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What draws people to the Bible, exactly?
- Thread starter BladeoftheImmortal
- Start date
Revelations IS far out. That's where the Four Horsemen come from. An eternal city for the righteous descending from Heaven to Earth. A world "that no longer has a sea." (What does that even mean?)
Although its canonicity is debated.
The Bible needs a AAA Studio RPG.
Do you have an army backing you? Have you conquered other lands? Then you merely have a cult.
Wow dude. This is horrific. I'm so sad to hear that you went through this.
Much love to ya <3
Most religion is too wrapped up in family and community ties. Generally people are indoctrinated as children and so breaking free is difficult because it's all part of pleasing the parents, family expectations or not being ostracized by people around them.
It's incredibly depressing, but it doesn't look to be changing any time soon - not for the better any way. If anything it seems to be getting worse, people doubling-down on their ignorance as a form of defiance.
It's incredibly depressing, but it doesn't look to be changing any time soon - not for the better any way. If anything it seems to be getting worse, people doubling-down on their ignorance as a form of defiance.
As often as I see this question posed I'm equally curious about what makes people turn away from religion having grown up with it.
Usually from what I hear, it's stupid ass bible belt-style people whipping and chastising their children for not believing, or witnessing racism/misogynism/etc/ in "the name of God."
This was a totally foreign concept to me as a northeasterner for a long time, and I didn't understand why anyone could hate a God who professes love and understanding over everything else. It wasn't until I was an adult and I saw the uneducated, bigoted bible belt community that I understood why.
Curse all those who lead people astray like those assholes.
I read the whole bible and no christians could answer my questions about unsaved indigenous people and slavery being condoned in the Bible
1. Indoctrination from birth
2. Weak minded who need to be told what to do
3. Hucksters to rape you/your kids and/or steal your money
4. Make friends fast by banding together against a perceived "Other"
2. Weak minded who need to be told what to do
3. Hucksters to rape you/your kids and/or steal your money
4. Make friends fast by banding together against a perceived "Other"
Sex, drugs and videogames. Doesn't sound half bad tbh. :D
Shit dude, I'm so sorry. Hope you have this past you now.
I really appreciate the thoughts, I have had it rough but I am still here.
Nothing about my worldview or life experience has led me to believe very strongly that there is a god, at least a god that human religions proclaim to exist. I would have to accept too many contradictions or leaps of faith to believe in religion. I've seen religion used too much as a tool of violence and hate to feel very positive about it.
I also tend to find organized religion is an inherently conservative culture since you are dealing with a group of people who believe strongly in tradition that's as ancient as written history, even though societal norms are constantly shifting and changing. As a Jewish socialist bisexual, I'm a nightmare to a lot of people, lol.
I'm 35 now, this happened when I was 7-10 years old so well into my past. It comes to mind every time someone brings up the Bible and it is hard to get out of my head a bit.
I understand. Your situation is a typical example of how awful religion can be really. Glad that it didn't destroy your life. Curious, if I may ask, are you religious? I assume no?
Christianity supplanted the pagan religions of Europe from the top down, not the other way around. Kings started converting and enforcing their new beliefs as a way to ally themselves with the pope and further extend their political power.
Anyone who uses Jesus' name to promote slavery or racism is a stupid, uneducated jerk. This has been a PSA thank you
I'm so sorry for Bible Belters. What you've seen is nowhere near what Jesus intended. So similar to the Jewish People of his own time.
I'm so sorry for Bible Belters. What you've seen is nowhere near what Jesus intended. So similar to the Jewish People of his own time.
OP
OP
Was, wasn't now. You could say I am atheist, but I don't go out of my way to tell people they're wrong about belief. Except when it comes to gender equality, violence and other stuff.
I just want to say reading this post is really freaking weird with your Sephiroth avatar, lol.
I've thought about that as well! Totally insane stuff. Too bad it will never happen.
What draws people to it? A mix of fear, cultural indoctrination, and a moral framework. I think religion is a totally normal part of humanity, and can certainly help some people. But as someone who was raised Christian my thoughts on the whole thing are very mixed.
