re: "I refuse to be a slave to religion!"

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What do you believe happens to your eternal soul once the physical shell of "you" expires?

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Well, first, we don't agree about the "soul." The construct that religion created and called a soul is just brain activity. We now know better.

So, what happens when my cells no longer support life? Well, brain activity ceases and I'm exactly where I was before I was born. I think that means nothingness.

That isn't a belief, at least not in the same context as religion. I would immediately change my position today if compelling evidence for something else were presented.

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For Believers, THE One Truth carries far more weight and worth than "knowledge."

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And this is why I view religion with disdain. It will never matter what is ever shown to you. You're going to believe it. Damn knowledge and damn anything that goes against what you were brainwashed into.

It's really the perfect con. The only time anyone could ever prove you wrong with any finality is when you're dead and, by then, it isn't your problem anymore. Toss in a couple of convenient catchphrases like "who are we to question" and keep things open to interpretation, and there you go.

I know what faith is. Make your point.

Faith is complete trust.


complete trust or confidence in someone or something:

Its pretty vague

if you personally require solid proof or scientific evidence in order to believe, then it isn't really a belief. Its just knowledge. That really isn't what faith is.

What religious people are in search of is something beyond human. Rational or irrational, that's what spirituality is. And after all this time, its hard to argue that most humans dont have some innate desire to believe in things that can never be proven... even intellectuals.

So atheists and agnostics are just barking at the moon when they attempt to make these arguments with religious people. The religious fundamentally DGAF about what you can or cant prove. So for me, as long as they arent pushing their shite on society, live and let live.

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I would say it's acting without complete knowledge,

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Its complete trust. There's a bible passage which describes it as believing in the unseen, which some take to mean unproven.

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Religious or not, its pretty hard to have human relationships without faith and trust.

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Its impossible.

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Gus007

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Amen to your concern for the flock. There are wolves amongst the sheep that scatter them and devour them when they can. The following is not meant to be a personal attack, but a response for any others, as well.

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He said, I came to liberate you from the Traditions of Religion.

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But He didn't. Jesus didn't condemn tradition, but condemned the elevation of tradition over the Word of God.

Tradition can be extremely helpful for unity and direction, but it must not take priority over the Word. No teaching of the Church should bind the conscience unless it is from God, Himself, through His Word.

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Immediately, after "the Cross", man started adding those Traditions back onto the population.

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Yes, both good and bad. Again, tradition in itself is not bad. It's when the flock of Christ are required to adhere to a particular tradition and told lack of compliance is mandate for expulsion from the Church (church discipline) of Jesus Christ that things go off the rails.

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He taught us how to live a peaceful and full life. Read what He said, not what someone says he said.

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We certainly should read what He says, but God has also blessed men throughout history with great insight into God's Word to help us understand it in greater detail and depth than before. But again, man's words should not be equal to or greater than God's Word. Man's word is only as good as its unity with God's Word.

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Send me your money and devotion, I will tell you what he meant, is reality in todays religion.

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That is one of the particular abuses in the Church today, for sure, but that's been true throughout both the OT and NT Church ages.

At the same time, Paul reminds Timothy in 1 Tim. 5 that the teaching elder, especially, is worthy of a wage. The practical benefit of it is that they can spend more time focusing on studying the Word and preparing to preach it than someone who has a full-time job to care for themselves, like Paul did (who also said he had a right to be paid for what he did, though he didn't take advantage of that right). At the same time, preachers should not use their position for personal gain. Making a modest wage is fine, but those who receive a lot of money for what they do must be worthy of that wage through the careful shepherding of the flock and the right handling of the Word of God.

I once heard a pastor complain during a morning service that God didn't give him a sermon, so he wasn't prepared to preach that morning. That man was/is not worthy of being called an under shepherd of Christ, much less worthy of his wage.

We must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. God has given us many blessings to take advantage of, and so we should be discerning with what people say by being good Bereans, comparing the messages preached to us to the Word of God.

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What's really in the aspirin bottle? What's in the shot the doctor just gave you? Everybody believes in things that aren't proven.

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This is always a silly point.

There are legal and civil consequences for those examples. To my knowledge, the Christian god hasn't been prosecuted or sued in civil court for anything.

Stop trying to equate religious faith with a general use of the term. Context matters.