₦airaland Forum

odinson1:
So according to you,your own personal proof of Gods existence is the bible and your ' personal experience ' with him....right?

There is a knowledge of God you have because you were TOLD either from the Bible, your Parent, the Society, the Church, etc.

There is a KNOWLEDGE of God you have additionally by EXPERIENCE. This experience is usually Subjective.

Right!

Great thread

MacCantStopMe:
Great thread

Thank you!

Cont'd:
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by Rulers as useful."

Nothing more truer has been said. If a census is conducted today on religious adherents, you will notice that majority of them are poor people, and the even more majority who attend most religious functions diligently are poor people.
The top positions in religious organizations are not held by the poor. The chores in the religious organizations are not by the poor.
In fact, what the rich do mostly is give donations to support activities of the poor in every religious organisation.
A poor person having been brainwashed that he is saving up in the afterlife by making donations/offerings to their religious organizations, finds it hard to donate to build a hospital in his hometown.

I have taken my time to observe and study religious adherents, and one thing i know for certain is that none of them worship the alleged God which is the Central being of their religion. They just worship their churches and the lifestyle in those churches which they have been groomed to live in from childhood.
After year's of this built up community lifestyle inherent in their church, it is usually difficult to detach from it, because it is now like a culture to them.
I have realized that one of the best ways to lose your religion is to stay away from the religion by moving out of your immediate environment in which you grew up as a person.
This is because, humans operate better in groups. In otherwords, Religious adherents need reinforcements and social interactions between themselves to reinforce their beliefs. They need others to reinforce their beliefs, they need fellow believers to reinforce their beliefs. If that link is severed, doubts creep in.

They can come online and form soldiers of faith, but if everyone else around them who once believed all their religious teachings stopped associating themselves with those teachings, that singular person will be forced to also change his stance directly or indirectly in order to be accepted.
Yes, Acceptance is the Keyword here.

Most religious adherents are afraid of not being accepted. They are afraid of ridicule or what the others are going to say about them if they stopped conforming. It is a psychological thing rather than just physical.
They are afraid they will lose their friends, they will be discriminated in their immediate society, afraid that no-one will attend their functions, afraid that their parents/friends/siblings will be disappointed in them. Afraid that they will lose their job, afraid of the stigma and discrimination
But, in the end, it is purely psychological. And, it is true that once you start questioning teachings of your faith, you will be ridiculed and subjugated. You may even be killed. But, being afraid of death or discrimination or disappointment is stüpid.
Soldier's don't run because of death when battle calls for it.

Ask a religious adherent today how they became convert's, and you will see it is all because of their parents. It all started from childhood.

People like shadeyinka who is here brandishing words like subjective experience and objective experience of God was also Indoctrinated as a child. He is only using modern words to regurgitate things that has already been ingrained in him since childhood. He also believes it with his heart. He has also stated time and again here that it cannot be proved.
But, he still believes it anyway, and he also believes he has not been Indoctrinated.

People like him are the educated indoctrinated religious adherents who instead of finding out the truth about their beliefs, go to extreme lengths to find absurdities to defend ridiculous belief's.
He, for instance states that he has had a subjective experience of God. He, like every other educated indoctrinated person doesn't even know the meaning of the word experience.


According to dictionary.com:
"Experience is practical contact with and observation of facts or events."


According to Wikipedia:
"Experience is the first person effects or influence of an event or subject gained through involvement in or exposure to it."


According to Cambridge Dictionary:
" Experience is the process of getting knowledge or skill from doing, seeing, or feeling things."


According to Oxford Dictionary:
"Experience is the knowledge and skill that you have gained through doing something for a period of time; the process of gaining this."

shadeyinka:
Only an ignorant person use "God of the gaps" as an excuse for what science doesn't have answers to.


Filling of gaps with God/gods can only be said to be true if there is no basis (subjective or objective experience of God) to come to such a conclusion.


If a person doesn't have such an experience, he should look for it rather than concluding that NO-ONE has an experience as to justify his position.

Carefully note the bolded words and the one in colour.

Now, as i was saying, they usually brandish experience this, experience that but when you ask them to tell you something about their experience, they tell you to go and look for it yourself.
I really don't understand, really. I mean, religion aside, is this not hypocrisy?
This is someone who is saying that God of the Gap's is only used by ignorant people in one sentence, yet in the same post in another sentence, he is doing what a typical ignorant person does when you ask them something about what they witnessed.
How can someone that didn't experience what you witnessed go and experience it? From where?
Yet, the contradiction doesn't end there. He also went further into shooting himself in the foot in the same sentence by saying that experiences are subjective.
I have never seen a more confused person in my entire life. But, this is what religion turns people to, and this is one of the things i am hoping we continue to point out with the hope that someday, they will be emancipated from all this confusion which religious beliefs is creating in their lives.

aadoiza:
They will not look for it, but rather wasting away their lifes on a faceless forum demanding for the coordinates of God's location, or even more foolishly for a visit from him in their homes.
I don't think I can ever have enough of atheists' foolishness on this forum. Their foolishness sometimes fills my day with laughter. May God forgive me.