OP
OP
For me, it's when I realized that I'm more empathetic and loving than the God that claims to be loving everyone unconditionally. So I mean if that's a load of bollocks then the rest probably is too.
Faith is "easy". It gives answers to things you want and sometimes that's all people want, even if the answers are made up. It's like lying to a child to make them feel better, y'know?
Terry Pratchett said it best...
Terry Pratchett said it best...
Yeah! Make a BCU :v
Anyway, for the question. I guess: "(...) to know wisdom and chastening; to understand prudent words; to receive the chastening of prudence, justice, judgment, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, and to the young men knowledge and council. If the wise will hear them, doctrine shall increase, and the man of understanding shall acquire wise counsel: To understand a parable and the interpretation; the words of the wise and their enigmas." is a nice reason.
But please check out these Project Bible vids, they're cool!
Dunno the questions, but I like this video:
How can you hate something you don't believe exists? You're looking at it wrong if that's what you think. This loving god is supposedly the same one that instituted slavery and then didn't outlaw it? The same one that instructed gays and witches to be killed? Mmmhmmm just keep telling yourself that god is omnibenevolent, when he's the guy who supposedly created hell and instructed people on how to commit genocide and own slaves.
Part of the biggest appeal is when you're at your lowest point in life (depression or tragedy or whatever) you can flip open a book and have access to universal truths regarding everything from the beginning of the world to the end of the world.
Personally , I do not blindly take everything the Bible says as literal. Jesus taught in parables, so I view some of the more fantastical parts as parables as well.
Check out the book of Proverbs if you feel like you just want some general life advice. Some parts are actually funny too. "It is better to live in a corner on the roof than to live in a house with an angry wife"
Personally , I do not blindly take everything the Bible says as literal. Jesus taught in parables, so I view some of the more fantastical parts as parables as well.
Check out the book of Proverbs if you feel like you just want some general life advice. Some parts are actually funny too. "It is better to live in a corner on the roof than to live in a house with an angry wife"
The Bible is so fucking weird. I was raised Catholic up until I was ten and went to a Christian school my entire childhood and the reverends or whatever would cherry pick what's supposed to be a serious lesson and not. Most of it I was told to ignore because it's outdated or just to be a cool story with no meaning. I'm pretty sure that's why I started doubting religion because they wrote off so much of what they were supposed to be teaching as a joke.
But there is some cool ass shit in there. The guy I was named after in particular was a fucking badass.
But there is some cool ass shit in there. The guy I was named after in particular was a fucking badass.
Are you for real? Paul is the same guy that said this:
"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ."
So no, the Bible doesn't outlaw slavery. It sanctions it. The old and New Testaments are full of prohibitions and sins, but slavery is not one of them. Hebrews are allowed to take slaves from the nations around them and keep them forever and OWN THEIR FAMILIES. Once some Christian explains why that is god being benevolent, I will take the rag that is the Bible more seriously.
Book of Proverbs is a great read. So many lessons there. So good they almost took it out of the Bible.
The answer for most people is that it is inherited through their parents' faith.
That being said, the Bible is a large collection of stories with two general themes (Old Testament and New Testament) and varied philosophical perspectives that can appeal to large swaths of people simply by having different books that speak more to their perspective than others. This is one reason why people tend to pick and choose parts of the Bible or have a favorite book of the Gospel.
From a literary perspective, the Bible also acts as a catchment area for poetry and philosophy from a specific geographic area over a very long period of time (this is ignoring debates about books left out through Catholic Councils). Because of this, it kind of has a mix of everything: Judges has basically action hero stories; the books about Samuel and David are 'historical'; the best books are those of wisdom (Ecclesiastes is by far the best book in the Old Testament and Lamentations is also great); as well as songs people can sing (Psalms). It served as a very important cultural document - and still does.
That being said, the Bible is a large collection of stories with two general themes (Old Testament and New Testament) and varied philosophical perspectives that can appeal to large swaths of people simply by having different books that speak more to their perspective than others. This is one reason why people tend to pick and choose parts of the Bible or have a favorite book of the Gospel.
