Religions teach backward ideas - Yes & No

[Jayp]

Do some religions teach backward ideas? Yes & No. They are backward simply because they were written so long ago. Read a book published say in 1950 - for example I am reading Earl Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason. These guys are always running after pay phones trying to make calls, in these days of cell phones, that seems silly.

If we go back a few thousand years and speculate what it was like to live in those times. Just like today we may wonder if there was a god. In early primitive times, when man heard thunder and lightning, he must have thought god was angry. Sure enough, fire and floods followed. Hence a fear of god developed. This idea seeped into the later abrahamic religions. The earth is flat, of course it is, don't you have eyes? That little ball of fire that rises in the east and sets in the west, obviously it is circuling the earth. What did they know about carbon-dating of rocks? Earth a few thousands years old? sounds like a fair number. Of course they had no way of knowing about evolution and the dinosaurs. What happens when we die? It would be nice if there was some nice place where we could all go to, wouldn't it?

It is not these books or the writers that were backward, they must have seemed pretty forward for those times, but what is really backward and frightening is when people of today stupidly regurge the same thoughts! I hear there is actually a flat-earth society, people who don't believe that the earth is round! Trying to disprove evolution and denying the existence of dinosaurs, even with all the skeletal evidence.

Actually there is another reason why people fear evolution. Remember god made us in his image? 5,000 years ago man looked presentable, but if you keep going back the picture changes. Now if we go back to the neanderthal times, man looks horrible. Bad teeth, bad hair, smelly, disgusting, unwashed, grunting like an ape! This is god! Keep going back, now god is an ape!

[Edwardo Piet]

Lol. What can I say other than good post? I think a good post overall

EvF

[Kyuuketsuki]

It is not these books or the writers that were backward, they must have seemed pretty forward for those times, but what is really backward and frightening is when people of today stupidly regurge the same thoughts!

Yep, as a fellow debater of mine once said:
"The Bible? A book written by ancient, ignorant, superstitious mystics who had no clear understanding of the world around them and made up stories that sounded good at the time. What little truth is contained in the Bible is accidental, at best. Fundamentalists & creationists? Ignorant, superstitious moderns who have no clear understanding of the world around them and believe made-up stories that sound good to them. What little truth is contained in what they say is accidental, at best"
Reverend Rob Miles, ULC

It's not quite right i.e. I get what you say about these people being potentially advanced thinkers of their time but it still amuses me.

I hear there is actually a flat-earth society, people who don't believe that the earth is round! Trying to disprove evolution and denying the existence of dinosaurs, even with all the skeletal evidence.

There is and get this (I believe I recall this right) their leader is an ex-aircraft engineer or controller.

Actually there is another reason why people fear evolution. Remember god made us in his image? 5,000 years ago man looked presentable, but if you keep going back the picture changes. Now if we go back to the neanderthal times, man looks horrible. Bad teeth, bad hair, smelly, disgusting, unwashed, grunting like an ape! This is god! Keep going back, now god is an ape!

My view is, if god made us in his image then he must look like us, that means he must have a penis ... I'll be buggered if I can figure out a reason why?

Kyu

[peace2u]

Sorry, but I disagree. Why? because if this was the case, then it mean that religion does not stand the test of time, Correct? For any religion to say that they are truth and that they are Holy Scriptures are from God, then it must be a way for it to be authenticated. Right? I mean for me (a Muslim) to say that the Quran is up-to-date with the current world and with it's ideas (say scientific facts) then I must show a way for it to authenticated.

Well let me give you some examples of why Islam does not teach backward ideas.

1) Before man use to think that the earth was flat, but in 1597 Sir Francis Drake was the first person who proved that the earth is spherical when he sailed around. However, the concept of the world being Spherical shaped is mentioned in the Quran over 1400 years ago. Who could have known this back than?

2) Before people use to believe that the light of the Moon was its own light, but about 200 years ago, science proved that it was in fact a reflected light from the sun. But, this is mentioned in the Quran over 1400 years ago. Who could have known this back than?

3) For a long time man use to believe that the planets (including the sun) stood still. Just just recently it is proven that the planet rotate its own axis. However, this is mentioned in the Quran over 1400 years ago. Who could have known this back than?

I'm not sure for what other religions say, but Islam does not teach backward ideas but in fact it is up-to-date for many ideas which man did not know.

[Darwinian]

1) Before man use to think that the earth was flat, but in 1597 Sir Francis Drake was the first person who proved that the earth is spherical when he sailed around. However, the concept of the world being Spherical shaped is mentioned in the Quran over 1400 years ago. Who could have known this back than?

This I'm afraid is a myth. Scholars have been well aware that the Earth is spherical long, long before the Qur'an was even thought about.

2) Before people use to believe that the light of the Moon was its own light, but about 200 years ago, science proved that it was in fact a reflected light from the sun. But, this is mentioned in the Quran over 1400 years ago. Who could have known this back than?

Anaxagoras, a Greek philosopher was one of the first to state that the moon reflected the light of the Sun way back in about 500 B.C. So, no, I'm afraid that we can't credit the Qur'an with that one either.

3) For a long time man use to believe that the planets (including the sun) stood still. Just just recently it is proven that the planet rotate its own axis. However, this is mentioned in the Quran over 1400 years ago. Who could have known this back than?

Pythagorean philosopher, Philolaus 480 B.C. was the first to suggest that there is some central fire around which the Earth, sun, moon and all planets rotate.

[leo-rcc]

Philolaus came very close with his calendar calculations too.

Very interestingly, biblical scholars claim the exact same things to be in the Bible.

[Samson]

If the Sumerians knew the the planets were round 5500 years ago, then I would say that out dates the Islamic faith by a few millenniums....Not to mention Judaism and Christians....

Regardless how you view the Sumerians.....Peace2u this quote.........

but Islam does not teach backward ideas

.....is backwards in just saying it. The Islamic (Just as the Christian and Jewish sect) are barbaric, negative, and COMPLETELY contradictory to itself. The Islamic sects can't even agree amongst each other much less the majority of the world..(Different Sects within your faith proves this, just as it does in Christianity) ....

Funny how the Qur'an which was written far after any type Torah or Christian Bible, supposedly by an illiterate merchant/Shepard who had help from the angel Gabriel, would some how come so close to the other 2 before.......Would that mean that there is some truth (In your opinion/Faith based belief) to the Torah and Christian Bible?? Or would that be blasphemy to even think in that kind of way??

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

My view is, if god made us in his image then he must look like us, that means he must have a penis ... I'll be buggered if I can figure out a reason why?

Kyu

There are allegedly an aweful lot of exceedingly beautiful angels in heaven,also male. Turfing Lucifer out of heaven? Sounds like a bad case of sexual jealously.

And then there's Jesus. How did God father him, by magic? Oh wait----

[Edwardo Piet]

Hey....even God's gotta urinate!

EvF

[Dotard]

My view is, if god made us in his image then he must look like us, that means he must have a penis ... I'll be buggered if I can figure out a reason why?
Kyu

Because, just like us, he needed something to play with when bored.

Duhh!