Do monotheistic religions infanticize the mind?

Question

Their God is always portrayed as the stern, yet loving father who rewards if you behave and punishes if you don't. Surely, this type of reasoning works well on a 5-year-old child, but why do grown adults buy into it?

BTW, I mean "infantilize", but hopefully you were smart to figure out what I meant. :)

Answer 1

My first thougt to the title question was Duh.... Yeah.
As to why an adult buys into it....... Beats me.
A crutch is all I can come up with.

Answer 2

Although I'm agnostic, I suggest you read a little more widely. Ever read St. Augustine? Descartes or Pascal? There are many others which are quite intellectually substantial. There's some sophisticated thinking there and even when they invoke the notion of God as a father there's a lot more thought and nuance in many of those writings that your premise brushes off somewhat too glibly.

EDIT: My statement was written taking your qualification of "infantilize" into account. There are many hierarchical relationships beyond the parent-child relationship which are understood to exist with rational adult beings in a subordinate position. The role of soldiers in an army is merely one example, and norms like the chain of command and rules of engagement exist to mediate those complexities.

Similarly, the talk of "infantilizing" implicitly equates all religious believers as unthinking children, which denies much sophisticated theological writing grappling with questions of free will and moral obligation in a theistic context.

Answer 3

Children evolve into adults who realize the consequences of free will. It doesn't take long to recognize that God didn't punish them for their choices but the outcome was the punishment or the reward. I am speaking for most adults, Unfortunately, religion was used as a tool to control children and it also works on some adults who don't take the time to explore the truth about spirituality. It seems that is when the entire religion is condemned and it is by those who are still believing lies that Jesus himself tried to correct in his day.

Answer 4

Maybe that is how YOUR dad was/is. You know many people who have a hard time with a Heavenly Father use their own dad as the model. So if your dad was that way or worse, you don't believe a Heavenly father will or could be different. The truth is, God is the God of freedom, liberation, love and faithfulness. Does He have rules? Sure. But the rules are for YOUR benefit not so much His. One thing about God, He is not a, do as I say, not as I do, Father. His love for you is so overwhelming that it is difficult to understand. That's why there is the Bible. But for people to understand the Bible they must be seeking to honestly know Him. It says that to those who don't believe, it will be like gobbly goop. So before you laugh God off you need to at least give Him a shot to reveal Himself to you. What do you have to lose? Maybe your eternal destination.

EDIT:
Uz, you must be kidding. At least I hope you are. WE'RE waiting for the world to destruct? We are WATCHING it destruct. Let me see.....abortion on demand, 50% + out of wedlock births. Aids Virus. All sorts of sexually transmitted diseases. Your ways sure are making the world a better place to live. Just give God a chance. What do you have to lose?

Answer 5

I agree that this vision of God is common and is childish. However, there are other ways of seeing God present in these religions. In Dustin Hoffman's "What I've Learned" interview for this month's Esquire he remarks that over his lifetime God has grown up. That's an incredibly wise statement. I relate; I could never believe in the God I knew 10 or 20 years ago.

Answer 6

In a way, I think so. By accepting the idea of God, people have internalized the ultimate parental figure. For many Christians, God is the superego.

Answer 7

there is not any faith "depending" on meditation. There are some religions that are in accordance to personal remark and inner capacity, yet there are none depending fullyyt on the prepare of meditation on my own. some religions are in accordance to one God because by technique of having one of those inflexible structure of doctrines and holy texts keeps the ignorant in line. If there is in easy words one God, and in easy words certain human beings can do certain initiatives contained in the call of that one God, and money must be paid for the church of that one God, and all others that stick with that one God are (insert derogatory the following), then you actually see how which could coach really effective to human beings in capacity?

Answer 8

I think it's a matter of desire for a supreme being. People don't want to imagine that when they die, that's it; it's over. We want to believe that we are more important than that. If you learn when you're 5, this happy idea, you can't very well simply disregard it without jeopardizing your ever-lasting life.

It doesn't make sense to me, but I do think that without religion, many people would be absolutely miserable. Go figure.

Answer 9

you couldn't have put it better. Yes, monotheisms infanticize the mind and wll continue to attempt to freeze the world in the ancient times if we don't fight against it. Amazing how they continue to gleefully await the destruction of the world. They are the destruction they are waiting for

Answer 10

Religious people are adults who have mentality of a 5 year old, to some extent.

For example, a 5 year old thinks that his toys are real. He believes in them, talks to them. If an adult tells that kid, that his toys are fake.. the kid would get upset.

Because the kid has faith in his toys.

Answer 11

Infanticize