This is another comment from someone who supports the same "go look for the experience" thing. He also share the same religious faith with him, so it's understandable they align on this ground since it is what is taught them.

He, like shadeyinka doesn't also know the meaning of the word experience, and he doesn't know that experience is subjective unlike shadeyinka, the educated Christian religious adherent.
He also doesn't know that every experience can be described just like @shadeyinka. Their fellow Christian religious adherent with the moniker @southniyikaye at least told us one of his religious experience with God in this thread, which as it turned out, is just another story with no correlation at all to his claims.

So, when i asked the moniker @aadoiza the following questions:

1) - Have you found God?
- Have you seen God?
- Have you heard from God before in your
entire life?
- Have you felt God before in your entire life?
- If you have felt God, what exactly did you feel?

2) - How did you find God?
- What did he look like when you saw him?
- What did he sound like when you heard him?
- How did you realise what you are feeling was
God?

3) - In what ways does God manifest himself in
your life?
- What is the most visible thing that is a direct
resultant of your meeting with God?

I'm sure as a wise man, you don't need the bible to answer the above questions sincerely as someone who has found God.

His reply was:

Honestly Mike, I couldn't answer these questions to your satisfaction, as you're a materialist. This will only descend into the usual back-and-forth between God and no-god believers.


However, I can tell you this: you're never gonna find God on the Internet. You will have to dedicate most of your life to His course to find Him, and when you do, You will never see Him in the flesh.


Furthermore, God will never come to you to make a material impact. He will do so only through agency.

I would have shared some stories but since God was not physically present in any of them grin grin, atheists would always find silly excuses to dismiss them. So what's the point?

This people don't even realize that it is all in their head. If you can't tell an experience you witnessed, do you refer to it as an experience?
They are afraid that their experience has nothing to do with what they are saying, all of the time.
They will give you one billion reasons why you are not going to believe their experience instead of simply stating exactly what it is they experienced.
Then, when they finally realise they are not making any sense at all, they will tell you to go and look for it yourself.

As a point, I don't get angry or irked at religious indoctrinated persons for whatever reason because i believe they have been deceived, they are just victims of mental abuse, who are yet to realise that they have been ràped psychologically, mentally and emotionally by their various religious teachers who in turn have been abused themselves in the same manner. I pity them, and i hope that everyone who is free from the clutches of religious beliefs will always be lenient with them, try to show them patience always while trying their best to help them realise that religious beliefs are superstitions our olden days ancestors developed in place of actual knowledge of things/phenomenon.

You have to realise that this religious adherents are just ignorant and are operating on that level.

Centuries ago, saying that a man can be changed to a woman would have sounded impossible. You would have been tagged a heretic and burnt at the stake. Today, we all know better.

Centuries ago, people taught the earth is the centre of the universe, today we all know that the milky way galaxy will not even be up to a dot among the billions of galaxy in a graphical layout.

As we continue to grow as a specie, most of the things which religious beliefs hinges on will take care of itself.
Human hunger for instance it's insatiable, and the curiosity of humans has given rise to breakthroughs at breathtaking level.
Dumb people who don't question anything remain dormant their entire life.

Nigeria for instance is the way it is today because a lot of dumb people are the majority, and they all share similar religious beliefs.
People don't vote based on Intelligence or capacity but based on religion and ethnicity, something that is inherent in every religious society.
This is why human rights abuses, bigotry, backwardness, corruption, favouritism, nepotism rank highest in countries where religious adherents are the majority. This are the things their religious beliefs promote, and so it's no brainer it is observed in the external society at large.
You need only take a Google search for countries with the worst human rights abuses or countries with the worst corruption and look at the names that pop up.
Also look at the most peaceful countries, countries with the least corruption, etc and see the names that pop up.

All religious adherents do is destroy everything they touch all in the name of an imaginary being.
I mean, Covid-19 is destroying the world at the moment, you would expect this God who is all powerful to at least save his own worshippers right? But an invisible thing is ravaging everyone it touches.
Is safe to say then that Covid-19 is very much powerful than this God because this God worshipped by religious adherents cannot save them from this tiny speck of a virus, an invisible thing.
Some of the leaders of this religious adherents even started the usual God will protect them nonsense until reality set in. Now they are all cowering in fear in their respective homes, hoping that the science they deride every moment will save them.

