Here's my take on religion, what's yours?
11-05-2011, 10:41 PM
Here are some very good questions about religion that I found online. I'll answer them myself, then I ask that you answer some or all of them in a response. I'm curious to see how other people see these issues.
The Questions:
1) What is the nature of the universe? Where does it come from? Of what is it made? How did it come to exist? What is its purpose? By what process does it change? Is it evolving or devolving? Does it function by itself or would it degenerate to chaos without some kind of intelligent control?
2) Is there a Supreme Being? If so, what is His nature? Did He create the universe? Does He continue to control it personally and if so, at what level? What is his relationship with man? Does he intervene in the affairs of man? Is this Being good? If this Being is good and all-powerful, how can evil exist?
3) What is the place of man in the universe? Is man the highest fruit of the universe or is he just an insignificant speck in infinite space—or something in between? Does the spirit of man descend into matter from higher spiritual realms, or has it evolved from matter? Is the universe conscious or unconscious of man? If it is aware, is it warm and friendly to him, or cold and indifferent, or even hostile?
4) What determines the fate of each individual? Is man a creator and mover of his life, or does he live at the effect of forces over which he has little control? Does free will exist or are our lives determined by outside factors—and if so, what are those factors? Is there a Supreme Force that intervenes in our lives; or is everything pre-determined from the beginning of time; or is life just random, full of coincidence and accident?
5) What is good and what is bad or evil? What is moral? What is ethical? Who decides good and bad, right and wrong; and by what standard? Is there an absolute standard of good and bad beyond one’s the personal opinions? Should good and bad be determined by custom, by rational law, or by the situation? What if the decisions of others (society, authorities, laws, etc) determining good and bad are contrary to one’s personal beliefs or freedoms? Moreover, if we do not have free will but are ruled by outside factors, what difference does good and bad make--we have no choice.
6) What happens at death? Is death the end of everything or is there a soul in man that continues to exist beyond death? If so, is that soul immortal or does it too eventually cease to exist? If the soul does continue to exist after death, what is the nature of that existence? If there is an existence after death, is “good” rewarded and “bad” punished? If so, how do you reconcile this with the concept of predestination?
My Answers:
1) There really isn't enough evidence here to say for sure, but here's what I believe: the universe always was and the universe always will be. As difficult as it may be for us to comprehend, I don't think that there was a beginning and I'm not so sure there will be an end either. Certainly, the universe needs no intelligent guidance; it can exist without any life at all just fine. What life is found in the universe is evolving rather than devolving, and there really is no purpose to it all, it just exists.
2) I don't believe in God, but if He does exist I have a few theories. The strongest one is that He is (or perhaps they are) some sort of advanced alien intelligence born somewhere else in this universe who happened upon earth and whose technological advances seemed like miracles to the primitive humans at the time. If there really is a God as spoken of in the Bible and other similar books, I am wary of Him. The fact is all we know about Him is what is told to us in the Bible, which is allegedly written by Him through man. Even back in my younger days when I still went to church I wondered about the true role of Satan in these stories. All it seems to say about why he fell is that he thought that he could rule better than God could. Given that he was the best of the angels before the fall, and also given that God seems to advocate things like murder in his name or discrimination against gay people, I often questioned whether God was truly good at all. Perhaps Satan, a free thinker at least who was unafraid to confront his superior, would have been a better "God" after all, and all of what appears about him in the Bible is slanderous lies given by a self proposed perfect being. Who knows? Maybe Satan really did win and the Bible is just one of his tricks? Questions like this kept me from being devoted to any church.
3) Man is the only sentient life form that we are currently aware of, and that is all. We are not the chosen people. We are not God's children. We are the product of millions of years of evolution, nothing more. There is no "spirit," at least nothing measurable currently, and the universe is not currently self aware. If the universe becomes self aware, it will be the doing of man or another sentient race.
4) The fate of an individual is determined partly by his or her own actions and partly by forces out of his control. There is no "fate" or "predestination;" many events have several different possible outcomes. There is no supreme force guiding us.
5) This is perhaps the easiest of the answers I can give: I live my life by one major moral guideline: don't unduly hurt others. No one's rights should be taken away unless it is to prevent them from hurting another person. What is good? Living by this idea. What is evil? Blatantly going against it (i.e. performing an action that unduly harms another being). My personal belief is that if everyone simply followed this one simple rule then the world would be a much better place. I also find it interesting to note that most religions have a form of this rule: the "do unto others as you would have done unto you" rule (or, similarly, the advice to treat others as if they were your own family). While I am firmly anti-religion, I must admit that they got that part spot on, so kudos for that.
6) I've thought about this question long and hard from many different angles, and as it turns out I found my answer in a relatively simple philosophical principal: Occam's Razor. Occam's Razor states a rule of thumb for selecting which of your hypotheses is likely the correct one, stating that one should choose the hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions. In layman's terms: "the simplest solution is often the correct one." Well, what is the simplest possible thing that can happen to us on death? Oblivion. Complete and utter nothingness; you cease to exist. This hypothesis doesn't have to assume anything new, such as the existence of alternate dimensions (heaven and hell, and all other similar places in other religions) or that life is an immutable and ultimately infinite thing (as is assumed by reincarnation), it merely states what we can already observe: that once something is dead it is gone to us. This isn't a happy conclusion for me to arrive at, mind you. Oblivion terrifies me to no end, and I want no part of it. Thankfully, I believe that new technology will make immortality quite possible well within my lifetime.
