and morals.

He could not have been inspired by the Biblical God, as Buddha never mentioned of any divinity nor was he extolling his own greatness. As Buddhism is a atheistic religion, it would have come at odds with the Biblical God, who demanded that His faithful need to honor him and his rules.

If Buddha was a creation of Satan (as some Christians proclaims) wouldn't Satan prefer to let the people sin, and not live a life that's even stricter or holier than the one required by the Biblical God.

Answer 5

Good question. The real question is, are you sure that the rules "contrary to their desires" didn't serve someone's purpose? Take non-procreative sex, which would be a desirable thing, but is considered a sin. In early agrarian societies, population size equaled power; more people to farm, more people to form an army, more people to collect taxes from, etc. Therefore, procreation had to be encouraged (from the point of view of those in power, especially) in order to foster a larger population. The commoners didn't mind so much because children meant more help on the land. Depending on the specific culture, the right gender of child could also provide the parents with a dowry when the child got married.

You can believe that, or you can believe that Jesus hates it when people get freaky in the sack. Your choice.

Answer 6

I agree with that. Because a man made God would allow for sin. One of the things that some atheist harp on is the fact that we tell them that there is a hell. Man made religion would not use that, even for a scare tactic. And man would want you to follow them, not a supreme Being. Isn't that what hitler tried to do. And I agree with Cindy. But Cindy, even though it makes since, you will still have people who will ignore it and argue. But you answered better then I could.

Answer 7

If indeed man made religion or god then perhaps man is innately good because he made a greater being that would hold his fellow man accountable for what they do (just a quick thought).
Personally, I somewhat agree with your thoughts which is one reason why I would be lead to believe that man did not make God but God made man. Again, I'm just pulling this out of the air without really giving it too much thought.

Answer 8

Very good point. As for those who say it was a scare tactic, the question is scare people into what, into living clean good lives. Since when is having hope and loving one another a bad thing or something scary, really? Not many religious leaders had much power anyways. Especially for the Christian church, and I'm not talking about the papacy. If fear was the reason for making religion up, then it was a good thing because the minute people start living selfishly and put themselves in the God's place, thats when we have problems!

Answer 9

Im an atheist, and I like this question, but Im not sure you will like my answer.

First, your question assumes that religion happened spontaneously, invented by very few. The opposite is true. So essentially your left to ask "why would many many men, over thosands of years, collectively mold a religion against the desires of humans".

Next, its important to note that many religions did make allowances or pander directly to many human desires, its just the more recent monotheistic religious movements that have really become sex obsessed.

Finally, theres good evidence to suggest that this proscriptions your refer to, were indeed invented to level the sexual playing field. The natural course is for woman to desire the alpha male. Disadvantaged beta-males (like Iran's midget president) thus found creative ways, via religion, to overcome their disadvantage.

Indeed, in nature, the alphas dominate, and the betas get nothing, their seed doesnt propogate. Its no coincidence that the super pious and super religious are often the betas of the world. Indeed, the more you can demonize attraction and "lust", the better chance the betas have of competing for the sexually desireable duped by all the religious dogma.

Answer 10

Religion is a type of behavior control, en masse. The reason religion requires people to live contrary to their desires is that the folks in power at the time benefited by changing the behavior of their subjects.

Once a generation or two is forced to live under an austere set of rules, it becomes their norm and that is what they force upon their kids.

Think about this...North Koreans think their society is "Normal" and "privileged" and pity the rest of the world for not having their way of life. To the rest of the world, we know North Korea is Backward country with a demented leader, but because three generations have been taught to revere the "Great leader" as a God-on-Earth, they don't know any better.

Answer 11

Because many desires harm society, and without a productive society our species suffers. It is common sense.
Murder, rape, theft, promiscuity, incest, alcoholism, greed and jealousy...all these things have great potential for harm which anyone can see. Most religions have prohibitions against such things, and also focus on the "do unto others" rule. Uncontrolled desire makes for a dangerous and unproductive society.
People also respond to punishment and reward...which rulers of societies find very handy. The concept of an eternal hell is a much greater deterrant than any mere human punishment we could threaten a person with...