But, will there adherents have the common sense to realise that this is one of those times in which the world needs this all powerful God to save it from the disaster which has stopped economies the world over?
Nah, it's not how their brains has been conditioned to operate. They are only waiting for the moment a cure/vaccine is found by a human being, and then they will jump in and start shouting Goddidit.

BLASPHEMY AND THE CREATURE IN YOUR ATTIC
Imagine you meet someone who strongly believed there was a creature living in his attic. A creature who watched his every move and could affect his life for better or worse. And he believed this creature needed to be appeased by performing regular rituals of chanting and singing.
Naturally, you would be sceptical. You would want to find out if there was any truth to his beliefs. Your conversation might go something like this:
You: Can you show me the creature?
Him: No. I can't do that. It can't be seen.
You: How do you know it's there then?
Him: I hear it. It talks to me and I talk back.
You: OK, can I listen to your conversation?
Him (shaking head): No. It doesn't work like that. You have to believe it is real before you can talk to it.
You: But how can I believe it's real if I can't see it or talk to it and only have your word that it's there?
Him: Oh it's definitely real. It's as real to me as you are right now.
You: I understand you believe that but how can I believe it with only your word to go on?
Him: You can doubt me but you can't prove it's not up there can you?
You: I don't suppose I can...
Him: You have to have faith. Join me in my daily chanting and soon you'll believe it too. You'll see the light and your life will be transformed. That's the only way.
...
If that story seems both crazy and familiar, it is. There is only one difference between the character in this story and the billions who believe in invisible gods. That difference is that your interlocutor is the ONLY person who believes in the invisible creature in his attic.
Because of this, not only would you not believe his story, but you would conclude he needed professional help for delusional disorder. And you would be right.
This story illustrates the true nature of religions. Religions are institutionalised delusional disorder. That is why they try so hard to make sure everyone is a believer--every disbeliever is a threat. The more disbelievers there are the closer believers are to becoming like the man in this story--isolated individuals believing highly improbable things that cannot be shown to be true.
Real religions employ techniques to divert us from this obvious conclusion. Most importantly, they teach children to believe at an age when they are impressionable and uncritical; religious leaders often wear impressive clothes and claim they have a privileged relationship with their invisible creature.
Then they seek to insulate their improbable and unsubstantiated beliefs from criticism. They promulgate respect for religious beliefs as a cultural norm. Sometimes, they even seek to make it a legally punishable offence to criticise religious beliefs.
I can think of nothing more damning of religious belief than the existence of blasphemy laws. It is an admission that these beliefs are so frail and indefensible that it should be a crime to challenge their truth or reality.
Truth and reality do not need to be defended by law. They can look after themselves

IamMichael:
This is another comment from someone who supports the same "go look for the experience" thing. He also share the same religious faith with him, so it's understandable they align on this ground since it is what is taught them.

He, like shadeyinka doesn't also know the meaning of the word experience, and he doesn't know that experience is subjective unlike shadeyinka, the educated Christian religious adherent.
He also doesn't know that every experience can be described just like @shadeyinka. Their fellow Christian religious adherent with the moniker @southniyikaye at least told us one of his religious experience with God in this thread, which as it turned out, is just another story with no correlation at all to his claims.

So, when i asked the moniker @aadoiza the following questions:

His reply was:



This people don't even realize that it is all in their head. If you can't tell an experience you witnessed, do you refer to it as an experience?
They are afraid that their experience has nothing to do with what they are saying, all of the time.
They will give you one billion reasons why you are not going to believe their experience instead of simply stating exactly what it is they experienced.
Then, when they finally realise they are not making any sense at all, they will tell you to go and look for it yourself.

As a point, I don't get angry or irked at religious indoctrinated persons for whatever reason because i believe they have been deceived, they are just victims of mental abuse, who are yet to realise that they have been ràped psychologically, mentally and emotionally by their various religious teachers who in turn have been abused themselves in the same manner. I pity them, and i hope that everyone who is free from the clutches of religious beliefs will always be lenient with them, try to show them patience always while trying their best to help them realise that religious beliefs are superstitions our olden days ancestors developed in place of actual knowledge of things/phenomenon.

You have to realise that this religious adherents are just ignorant and are operating on that level.

Centuries ago, saying that a man can be changed to a woman would have sounded impossible. You would have been tagged a heretic and burnt at the stake. Today, we all know better.

Centuries ago, people taught the earth is the centre of the universe, today we all know that the milky way galaxy will not even be up to a dot among the billions of galaxy in a graphical layout.

As we continue to grow as a specie, most of the things which religious beliefs hinges on will take care of itself.
Human hunger for instance it's insatiable, and the curiosity of humans has given rise to breakthroughs at breathtaking level.
Dumb people who don't question anything remain dormant their entire life.

