My views on God and religion

[Nay_Sayer]

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Hello there. Here is the topic I said I was going to make in my introduction topic. Now, before I go any further, I wish to say that this is no attempt to bash or insult anyone or be offensive to anyone, mainly anyone who is religious that happens to be reading this. That said, if there is anything offensive that I missed, to atheists and religious people, I apologize in advance, as I just wish to state my views on God and religion. I look forward to seeing everyone's thought here. Note that this is a long post, so in case you have time to read all this, do be prepared for the long read or keep that in mind. Now...

I would like to state my views on why I think God is faulty, and that he is not the kind of being that would help or even protect humanity. That said, there are many religious people in the world who worship God, or at least different gods. As I am about to describe, God has many flaws, and may not be as helpful as some people think. Now, I don't think people realize that something like a being like God is not going to help them. To me, I think that God is too human as imagined by the people who first thought of him long ago to even be a proper deity at all. Plus, to me, as radical and extreme as it may be, God is not really on the side of humans, if he even does exist.

Let me explain. While people hope God will save then in different scenarios or make things better, there are many times he does not even step in to do something about the bad things in the world, and even if it does seem like he does step in at times, like in terms of miracles, the human mind cannot know everything at once, as there is always a logical explanation and factor as to why something happens, which may, in some cases be a coincidence. That is part of why I think he does not care about humans. That said, given how human like God is described to be, and how many times he has neglected situations in the past he could act upon, I do think he is no better than a corrupt politician of any country. That is in the sense that he does not care about humans that much, or at all. He just wants people to believe in him and follow him and take advantage of those people just like how corrupt politicians want the same of people and don't do things to try to make their lives better, only themselves. It is as if God desires power over others. I know this sounds crazy, given how God is all loving and all that, but let me explain more...

Nowadays, people say things like if you want something done, you have to do something yourself, and that no one can do it for you. I believe many people do not realize that God is just another person who cannot do things for anyone. Faith alone won't do much for a person unless the person in question acts on the situation themselves, as only they can do things for themselves, fight their own battles and make their lives better. With that said, I believe there is a "God" in all of us, not in the sense that we are all omnipotent, for we are not, but we have the strength, and even potential to make anything of ourselves. We can make our own lives better and fight for the things we believe in. We don't need a supreme deity to do the work for us. In fact, I think that God "requiring" worship from people and for people to believe in him makes it so that he is trying to make people depend on him too much to the point that they end up believing they can't do things themselves without God, when they actually can.

I mean, it is easy to take advantage of people in that regard, as it is a natural human tendency to follow, worship, or rely on someone to do things for them. At the same time, it is a natural human tendency to blame others for one's actions without accepting responsibility themselves, which is why people have created the idea of the Devil, a being they can blame for their actions and other things that happen. So, with that, I think God is a being that more so takes advantage of people, one who is a hindrance to humans that keeps them from reaching their true potential rather than a being who helps people at all. I also am sure that God, or a need of a God is just a psychological need humans have, nothing more. I do mean as a need, as many people back from long ago who first thought of God were not logically advanced enough or had the teachings to show why God is not even necessary at the time. Either way, humans do not need god, only themselves. Plus, even if God did care, and wanted the best for humanity; with him being described as wise and smart, he would still not intervene most of or all the time because he would want us to do things on our own rather than rely on him to do things. Everything requires time and effort, and a being like God doing things for people would make things too easy. To that end, what is the point of worshiping a God if your prayers or whatever you want God to do are not answered or does not happen?

I also think God is also a form of escapism for people. I see God as means to escape life and avoid reality, much like how people use things like the media (the internet) and entertainment (movies, comics, video games, etc.) to escape reality. With the psychological needs of people I explained above, it would make sense that the people from long ago who first thought of God tried to use God, along with other things (angels, the Devil, magic, etc.) to escape reality, to using things like the Devil to avoid taking responsibility for their actions to even having God do things for people that said people don't want to do themselves while they could easy do it, whether it be fighting for a better future, getting out of a jam, or even overcoming improbable to impossible odds. This would tie in with what I said about God being a villain in the sense that he may not want humanity to flourish or fight for themselves, as all he wants is attention and people to believe in him when he does little in return. I doubt he would even care if humanity destroyed itself and would do something to prevent that.

