People using religion when it suits them?

[CindysRain]

I was married to a supposed christian. He was all about "appearances". What other christians & atheists never knew, was that he didn't even remotely live a christian lifestyle. He would come home whacked out on drugs, go to atheist chats or forums, and spend hours witnessing to them. I stood behind him once, watching him furiously typing, and said "I wonder what these people would do, if they knew you were stoned out of your mind right now?". He said "it didn't matter, cause they didn't know." True story.

Everyone is a hypocrite at one time or another. We are human. What gets people so riled up, are the religious who continually point their finger at others, spewing scriptures, that they cannot even live by.

Having said that, the biblical god - who certainly excelled at telling others how to live, couldn't even obey his own laws.

One example: Thou shalt not kill.

And here's an entire page to-the-contrary...

http://www.evilbible.com/Murder.htm

So going back to the OP, god is indeed their example.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

There's a difference between anti-social behavior and personal indulgence. The example given was that of young men aiming lasers at aircraft. That's generally considered a dangerous activity since it may blind the pilot and cause him to lose control of the plane and crash, causing death and destruction. Engaging in personal indulgences such as chasing women is normal healthy human male behavior. There is a significant difference between the two activities.

[vorlon13]

. . . the ruin of many a young man . . .

[ThomM]

I've come across this often online. Hypocrites. People who justify their beliefs with something when 95-99% of the time, they don't follow it.

I was reading an article on Yahoo about laser attacks on planes and the demographics of the attackers were young males (specifically teenagers) from 15-24.

I saw in the comments some people saying they should be punished by the law, and one comment was saying 'Spoil the rod, spare the child, spare the rod spoil the child.'

Now I understand sometimes tough punishments are necessary on children, but the fact is, the people making these claims don't really care about religion as much as their need to justify something they see as wrong.

The people who talk about this are almost living their life in a way that is against the Bible. About 70% of Americans claim to be Christians yet 95% have had premarital sex? What sense is that?

It seems that people a fair percentage of Christians are 'Swaying' Christians who don't really live their life for God and instead use religion whenever it suits them. They will be against gays because its a sin, threaten hell for unbelievers people who make them feel bad, advocate for strong punishments for those who make mistakes but continue to sleep with everyone, get wasted, live in ignorance etc

Yesterday - in the News - they showed a demonstration in Texas AGAINST three buses of underage children who were being taken to be processed.

And the Newswoman talking about it quoted the "bible"

I was hungry and you refused to allow me food
I was thirsty - and you forced me to stay on the bus and get thirstier
I was homeless - and you turned me away

Amazing how the quote from the bible are used to fit the subject

[Wyrd of Gawd]

The Bible presents at least two sides to every issue. Choose the one you like.

[The Grand Nudger]

Dumb ideas do not persist for thousands of years. They have clearly been useful, and we need to understand fully why they have been useful before we can suggest they are no longer useful.

I see no reason why they can't. So long as the "dumb idea" doesn't kill you (i think we can all concede that we have dumb ideas on a regular basis and continue to draw breath). But to agree with your point - I would never argue that religion wasn't useful - and neither would anyone who's ever barbecued a human being at a book reading.....

[ThomM]

Hypocrisy is not just found in Christianity, it seems that it is a feature of many people's ideologies. I say 'it seems' because everybody is entitled to interpret whatever ideology they like from whatever sources they like. We don't live in totalitarian countries.

You could argue that most atheists you come across don't really understand the ideology they profess to adhere to. There is plenty of scientific theory out there to explain why concepts like 'god' and social constructs like 'religion' persist, and the kinds of evolutionary advantages the cognitive processes that lead to these concepts have afforded humanity - but still you will find people saying that religion is destructive and useless, to say that is a misinformed oversimplification is putting it nicely. I've shown on many occasions that if you challenge the status quo, put new ideas out there, atheists are just as prone to going nuts as any other ideology.

We have to ask ourselves honestly are we looking for reasons to denigrate another person's ideology, and if so, why? I've seen a lot of posts on this forum with sweeping generalisations saying Christians are idiots, which is blatantly not true, some are, sure, but then so are some atheists. Asserting atheistic ideology does not confer intelligence, which a lot of people seem to think it does.

We need to get away from this Christians v Atheists bullshit. It's pointless and destructive. The question we need to be asking is how can we better understand why these ideologies came into existence and why they persist. Dumb ideas do not persist for thousands of years. They have clearly been useful, and we need to understand fully why they have been useful before we can suggest they are no longer useful. To suggest otherwise without due consideration of the theory and then claim scientific method is the best way to understand our world is true hypocrisy.

MM
[/quote]

Actually - your first statement is true - because people of ALL religions do not follow the rules.

The word "Islam" means "peace - but one could be justified in saying that Jihad is a contradiction to Islam right in the Koran

However - this is the xtian sub group - so you would expect people to point out things about Xtians here.

We don't need to understand how these ideas came into being and persist - we ALREADY know how it happened. Religion essentially was the originally the ruling class kept the uneducated masses in line. (Rule of law required a higher purpose than just rule of the people) As countries overcame other countries - religions combined - new beliefs were added - and the old stories were adapted and exaggerated.

People believed that the earth was FLAT for thousands of years - as well as the earth being the center of the Universe - and MANY other now Dumb things too.

The main reason why they persisted so long is that it was not allowed to be Questioned. Once you open up Pandora's box - it will take a while for the majority to understand just how ridiculous religion is - because these things are indoctrinations of youth. And there is a fortified and solidified organization that CONS people into those beliefs - and it is legal for them to exist.

However - there will always be some who deny reality - as the church did when it was discovered that the earth was not flat - nor was it stationary and unmoving in the sky. ANd it will likely take hundreds of years more - before reality ends religion and replaces it with rule of the people.