Nigeria for instance is the way it is today because a lot of dumb people are the majority, and they all share similar religious beliefs.
People don't vote based on Intelligence or capacity but based on religion and ethnicity, something that is inherent in every religious society.
This is why human rights abuses, bigotry, backwardness, corruption, favouritism, nepotism rank highest in countries where religious adherents are the majority. This are the things their religious beliefs promote, and so it's no brainer it is observed in the external society at large.
You need only take a Google search for countries with the worst human rights abuses or countries with the worst corruption and look at the names that pop up.
Also look at the most peaceful countries, countries with the least corruption, etc and see the names that pop up.

All religious adherents do is destroy everything they touch all in the name of an imaginary being.
I mean, Covid-19 is destroying the world at the moment, you would expect this God who is all powerful to at least save his own worshippers right? But an invisible thing is ravaging everyone it touches.
Is safe to say then that Covid-19 is very much powerful than this God because this God worshipped by religious adherents cannot save them from this tiny speck of a virus, an invisible thing.
Some of the leaders of this religious adherents even started the usual God will protect them nonsense until reality set in. Now they are all cowering in fear in their respective homes, hoping that the science they deride every moment will save them.

But, will there adherents have the common sense to realise that this is one of those times in which the world needs this all powerful God to save it from the disaster which has stopped economies the world over?
Nah, it's not how their brains has been conditioned to operate. They are only waiting for the moment a cure/vaccine is found by a human being, and then they will jump in and start shouting Goddidit.

You sha wan drag me here.
Lemme go through the thread and see if it has taken a creative turn.

aadoiza:
You sha wan drag me here.
Lemme go through the thread and see if it has taken a creative turn.

At this point, your worth to the thread will be appreciated mostly in examples.
I'm glad you have contributed your part.


Regards!!!

odinson1:
BLASPHEMY AND THE CREATURE IN YOUR ATTIC
Imagine you meet someone who strongly believed there was a creature living in his attic. A creature who watched his every move and could affect his life for better or worse. And he believed this creature needed to be appeased by performing regular rituals of chanting and singing.
Naturally, you would be sceptical. You would want to find out if there was any truth to his beliefs. Your conversation might go something like this:
You: Can you show me the creature?
Him: No. I can't do that. It can't be seen.
You: How do you know it's there then?
Him: I hear it. It talks to me and I talk back.
You: OK, can I listen to your conversation?
Him (shaking head): No. It doesn't work like that. You have to believe it is real before you can talk to it.
You: But how can I believe it's real if I can't see it or talk to it and only have your word that it's there?
Him: Oh it's definitely real. It's as real to me as you are right now.
You: I understand you believe that but how can I believe it with only your word to go on?
Him: You can doubt me but you can't prove it's not up there can you?
You: I don't suppose I can...
Him: You have to have faith. Join me in my daily chanting and soon you'll believe it too. You'll see the light and your life will be transformed. That's the only way.
...
If that story seems both crazy and familiar, it is. There is only one difference between the character in this story and the billions who believe in invisible gods. That difference is that your interlocutor is the ONLY person who believes in the invisible creature in his attic.
Because of this, not only would you not believe his story, but you would conclude he needed professional help for delusional disorder. And you would be right.
This story illustrates the true nature of religions. Religions are institutionalised delusional disorder. That is why they try so hard to make sure everyone is a believer--every disbeliever is a threat. The more disbelievers there are the closer believers are to becoming like the man in this story--isolated individuals believing highly improbable things that cannot be shown to be true.
Real religions employ techniques to divert us from this obvious conclusion. Most importantly, they teach children to believe at an age when they are impressionable and uncritical; religious leaders often wear impressive clothes and claim they have a privileged relationship with their invisible creature.
Then they seek to insulate their improbable and unsubstantiated beliefs from criticism. They promulgate respect for religious beliefs as a cultural norm. Sometimes, they even seek to make it a legally punishable offence to criticise religious beliefs.
I can think of nothing more damning of religious belief than the existence of blasphemy laws. It is an admission that these beliefs are so frail and indefensible that it should be a crime to challenge their truth or reality.
Truth and reality do not need to be defended by law. They can look after themselves

This is a wonderful piece bro, really wonderful. I might remix it sometimes in the future. Hope you won't sue me for piracy!!!

aadoiza:
You sha wan drag me here.
Lemme go through the thread and see if it has taken a creative turn.

respect yourself else I will start reporting you for a ban.
Pls respect yourself and stop mentioning me.
I think have made it clear enough, your mention are beginning to piss me off, you are abusing my right on this forum, respect yourself, I won't say it again.
@aadoiza sorry for quoting you it was meant for the op

IamMichael:
This is a wonderful piece bro, really wonderful. I might remix it sometimes in the future. Hope you won't sue me for piracy!!!

i stole it from a fellow and athiest here in Nairaland

IamMichael:
This is a wonderful piece bro, really wonderful. I might remix it sometimes in the future. Hope you won't sue me for piracy!!!

i stole it from a fellow and athiest here in Nairaland

southniyikaye:
respect yourself else I will start reporting you for a ban.
Pls respect yourself and stop mentioning me.
I think have made it clear enough, your mention are beginning to piss me off, you are abusing my right on this forum, respect yourself, I won't say it again.
@aadoiza sorry for quoting you it was meant for the op

No p.

odinson1:
i stole it from a fellow and athiest here in Nairaland

i stole it from a fellow and athiest here in Nairaland

Lol... Okay, no problem.

