Religion had good intentions, but nature has better

[LivingNumbers6.626]

Perhaps I'm being incredibly far fetched, I'm not exactly an expert, just simply a silly dude, doing his silly thing: over analyzing everything...

So I've have been thinking a lot about my confusion about the outside world, well now that I left religion, the world I currently decide to reside in. Luckily, I'm becoming a little less dissonant with the controversial things of this world.

Homosexuality was an easy one. After leaving religious thought behind, there was obviously nothing immoral about it. I wish I had more gay friends. My first year of college gay people treated me so much better than my fellow mormons. haha.

Abortion...I'm still cut in the middle. But the thing is, it's none of my fucking business. I would prefer abortion to happen before the organism was anthropomorphic, but again...it's none of my fucking business.

Gun control, I'm quite the distrustful dude of any ruling organization. I believe in the right to defend...but I also believe in the right to think. If all or certain firearms became illegal, I am sure that in the case of tyranny that the people would be able to manufacture their own weapons.

Capital punishment...I don't fucking know.

Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana. I don't know. To everyone their own! As long as it doesn't harm anyone else and at least it isn't used an escapist hobby.

Tea and coffee...love the stuff. haha.

Fornication: just be fucking smart about it, be educated about it.

Masturbation: who cares? Everyone does it.

Pornography: who cares? Everyone has seen it at least once.

God: a meaningless question

Ghosts: ditto

Mormonism: shady as an MLM


Anyways, there is a theme here. Mormonism and the real world: an ex-mormon and his reconciliation with reality...if there is one.

The point is, humans seek to normalize everything. It's important to us. Opposing opinions are terrifying. So humans seek to unify under one thought, that way they don't have to think for themselves and that way they don't have to deal with the obvious grey-ness of life.

Human's hate the grey.

Human's love black and white.

But does this work? No, no it doesn't. The mormon faith has a clear cut answer to all of the topics listed above and asserts them as absolute truths, but if you look at their members...far from reality.

My father prefers I do not drink coffee but drinks green tea. My family suggests I avoid use of medical marijuana but is addicted to caffeine. My family prefers I avoid alcohol but suffers from gluttony. My family praises Jesus but is nothing like him.

Why do humans subscribe to a dogma but so ironically wallow in hypocrisy? The world is grey, so why do we try to suggest otherwise?

Why do we seek to trade diversity for certainty?

Why are we so uncomfortable with uncertainty?

Religion had good intentions to make humans feel certain and safe, but nature has it's way regardless. We're all victim to consciousness and rational.

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Hmm, after thought: political ideologies do the same. But is this ideal? Is there a black and white answer for humanity and will it make us happy?

[Lemonvariable72]

Religion never had good intentions. It was created when the first con man met the first fool

[LivingNumbers6.626]

Religion never had good intentions. It was created when the first con man met the first fool

Reminds me of the "sky cake" joke. haha.

But I'm not sure if I can be so sure of that except in the case for political intentions. But perhaps your right. Religion may have always been a useful issue for only the powerful.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Religion: invented to explain the unknown, subverted to control the gullible.

[Minimalist]

"One of the most irrational of all the conventions of modern society is the one to the effect that religious opinions should be respected. …[This] convention protects them, and so they proceed with their blather unwhipped and almost unmolested, to the great damage of common sense and common decency. that they should have this immunity is an outrage. There is nothing in religious ideas, as a class, to lift them above other ideas. On the contrary, they are always dubious and often quite silly. Nor is there any visible intellectual dignity in theologians. Few of them know anything that is worth knowing, and not many of them are even honest.”
― H.L. Mencken, H.L. Mencken on Religion

Religion is shit.

[abaris]

Religion had good intentions to make humans feel certain and safe, but nature has it's way regardless. We're all victim to consciousness and rational.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Hmm, after thought: political ideologies do the same. But is this ideal? Is there a black and white answer for humanity and will it make us happy?

Religions had the intent of explaining the unexplainable. The first religions obviiously were worshipping the sun and the moon. They never had any intentions in my book, but evolved into opressive instruments the farther they developed. Any given priesthood had a vital interest in in furthering their status and ultimately their wealth. Before the so called Abrahamic religions cropped up you can observe this in ancient egypt.

Political ideologies are pretty much the same. They actually took their lessons from religion.

Black and white will never make us happy. If we think only in black and white categories we will always exclude others that don't conform with any presupposed image.

[LivingNumbers6.626]

Interesting answers, thank you all.

So, if we are to assert that both religion and political ideologies are fallacious and counterproductive due to their irrational properties, what do we use to guide truth and happiness? We have science to find truth. But where do we find that often self fulfilling and euphoric happiness we may experience in religious ceremonies at one time in our lives (for those of us who are apostates) or that sense of unity and hope we also find in political organizations?

Is there an alternative medium? Or have we just fallaciously expected too much to come from our unlikely lives on this secluded piece of matter called earth and have consequently and wrongfully micromanaged everything over the course of history?

[JuliaL]

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Interesting answers, thank you all.

So, if we are to assert that both religion and political ideologies are fallacious and counterproductive due to their irrational properties, what do we use to guide truth and happiness? We have science to find truth. But where do we find that often self fulfilling and euphoric happiness we may experience in religious ceremonies at one time in our lives (for those of us who are apostates) or that sense of unity and hope we also find in political organizations?

---

Is there an alternative medium? Or have we just fallaciously expected too much to come from our unlikely lives on this secluded piece of matter called earth and have consequently and wrongfully micromanaged everything over the course of history?

Humanism and rational self interest provide justification for a morality which has the well being and happiness of people as its goal. As people, we benefit from holding these precepts as good. Personally, I find people altogether too self centered and humanism/self interest has made it pretty tough on all the other sentients on the planet. I really hope that in the afterlife, experimental lab animals don't hold war crimes trials.

[The Grand Nudger]

Unless they're packing more heat in the afterlife than they do in this one, I doubt we have much to worry about on that count.

[vorlon13]

I've recently found a copy of The Changing World of Mormonism. I'm skipping around, hitting chapters of particular interest first. I've already confirmed Joe (and the subsequent leaders and hierarchy) really were/are making it up as they go along. I'd be very hard pressed to say Joe had good intentions beyond looking out for Joe.

Mormonism is really an amazing pile of poop, it almost seems as though there have been times church leadership has been interested in nothing beyond seeing how many hoops they can get the flock to jump through. Internal consistency should have been much easier for Joe as compared to the bible writers, but it doesn't seem to have been a concern at all. Between the KJV bible, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrines and Covenants, and the Book of Mormon there is just an incredible amount of confusion.

And then we have the Book of Abraham . . .