A Religious Man Is Not A Free Man

I think most religious people realise this.

Islam means 'submission to the will of god'.

Christians always say that they have 'given their life to christ'.

I imagine that most other religions are pretty much the same in that those who proscribe to said religion dedicate themselves to whatever their leaders tell them they should.

Fact is there are a lot of people who would argue that religion is a useful tool to maintain order in society.

Once upon a time people would also have argued that religion 'doesn't do anybody any harm'- those who didn't realise how much of a myth this was before are sure to know now.

All in all religion is bullshit.

@Michelin89,
What is your understanding of true freedom or Liberty??. Is it freedom to do as you please or whatever you want? No!!
True freedom is the freedom to do that which is consistent with the character of God/Jesus Christ. True freedom is freedom from sin.!!
Now, I know or I expect that your next question(s) should be:
(1) How can you be free from sin?
Answer: Very simple: accept the free offer of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, and you are free.!!!
John 8:36 : "If the Son (i.e Jesus Christ) therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
Romans 6:18: "Being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness."

(2) What are the characters of God/Jesus Christ?
Answer: Simple, pick a bible and read and the living God himself will tell you His characters. Start from New Testament for now.

(3) Now, if you want to be 'cheeky or brilliant', you will ask me 'How can you be free when the Word said 'ye became servants of righteousness' after you are freed from sin'?
Answer: Simple: Salvation of your soul requires your Sanctification ( i.e "separated unto"). In other words, when you are separated 'from' sin, you must be 'separated "unto" or 'attached' to something greater than sin or something that can overcome the temptations of sin whenever they come or convicts you of sin if it occurs. Because as long as you are in this world, temptations will always come in various forms. So to live a life of constant victory over sin, you need to be with the 'righteousness' i.e the Spirit of God that comes upon you and into you after you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
God will give you understanding and the grace to act upon it.
All the best, bye.

To all: I have tremendous freedom, yet I think I believe in God. God allows mankind to have extreme freedom, even that mistakes are made. He also gave us a way out to His mercy, even after a mountain of sins/wrong. Try Allah in the way of Islam for your taste of sweetness.

I agree with your point, to a certain extent. Religion means "to do something repetitively, and at regular intervals", you see, one religiously does something - be it prayer, fast, go to church, or play football, and that is why it is religion, "that which one does". Now, there is surely nothing binding in that! Surely no more than one would decide to be bound to that which one wishes to be bound to? You can leave anytime, you know! Its not exactly like slavery!

Indeed, some people are religiously Christains or Muslims, or Judaists. Some follow what has been laid down as 'law' from God, they obey obediently the religious text of their religion. But how else would one expect those who have such a bond of obedience with their God, those who have so been indoctrinated into ideology without fully seeking to comprehend first that which they call God, relate to their God if not by the way they believe their God has asked them to relate to It? If a person's God asked one to be It's slave, does one say "no"?

Yet, some people relate to their God differently! Some people's God does not tell them to obey obediently so some people dare to say to their God, "God, do you really mean that?"and some dare to ask, "God is that really you?" I hope you can see these type disobediently saying, "Go to hell!" if God were to say to them to, "Take your son Isaac and cut his throat, I want to drink blood"! The religious would  have us call murder, obedience! But those who know God would tell you how God does nothing of the type!

Some who worship God do not worship a God because they are enslaved to a God; they worship God because somehow, God has effected or has had an effect in the attainment of their liberation from bad beliefs and ideology, the type that enslaves many! Some peoples God rather than reduce the liberty they may have in making choice for their own advancement in the world, increases the power to make those choices, and make even much better one's so they believe, if they didn't have their relationship with God.  The thing is, the God one sees determines whether one's God is a slave master God - one that goes around binding others to It; or a liberating God - one that frees one from even death!

@Havila: Stop being very arrogant. I swear by Allah Who is the Holder of my soul, if I do anything, on nairaland or anywhere else is for the pleasure of Allah. There is no importance attached to you, at least not by me. Any importance you may think that you have is within your sphere of friends and family members. I am neither. Rather I am a humanbeing, propagating Islam with every thing I have, my person and my wealth. You do not know me and I am sure that if you do, you will know that you are very insignificant, indeed. Some are kings, some are king makers. Allah has blessed me and you are not thought about, not by me in the least. However, if my involvement on this board is choking you, then hold tight, the ride will get real rough from now on. You see, I make my own rule as long as it is in conformity with the established ground rules. You can not frustrate me. You do not have any acutrimen to do it. Again, stop.