Hello my people, we surge forward on the thread.

Today, we take a look at history:


Some Fascinating Religions That Have Died Out - And Some That Came Back.


Almost all religions throughout history, no matter how old or new, claim to be either the first, the last, or both. This was as true of Zoroastrianism 2,000 years ago as it is of Judaism today. It's still as true of Christianity or Islam as it was of ancient Greek or Egyptian mythology. But isn't that always the line between a "religion" and a "mythology?" The simple passage of time since it was last practiced?

If we were to list every single religion that has ever died out through cultural shifts, genocide, factionalization, replacement, or absorption into other religions, you'd still be reading this by the time we got around to worshipping Borg space otters. Instead we're going to focus on a few "dead" religions that might not be quite as "dead" as you think. Because much like the Borg, new religions have a fascinating way of assimilating the old; absorbing and modifying concepts from long ago and far away, then forgetting where they originally came from. 

But no belief system is the first, and no one alive today will likely survive to see the last. The things we believe today are but single links in the chain of human history. Some day, thousands of years from now, people will have trouble remembering when they started worshipping space otters. Otterism will feel like the first and last religion to them, too. But maybe, just maybe, someone will take a break from cracking clams on their tummy long enough to look back on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism, and Buddhism. Maybe they'll see a bit of themselves in our "dead religions," just as you might see a bit of yourself in these.


1)Druidism Was Made Up by Nostalgic Brits in the 19th Century


You may know a few fans of paganism who would describe themselves as "Druids" today. But they aren't. First, because "Druid" wasn't a religion, it was a Celtic social class. A Druid was a member of the educated, professional class of Celtic peoples in France, Great Britain, and Ireland. They were teachers, philosophers, businessmen, and yes, priests. But they were priests of the same Celtic religions practiced by their contemporaries. And the simple fact is that nobody knows exactly what these people believed. Or if they even had a common belief system.

What we know of the religious practice today comes in part from the Celtic Revival of the 19th century, which saw Brits attempting to explore and return to their pagan roots. Some of the rest comes from the writing of Julius Ceasar and other Romans, who mythologized Druid priests in Gaul as sage, magical wise men, wandering the land with cloak and beard. Basically, Gandalf. But the best of our actual knowledge of Celtic or Druidic belief makes up only a small part of the modern Celtic belief structure. The vast majority of it was just kind of... made up, in the 19th Century. 
Including that bit about Stonehenge, which we now know was built some 2,500 years before the Druids were even a thing. Of course, it still could have been aliens.  

[/b]
2) Japanese Emperor Worship Was Practiced Until 1946
[/b]

It's not uncommon for ancient or medieval nations to position the monarch as some sort of divinity. Such was the case in Japan for most of the time when it had an emperor. This belief of Shintoism says that the emperor is an arahitogami, or human being who is also a god.

This belief only ended in 1946, at the end of the Second World War. After surrendering Japan to the United States, Emperor Hirohito signed the Humanity Declaration, stating that he had never been an arahitogami, and had simply inherited his title through family lineage. This was a critical step toward moving moving Japan out of its Imperial Age and into the modern age of democratic rule. By explicitly renouncing his divine status (and thus the divine status of all future emperors), Hirohito was no longer an imperial sovereign, but a constitutional monarch similar to the secular royalty of Great Britain or Canada.  


3) Mithraism Was Christianity Before There Was Even Christ


This dead religion is incredibly interesting mostly because it isn't exactly "dead." It just became Christianity. Mithras was a very popular god worshipped by Romans during the 1st to 4th Century BC, during the initial formation of Christianity. Mithras was a demi-god who was born of a virgin on December 25th. He was a great teacher who traveled the land spreading wisdom, had 12 disciples, and was identified with both the lion and the lamb. Romans called him "Good Shepherd," "Redeemer," "Savior," and "the Way, the Truth and the Light." All of which you may recognize from the New Testament - most of which was written well after worship of Mithras had already begun. 

Mithras was even buried in a tomb, and resurrected after three days. The Romans celebrated his resurrection on the feast day of the female goddess of fertility. Depending on the specific region, that would be Aphrodite, Ishtar, or Astarte, from which we get the word "Easter." Sounds like a pretty solid case that Jesus was really Mithras, right?