The fact that God thinks and acts more like a human than a supreme deity as people have claimed him to be would, to me, help show all that. Plus, in things like the Bible and what it has said about people such as women, perhaps it can be said that God, and the Bible for that matter, specifically but not limited to the Christian Bible, are sexist and maybe even racist since; because distance was a big obstacle between people long before cars, boats and planes were made; many people were more so around their own kind rather than other kinds, such as people of different color, that they did not think of when they wrote about things like the Bible or thought about God. It seems like God and the Bible, if indirectly, were means to suppress other groups, especially women and people of different sexual orientations, such as homosexuals and transgender people. The Bible was written by a man, after all. That said, I also think men who wrote the Bible wrote it as a means for power long ago, doing things like, but not limited to, taking advantage of people different from themselves or women, all as it was conceived long ago.

Also, the Bible itself has not changed much, if at all over the years. However, humanity, as well as other things like technology have. It is stagnant, possibly outdated. And yet, people still use it and believe in God to escape reality and treat it as if it were all true. It seems we are all born to do things like depend on God and blame the Devil. We have to learn things to evolve and become better as people. Speaking of evolving, the belief in God and escaping reality is something that has led people to not like or believe anything like evolution and survival of the fittest, when in truth, both are part of our daily lives, especially, but again, not limited to change. Change happens a lot in our lives, plus, we are not unlike animals, as we still battle other humans, and maybe sometimes other animals for dominance over things. The evolution and survival of the fittest thing ties into that, even to those who first thought of God long ago. Plus, evolution and survival of the fittest can apply to things like businesses, politicians trying to achieve power, sports, games, anything really. We humans are not so exempt from it. To me, that is why believing and following something that never changes (when change and what I just described is basically the law of nature, anyway) like the Bible or God, and how it all works is what I would call a contradiction to how reality works.

Just because humans have free will or are intelligent does not mean we are that different from other animals, nor does it mean the universe centers around us and that we really have a different reality from anything else. Plus, while humans may not depend on God for everything, there are many things they can do on their own without God. Besides, a person doing something themselves is more impressive than having God do it for them or help them out. I would also like to point out that the universe is billions of years old, and that humanity has only been around for ten thousand or more years. God as an idea was only conceived during that time frame, so with that, that would make the idea of a God existing much younger than the universe itself. Plus, life itself on Earth only came into existence 3.5 billion years ago, and the universe itself came into existence 26.7 billion years ago. If life is younger than the universe, than despite some people saying a sentiment force is needed to create a universe, I doubt that life, like that of God, was needed to make the universe happen.

I also think God and religion are used to appeal to people who only want to hear what they want to hear, rather than facing reality alongside doing things on their own. I would also like to say that the ones who believe in God, based on what I said above, may or are not truly free or independent, due to being dependent on God for things and thus not acting on their own to get things done for themselves. I also believe that the belief in God is more of some members of humanity's defense mechanism against reality itself; not just as a means of escaping it, but as a way to deny reality and just do that as an excuse to believe what they want to believe, even though it is likely not true and that such beliefs can be disputed against and even disproved by science in any way. Still, not accepting reality is not a mentally healthy behavior, and it can, over time, have negative effects like making one crazy or delusional, plus maybe more.

I also think there is too much good in the world. What I mean is, while bad is still, well, bad and unwanted, bad things are still necessary in life, as they are necessary to make people stronger by overcoming them. Still, too many people tend to avoid bad things and go with good things, and too much good can be like being close to being perfect, and besides mistakes, being too good does not help in terms of learning from experience or becoming stronger. I feel that some of those (yet not all) who practice religion, or people in general even, just aim too much for good and too little for the bad. Since overcoming bad things makes us stronger, I feel that is a reason why I think some religious people do not accept survival of the fittest. That said, some religious people rely too much on an imaginary being to help or do things for them when they are supposed to do things themselves, and if they don't put the effort in to the point of failing or take responsibility for things in their lives; they blame others or even the Devil, another imaginary being. That is not how things in life are supposed to work. Humanity is not a constantly weak set of beings, emotion and mind wise, to the point of relying on another being for help. Each and every one of us can overcome our own respective problems. The fact that there is a psychological need for a being like God instead of people fixing things themselves is why I think God can or even is an antagonist to humanity. While there are many situations where it is necessary to have help, humans can help each other to whatever extent they can, and through help or by oneself, people do not actually need God's help to get stronger.

