m***@yahoo.com
2006-07-03 01:50:18 UTC
Self-evident truths
(Caveat: Whatever is self-evident for me is not necessarily
self-evident for someone else)
1. All religions are man made
2. The Christian concept and definition of a 'soul' is untenable.
Why? Nowhere in the long line of evolution was the 'soul' suddenly
inserted in a certain species at a discrete point.
If I assume that the soul was suddenly inserted in a living
being e.g. 1 million years ago, we must then argue that his
or her father and mother did not have a soul, etc., etc.
We cannot. This means:
All living beings have a soul or no living beings have a soul. As I
don't think that a worm has a soul, I conclude that the concept
of a soul in each human being must be a manmade construct.
A manmade construct because we want to believe that we
or at least our 'spirit' or our 'soul' will live forever, i.e. is
immortal.
3. There is no heaven and hell. All religions are man made, and
the concepts of heaven and hell are man made. They were created when
social groups evolved culturally, to keep individual behavior in line
and within boundaries so as to be beneficial to the group or to its
leaders. Heaven was a carrot, hell was the stick.
4. The Christian dogma of sin, with human beings having free choice
to obey or disobey, is untenable, as 'sin', killing, fighting, etc.,
already existed millions of years before human beings came about.
That means in the long line of evolution there was never a discrete
point where the 'first' human beings suddenly had free choice to obey
or disobey. That also means the dogma of Christ's death at the cross
to atone for our sins is untenable. Human beings evolved and never
(suddenly) had free choice to obey or dis-obey (=sin).
5. The Christian concept that you can only be saved through accepting
Christ as your savior is untenable. As over 5 billion on earth are
not Christians, it is illogical to assume that God automatically
condemns 5 billion (out of 6.5 billion) to hell = eternal suffering.
6. All religions are man made, which explains the huge variety of
religions. Any evolving human society evolves beliefs about life and
death, which then often evolve into absolute beliefs and then often
into structured beliefs = religion. That's why there are so
many religions, so many spin-offs of existing religions and why so
many new spin-offs are created all the time all over the world.
7. As all religions and spin-offs are man made, the concept of 'God'
is man made.
As nowhere in the material world we see physical acts/actions by
'God' on matter, there is no reason to assume that a God like the
Christian God (who controls, guards and interferes) exists.
EITHER GOD IS ABSENT, IS DEAD OR DOES NOT EXIST.
There is no God applying extra material forces on or into our physical
environment. That means all physical and chemical occurrances can
be explained (sooner or later) without having to introduce a
supernatural and 'immaterial' being capable of and actively
acting on matter.
Example:
In the recent tsunami near Sumatra up to 100,000 innocent children
were killed in just one hour. God did not do it. Satan did not do it.
Humans did not do it. The earth core is cooling, forcing huge plates
to move, which occasionaly rupture or fracture into earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, etc., which then cause terrible natural
catastrophes such as the recent tsunami.
Nowhere did the 'hand of God' act anywhere.
8. The mystery of matter and why we exist does not mean we have
to assume an all powerful being like the Christian God
(or for that matter a similar God as in Islam and Judaism).
In the last 500 years more and more mysteries have been explained,
and in the coming thousands of years many more mysteries will
be resolved. That means religious beliefs get pushed back more and
more, and away from the current simple absolute religious 'truths'
and beliefs as described in 'holy' books. Religions consist of a
hodgepodge of man made legends, philosophies, myths, theories, etc.,
and are being pushed back or voided by science and
rational explanations.
That also means a religion such as Christianity can only survive if
it develops a much better explanation and rationale for the mystery
of matter and life, and our existence. However Christianity cannot
're-engineer' itself, it cannot offer a science-based explanation of
life or reform itself into a much more rational philosophy of life.
It will remain an anti-scientific belief system based on fixed
explanations for life and death, made by men that lived hundreds
or even thousands of years ago.
So it will slowly die. I am not saying that the human need
for spirituality will disappear, but the dogmas and beliefs of
religions such as Christianity (and Islam and Judaism) will
become less and less acceptable to more and more people.
The core issue is a direct conflict between:
o the religious/emotional approach or persona and
o the scientific/rational approach or persona
Spirituality will stay, but dogmatic religions based on ancient
and mythical beliefs will slowly disappear or remain with smaller
and smaller groups of the uneducated or un-enlightened.
There may be temporary religious revivals and reactions but there
is no doubt in my mind that on longer terms science and associated
education will (albeit slowly) bury ancient belief systems.
That is also why so many religions, including Christianity,
in their core are so anti-science. They can never embrace a much
more rational belief system that so clearly exposes the fallacies
in their inherited belief system.
