(January 20, 2018 at 2:43 pm)purplepurpose Wrote:(January 20, 2018 at 12:48 pm)Brian37 Wrote: Absolutely pointless. It is a concept of revenge, not one of containment or correction.
BUT, having said that, concepts of god/Gods/deities, in ALL of religion worldwide are not the only concepts of pre and post life punishment/reward.
In many Native American and Asian religions, there is a concept of worship of ancestors and a recycle of life, in that if you do well now, you get a better life in your next. All are still primitive concepts of regulating behavior.
It isn't primitive. It's unbearable to believe that your an lab rat and if God wants, eternal one. And if He wants you can be burned for years, for starters.
Well again, polytheism, and monotheism ARE NOT the only concepts of punishment reward. Reincarnation and ancestor worship are just as old as the polytheism and monotheism we often think of today.
But I do think the human like deities of humanity, BOTH polytheism and monotheism, do put humans as more of a lab rat position.
Even the gods of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, treated humans as their poker chips.
Even the famous ABBA song "The Winner Takes It All" line,
"The gods may throw the dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here
Looses someone dear"
But the same can be said for monotheism.
God does his will, and no matter what we do or say, our groveling is still subject to his whims. It is the ultimate narcissism.