Maybe - or maybe not. Because Mithras himself was based entirely on the Egyptian demi-god Horus. Every single thing said here applies as much to Horus as Mithras and Jesus. In addition, Horus was born under an Eastern star, was attended by three wise men, walked on water, healed the sick, was baptized at 20 years old by "Anup the Baptizer," and was later represented by the ichthys fish symbol adopted by Christians.

Care to guess Horus's birthday? Here's a hint: You celebrate it every year... on Christmas. 
 

4) Canaanite Polytheism Consolidated Its Many Gods to Become Judaism


Funny - don't see many 
Canaanites around these days.
Whatever happened to those guys, anyway? Maybe the Amalakites know. In any case, Caananite polytheism (or Baal worship) was once a pretty big deal in the Middle East, and it lives on at least to some extent in the religion that ultimately replaced it.

Fans of the Old Testament know all about Baal and the Canaanites, but what fewer people know is that "Baal" wasn't a single god. It was just a title, meaning "Lord" or "God." There were many Baals worshipped in this area, the highest of whom was called El. As in "El Elohim," "Yahweh," or "the exact same god of the Old Testament."

The Old Testament also mentions other gods. Example: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." See, originally, the Hebrew god El was a Canaanite Baal - the father of all other gods, like Asherah (also mentioned in the Old Testament), Astarte, Dagon, and many others. Think of El as equivalent to Zeus, Apollo, or Odin; not a singular god, but an all-powerful father to the others. 

When the ancient Hebrews came through, they were flying the banner of the "god of all gods." Effectively, the Hebrews just cut out the middlemen and decided to worship the Baal El directly. Likely under the assumption that whatever Dad says goes among his kids, too.

This means two things. First: Baal worship is still alive and well in every church, synagogue, and mosque on Earth. Second: Judaism was not purely monotheistic. It was simply a version of pantheist Baal worship that places emphasis directly on the most powerful god. If that's your measure of "monotheism," then any temple devoted to Zeus, Apollo, or Odin could say the same. 


5) Catharism Was Brutally Eradicated by the Catholic Church


Those who know the history of the Catholic Church are already well familiar with the Cathars. Specifically, because they don't exist anymore.

Catharism was a gnostic religion. The Cathars believed there were two gods: the evil God of Creation spoken of in the Old Testament, and the good God of the New Testament. Essentially, the Cathars believed that the Yahweh of the Old Testament was really Satan, who had created every single physical thing in the world, including people. They believed that humans were essentially genderless, angelic spirits trapped within a body made by the Devil, and that only knowledge of the truth ("gnosis" could relieve the angelic spirit of its constant reincarnation into evil flesh. 

By 1209, the Catholic Church had mercilessly wiped this entire group of heretics off the face of the Earth. Only the Black Death killed more Europeans than the Catholics during this genocidal purge. Today, we remember the Cathars on one specific date, the day on which the last Cathar fortress fell. The Church burned over 200 Cathars alive at the foot of that castle. Cathars called this day "The Massacre of Montsegur" - today we simply know it as "Friday the 13th." 
 

6) Zoroastrianism Invented the Ideas of Heaven, Hell, and Monotheism


This fascinating Babylonian religion may not be well known today, but it's probably one of the most important religions of all time. Especially for modern Jewish and Christian culture. In fact, the more you learn about this supposedly dead religion, the more you may come to recognize some of your own beliefs within it. 

Appearing approximately 2,000 years before Jesus, Zoroastrianism far predates the earliest extra-biblical mention of Judaism. In Zoroastrianism, we find history's first verifiable mention of a supreme being of wisdom, love, and enlightenment. His name was "Ahura Mazda." This makes Zorastrianism effectively the first monotheistic religion. In it, we find history's first mention of a "hell" where evil people suffer for their bad deeds, and a "heaven" created for good people. 

It's worth noting that these concepts, so commonly believed by Christians, Jews, and Muslims, are actually nowhere to be found in any of their respective religious texts. You'll find nothing in the Quran or Bible that says people go to heaven just for being generally good, or hell just for being generally evil. This convention held by so many Abrahamic believers is strictly Zoroastrian, handed down orally by reformed Jews after the Babylonian Captivity. Zoroastrianism is a fascinating case of oral tradition surviving in parallel (or even direct conflict) with written tradition. 
Zoroastrianism is still being Practiced in Iran at the moment with temples.
 

7) Judaism "Died" and Came Back to Life as a New Religion


Huh? What is Judaism doing on this list? There are something like 14 million practicing Jews in the world. How is that a "dead" religion? And this is where we wrap up something briefly mentioned in the section on Zoroastrianism. To wit: modern Jews, aren't. And maybe never were. 