Michael M. Terra
(Caveat: Whatever is self-evident for me is not necessarily
self-evident for someone else)
1. All religions are man made
2. The Christian concept and definition of a 'soul' is untenable.
Why? Nowhere in the long line of evolution was the 'soul' suddenly
inserted in a certain species at a discrete point.
If I assume that the soul was suddenly inserted in a living
being e.g. 1 million years ago, we must then argue that his
or her father and mother did not have a soul, etc., etc.
We cannot. This means:
All living beings have a soul or no living beings have a soul. As I
don't think that a worm has a soul, I conclude that the concept
of a soul in each human being must be a manmade construct.
A manmade construct because we want to believe that we
or at least our 'spirit' or our 'soul' will live forever, i.e. is
immortal.
3. There is no heaven and hell. All religions are man made, and
the concepts of heaven and hell are man made. They were created when
social groups evolved culturally, to keep individual behavior in line
and within boundaries so as to be beneficial to the group or to its
leaders. Heaven was a carrot, hell was the stick.
4. The Christian dogma of sin, with human beings having free choice
to obey or disobey, is untenable, as 'sin', killing, fighting, etc.,
already existed millions of years before human beings came about.
That means in the long line of evolution there was never a discrete
point where the 'first' human beings suddenly had free choice to obey
or disobey. That also means the dogma of Christ's death at the cross
to atone for our sins is untenable. Human beings evolved and never
(suddenly) had free choice to obey or dis-obey (=sin).
5. The Christian concept that you can only be saved through accepting
Christ as your savior is untenable. As over 5 billion on earth are
not Christians, it is illogical to assume that God automatically
condemns 5 billion (out of 6.5 billion) to hell = eternal suffering.
6. All religions are man made, which explains the huge variety of
religions. Any evolving human society evolves beliefs about life and
death, which then often evolve into absolute beliefs and then often
into structured beliefs = religion. That's why there are so
many religions, so many spin-offs of existing religions and why so
many new spin-offs are created all the time all over the world.
7. As all religions and spin-offs are man made, the concept of 'God'
is man made.
As nowhere in the material world we see physical acts/actions by
'God' on matter, there is no reason to assume that a God like the
Christian God (who controls, guards and interferes) exists.
EITHER GOD IS ABSENT, IS DEAD OR DOES NOT EXIST.
There is no God applying extra material forces on or into our physical
environment. That means all physical and chemical occurrances can
be explained (sooner or later) without having to introduce a
supernatural and 'immaterial' being capable of and actively
acting on matter.
Example:
In the recent tsunami near Sumatra up to 100,000 innocent children
were killed in just one hour. God did not do it. Satan did not do it.
Humans did not do it. The earth core is cooling, forcing huge plates
to move, which occasionaly rupture or fracture into earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, etc., which then cause terrible natural
catastrophes such as the recent tsunami.
Nowhere did the 'hand of God' act anywhere.
8. The mystery of matter and why we exist does not mean we have
to assume an all powerful being like the Christian God
(or for that matter a similar God as in Islam and Judaism).
In the last 500 years more and more mysteries have been explained,
and in the coming thousands of years many more mysteries will
be resolved. That means religious beliefs get pushed back more and
more, and away from the current simple absolute religious 'truths'
and beliefs as described in 'holy' books. Religions consist of a
hodgepodge of man made legends, philosophies, myths, theories, etc.,
and are being pushed back or voided by science and
rational explanations.
That also means a religion such as Christianity can only survive if
it develops a much better explanation and rationale for the mystery
of matter and life, and our existence. However Christianity cannot
're-engineer' itself, it cannot offer a science-based explanation of
life or reform itself into a much more rational philosophy of life.
It will remain an anti-scientific belief system based on fixed
explanations for life and death, made by men that lived hundreds
or even thousands of years ago.
So it will slowly die. I am not saying that the human need
for spirituality will disappear, but the dogmas and beliefs of
religions such as Christianity (and Islam and Judaism) will
become less and less acceptable to more and more people.
The core issue is a direct conflict between:
o the religious/emotional approach or persona and
o the scientific/rational approach or persona
Spirituality will stay, but dogmatic religions based on ancient
and mythical beliefs will slowly disappear or remain with smaller
and smaller groups of the uneducated or un-enlightened.
There may be temporary religious revivals and reactions but there
is no doubt in my mind that on longer terms science and associated
education will (albeit slowly) bury ancient belief systems.
That is also why so many religions, including Christianity,
in their core are so anti-science. They can never embrace a much
more rational belief system that so clearly exposes the fallacies
in their inherited belief system.
Michael M. Terra