Would you be making the religion for money or power alone?
What if I made up my own Religion?
- Thread starter greenberg
- Start date
Would you be making the religion for money or power alone?
So what logical steps did you take to arrive at the worst case scenario?
"I am in the river up to my nose, with piranhas eating me alive. God is hovering above the water, tapping me on the head, saying "You were told to believe in me, and you didn't! Ha ha, suits you right!" "
Jan.
Yes.
I need to explain my image of the worst case scenario in more detail first:
There are two components in my image of eternal hellfire: intense physical suffering and intense psychological suffering.
As for intense physical suffering: the piranhas are circumstantial. It could also be pitbulls tearing me to shreds, flesh-eating bacteria, fire, acid, being pierced by spears, sleep deprivation, ... or a combination of them - what's important is that there is a cause for intense physical suffering.
The other component is intense psychological suffering. This, too, can come about in many ways: Being possessed by thoughts of evil yet remaining lucid, manipulation, being continually exposed to double binds and fallacious reasoning, Chinese water-drop torture, sleep deprivation, a chaotically changing environment, ... or a combination of them. God tapping me on the head and other people laughing at me saying it was "all my choice" is a form of manipulation and exposure to double binds.
Here are some conclusions to some of the premisses listed earlier:
P1: Whether a person believes in God or not is entirely the person's choice.
P2: Humans have an evil nature, that is what they really are and will remain so forever. But God has mercy on them, this is why He lets them live.
P3: God will judge and send people either to eternal heaven or to eternal hellfire. This way, justice will be done.
In effect, I don't believe in God. According to P1, this is my choice, even if I don't think it is - and I don't think it is my choice because I am evil by nature, as per P2.
But, and this is the double bind, an evil person cannot deliberately make a good choice (and believing in God is a good choice); therefore, an evil person cannot choose to believe in God; yet an evil person will be sent to eternal hell because they haven't made a choice they cannot make in the first place. - And this is called justice, per P3.
P3: God will judge and send people either to eternal heaven or to eternal hellfire. This way, justice will be done.
P4: The righteous will rejoice when justice is done.
That is, people who will be in heaven will rejoice that others are in hell.
P5: God has created everyone in his own image.
Which means that people, as they are, are an image of God. Which means that God is the way people are: good, bad, kind, manipulative, mortal, immortal, tall, short, wise, stupid, cruel, gentle and so on.
P3: God will judge and send people either to eternal heaven or to eternal hellfire. This way, justice will be done.
P6: God is infinitely benevolent and merciful.
Which means that sending people to eternal hellfire is an act of benevolence, mercy, and justice. According to P3 and P6, letting people burn in hell forever is an act of benevolence.
P7: God has created the Universe and everything in it.
P8: If a person does something evil, this is entirely the person's choice. God has nothing to do with the choices people make.
According to some theists, there is no contradiction here.
P9: Anything good that a person does is inspired by God.
Which means that going to heaven (which is a good thing) is not a person's own doing, not a matter of their choice.
P10: Whether one will go to heaven, or to hell, is one's own choice.
Contradicts P3.
Again, according to some theists, there is no contradiction here.
I would make it first and foremost for my own happiness and for my liberation from suffering.
You and your "god" presume such a kind of "agreements" all the time: you impose unilateral obligations on others and call them "agreements" - and it is about such immense issues like eternal hellfire or intimate personal truths.
But when someone gives you some of your poison, just a tiny bit of it, about a relatively small issue like requesting of you to not post in their threads or reply to their posts, you cry foul.
As long as you keep being such a hypocrite, you are not welcome to post in my threads or reply to my posts.
That is your problem.
sounds like you are on your way to being a religious leader already. :thumbsup:
Been done countless times. Needs some originality, something contemporary. Cars instead of chariots, computer instead of an abacus, and so on.
Then you're still borrowing old ideas. Ideas that haven't worked for centuries.
sowhatifit'sdark
Valued Senior Member
You have to have a lot of confidence or self-belief. Walking into a church - if you don't get chills about what happened in the cellar - you can feel like the religion has weight. The correctness is not all your responsibility. If you start your own it may feel arbritrary, detached, one in a million possibilities. That this may be true about the religion swirling around in a church or mosque, etc., is besides the point. That feeling may be nagging, anyway. If it isn't, more power to you.
sowhatifit'sdark
Valued Senior Member
Preemptive excommunication. (but not really since she has her own religion. But as a religious leader this move is definitely not proselytizing. He is not treating her as a soul to be saved. And that's a positive.)
Oh man Mine would totally be magneto!
Mine would be reason.
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