My views on God and religion

[ShinyCrystals]

I think free will is just another means for God, or at least the people believing in God, to get a hold of people and, say, brainwash them into following religion. With how the human mind works, brainwashing can be easy to do to humans. Still, we are not unlike animals, and with that, we may seem to be different; and we may have some differences mentally altogether, but not to the point of having actual free will, which is an illusion in the end, is it not?

What does God mean in the first part of that paragraph?

If you mean that people are generally easy to manipulate, especially given their psychological predispositions, then I agree.  We are.

Yeah, pretty much. God does not at all exist, and is only a figment of the mind, a psychological need, as I have said.

The problem with physics being the actual thing behind the mind instead of free will (and this is by no means saying the physics part is wrong) is that physics is very complicated. Therefore, the physics behind how the mind works as you described earlier, can be complicated, too. Now, that would make something like people believing in free will easier.

That does not mean the free will part is right, though, as you may know.

[FrustratedFool]

Indeed. Reality is complex.

Believing Thor causes the thunder, or Yahweh made humans out of earth 6000 years ago, are much easier to wrap your head around than the highly complex truth.

And believing Santa loves you, will bring you what you want, and rewards good behavior is more comforting than believing that some kids get more than others because some people have rich parents and some are poor pretty much at random.

[ShinyCrystals]

Indeed.  Reality is complex.  

Believing Thor causes the thunder, or Yahweh made humans out of earth 6000 years ago, are much easier to wrap your head around than the highly complex truth.

You can say that again!

With that, I think free will is more intangible in nature, just like the many things in religion including God as some people believe. (though we are still calling God a psychological need/predisposition here)

That makes me think that free will being intangible, and possibly it not being part of how the mind actually works altogether, is why it does not really exist.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

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Boru

[ShinyCrystals]

You can say that again!

With that, I think free will is more intangible in nature, just like the many things in religion including God as some people believe. (though we are still calling God a psychological need/predisposition here)

That makes me think that free will being intangible, and possibly it not being part of how the mind actually works altogether, is why it does not really exist.

Anyway, I would like to attempt to explain this more.

What I mean is, I think free will, in terms of being intangible, is like the soul. Not that it can separate from a person as some people claim, but it is something separate from the mind, yet a part of it, something intangible yet is considered a part of humans. The laws of physics technically need something physical and existent for something to work, so free will can't possibly exist like that.

Also, I think the concept of God, which is a mental predisposition, and religion is based around humanity too much, and not much anything else. This partly makes it all a human construct. In fact, free will itself, it is most definitely a human construct too, and I believe it can go with the ideas that are part of religion as well.

Anyway, some people say the existence of a supreme being like god can't be proven or disproved. Even if that is true, we can still point out flaws on why humanity's conception of god/gods is severely flawed.

Also, @FrustratedFool , I appreciate you bringing up the laws of physics, determinism and why free will does not work. I was kind of thinking of free will for a while before I made this topic to the point that I forgot that free will is an illusion, and the laws of science/physics. Thank you for reminding me on that.

[Ahriman]

There is a God and it's a very scary thing, not pleasant or desirable at all.

[FrustratedFool]

There is a God and it's a very scary thing, not pleasant or desirable at all.

Can you describe this God?

[Ahriman]

There is a God and it's a very scary thing, not pleasant or desirable at all.

Can you describe this God?

Invisible, transcendently malevolent, extremely cruel

[FrustratedFool]

Why do you believe this being exists?

[Mister Agenda]

Not crazy at all. That is exactly how the Bible describes God:

REV.3:9 - Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.


What do you mean God does not change?  At first he was a tribal deity of the Hebrews, and demanded that his people have no other god before him.  Then later he said, naw, there never was any other God.  And even later Christians came along and said God was like Three-In-One Oil.

Well, I could be wrong on this as well, but if God was perfect, wouldn’t that mean he would have to stay that way? Because from my understanding, a slight change could ruin perfection, does it not?

If I am wrong on anything, I do understand.

I was raised to believe God never changes, then I read the Bible and found that he clearly does.