Religious Errors

1. 88

   Austinstarposted 12 years ago

   Please list in a 1. 2. 3. format exactly what is "wrong" or "erroneous"  about the world's major (or minor) religions.

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   1. 61

      Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      1. Hell
      2. Satan & demons
      3. Rigid beliefs

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      1. 68

         Rod Marsdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I'll go along with rigid beliefs for sure.

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   2. 81

      rmichaelfposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Austinstar!
      I just returned from a rather long "sabbatical" and am "cruising" to get my feet wet again...
      I think that the problem is that:
      1. Religion becomes institutionalized. 
      Once the Master or Teacher on whom the religion is based is gone, and the Religion gains popularity.
      2.Individuals come along with their personal agendas and motivations, and begin converting the Master's teaching into laws and dogma.
      3.Those individuals can then control and direct the "followers."
      4.That translates into money and power.
      
      And that translates into all of the "Good" and "Bad" from adherents and opponents.
      And all the arguing and fighting and killing, etc., that folks like to shout about.
      imho,
      
      It's not the teachings of the "Teacher" or "Master" anymore from that point onward that people follow.  They follow the priests and imams and monks, etc., who are leading, who are in power.
      
      A clear understanding of this process can be seen in the history of the Christian religion.  Christianity "blew up" in the 4th Century, when the Eastern Emperor Constantine proclaimed it to be the State Religion.
      
      I'll be glad to talk with you on where to study this.  This doesn't detract from the teachings of Christ at all.  Just points out the infallibility of man.
      As I said,
      imho,
      Namaste, Blessings
      michael

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   3. 69

      A Thousand Wordsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      -Dogma...
      -Black/White world, no color...
      -Super Ego...
      -Illogical...
      -Teach people that free thought is a bad thing...
      Etc...

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   4. 60

      sen.sush23posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      1. Assuming that they are the right way
      2. Assuming they are the only way
      3. Assuming all other ways lead no-where

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      1. 88

         Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Assuming that deities exist in the first place gets my vote.

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   5. 60

      twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      1. God(s) exist
      2. One religious philosophy is inherently better than another
      3. One can make claims without supporting evidence

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      1. 68

         Rod Marsdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, claims without supporting evidence...how true.

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   6. 68

      Rod Marsdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      1. Even when the religion states no killing there is still inevitably killing over the religion.
      
      2. The rules created at the time a scripture or other religious document was put together will be adhered to long after those rules have become useless, even destructive. The times and circumstance may change but the rules remain regardless.
      
      3. True knowledge has to struggle against superstition. At one time the Catholic authority did not like the fact that it could be proven by a medieval telescope that the moon was not perfect, it has craters. Being a heavenly body it should have been without blemish.

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2. 61

   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   1. God
   2. Devil
   3. Heaven/Earth duality.

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3. 69

   christopherantonposted 12 years ago

   1: Dogmatism.
   
   2: Lack of real charity to all fellow humans.
   
   3: Lack of real Godliness.
   
   I am including Atheism as a major religion.

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   1. 60

      Paul Wingertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Atheism is not a religion.

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4. 61

   Jonathon Kennedyposted 12 years ago

   "Religion" can't be "wrong" or "erroneous" because it's just a concept. The wrongness and error..ness...comes from people. Some of those guys ruin everything. Some of them ruin food, some of them ruin other people, some of them ruin the air we breathe, and some of them ruin positions of authority.

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5. 60

   Paul Wingertposted 12 years ago

   1. The brainwashing of the idea of satan and god introduced since childhood. The idea of you either belief or you die an eternal death BS.
   2. The idea that bigotry and discrimination is okay as long as it's written in the scriptures.
   3. Stiffles progress.
   4. Taking the Bible, Koran, and the Jewish Bible literally. Although mainstream Judism and the Vatican no longer takes these scriptures literally.
   5. Promoting false hope.

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   1. 68

      Rod Marsdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Promoting false hope is a good point.

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6. 77

   Shadesbreathposted 12 years ago

   1. Too easily corrupted by human nature.
   
   2. No recent, highly visible, conspicuously godlike, universally witnessed appearances by relevant deities.
   
   3. Too many competing narratives, even within each major religion, create a cacophony of contradictory meaninglessness.

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7. 88

   Austinstarposted 12 years ago

   Wow! This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks guys.
   Christopher, as Paul said, Atheism is not a religion. Atheism is a disbelief in religion. Do you describe people who believe in religion to be "religionists"?

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8. 59

   Jeramiposted 12 years ago

   Austinstar that is a good question. 
   First off ....   religious or religion is such a broad term that  according to some criteria established in the definition; many that think they are not  but  ARE.
   And many that think they are on the only true path  and  AREN"T.
   
