Why Religions (all of them) were created


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zana is offline zana Post #1  October 17,2008, 1:25am
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This topic is going to make some people's blood boil for sure!! But anyway...


As far as I am aware, from the ancient history I have read, most of the medical information in the Bible and Q'uran are basically derived from the ancient medical scholars of the time.


Who? Hippocrates especially is well-known to be the "father of medicine" because of the legacy he left behind in medicine -- he held the belief that illness had a physical and a rational explanation (he rejected the notion that illness was due to God or some other supernatural force) and he based his medical practice on observations of the body and illness and on the study of the human body. The ancients did disect bodies to study the human body on an anatomical level. While their methods may seem primitive to us, they were far advanced than what ever happened in Europe in the "Dark Ages".


In addition to this, the Egyptians were mummifying bodies for centuries before Hippocrates even came onto the scene - they removed body parts, studied them and had much information about the body to tell us (even though much of it was based on superstition, there was still a lot of valid information from them).


Now, Hippocarates was born around 360BC - that is almost 4 centuries before Jesus was born and several more before the Bible was written. Needless to say, a lot of what is in the Bible regarding medicine is due to the work accomplished in this area by Hippocrates and others like him in centuries past.


The Q'uran also has many medical facts in it, which are based on the works of the ancient Greek physicians, but also of others who would have passed though the Arab lands and also from the Arabs who ventured out to other countries to learn more (the Chinese and Indians were also known to have discovered much in the way of medicine, but I am not sure that as much is known as it was of the ancient Greeks).


Religions, all of them, have fact and fiction in their major works - Bible, Q'uran and Torah. The religious teachings were, as far as I am concerned, based on social reforms (marrying only 4 wives instead of keeping a harem of hundreds), teaching tolerance and love for one another, keeping the negative traits of humans in check (lying, stealing, killing, raping). The basis of all religions are the same - to teach people to behave better towards each other and within themselves and to provide a set of rules that people can follow, as some people obviously need these rules... now this is not a bad thing in itself.


But unfortunately, the meaning of religious passages have been twisted to suit the purposes of those in power (some examples are: Islam - suicide bombings, Christian: confessing your sins and you will be ameliorated for them, no matter what they are) and used as a way to control and manipulate the masses. So no wonder people reject religion when it is misused in this way.


What do other people think?
 
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abnoba is offline abnoba Post #2  October 17,2008, 6:51am

I just found out my gramma died. I feel so very sad. I will miss her a lot.

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The reason for religions of all stripes and kinds is our fear of death. At its core all religions offer the illusory hope that we are not mortal. They offer the lie that there is more than this life, that we should sacrifice our intellect, our sexual passions, our desires, our happiness for "pie in the sky later". This truly is a sin of gross proportion.
 
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whysoserious is offline whysoserious Post #3  October 17,2008, 11:12am
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I think that the initial reasons for religion were to explain the unexplainable. Primitive people needed a reason for floods and famine and prosperity and the assurance that the sun would rise the next day.


As small tribal societies grew larger, these religions and beliefs were used to control the people, by encouraging certian behaviors and discouraging others. They also provided early codes of law and health to promote lawfulness and healthy behavior.


As societies grew into large civilizations, religion was used as a means of identity for populations and also as an "opiate for the masses" in order to give people hope when their leaders were oppressing them for thier own gains. During this time it was also used as a justification of wars.


Religion became powerful and corrupted itself in its organization into a large organized religion.
 
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LonelyStarState is offline LonelyStarState Post #4  October 17,2008, 11:37am

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i think that a very long time ago... someone pulled a rabbit out of a hat and everybody went "oooh".... "ahh".


a light bulb eventually went off and the man who pulled the rabbit out of the hat realized that he could make a very very goodliving doing this.
 
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LonelyStarState is offline LonelyStarState Post #5  October 17,2008, 11:37am

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abnoba,297141 wrote :

The reason for religions of all stripes and kinds is our fear of death. At its core all religions offer the illusory hope that we are not mortal. They offer the lie that there is more than this life, that we should sacrifice our intellect, our sexual passions, our desires, our happiness for "pie in the sky later". This truly is a sin of gross proportion.
i expected an essay out of you on this, young lady! tsk tsk =0)
 
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BlueEyedLizzie is offline BlueEyedLizzie Post #6  October 17,2008, 12:00pm
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Frankly, I'm surprised people are still debating this. All organized religions quickly devolved into organizations built and organized to control people and gain power and wealth. 8000 years of humanhistory backs this up.
 
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graceventually is offline graceventually Post #7  October 17,2008, 2:01pm
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I'm sorry, but I'm really insulted.


I'm a pastor because I want to help people to find freedom and joy in Jesus; not to control them. And I'm struggling on my salary; and I open this thread to find that being religious is supposed to be about gaining "power and wealth"?? Don't make me laugh!! (actually, I read that, and I feel more like crying).


Look, the church was pretty corrupt at earlier points in its history, but most of uswhowork for it are never goingto getwealthy, nor do we expect to.Maybe if you had some contact with some real churches you'd know what was really happening in them, instead of this speculation. You don't know what it looks like from the inside.
 
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BlueEyedLizzie is offline BlueEyedLizzie Post #8  October 17,2008, 2:06pm
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I have had contact with real churches...several different kinds. Presbyterian, Catholic, Baptist, Episcapalian...I know I spelled that wrong. And through those experiences I'm pretty confident that the higher regimes are all about the power and money. Someone at your level, not so much. So I'm sorry if you were insulted but again....8000 years of human history.
 
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graceventually is offline graceventually Post #9  October 17,2008, 5:52pm
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Thanks for being gracious about it. But I don't know of anyone at the higher levels of most of those who is getting a lot of money; at least among the Protestants (your argument can be made more easily about the treasures of the Vatican, of course - altho' there are plenty of Catholic religious orders whose members are doing great work for very little compensation). But I didn't mean to make this topic about me, when you all were being more general than specific- I think I'll just stay away from this thread.
 
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abnoba is offline abnoba Post #10  October 18,2008, 9:28am

I just found out my gramma died. I feel so very sad. I will miss her a lot.

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BlueEyedLizzie,297674 wrote :

I have had contact with real churches...several different kinds. Presbyterian, Catholic, Baptist, Episcapalian...I know I spelled that wrong. And through those experiences I'm pretty confident that the higher regimes are all about the power and money. Someone at your level, not so much. So I'm sorry if you were insulted but again....8000 years of human history.
Your 8000 years old conapiracy theory really doesn't work well. I agree that most religious institutions have been about control of the masses and trying to exploit them and their weaknesses. The fundamental weakness in most people is a fear of death. We don't want to think about dying or not existing in some way. So we create gods who never die and hope that they will pass it on to us. It is this fear of death that the clery and churches and immans etc have been able to exploit over the centuries.
 
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