Controversial Opinions on Life
- Thread starter SentinelSlain
- Start date
Dak
mentat
Vimana
Member
- Mar 2, 2007
- 11,564
- 12
- 38
I get annoyed whenever people who follow Abrahamic religions try to deny that many of their stories and beliefs come from older, polytheistic traditions that predate them. It's like they think that their religion coming out of nowhere randomly in time somehow makes it more viable. The more conservative Christians I talk to seem to get annoyed when I explain how the story in Genesis about Adam, Eve, and the Eden was really about an ancient Mesopotamian city (in a region called Edin) that over-farmed its land and turned it into desert. Plus, God calls himself a "we" twice in one verse in Genesis. The most obvious explanation is the Hebrews who descended from a polytheistic tradition just told the story and didn't pay attention to or notice the change from multiple gods to one god.
This is directly translated from Hebrew, by the way.
This is directly translated from Hebrew, by the way.
Dak
mentat
Of course, one of the other options is that the religions and stories in various early civilizations between creation and the appearance to Abraham were distortions of the events chronicled more accurately by Moses....
Vimana
Member
- Mar 2, 2007
- 11,564
- 12
- 38
That kind of assumes that creation, well, happened. And besides, the stories and themes pre-dated Moses and the Hebrews. It's pretty obvious that the Jews come from Mesopotamia, and that a lot of their stories reflect a lot of similar themes (and even names) to Mesopotamian religion.
How does having a better understanding of the origins of Abrahamic religion than most involved in the religions make me sound like a twat? I'm not trying to be pretentious or anything, but I get annoyed when people seem to assume that their religion came out of nowhere directly from God and therefore it is more correct than anyone else's.
How does having a better understanding of the origins of Abrahamic religion than most involved in the religions make me sound like a twat? I'm not trying to be pretentious or anything, but I get annoyed when people seem to assume that their religion came out of nowhere directly from God and therefore it is more correct than anyone else's.
I think every religion came from one source. Some have just collected more dirt than others.
I lean towards hinduism. I do not consider myself a hindu.
I take ideas that I like from every religion.
In my opinion, the source is the human mind and the micro effects the macro and vice versa. So it is the human mind, and it isn't.
My particular belief manifested itself through life experiences and drug use. So now I search for words to explain what I am feeling. I try to always look up definitions of the words I use to better understand what I thought I knew.
I lean towards hinduism. I do not consider myself a hindu.
I take ideas that I like from every religion.
In my opinion, the source is the human mind and the micro effects the macro and vice versa. So it is the human mind, and it isn't.
My particular belief manifested itself through life experiences and drug use. So now I search for words to explain what I am feeling. I try to always look up definitions of the words I use to better understand what I thought I knew.
Vimana
Member
- Mar 2, 2007
- 11,564
- 12
- 38
I personally think that's a better way to look at religion. I like studying different religions and taking whatever good wisdom I can from them. I consider all of the gods every society has ever believed in to be just as viable as God. It really frustrates me, though, when people don't have perspective and think of other people's religions (who the people believe in just as much as anyone else believes in their religion) and think "myth, Satan's delusion, blah blah."
skeptik
Member
- Feb 7, 2003
- 24,413
- 71
- 48
Yeah.
Of course, the more likely option is that all of the religions and stories are bullshit. But, you know, whatever.
Dak
mentat
This is essentially a chicken and egg argument. But I agree with you to some degree.
Vimana
Member
- Mar 2, 2007
- 11,564
- 12
- 38
I guess I can come off as sounding pretentious or elitist, but I also (another controversial opinion, I guess) think quality is a pretty subjective concept, and discussing things like musical quality and stuff are pretty meaningless. So I don't think I'm "better" than anyone else for anything.
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
Affirmative Action is inherently discriminatory and prejudicial to single white heterosexual males and should be abolished as a hiring standard
Dak
mentat
Talking like this makes you sound like a twat. I have no doubt that you apply this confrontational, condescending tone when talking to people about beliefs they hold dear. The only people who give a shit about that stuff are people with a scholastic interest in religion. Those people tend not to be believers.
Vacant_Planets
Queen Nicole
This opinion sounds like more discrimination from the exact group mentioned. lol
Vimana
Member
- Mar 2, 2007
- 11,564
- 12
- 38
While my posts sound condescending, they don't reflect how I act in real life. My family is all Christian, all of their friends are Christians, too. I also used to be a Christian and know what it's like to be annoyed by atheists saying stuff like "Christians are stupid and deluded for believing in God." They get annoyed when I want to tell them something interesting I read, like how manna might have been psilocybin-containing mushrooms, etc. as if it somehow shakes their faith. Besides, I'm not usually the one who brings up religion. My relatives tell me to read Christian rhetoric and will give me lectures about how adhering to their beliefs will improve my life. I keep cool and simply convey that I'm not interested, but, well, my frustration had to be let out somewhere.
I have a huge interest in history, and it is often what I discuss with my father who also is interested in it. The discussions, however end up getting on my nerves when my father will scoff at relations between themes between Biblical stories and other Afro-Asiatic tales and will think of other religious beliefs as nothing but myths. I think it is pretty condescending, to be honest, when someone believes in something else as much as one believes in what another believes (on a matter that is not logically provable or disprovable), and one thinks "oh, that's just a myth. Their gods can't be real."
Looking back, I probably chose the most condescending way to let out my frustration. What really goes on is that Christians in my life seem to think their religion is the end all be all and that other religions, and any relation between their religion and other religions, are simply just bullshit. I am not a Dawkins-type atheist that goes around actively trying to disprove people's beliefs.
Edit: I'm not defending my sounding condescending. I'll keep in mind not posting this way in the future, though.
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
That's what a single white heterosexual male WOULD say.
Well, the whole idea behind AA is that if you have two equal candidates (equal in every aspect) and one is a minority and the other is a white dude, you should hire the minority. Theoretically, it's prejudicial and discriminatory. However, no two candidates are at all equal in any aspect so there's that argument too.
Unless you were joking..
Dak
mentat
Einherjar86
Active Member
I subscribe to the theory that Nietzsche subtly implies in On the Genealogy of Morals; basically, that latter generations believe themselves to be in debt to their ancestors, and eventually these legendary progenitors achieve the status of what we consider divine entities.