Modern Judaism is, like the Hebrew language, a notably "re-born" tradition. While the history of Judaism is said to span approximately 3,000 years, there was an approximately 100-year gap in the practice of Judaism known as the Babylonian Exile. Noted at length in the Bible, during this period the Jewish people were taken from their homeland to Babylon as captives. Between about 600 BC and 515 BC, the Jews were scattered, deported, and taken to Babylon with nothing but their oral tradition. It was more than likely during this period when most of the Old Testament was written, including books later attributed to Moses. 

By the time the Jews returned to Israel, several generation had come and gone between the practice of Judaism and its rebirth. Some old religious and historical texts still existed, but nobody knew how to read them anymore. All the Jews had were stories passed down from their great-great grandparents - and the rest was guesswork. 

It's hard to say how much or how little modern Judaism has in common with ancient Judaism. Certainly there are commonalities, but there's so much Babylonian Zoroastrianism in the Old Testament (again, even in those books reportedly written by Moses) that it's impossible to say. In any case, simply the fact that modern Judaism is strictly monotheistic, while ancient Judaism was clearly polytheistic, is enough to dispel the notion that ancient Judaism survives in practice today. 
 

Finnish Paganism Revolved Around Feminism, Equality, and Great Sex


Ukko was Finland's take on Nordic mythology. It shares many common traits and tropes with other polytheistic pagan religions of the area, specifically those which included Thor and Odin. The most interesting about this variation on Nordic Paganism is that the Thor figure (named Ukko) is its central and most powerful figure. Ukko is the god of the sky and thunder; thunder itself is the result of Ukko's apparently AMAZING copulation with his wife, Akka. 

Here we see something fairly unique among European religious traditions: a kind of yin and yang relationship between Ukko and Akka. They're actually spoken of almost synonymously, being essentially the male and female counterparts of one another. Neither Ukko nor Akka is more powerful than the other - rather, they share a complimentary relationship, co-ruling the Earth in a balance of the masculine and feminine. "Ukko" usually refers to both of them as a single entity; but only because the Finnish language uses default male pronouns. In point of fact, though, Ukko and Akka are two sides of the same coin. That's an idea very rarely seen outside of Eastern religions, and reason enough to explore the fascinating mythology of this long-dead religion.




9) The Greeks Gave the Peaceful Minoan Goddess Worshippers a Bad Name.


The word "Minoan" refers to the people of the island of Crete, so named for their first king, Minos. You'll probably recognize that name from the Greek story of the Minotaur. However, the story of the Minotaur was always a purely Greek fiction meant to make their Minoan rivals look like backward savages, having sex with bulls and torturing unwary travelers to death. "Propaganda" seems like too light a word.

It is a shame that we remember the Minoans that way, too. Because the Minoans were a fairly peaceful people who worshipped one or more nature goddesses. Not much is known about the religious practices themselves, apart from the fact that some of them involved snakes and an annual festival of leaping over bulls. (This was likely the practice that inspired Greece's hit-piece Minotaur story.)

There's been some suggestion of human sacrifice, but again: since the Minoan civilization was largely wiped out by earthquakes and natural catastrophes, we don't have much to go by outside of Greek records. Which is, at best, kind of like reading "A History of America" by Joseph Stalin.


10) Manichaeism Is Like a Best-Of Compilation of All the Other Major Religions


This gnostic religion was founded by an Iranian prophet named Mani about 250 AD. Manichaeism was one of those "fusion" religions that drew influences from all over the place in order to form some kind of coherent cosmology. Mani drew from the teachings of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus, combining them with some apocryphal writings like the Book of Enoch, as well as a smattering of Vedic, Egyptian, and Greek traditions. Put it this way: If Mani were alive today, he'd be writing books on the Karmic Spirituality of Quantum Mechanics, and Aligning Your Kabbalah Chakras with Chiropractic Meditation. 


11) Genghis Khan Practiced Tengrism and Worshipped "Wind Horses"


Somewhere between the East and Middle East lay Central Asia, a place known for heavily influencing and being influenced by other cultures. Tengri was long the prevailing religion of the Turks, Hungarians, and Mongols - including Genghis Khan. Followers of Tengri see life as a matter of maintaining harmony and balance between two elements. Life is sustained by the blue sky (Tengri), the fertile Mother Earth Eje, and a unifying ruler who they regard as the spirit of the Sky, Heaven, and Earth. However, these spirits only account for existence; the needs of an individual are met by the spirits of ancestors, animals, and natural elements. 

Adherents of Tengri see the soul as a "wind horse," which is a horse made of wind. Obv. By living a good life, you become a powerful wind horse, sweeping forever across the plains and helping to bring needed rain or clear skies to your family. In Tengri, wind is literally the passage of souls, and whatever the wind blows is a gift from these souls.


