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Is there religion out there?

Started by fencerider, February 24, 2017, 01:09:18 AM

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Hydra009

Quote from: Blackleaf on February 24, 2017, 09:44:40 PMOn one hand, I think it would be interesting to learn about alien religions.
That's all well and good until you get the Aeon Illuminate and the Earth Empire falls to civil war.

aitm

Quote from: Blackleaf on February 24, 2017, 09:44:40 PM
On one hand, I think it would be interesting to learn about alien religions.
I dare say.....we have thousands on this planet alone.
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

aitm

Quote from: Blackleaf on February 24, 2017, 09:44:40 PM
Mythology can be fun to talk about in hypothetical terms.

Mythology is defined by the reigning religion. Until xians murdered so many for refusing to comply, the Greek and Roman gods were just as real as the Judean and Xian. So real. Good. Not real. Bad..so sad.
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Blackleaf

Quote from: aitm on February 25, 2017, 02:35:25 PM
Mythology is defined by the reigning religion. Until xians murdered so many for refusing to comply, the Greek and Roman gods were just as real as the Judean and Xian. So real. Good. Not real. Bad..so sad.

Greek/Roman mythology may be "dead," but its much more fun than modern religions.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

Baruch

Quote from: aitm on February 25, 2017, 02:32:52 PM
I dare say.....we have thousands on this planet alone.

With Zoroastrianism ... you get sky burial (body consumed by scavengers) just like the Lakota, and the stone age people who built Gobekle Tepe, the first stone building on Earth.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

Quote from: Blackleaf on February 25, 2017, 04:53:12 PM
Greek/Roman mythology may be "dead," but its much more fun than modern religions.
If I had to pick a religion to be true, I'm with Stephen Fry: it would probably be that of classical Greece.  Not only did you have gods directly involved with humanity, they were comprehensible in a human way.

To which I would also add, also for the most part naked, muscular and willing.  :D
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Baruch

Semitic religions, like semitic people, are way too puritanical ;-(  The Indo-European people and their religions ... eat, drink and be merry!
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Blackleaf

#22
Quote from: trdsf on February 25, 2017, 07:16:31 PM
If I had to pick a religion to be true, I'm with Stephen Fry: it would probably be that of classical Greece.  Not only did you have gods directly involved with humanity, they were comprehensible in a human way.

To which I would also add, also for the most part naked, muscular and willing.  :D

Greek mythology has terrifying consequences, if true, though. First, when you die, you go to Hades. A place at the center of the earth, with this gloomy atmosphere. No matter if you were good or evil, you could not escape Hades. Second, the gods can fuck with you whenever they want, and they often do so. They may try to rape you, or grant a wish knowing that you'd be royally screwed over by it, or they can turn you into some inanimate object that still has consciousness, or they can torment you for eternity in creative ways. A few examples that stand out are Prometheus, who was tied to a rock and had his regenerating liver eaten out by a bird every day, Tantalus, who was punished with eternal thirst and hunger in an environment where the water would recede away from him and the fruit of the trees would be just out of reach, and Tithonus, who was granted eternal life without eternal youth, so that he wished for death as he withered away but could not have it.

Sometimes the gods would even oppose one another, and put people in lose-lose situations as they were forced to obey one and disobey the other. Not even demi-gods were off the hook. Heracles was tortured his by Hera his entire life just because she was angry that he was the son of Zeus and another woman. I swear, every Greek story that comes to mind involves someone being majorly screwed over by the gods.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

Baruch

#23
Yes, the Greek gods weren't proper Victorian moralists.  And generally opposed imperialism, unlike the Victorians.  Alexander was a semi-barbarian Macedonian, not a proper Greek, even if he claimed to be fathered by Zeus and descended from Heracles.  So basically, the only good gods are Gandhi and MLK, and the only good society the kind that Gandhi and MLK would promote?  Both Gandhi and MLK weren't gods of moral perfection ... though they gave it a very good go.

If you were queen of the Olympian gods, would you blame Hera her annoyance at Zeus' many dalliances?  Giving mankind fire (aka technology) .. now there is a two edged weapon of irony.  Remember, Prometheus was a Titan, a pardoned enemy of the Olympian gods ... the Titans having struggled to restore Chaos over Cosmos.  Prometheus' brother was Epimetheus ... husband of Pandora, she a gift from Zeus, and her famous box of ills.  But only one ill was kept, the illness of hope.  So I guess the gift of fire and the gift of Pandora (who Zeus with forethought knew would be too curious not to open the box) ... might cancel each other.   And some of the human characters who are tortured in Hades ... deserved their punishment.  Generally speaking .. Egyptian afterlife, in the later period, was more progressive.  It is primarily from Egypt that we derive the Biblical Last Judgement.

I suspect many here, if they were in ancient Greece, would be heretics like Pythagoras, going to their secret conclaves to do mathematical spells and corrupt politics, and worship new gods not approved ... like Socrates.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

fencerider

I hope that when people come from these 7 planets to earth that Baruch is here to explain all these religions to them. Too many religions to give you a headache.
"Do you believe in god?", is not a proper English sentence. Unless you believe that, "Do you believe in apple?", is a proper English sentence.

Baruch

Quote from: fencerider on February 26, 2017, 01:09:37 AM
I hope that when people come from these 7 planets to earth that Baruch is here to explain all these religions to them. Too many religions to give you a headache.

Maybe, but not the R religion and the D religion ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: fencerider on February 24, 2017, 01:09:18 AM
Yesterday Feb 22,2017 late in the afternoon/early evening NASA announced the discovery of a star system with 7 earth size planets.
Today Feb 23,2017 a radio talk show host decided to stimulate a conversation by asking a provacative question. I think it would be interesting for all of you to answer that question.

Do you want them ( meaning sentient beings of the 7 planets) to be religious?

As an atheist, why would I want other sentient beings to suffer the destructive idea of a deity?  NO!
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Cavebear

Quote from: Ro3bert on February 24, 2017, 12:50:32 PM
Well if there are I hope they don't decide to try to convert us to whatever "religion" they happen to practice. Especially if they fight over which one we should follow.

Yeah.  I mean, what if their deity was a lab rat.  Or a cow.  We would be in a whole lot of trouble if we met...
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on February 26, 2017, 10:01:01 AM
Yeah.  I mean, what if their deity was a lab rat.  Or a cow.  We would be in a whole lot of trouble if we met...

What if they worshipped parasites in bear do-do?  You would be a church, not a god ;-))
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: Baruch on February 26, 2017, 12:21:15 PM
What if they worshipped parasites in bear do-do?  You would be a church, not a god ;-))

I would just be a carcass.  O wait, I probably have all my cats' parasites.  Including the one that makes you inane.  Nut bibly, do not reco frond the braille taod.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!