(October 23, 2016 at 4:57 am)purplepurpose Wrote: Religion survives with all its corruption only because its postures itself as a guide on how to become less greedy and lustful and become a more compassionate person. Its the core. If you think that your living a noble/right/caring life, then what religious doctrine is behind it and especially scientific evidence dont matter at all. Because your living a "perfect life".
In conclusion, blind faith is supported in average sane religious person by noble motives, which legitimize the whole doctrine. And I agree with sane believers, compassion is really painful to accept and "sin" is what keeps me going.
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Religion as an institution is corrupt like all our other institutions such as government, police, schools, military etc. Your reasons given for belonging to religions could probably be included on the list of reasons people join religions. I think that mostly they are dissatisfied with the other options available to make sense out of life. They're looking for what's missing in their lives and religion fills that empty space.
For me the universe just being here for no reason leaves me empty and leads me to to believe it's all part of something bigger with a definite purpose. Is material existence infinite? If so it shares a supernatural characteristic with God. Is it not infinite? What is out there beyond it? The main reason why I remain follower of Christ, though is that God's Spirit is in me. I can't deny what I experience. Someone telling me that God doesn't exist falls flat when I experience him daily. After I had a mountain biking accident in which I flew a good distance and broke six bones, I was still dealing with much pain after a couple years. I began a daily program of static stretching , which has relieved most of the pain. Recently, I've been reading articles stating that static stretching doesn't really help. In fact, some recommend not even doing it. I'm not going to discontinue my stretching routine because, no matter what they say, duh, I know it helps. So I attend a religious institution where I can worship God and interact with other believers.