From a literary perspective, the Bible also acts as a catchment area for poetry and philosophy from a specific geographic area over a very long period of time (this is ignoring debates about books left out through Catholic Councils). Because of this, it kind of has a mix of everything: Judges has basically action hero stories; the books about Samuel and David are 'historical'; the best books are those of wisdom (Ecclesiastes is by far the best book in the Old Testament and Lamentations is also great); as well as songs people can sing (Psalms). It served as a very important cultural document - and still does.
Anybody who reduces it to one answer is full of it.
There's a lot of reasons: Cultural, tradition, community, sense of wonder, learned about it as a child, fear of death, desire to be part of something greater, etc.
This is how many religious beliefs operate. You miss out on a wider and more accurate (and enriching) theory of belief if all you can do is be reductive about it.
There's a lot of reasons: Cultural, tradition, community, sense of wonder, learned about it as a child, fear of death, desire to be part of something greater, etc.
This is how many religious beliefs operate. You miss out on a wider and more accurate (and enriching) theory of belief if all you can do is be reductive about it.
I was raised muslim. Both of my parents devout. But I started to question many things when I was very young. My questions annoyed my parents a lot. Mainly because they couldn't answer them.
I read the Quran myself. And the Bible too. They are very well written, but nothing more. It's clear that both have been written by straight men. These books are very men-focused.
– Biblical masculinity means a man is the spiritual leader of his home (Ephesians 6:4)
– Biblical masculinity means a husband recognizes the differences between he and his wife (1 Peter 3:7).
– It frowns on men who delegate this command to their wives (1 Timothy 2:11-12).
Just a few examples...
As I said, I read both of these books out of curiosity. I will NEVER understand how peole can support these books and take them so seriously...
These books display love, but also encourage hate.
""A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God."
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."
FUCK OFF :)
How can anyone support these lines? It's just hate. Definitely written by an insecure straight man.
There's definitely a tangible difference between the curated religion that people follow and the religious texts they are supposedly based on, which was very confusing at first from an outsider's perspective. The Bible itself doesn't really make for an enjoyable read in its entirety. I think having someone read it without context it is a good way to get them to not be able to become a Christian. You have to go into it with a certain mindset already.
I was raised Christian and conservative, but as I grew up, I realized that religion had no answer for many of the questions I had about the world. Plus I've always been drawn to science and trying to understand how the universe worked. I was very curious by nature, and "trust that God has a plan" wasn't cutting it. I was questioning my faith by my early teens and was in that "spiritual, but not religious" phase by my late teens.
Then in my early 20s, I also realized that even though my faith had almost completely deteriorated, my upbringing was still a negative influence on my views on marginalized groups. The need to deprogram my own shitty opinions and habits was what pushed me away from conservative viewpoints for good. This second part is more due to the conservative upbringing than Christian, but the two are so intertwined that they're often very difficult to separate. The diminishing of women and minorities is encoded in a lot of doctrine and the list of congregations that are true allies to LGBT groups (and not just that "hate the sin, not the sinner" bullshit) is extremely short.
Something that is a philosophy being presented as fact really troubled me when I came of an age to question. Especially since fear of retribution and guilt are such large parts of it.
I think it's downright immoral to indoctrinate children using fear as a main motivator.
But, be clear I am NOT completely anti religion.
It's this in my opinon. Your average person doesn't know what's actually in the Bible besides a select few sections and thoughts curated to them (usually innacurately) by their parents, communion, and church. Most kids are barely paying attention to it all when learning and it's just a bunch of "my interpretation, my feelings" sorta thing along with popular media depictions.
If I want to support something, I have to support it 100%
A book can have thousands of beautiful and inspirational lines. But if even ONE line is bad, then it corrupts the whole idea behind it. And these books have many hateful lines.
I'm not a person that can live with blinders on. I can't ignore the bad stuff and pretend it's not there. It's either everything or nothing.
In this case absolute nothing.
You must read the Bible to understand classical Western literature. Can you imagine reading Dante or Milton without knowledge of the Old Testament? The Bible is and will continue to be an essential reference point for Western culture until our literary tradition is entirely forgotten.
EDIT: Ecclesiastes is my favorite book and seriously underappreciated and studied by Christians.
EDIT: Ecclesiastes is my favorite book and seriously underappreciated and studied by Christians.
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