Religious people are sheep...

Okay, sorry for bad example, next time I'll try to find a better example !!!

There are more than 500 references in the christian bible that equate people, specifically the "faithful" to sheep. And Jesus is referred to as, and calls himself, a shepherd, or "the good shepherd" several dozen times as well.

I never appreciated being equated to an animal that would, with no ability to think for itself, follow the rest of the herd off a cliff. I always resented christianity's "edict" that I could not be a good christian unless I was willing to turn over my powers of free and independent thought to the clergy of my church, and simply fall in line and do what I'm told...and take it on faith that god was looking out for me thru the efforts of the clergy.

I have always refused to be a sheep, and I have always resented religions which try to reduce me to that (which, to be honest, is pretty much all of them). If we're to believe the origin stories of nearly any religion, some deity bestowed upon humanity the capacity for free will, and rational thought. Yet nearly every religion in the world limits our ability to use these gifts, or outright villainizes them. I say that this describes the difference between spirituality and religion quite nicely. Spirituality allows for the existence of a god or gods that have granted us wonderful abilities and that care for us and look out for us without the "need" to resort to threats of some sort of harm or eternal damnation. Spirituality allows for the existence of the universe without the need for deities as well, in which all things develop according to a sort of universal consciousness, but not a true "god". Spirituality is simply what we believe. While religion is a dogmatic form of stasis and control imposed by man on all of humanity with the intention of ruling us thru fear. Religion requires people to be sheep so that we are ultimately controllable, and anyone who goes against the "herd" is outcast. Anyone who dares think for themselves, or chooses not to buy the lie is labelled "evil".

I could go on with this all day...but sadly, I'm at work, and eventually you'd all stop reading anyway.

MCSH wrote: Okay, sorry for bad example, next time I'll try to find a better example !!!

Dude chillout. No need to shout. Just because it's an example doesn't mean it can't be discussed. It's a well-known fact that old religious texts tend to include accurate, sometimes not so accurate references to scientific knowledge of the time... I find people today seem to increasingly shoot the arrow, then draw the target around it...

ren wrote: Dude chillout. No need to shout. Just because it's an example doesn't mean it can't be discussed. It's a well-known fact that old religious texts tend to include accurate, sometimes not so accurate references to scientific knowledge of the time... I find people today seem to increasingly shoot the arrow, then draw the target around it...

It was more a insist than a shout, for a shout it would be like this "EXAMPLE!"

Well, I agree, you are both right and wrong, just as I am. We had a teacher, who used to say "give a scientist money, he will prove tea is not good, give him money, he will prove tea is essential for body... and the fact is, he is right in both situations." It can be discussed, but among other things I said... I said lots of other things councilor..!

For a better example, it's said in Islam that, after touching a dead body, (s)he should clean his body. We know now that many disease can be transferred from a dead one... I'm sure you agree.

ren wrote:

MCSH wrote: I find people today seem to increasingly shoot the arrow, then draw the target around it...

Never heard this, and it provided my chuckle for the day, thanks!

For a better example, it's said in Islam that, after touching a dead body, (s)he should clean his body. We know now that many disease can be transferred from a dead one... I'm sure you agree.

Hee-hee...

My turn...

But, It doesnt mean it will, or has to, only that it can...

We had a teacher, who used to say "give a scientist money, he will prove tea is not good, give him money, he will prove tea is essential for body..

Quite the wise teacher...

Jestor wrote: Hee-hee...

My turn...

But, It doesnt mean it will, or has to, only that it can...

indeed

For a better example, it's said in Islam that, after touching a dead body, (s)he should clean his body. We know now that many disease can be transferred from a dead one... I'm sure you agree.

Yes. But I wouldn't say that people who touch dead bodies are a problem for humanity. To the contrary. The services of people who touch dead bodies for a living (morgues, undertakers, embalmers) are very useful to society, both on a health and safety as well as psychological aspects... Having to wash your hands after touching dead bodies does not make touching dead bodies bad, just like having to cook pork the proper way does not mean eating pork is bad.

ren, I completely agree, but remember, we are living in 21st century. How many people knew it that time? Beside, Islam came among Arabs originally. They used to eat lizards alive... That religion had to cover small things as well...

By the way, the reason I just give examples about Islam is that I'm not very familiar with Christianity or ...

A lot of people knew... Most of this knowledge comes from ancient greece, then roman republic/empire... you could argue that such knowledge in religious literature was a necessity during the dark ages.... But those same religions caused the dark ages to begin with... add 600 years to the arrival of Jesus and you witness the decline of science in europe... Add 600 years to the arrival of muhammad and you witness the end of the arabic/persian golden age.

ren, I'm not talking about Roman or Greece.... I'm talking about Arabs. I'm talking about people who berried their girls alive, because they were ashamed of having girls. about people who ate Lizards alive. People who knew only war. People who... ancient Greece and Roman and Egypt and China, and Persia and... were civilized. They didn't had a kingdom even.