What are your answers to these hard hitting questions?
The Questions:
1) What is the nature of the universe? Where does it come from? Of what is it made? How did it come to exist? What is its purpose? By what process does it change? Is it evolving or devolving? Does it function by itself or would it degenerate to chaos without some kind of intelligent control?
2) Is there a Supreme Being? If so, what is His nature? Did He create the universe? Does He continue to control it personally and if so, at what level? What is his relationship with man? Does he intervene in the affairs of man? Is this Being good? If this Being is good and all-powerful, how can evil exist?
3) What is the place of man in the universe? Is man the highest fruit of the universe or is he just an insignificant speck in infinite space—or something in between? Does the spirit of man descend into matter from higher spiritual realms, or has it evolved from matter? Is the universe conscious or unconscious of man? If it is aware, is it warm and friendly to him, or cold and indifferent, or even hostile?
4) What determines the fate of each individual? Is man a creator and mover of his life, or does he live at the effect of forces over which he has little control? Does free will exist or are our lives determined by outside factors—and if so, what are those factors? Is there a Supreme Force that intervenes in our lives; or is everything pre-determined from the beginning of time; or is life just random, full of coincidence and accident?
5) What is good and what is bad or evil? What is moral? What is ethical? Who decides good and bad, right and wrong; and by what standard? Is there an absolute standard of good and bad beyond one’s the personal opinions? Should good and bad be determined by custom, by rational law, or by the situation? What if the decisions of others (society, authorities, laws, etc) determining good and bad are contrary to one’s personal beliefs or freedoms? Moreover, if we do not have free will but are ruled by outside factors, what difference does good and bad make--we have no choice.
6) What happens at death? Is death the end of everything or is there a soul in man that continues to exist beyond death? If so, is that soul immortal or does it too eventually cease to exist? If the soul does continue to exist after death, what is the nature of that existence? If there is an existence after death, is “good” rewarded and “bad” punished? If so, how do you reconcile this with the concept of predestination?
My Answers:
1) There really isn't enough evidence here to say for sure, but here's what I believe: the universe always was and the universe always will be. As difficult as it may be for us to comprehend, I don't think that there was a beginning and I'm not so sure there will be an end either. Certainly, the universe needs no intelligent guidance; it can exist without any life at all just fine. What life is found in the universe is evolving rather than devolving, and there really is no purpose to it all, it just exists.
2) I don't believe in God, but if He does exist I have a few theories. The strongest one is that He is (or perhaps they are) some sort of advanced alien intelligence born somewhere else in this universe who happened upon earth and whose technological advances seemed like miracles to the primitive humans at the time. If there really is a God as spoken of in the Bible and other similar books, I am wary of Him. The fact is all we know about Him is what is told to us in the Bible, which is allegedly written by Him through man. Even back in my younger days when I still went to church I wondered about the true role of Satan in these stories. All it seems to say about why he fell is that he thought that he could rule better than God could. Given that he was the best of the angels before the fall, and also given that God seems to advocate things like murder in his name or discrimination against gay people, I often questioned whether God was truly good at all. Perhaps Satan, a free thinker at least who was unafraid to confront his superior, would have been a better "God" after all, and all of what appears about him in the Bible is slanderous lies given by a self proposed perfect being. Who knows? Maybe Satan really did win and the Bible is just one of his tricks? Questions like this kept me from being devoted to any church.
3) Man is the only sentient life form that we are currently aware of, and that is all. We are not the chosen people. We are not God's children. We are the product of millions of years of evolution, nothing more. There is no "spirit," at least nothing measurable currently, and the universe is not currently self aware. If the universe becomes self aware, it will be the doing of man or another sentient race.
4) The fate of an individual is determined partly by his or her own actions and partly by forces out of his control. There is no "fate" or "predestination;" many events have several different possible outcomes. There is no supreme force guiding us.
5) This is perhaps the easiest of the answers I can give: I live my life by one major moral guideline: don't unduly hurt others. No one's rights should be taken away unless it is to prevent them from hurting another person. What is good? Living by this idea. What is evil? Blatantly going against it (i.e. performing an action that unduly harms another being). My personal belief is that if everyone simply followed this one simple rule then the world would be a much better place. I also find it interesting to note that most religions have a form of this rule: the "do unto others as you would have done unto you" rule (or, similarly, the advice to treat others as if they were your own family). While I am firmly anti-religion, I must admit that they got that part spot on, so kudos for that.
6) I've thought about this question long and hard from many different angles, and as it turns out I found my answer in a relatively simple philosophical principal: Occam's Razor. Occam's Razor states a rule of thumb for selecting which of your hypotheses is likely the correct one, stating that one should choose the hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions. In layman's terms: "the simplest solution is often the correct one." Well, what is the simplest possible thing that can happen to us on death? Oblivion. Complete and utter nothingness; you cease to exist. This hypothesis doesn't have to assume anything new, such as the existence of alternate dimensions (heaven and hell, and all other similar places in other religions) or that life is an immutable and ultimately infinite thing (as is assumed by reincarnation), it merely states what we can already observe: that once something is dead it is gone to us. This isn't a happy conclusion for me to arrive at, mind you. Oblivion terrifies me to no end, and I want no part of it. Thankfully, I believe that new technology will make immortality quite possible well within my lifetime.
What are your answers to these hard hitting questions?
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Virgo