Still, anyway, I think God is faulty in many ways, and not a truly transcendent being as people originally conceived him to be long ago, and with that, I am sure that people describing him as a perfect, transcendent being came later in the history of humanity when humas developed and became smarter, and even then; over the years; God has not changed, nor have humans made an effort to change how he works, in contrast to how nature works. Heck! Even things in the cosmos change over time, and everything does change. Evolution and survival of the fittest aside, what is the point of having a being that does not change in any way when everything else, including humans, do change? I do think having a being that does not change rule a changing universe is a bit contradictory, and I can imagine if he is the same all around all the time, he would have some kind of infinite inertia, or not being able to change at all. How is that a good ruler for the universe? People may say he created it, but that does not mean he is meant to rule an ever-changing universe with a static, non-changing mind. In fact, I think this is how he can be antagonistic to humans like I said. Humans, when god was first thought of, did not know that things could change in their future, and with religion not changing much over the years and remaining the same, it is possible for God to not want any change in humans so they could keep relying on him. Even if he is described as all-loving, there are many flaws in how God works, and he is too human-like, to the point of being paradoxical, where many things about him do not make sense. I think a non-changing God and a changing universe are incompatible.

Besides, I described about how people should rely on themselves and maybe other humans instead of an imaginary being like God, and I do think God based on insecurities from humans as well as humanity's rather innate refusal to do certain things. I cannot see how God, being all perfect as described, can be good for humans and the universe, because as I said, too much good, like too much of the sweet taste of candy, can be a bad thing. Having a being that is perfect when everything else is imperfect, or balanced, is not a good thing. In terms of balance, humans did create the Devil, but that being is more of a scapegoat for bad things happening to humans and a reason for bad rather than controlling things the same way God does. In fact, if God is omnipotent, in which he could be anything, everything and nothing to the point that he logically can't exist, by the way, he would of destroyed the Devil long ago because he is more powerful. God is already described to be more powerful, but as Lucifer, the Devil fought God and his armies long ago for a while before being defeated, did he not? I would think God would not even need an army, and he would defeat Lucifer, the Devil instantly despite what humans said back then about them long ago.

I bet if as the Devil, if he is still less powerful than God, than the Devil should not be influencing humanity at all. In fact, I think God would have overpowered the Devil and destroyed him long ago and people would not talk about the Devil today if God was far, infinitely more powerful than the Devil himself. Anyway, that would just leave God, though, and if he is all loving and all positive, there would be no conflict, and everything would be paradise. That may seem good for some religious people, but that would make things perfect, imbalanced, and without a counter-force to any of God acting on the universe, the universe would be rather pointless to have exist, and against the laws of nature, since nature itself requires conflict, and in fact, no one would learn from their mistakes or try to improve themselves or anything, as things would be dull and boring, learning would be pointless, the universe would have too much good in anything, and history and the future of humanity or the universe in general would not be something good in the long run.

That is to say, I also do not think God needs things like angels or other good beings if he is infinitely powerful. To that end, I think God is more of an imbalance to the universe if anything, and the universe does not revolve around good or evil as humans have initially thought long ago, especially that life on at least Earth is younger than the universe is, so without life, I bet good and evil were not around yet by the time the universe came into being. Plus, good and evil are concepts created by humans, so why would the universe need places like Heaven or Hell if the universe if good and evil was not part of the universe since day one?

That is pretty much all I have to say, and I hope I did not sound too extreme or was too insulting, if I was so at all. So, what do you all think of what I just said here?

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Got around to reading about 2/3's of your wall of text and am not that impressed. It would have been more to the point if you had simply stated that god (including all of its accompanying mythology) is a man made concept used to gain power, control and manipulation over other humans.

Brevity is the soul of wit

I didn't mind the op's initial post. Sometimes you gotta get out whats on your mind.