Passionate anger

[Dust_bunny]

Nailed it.  'Altruism' implies that good deeds are done with no expectation or reciprocation or reward.  The religiously-minded do good deeds for the express purpose of reward (getting to heaven).  This is rather like selling your water bottle to a man dying of thirst.

Boru

Were animals. Germany was very poor shortly before WW2, so accepting the idea of being "supreme race" to slaughter for land was possible. Even bringing slaves to work camps and giving them enough food so they could work for a few month and die from starvation.

NATO right now does same thing by attacking midget counties compared to it with ultra modern technology for no particular reason(policing the world isn't a good enough raeson to bombard unprovoked).

Slaughterhouses to maximize profits even if its requires to spill lots of blood.

Ghandi killed for wanting to retrieve land from invaders.

The list can go on and on. Were complete animals often when times get tough...




What does all that have to do with religion? 

Religion is man made. It was made by man in an effort to control people because they couldn't seem to control themselves. It was made to ease the painful reality that caused people such angst to face that there is nothingness after death. Religion was the government putting its people in place.

IN MY OPINION... The real goal to be concerned with is the self regulated control of oneself and ones behaviours and the painful acknowledgement that this is all we get. And the regulation of our behaviour its not based on repressing " sins" as defined in the bible. Its as simple as asking oneself " does it benefit and help others/oneself or does it harm others/oneself" and " Am I creating/facilitating or am I destroying." 

Nobody goes to hell for "sinning" but there can still be consequences to harming and destroying.

Gluttony - Eat too much and you will harm yourself by getting high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease, becoming overweight, depressed or "neurochemically" lazy... but this is your choice or un-choice for some, its not a "sin" to pig out, to be fat or to ravage the kitchen. Sometimes it feels good and thats ok.

Lust - Follow lust and it feels good, but its also playing with your neurochemicals and if it gets to a point where its harming you because you cant think straight and do your work then its affecting your life. Nobody is going to hell for it and its not " bad" Lust can be an energy that brings you to life, it is just sexual attraction and its normal and healthy but its yours to regulate if you need to.

Theft - If you don't want it done to you then don't do it to others. That 800 dollars that you find in an envelope with an address attached might be the rent for an old lady or money for her medication. Fucking return it. You wont go to hell for stealing it but she might end up in hell and fully  DESTROYED when she gets evicted.

Cheating - I'ts not a sin, nobody is going to hell for it, but if you have pledged loyalty to someone... then you are HARMING someone, someone who trusts you, believes in you and loves you. You cause someone else pain by your actions and that makes you selfish. There is nothing wrong with other arrangements if both partners have made the decision together and know what to expect. A selfish dishonest person is not going to hell... but they are certainly HARMING and DESTROYING other people and maybe even themselves.

Killing - It is "DESTRUCTION" of a life, it is DESTROYING not facilitating growth/life. Nobody is going to hell for it, and this is a very personal choice... you choose what you think about killing people and its personal to you... I personally feel a drive telling me not to kill other humans so I don't. I don't know what other people feel. However there are lots of people I would like to knock off ... (but even that feeling of wanting to kill them harms me and not them)

Not respecting our earth - facilitate life by finding new sources of energy that don't harm our planet, and don't litter or waste energy, don't contribute to the DESTRUCTION of our planet. Try to facilitate regeneration. Educate yourself on how and participate.

Respect animals - It can be seen as sad yes, but some of us eat them and because killing is a personal thing, its up to you if you are vegan or not. At the very least if you must eat animals, maybe try to ensure that they were humanely killed? But again this is personal, I'm just sharing my feelings. I prefer not to see an animal HARMED through torchere but IMO selfishly I am harming its family its nasty and shitty of me  (IMO). The least I can do is not let them physically suffer upon their death.

Rape - Don't enforce your sexual will on another human being and don't exploit or use someone. This one is very complicated and requires a lot of reading on history, sexuality, feminism, religion etc etc etc... Can i just say for now that its wrong, you HURT/HARM/DESTROY/SCAR a woman/ or man... for life... just don't.

Help others when you can help others. Thats what its all about, to me anyway...

Can you See it? Religion was created to stop people from harming others, from harming themselves and from harming the planet. Be bigger than that, be smarter than that, regulate your OWN self based on your own best judgements. Examine the motivations and purposes behind the commandments and then decide if they are loving motivations or harming motivations.
Trust that you are a decent person who will do the "right thing" without some threat of consequence in the sky sending you to eternal suffering. 

Read some philosophy... it helps put things into perspective. My existentialism class in university is what made me an atheist. 

Pagans have a good motto.. do what ye will harm none. Although... most I know are buzy casting love hex's on their x boyfriends...

Be an atheist and help humanity , be "good' simply because you can.