Believers' Gullible-ness

Why do you assume man has a limited comprehension of God's word?

 

Because some ppl. take everything so literally & by that, maybe those ppl. think it's better for them to "stay true" to god's word. It probably has something to do with traditions. Just a guess...

 

You imply an inability of man to comprehend --- WHY?!

 

I have studied judaism, christianity, Greek g-ds, roman g-ds (greeks g-ds in a new garb), looked at buddha and muhammed (founder of islam)'s lives and techings.. I'll have to say that christianity is the most unbelievable. The greek g-ds were amazing, they were like someone said earlier about g-d being constantly active in our life? I've never believed that, but if you look at greek g-ds (one for water/ocean, one for love, one for war etc), it is really amazing and credible when you look at the personality of the g-d, for example poseidon (water g-d) is jealous, violent etc, and the way that the ocean and even water acts is so like his personality it's not a large jump for some to truly believe poseidon is angry/happy that day, and through selective memory you can attribute it to a single act you do while at sea..

Judaism to me is the more credible semetic (single-g-d) faith. You'll notice that at some point in the old testament (which is the jewish bible) g-d actually kinda says, look guys, I'm trying to make you moral and trying to make you listen to me but it's just not working. This is why he floods the world and noah builds an ark? To re-form a g-dly, moral society. But it doesn't work, not everyone is g-dly and moral, and g-d is so shocked at what he's done he swears to never take such an active role in shaping the world. In the context of the torah, g-d really is like us, he's optimistic with mankind, a tad liberal, punishes heavily, has favourites, makes mistakes (I forget the references but in one story a man reasons with g-d, to stop him destroying a city, and wins)..He has all the qualities we have. But he does realise that the part he plays in the world has to change, he can't, literally, 'play g-d' with our lives because we have free will, and so he chooses to remain an onlooker, a guardian if you will. So in judaism we are shown that we are in g-d's image, at least personality wise; we are told g-d does not rule our lives, we have to do that, which is very empowering; we are told g-d is an abstract, yet solid thing, which allows people who have an issue with the whole guy sitting in the sky thing to reconcile themselves to the idea of a presence rather than an actual thing... There isn't much in the torah which you can have a problem with, except imagining some things actually happened. Everything you are told, you can accept as a good and true way to live your life (although some eating requirements are considered outdated)

The issue I have with christianity, is that I am expected to swallow that now that g-d has tried and failed to create a g-dly society, and tried and failed to keep us all moral people, accepted this and said he will no longer involve himself in our lives.. There is no reference at all to a son of g-d, nor are there prophesies on a son arriving, which is odd, however I am supposed to accept that g-d suddenly decided to firstly try again with humans, that somehow he would cleanse us of our sins, that somehow his death would accomplish this... All the while the gospels are contradictory, any english professor could examine writing styles of matt, mark, luke and john, and say they had been tampered with, and and and that not only has g-d finally cleansed us of our sins and achieved his aim, but he has also decided to take an active part in running the world again, not helping out the environment, not helping world hunger by evolving or magiking a new species of plant which grew rapidly in africa, not giving cancer to true believes, nothing like that. G-d has decided to take an active role in the world by....(dun dun dunnnn) performing minor miracles, which reach one, maybe more, people. Give me a break. Christianity, in my belief, has more holes in it than a hole.

Further, if there is a true religion, I doubt we have found it yet. So yeh. But in my opinion, oldness is goodness and I don't need the new testament to make me know the old is true. But that is just my opinion, and many people prolly have a problem with that. All I wanted to do was to give you another viewpoint, sorry i only really talked about judaism and christianity, they're my forte at the moment.

My advice to you is to believe what you feel is true, open your mind by looking at other belief systems and other ways of life, but not necessarily trying to find the right one, just finding your true calling, what makes you feel true and good and at home.

 

perhaps gullible isnt the word, more one has been shown a certain path e.g. Christianity, and theyve stayed there and not questioned it, becuase of their family context etc, or perhaps others beliefs have impacted on them,,, who knows.

 

Well, if your talking about pop religion, then I don't think it's because the followers are gullible, it's because they were brainwashed with religion at an early age for one reason or another. Usually these people aren't easily influencial,( My sister for example is a hard core christian jesus freak, you can't tell her shit if it's not in the bible (even if it makes sense)) but they are weak mentally, which means they can still easily be subconsiously brainwashed.

 

I think that it was really rude of you to call me stupid! we are having a simple debate on diff. opinions and you took a cheap shot. Being stupid has nothing to do with it.
Albert Einstien said himself that there was an after life and I BELIEVE that it is faith that keeps me together. as humans we cant understand exactley what anything is...I belive that if you dont believe in anything than you are missing out on so much...our minds cant grasp the concept that life is controlled by god. So tech. if you think logically if you deny yourself the right of learning more about a faith you are limitiing our intellegance...and that is stupid. To tell yourself that you dont need any more information than you have already is kinnda dumb. Im not telling you to believe what I do but calling someone stupid because they believe in some higher being than themselves.

 

MidnightMoonlight that is a rediculous answer. It is my hope that that is not your real reasoning... MAN cannot comprehend God because he is super dumb? Why is he super dumb? Why do you assume that this super dumbness fits into to some sort adequate mold of ignorance?

Tell me the basis of your beliefs. If you believe something because that is how you believe it exists a priori explain to me why. Self evident you, yes; not to me.

Albert Einstein was a genius in the areas of mathematics and physics; but how does this qualify him to be a figure from which we should attain some sort of assurance of the rationality of faith???

You guys keep saying humans cannot exactly understand the divine or life itself. I say this is a method of hiding from the truth. Creating a set of circumstances in which rationality is suspended for the chance of God and spirituality to fit into the picture.

It is not too much to ask to inquire upon these apparently self evident conceptions that you possess is it?

 

You are absolutely right, rationality and the spiritual realm are not a very good fit. I am lucky that the logic defying events in my life have continued for so long, becuz i dismissed the first couple dozen or so as 'anecdotal evidence' of some unseen force. This year I finally saw the folly that was my lack of acceptance. In my life, the faith in something working behind the scenes influencing events is now beyond my ability to dismiss. I would even say that faith is not the right word, cuz I have been beaten about the head and face with this stuff for decades, to the point of surrender. It is hard to describe, but the best I can do is say that my belief in this spiritual side of reality is no longer a case of free will. I decided for many years to believe that religious followers were wrong. I now believe the opposite, but still believe that atheists are no less correct in their chosen path. This may sound contradictory, but it is not to me. Not at all, it is just hard to explain how it can be possible so that others can see my perspective.


" If I do not believe as you believe, it proves that you do not believe as I believe, and this is all that it proves. " Thomas Paine

 

During a time when believers are no longer illiterate and have a world of information at their fingertips, I do believe that theists are gullible in their beliefs today. There is no longer any valid excuse to be made in favor of theism, yet theists continue to make excuses for their beliefs despite the overwhelming information that belief in a deity is not needed. That is where comfort comes in. Theists believe simply for the sake of being comfortable, for not having a deity to believe in makes them too uncomfortable.

 

Holy hell, I made this thread almost a decade ago.

I no longer question if, or think that believers are gullible.

I think they are fragile, as all humans are, and that in their mortality, they turn towards something greater, to find new strength.

This could be considered weak. It could be considered dishonest. It's certainly resourceful, though. Maybe, in some ways, it's the smarter thing to do.

I wish I could be a more spiritual person; but I still thank whatever forces guide me from within and from throughout the universe, that I am not a religious person. That's mostly cause fundamentalists terrify me.