12) Vedism Evolved Into Hinduism and Spread Throughout Asia and the Middle East


Vedism is a hugely important religion with far too many aspects to cover in one list entry. Suffice it to say, nothing written here would even scratch the surface. 

Vedism is a sort of proto-religion that served as a wellspring for many practiced today. All forms of Hinduism started out with the Indo-Aryan practice of Vedism. It was a pantheist religion with two classes of gods (the Devas and Asuras), which may number in the near infinite. However, only 33 of the deities are actually named. The concept of four elements (earth, air, fire, and water) come from the Vedic tradition. Vedism didn't so much "disappear" as evolve into many other religions, and you can still find echoes of it alive and well today throughout India and the Middle East.

This pictures below depict some of the things the unknowing victims of religious belief systems are made to pass through all in the name of worshipping a God...

See for yourself!

In this one, one of the popular shamans told his followers that Heaviness is a spirit, and that he is binding it on their behalf...and they all continue to chorus Amen.

Can you tell a reasonable person that Heaviness is a spirit? This are things you can only tell to people who have lost their common sense, deferring it to the shaman to toy with as he chooses.
As a freethinker, things like this pains me so much, it's disheartening!

IamMichael:
This pictures below depict some of the things the unknowing victims of religious belief systems are made to pass through all in the name of worshipping a God...

See for yourself!

The Bible says "man must not live(survive) on bread(food) alone, but by every utterance from Jehovah's (God's) mouth" Luke 4:4 compare to Deuteronomy 8:3

Of course there is nourishing food as well as poisonous food, but no creature survives without eating!

Humans are intelligent creatures, unlike animals we need special guidance in order to coexist and do other necessary things together, no matter how hard you think "this oneness in reasoning that you desire so much can never be achieved without GOD in the picture". Matthew 19:26

You will surely make more enemies than friends, create more divisions than unity, build more destructive devices than vaccines for diseases!
The only gravitational force that can bring intelligent beings like you and i together under one umbrella to rub minds for progress in LOVE, JOY and PEACE is GOD!

Still preparing some stuff...This thread must go on!!!


Regards!!!

IamMichael:
What is the correlation between what you are saying and the post you quoted?

Correlation!

FAKE currencies in circulation never mean there is no ORIGINAL.
People willing to obey stupid instructions indicates that humans weren't created to be absolutely free of control, we need guidance. But the issue is how do we get the right guidance NOT outrightly condemning guidance all together simply because many chose to follow blind guides!

Maximus69:
Correlation!

FAKE currencies in circulation never mean there is no ORIGINAL.
People willing to obey stupid instructions indicates that humans weren't created to be absolutely free of control, we need guidance. But the issue is how do we get the right guidance NOT outrightly condemning guidance all together simply because many chose to follow blind guides!

What exactly are you talking about?

IamMichael:
What exactly are you talking about?

The pictures you posted shows FAKE Christians, but that doesn't mean there is no ORIGINAL!

Maximus69:
The pictures you posted shows FAKE Christians, but that doesn't mean there is no ORIGINAL!

What do you mean?

IamMichael:
What do you mean?

Just what you mean!

Maximus69:
Just what you mean!

Obviously, you have nothing to say. That's why you can never correlate what you are talking about to the comments you quote.


And to think that this is exactly how you comprehend the bible...I mean, even the bible will be talking of another thing, and you will be understanding it from an off point angle.

IamMichael:
Obviously, you have nothing to say. That's why you can never correlate what you are talking about to the comments you quote.


And to think that this is exactly how you comprehend the bible...I mean, even the bible will be talking of another thing, and you will be understanding it from an off point angle.

At least i have a global family that appreciate me, anywhere i found them we are as if from the same blood unlike you who think you evolve from apes so you can't relate with people from other places!

Maximus69:
At least i have a global family that appreciate me, anywhere i found them we are as if from the same blood unlike you who think you evolve from apes so you can't relate with people from other places!

The devil himself also has a family...God is his father and his angels are also the devil's brothers and sisters...But apparently, they don't have a mother cuz God is asexual...

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,
none but our self can free our own minds.

IamMichael:
The devil himself also has a family...God is his father and his angels are also the devil's brothers and sisters...But apparently, they don't have a mother cuz God is asexual...

Family in a spiritual sense doesn't mean blood relations Sir!

It simply means people have the same line of thought and putting it good use in order to benefit all members!

You're not a family if there is nothing you can benefit from people, how long have you seen your blood relations who aren't living with you?
In that case your REAL families are people who are promoting you by all means not blood relations that's of no practical use to you!

Satan lost his family when he began going against the oneness in heaven.

So i'm benefitting from my own spiritual family (Jehovah's Witnesses) therefore it's senseless loosing my family for no just course!