  @Olabowale,
you better don't burst a vein with all your swearing to idols, did I mention your name? when did you become "some people"?,,,,,,,I think you really need to go for anger management!! I can easily see that you've never had anybody stand up to you and confront you on all angles before,,,so it is really bugging you down. C'mon, take a chill pill and start talking your age. So who's being arrogant here!! I sincerely thank God for your life and "your wealth"; mr-king-maker in your village . I will not say that you Olabowale are insignificant to me, otherwise I will be reducing myself to your level of thinking. Everybody created by God is significant in their own right; even though our beliefs, maturity, understanding, socio-economic status etc might differ. I don't know you physically or what you have; neither am I interested. But you are definitely NOT the kind of individual I will want to know personally. You don't have any enviable quality for a man of your self-professed status. Look, don't make us digress from the discussion here with your consistent violent offtopic tendencies and start talking sense, mr hawk when necessary. Dont frustrate yourself, very funny guy !!

This is so true!    (I'm sorry, but I can't resist the temptation to say things like this!)

It all depends on what kind of bond you're talking about, and how you define it.  Some bonds can actually give you all the liberty you could ever wish for.

Why would I want to doubt the operating of the God I serve when I'm convinced He's always right?

Those "guiding rules" are to better their lives.  I can understand if you say they're deprived of going astray.  That, on its own, is a man's autonomy.  You can't blame religion on that, can you?

If their faith counters any scientific approach to their health, I don't see that as a risk.  For example, if I have an headache and I decide to pray, while having a very strong faith in that prayer, telling me I'm taking a risk by not taking drugs will definitely sound stupid in my ears.

If the "something" will positively affect your life, I see no reason why you should not bound yourself to it.

Of course not, unless someone would define submission to the will of a deity freedom, that would be be turnng the world on it's head. Religion is the exact antithesis of freedom. The only freedom religion implies is freedom from thinking for yourself, the freedom to be intellectually lazy.

You speak of such people as if they were the manifestation of perfection.

Like you and I these people were human.

Also, like you and I they made errors of judgement- their faith may (or may not) have been one such example.

You seem to be mistaking "bond" for "bondage".  The type of bond one has with God is the type that can actually give you all the liberty you could ever wish for.  If you cannot understand this, then I'm sorry.

It's a personal conviction.  You don't expect me to narrate my life experiences here, do you?

Your stance here is rather amusing, I must say.  You do not understand the concept of faith, yet you seem to be very definitive in your appraoch towards it.  Very ludicrous, indeed!

If I think this way, I won't have to depend on my faith in the first place.

I'm not exactly sure where/when God made this statement.  But then, in what way do you think God would rather we help ourselves first?  Is not by coming to him first before any other thing?

If I don't have a strong faith, this idea may probably be ideal for me.

On the contrary, the reverse is the case.

If it does you good, you will definitely feel it, hence, it's existence.  But then, will the physical knowledge of it really matter?  BTW, I wonder why you want the "something" to be exclusively yours.  That's really weird.

I agree with you.

Only someone who lives a shady lifestyle will subject himself to such constant pressure.  A true believer doesn't need to bother since he knows his place is secured in heaven.  So I still don't see how his autonomy is restricted.

Those who don't believe what?

@goodguy,
Your submission on Michellin89 that: "You do not understand the concept of faith, yet you seem to be very definitive in your appraoch towards it.  Very ludicrous, indeed!"; it is very correct and it's the best you get from all the 'atheist or humanists and the rest of the 'pseudo-intellectually hard-working' chaps.
It is just like a secondary school student who is yet to understand or appreciate the concept of Algebra in basic Mathematics trying to 'logically' explain the concept of 'Young Abraham's Theorem' in Applied Mathematics. You might not agree, that's understandable; but it is pure 'cerebral dissociation' to start trying to explain what you do not know using your own logic.

i do not speak about them as if they are manifestations of perfection. i speak about them because they were men of science who contributyed to the scientific world and yet were religious and were NOT intellectually lazy.





statement here doesn't make sense

Nobody has been able to explain the concept of faith as it having any epistomological value, except as stading outside rationality and thus outside discourse. It is only relevant to those taking already an a-priori position and already subscribing to the concept of faith. It is completely self-referential, irrational and void of logical validity.

actually it doesn't block the belief from rational enquiry, it encourages it. the Bible itself tells that the Word be researched. also you don't simply accept the basic elements of the religion. Christianity is accepted by a personal conviction by that same God, that's why i said you won't see the entity but would experrience him.



and what basic research has been shown? source please. error on what? and being open to suggestion bespeaks the fact that the subconscious mind is being told what to do. On the contrary, it's a personal conviction.



pls read my first response again. like i once said, how can you know they've refused to examine the basis of their beliefs if you haven't experienced the basis of that belief and then exsamine it?


will write more later,


 

I see you are trying to quote the scriptures, but your quote was wrong. I guess the words just came out just for you to have a little backup for your point, but I would rather advice you to get the scriptures and read it with the fullest of understanding instead of jumping into conclusions.


If you can rewind back the clock of time, you will definite be convinced of his pure righteousness, because I don't think you have the valued time to go through the Bible.