I think the fundamental difference between believers and non-believers (and what frustrates non-believers so much) is that the position of non-believers doesn't change. I have a question, more like an observation of a paradox if you will, maybe you can enlighten me..... If God is all knowing and is everywhere. And if everything that happens is God's will... why pray? It would seem that by the very act of prayer you are trying to alter God's plan. When bad things happen, "that's God's will" right? So why pray to change it? Do you think God is a moron and needs your input as it relates to running the universe? Why not just accept it? Don't get me wrong, religion had it's place. We owe our very lifestyle to it. Religion was one of the fundamental building blocks of society. It taught us how to treat one another. And I feel those lessons are in place and working well. But when it starts to interfere with forward thinking and our evolution into what we can become.... As an agnostic I realize that some need that social/"spritual" crutch to live and accept things they don't understand but I personally don't. When something bad happens I accept that it happened and don't call it God's will to make myself feel better about it happening. I don't pray to God to fix it, I do what I can to fix it myself. But I'm rambling... just a few thoughts.
The fundamental similarity between believers and non-believers are that they dont understand each other.
I agree with your opinion on the need for religion; to keep some people in line... If some people didn't fear a final judgment, I believe they would act differently... That's why I believe (partially) that religion has a sociogenetic origin..
from a theology course in uni(req'd) I recall some of the reasons for prayer... you want something, to give praise, to say thanks and I think there were a few more.
Not true. I was a non believer for over 30 years. My position changed all because I was invited to have a look and decide for myself. Not everything happens is God's will at all. That is what most of the churches teach. However, that is not what the Bible teaches. God's will or purpose has not changed one bit from Genesis through to Revelation. Careful study will show this to be true. Prayer is asking for help to endure what we are going through in this wicked system of things. Not to change God's will. The model prayer that Jesus showed teaches this. Regards, Col
Yeah, I think you're thinking about the psycogenetic theory... these are the three most popular/common theories for the origin of religion that I remember off hand... psychogenic origin theory - believe that humans desire a "father" figure to watch out for us, we want to know "everything will be ok"... Also, we need faith in "something more" to help us cope with death... sociogenetic origin theory - belief that religion exists to "keep people in line"... By scaring them with the prospect of hell, or the possibility of heaven, people will behave more civilized... might have been created by political figures or by big business men to keep theft down and productivity up... theogenetic origin - there actually is a God, and even if partially correct, the religions reflect truth...
You need to take soem lessons from Cheap SEO Services on how to respond and state your viewpoint. A little more substance to your post than calling me wrong wrong wrong would go a long way towards not making you look like a clueless thread troll. Cheap SEO, what religion do you follow and what exactly did you see that changed your viewpoint? P.S. Technically I'm not wrong because your position didn't change until you became one a believer
Most of those thoughts went through my mind too many a times. I don't agree with the part where you said the position of non-believers doesn't change. Many people(including me) changed their positions as they grow and understand new ideas. Some new experiences or conversations introduced me to different facets of the same problem/answer which I was not aware of before.
Agreed but you can change your thoughts and the way you approach a particular issue and not change your position. EXAMPLE: Believers used to believe that God made it rain and it rained at his will or whim. That was their position. Plain and simple. Well we now have meteorologists that can track storms using satellite imagery and tell us why it rained in on day x in city x. Because they can show you a time lapse image of the storm as it moves across a continent. We know how the winds and the earth's rotation affects storm's paths. We know how lunar gravity affects our ocean currents and waves. The difference between believers and non-believers is that non-believers' position never changed on this. Once we became armed with factual irrefutable evidence of our position it just made our position stronger. Believers.... well they either changed their position on it all together or tried to convince people that facts aren't facts.