Is Religion Self-Contradicting?

S

StarOfEight

A Man of Taste and Decency
Registered Senior Member
Moses attacked idolatry, Jesus attacked Judaism, Buddha attacked Hinduism, Mohammed attacked polytheism, and Joseph Smith attacked Christianity. So, basically, the founders of most major religions began by denouncing the dominant religion of their time and place.
 
StarOfEight said:
Moses attacked idolatry, Jesus attacked Judaism, Buddha attacked Hinduism, Mohammed attacked polytheism, and Joseph Smith attacked Christianity. So, basically, the founders of most major religions began by denouncing the dominant religion of their time and place.
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M*W: Where is the evidence that "Jesus attacked Judaism?" Jesus was a Rabbi if he existed at all.
 
Maybe attacked is too strong. However, he did say claim that was going to essentially overthrow the existing religious structure, or at the very least, replace it. And before you launch into another tirade about the Bible being the creation of a Pauline conspiracy, let me point out ... that's my point. The mythology surrounding religious founders is that they are opposed to the pre-existing religion. Hell, that's even true of the ancient Greeks, what with Zeus leading the revolt against the Titans.
 
StarOfEight said:
Maybe attacked is too strong. However, he did say claim that was going to essentially overthrow the existing religious structure, or at the very least, replace it. And before you launch into another tirade about the Bible being the creation of a Pauline conspiracy, let me point out ... that's my point. The mythology surrounding religious founders is that they are opposed to the pre-existing religion. Hell, that's even true of the ancient Greeks, what with Zeus leading the revolt against the Titans.
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M*W: But, again, those words were Paul's words, not Jesus' words. There is NO PROOF to what Jesus might have said. Jesus never wrote anything on his own. There is no reference in the NT that he commissioned anyone to transcribe his words. Yeah, the truth hurts, doesn't it?
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Isn't the reason that a religion is created because the founders don't like the other religions and so feel driven to invent another one.

So of course at some point every religion will criticize all the others since they all claim that theirs is only one true religion.

Kat
 
Yup, each religion is just a new and improved (to put it bluntly, heh) version of the one they were previously following.

- N
 
Medicine Woman said:
StarOfEight said:
Maybe attacked is too strong. However, he did say claim that was going to essentially overthrow the existing religious structure, or at the very least, replace it. And before you launch into another tirade about the Bible being the creation of a Pauline conspiracy, let me point out ... that's my point. The mythology surrounding religious founders is that they are opposed to the pre-existing religion. Hell, that's even true of the ancient Greeks, what with Zeus leading the revolt against the Titans.
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M*W: But, again, those words were Paul's words, not Jesus' words. There is NO PROOF to what Jesus might have said. Jesus never wrote anything on his own. There is no reference in the NT that he commissioned anyone to transcribe his words. Yeah, the truth hurts, doesn't it?
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Jesus Christ, this is painful.

Notice the title. "Is religion self-contradicting?"

Hence, it doesn't matter who wrote those words. Doesn't even matter if any of those people existed. What does matter, to repeat, is that the mythology surrounding religious founders is that they were opposed to the pre-existing religion. Thanks for playing, but try reading the entire post next time.

EDIT: Kat + Neil ... good point(s).
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StarOfEight said:
What does matter, to repeat, is that the mythology surrounding religious founders is that they were opposed to the pre-existing religion.
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Therefore? The narrative surrounding scientific theories is that they were opposed to the pre-existing theories.
 
ConsequentAtheist said:
Therefore? The narrative surrounding scientific theories is that they were opposed to the pre-existing theories.
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I don't recall reading about the followers of Mendel trying to crucify Darwin, but point well taken.
 
I'm just guessing here, but, if a new religion doesn't contradict pre-existing ones, what would be the point of creating it if you don't have anything new to say.
 
One of the problems you run into with any religious boundary is that it places a limit on the allegedly-infinite.

At that point, apparent contradictions will arise and multiply.

Any error will repeat itself in future generations unless somehow factored back out.

I haven't yet figured how to express the connection, but I thought of an old topic, specifically This Post. While the rest of the post is part of its topic, I would point to the sanitized excerpt from Adilbai Kharkovli. That excerpt is what strikes me in response to the present topic, but I'm not yet sure exactly how to explain it.
 
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