|
BKSir -> RE: The Big Choice...or is it really a choice? (7/18/2010 12:43:09 PM)
|
I agree that many religions put that out there, and it does bother me. One shouldn't need some invisible man in the sky and lakes of goat shit fire in the ground to set their moral compass. It's like, as someone compared earlier, organized crime and protection rackets. "Pay us money to make sure you're 'safe'. Otherwise, WE will throw bricks through your store windows." It's sad that people even need the reward/punishment aspect of this to do right and wrong.
Then again, isn't that what a lot of us are into here on this specific site in a way anyway? *sigh* fucking paradoxes, I hate them so much.
Personally, I don't believe in heaven or hell. I believe in "something", be it god(dess)(e/s), flying spaghetti monster, enlightenment, the fates, Lumberjack Joe and his toenail elves, whatever. There's just too much that is wonderful and amazing in this, and every other world, for it to all be chance. This gigantic clockwork universe running smoothly for so long from the largest macrocosm, to the smallest cells in the smallest creature. No, I don't think it was just happenstance.
Do I need threats of fire and brimstone and pitchforks up the ass to believe? No. Does this belief weigh heavily in my own moral compass and daily decisions of "right" and "wrong"? Not even remotely. A belief in God/Satan and Heaven/Hell, does not make anyone "good". In fact, in more cases than not, it makes people "hypocritical". Many "Christians", or people of any religion, are absolute assholes in reality, caring about their fellow man for about an hour and a half on Sunday morning, then pissing on them the other 6 days 23 hours of the week. Hell, a lot of them go to church simply because it's habit at this point and don't even want to be there. No, that doesn't mean I hate religions or what they stand for. They're fine ideas, when broken down to their bare essences. I hate that mankind has said "We can take this idea and profit from it!", and now everything is severely fucked up.
IF there is a God, he's probably sitting up on high shaking his head and thinking "What the...!? HOW did you get this so wrong? All I wanted was a beautiful creation and told you not to be dicks to eachother. How did you even end up where you are? Was it THAT difficult to understand?"
No, belief does not make one "good" any more than non-belief makes one "bad" in their heart, soul and actions. I don't need a God to know that it's the right thing to do to hand a starving man something to eat, and I don't need threats (be they hell or jail) to know that punching a little old lady and stealing her purse is probably not the best thing I could do.
It does make me wonder though, how weak are we that so many feel the need for such guidance/coercion simply to do the right thing, and even then, in many many cases, that doesn't even help.
So, is it a choice? Absolutely, just as following the law is a choice. Although with that, if one chooses not to, there are far more provable and tangible results. Feel free to choose how you wish. I chose to believe that "god"(or whatever), if there is one, would most likely rather me not be a dick than have me believe in "him". I mean, really. One dude, running the whole damned universe, making sure everything is working right? I think he's probably got more on his mind than if one guy believes in him or not.
|
|
|
|