   1.
     I was once told that I was going to go to hell (for two reasons) because the  pastor that babtized me was a woman AND  allowed musical instruments to be played in Church.
   
   2
   I am told that I am going to hell for the smallest of things which I have done, that I know that I should not have done.   But, I am automatically forgiven for the greatest of atrocities by saying the sinners prayer. Then I get to do the smallest of things without giving them any thought al all.
   
   3.   I am told that I do not have to believe everything that Jesus said, only the part that does not upset my/your interpretation.   WELL!   that leaves out just about everything he said, according to somebody.
   
   4.   No one understands the prophesy yet proclaim that they see them COMING  INTO fulfillment.
   
   5.   Inside the religious sitting, no one are allowed to ask the hard questions, which lead me to think that I am no supposed to ...!   
   
   MY first question is;  why is it that with some prophesy a day in prophesy is a year and some times it is said to be a day ?   It seems like it would always be one or the other or there would be no purpose in receiving a prophesy.    That is enough for now.

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9. 87

   Jewelsposted 12 years ago

   1. The misinterpretation of ancient doctrines, intentionally taught to dumb down the masses through fear. (It's working isn't it!)
   
   2. The false 'righteous', regurgitating their interpretations of re-written and now false doctrines to stroke their own little egos. (As witnessed incessantly via the HP forums.)
   
   3.  The resultant venomous hatred among the believers protecting their false doctrines, and the rationalists who play exactly the same game to satisfy their minds.  In essence the same game played from different angles,  serving the same master.

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   1. 88

      Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad I tried the forum though. In my Q&A questions, everyone is NOT answering the questions. Most of them are just telling me how great it is to be a Christian. This is a strange answer to the question, "What is wrong with other (not yours) religions?" 
      I am not asking for people to tell me what their religion is, only what they THINK is wrong with other religions.
      So I have to agree that rigid thinking, brainwashing and dogmatism is an error of the Christian variety for sure.

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      1. 87

         Jewelsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Definitely in modern day Christianity anyway.  I refer to the Christian Right or Fundamentalist Christianity moreso for the blatant bastardization of biblical texts and distasteful behavior toward anyone who does not believe as they do.   Yep.......I could go on and on but it's a useless exercise.  Good question Austinstar.

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10. 88

    Austinstarposted 12 years ago

    Thank you all for giving such accurate answers! I am so tired of wading through the Q&A on how great Jesus is which is not the answer for the question I posed.

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11. 74

    lone77starposted 12 years ago

    Howdy, Austinstar.
    
    My view is that the 3 most erroneous things about the religions of today are:
    
    1) Ego
    
    2) Ego
    
    3) Ego
    
    Ego is selfishness. It is also the sense of entitlement and the idea of self being right and everyone else being wrong. Ego is also laziness, not digging for truth, but relying on current dogma as if it were the final answer. I don't see anyone walking on water, yet, though I have experienced several miracles. Despite my own successes, I know full well that I have very far to go.
    
    Ego is arrogance -- thinking that you already know all the answers. No one does, at least on this planet. But that doesn't mean we can't move in the direction of spiritual truth.
    
    Science studies the products of God's creation, but so many so-called Christians disrespect science because it conflicts with their weak and lazy interpretation of the Bible.
    
    Science is batting well over 900 (an American baseball term for perfection, 1000 being "perfect"). For Christians and other religious fundamentalists to ignore science is to court delusion. For what is delusion other than ignoring reality?
    
    With my own humility (and scientists use this attitude all the time to make discoveries), I discovered a timeline in Genesis compatible with those of science. It even reveals answers to some of the bigger enigmas of Genesis, like the identity of the "daughters of men" in Genesis 6, and the real reason for Noah's Flood (27,970 BC). Whatever that event was (metaphor, symbolic, actual), it talks of the destruction of humans and the daughters and their hybrid offspring. Why? Because those "daughters" would've destroyed humanity's chances for civilization and enlightenment. Most Christians miss this kind of revelation, because they stopped looking. That's ego. That's a "know-it-all" attitude.
    
    But ego is what is wrong with every other aspect of humanity, too. Science, government, economy, business, etc. Just look at the financial meltdown of 2008 -- pure Wall Street selfishness.
    
    And look at the obliviousness of American citizens regarding 9/11. The world continues to hurtle toward tyranny, and never-ending war, all because of the lie of 9/11, and yet few want to find the truth about it. They let Normalcy Bias (driven by ego) keep them from looking. Just like the Jews of Nazi Germany, they think it'll blow over and that it'll be okay tomorrow. No one acted until it was too late to stop the madness. 9/11 was an inside job as proved by the thousands of scientists, engineers and architects at http://www.AE911Truth.org. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that we've been played, because the puppet masters know how to manipulate "ego!"

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    1. 88

       Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Ego may indeed be the root of all evil, not money. Although the love of money has a great deal to do with it too.

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       1. 61

          Jonathon Kennedyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          If humans created ego, religion and money doesn't that make humans the 'root' of all evil?

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          1. 88

             Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             That statement is probably more true than we are willing to believe!

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12. 76

    aguasilverposted 12 years ago

    1. Churchianity
    2. Apostasy
    3. Acceptance of iniquity

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    1. 88

       Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Oh great, now I have to go look up the definition of some more words. I think I know the first one though. Thanks for the learning experience!

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       1. 76

          aguasilverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          always willing to oblige!
          
          The first word (as far as  I know) is my own invention, the others are consequences of the same.
          
          John

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          1. 88

             Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             I'm sure I won't get this right, but Chuchianity is "wrong" because people attend churches to show off?
             2. Apostasy is wrong because the bible is the literal word of God?
             3. Acceptance of iniquity is wrong because religion has become too tolerant of immoral behavior?
             I'm just guessing here. Please let me know if I missed anything.

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             1. 76

                aguasilverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Nope, think you summed that up pretty well!
                
                Churchianity (IMO and as I invented the word, guess that counts!) is the perversion of Christianity into religious forms of worship which are outside of what Christ commanded or intended.
                
                So anything that brings people to obey their 'church' rather than Christ is Churchianity.
                
                I stop short of identifying it as AntiChrist activity because they all claim to love and believe in Christ.
                
                They just seem to have some problems obeying what He commanded.
                
                Apostasy is more or less the same, but I classified it separately as there are Apostates in all religions and none.
                
                Iniquity is lawlessness in essence, and our world has turned away from holding fixed moral compasses towards sailing to distant horizons because they look good.
                
                Let me know when you have published your hub, should be a good read!

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                1. 88

                   Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   It is now published - Bad Religion: What is Wrong With Religion.

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13. 0

    Motown2Chitownposted 12 years ago

    1 - Elitism
    2 - Self Appointed Leaders who claim to speak for God
    3 - Fear that if you don't follow MY way, you're following the WRONG way

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    1. 88

       Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       How does one get to be "self appointed" in religion? I am confused about that one.
       Elitism is definitely a factor in bad religion. Fear is what seems to inspire religion.
       We're doomed.

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       1. 0

          Motown2Chitownposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Part of the problem of 'religion' is that once a person believes in 'God,' they put themselves on the fast track to becoming 'God.'  Those who refuse to seek any truth/answers beyond their own noses take the words of the stronger, more charismatic individual as the only truth and follow blindly.  If, indeed, there is a Creator, He's either done a poor job of communicating truth to humanity (which I doubt) or we've done a fantastic job of muddling the message for our own benefit.  I think human beings, while being basically good, are inherently arrogant and power hungry.
          
          I agree that is what seems to inspire religion, but overall I think it's simply our rational minds reaching out to understand our wider sense of purpose in the world.  Make sense?  In the end, we fail with religion because we HAVE to point to external sources in order to validate our worth and purpose, rather than developing the goodness already within us.
          
          Maybe we're doomed, but I tend to think otherwise.
          
          
          
          Edit:  that 'fear' is what seems to inspire religion.

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          1. 88

             Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             You may have hit the nail on the head again Mo. Perhaps there is one true God and it is mankind's inherent nature to screw things up.

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             1. 0

                Motown2Chitownposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                I think we're definitely the most likely culprits.

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             2. 88

                Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Fear scares people into becoming religious?

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                1. 0

                   Motown2Chitownposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   In some cases, people become religious because of fear - fear of death, mostly.  It's some way for them to have some control over what happens when they die, or so they think.  Corrupt religious leaders take advantage of that (those self appointed spokesmen of God that I referred to earlier) by making the frightened religious folks do what THEY say to avoid eternity in Hell, rather than doing good because it's instinctual or worshiping their God simply because of the love they feel for Him.
                   
                   Some of us are inspired to religious observance because of a desire to do good and the opinion that whatever faith expression we've chosen is the best way to do that.
                   
                   Am I explaining myself adequately?

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                   1. 88

                      Austinstarposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                      Yes you are, my friend. And you explain yourself very well. Now if we could only get some people to listen, we might correct some of these errors in religion.
                      Actions are the only way to know if a person is 'godly' or not. If one lives a 'godly' or Christlike life, I can understand that perfectly. It's only when religion becomes a club to beat people over the head that I can't stand it.

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14. 70

    SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

    1. Greed
    
    2. Hypocrisy
    
    3. Antiquated, inaccurately translated texts

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