Noting that I am not an Atheist I have to side on the point of the atheists on the points of Morality and motivation to do right. It should not matter if you have religion or not. Doing good for the sake of doing good should be all the motivation you need. I'm not sure if Atheists in general openly believe in Karma or not, but I think most people believe in it even if they don't call it Karma. I mean think about it, the golden rule. Here is another way to look at it, for those of you that are Christians. If the threat of eternal torture is your only motivation for not doing good then what kind of a Christian are you? I'd have to say that is a rather pathetic view. Also look at how much evil has been committed in the name of Religion? Hundreds of wars, millions of people Tortured, raped, or murdered all in the name of religion. Granted good has been done in the name of religion as well. In general I believe those that want to do bad are going to do bad regardless of what religion they follow and those that want to do good are going to do good regardless. So what motivates us? I think all of us are motivated to treat others fairly in hopes that they will treat us fairly too. In my personal beliefs there is also a 3 fold law. It is slightly different but also complements the more commonly known 3 fold law. In my views it is "Treat others the way that you want to be treated." (The Christian Golden rule right?) Also two more aspects: "Treat others the way that they deserve to be treated," and "Treat others the way they have treated you". The combination of these 3 rules means that in general we treat others with kindness, but when a person is doing wrongly to take the appropriate action, which often means punishment. We should not allow anyone to walk all over our kindness, nor should we walk over their kindness.
The Wiccan three-fold law states that what you give shall thrice be given to you, once in body, once in mind, and again in spirit. I am no Wiccan, and even this I find to be useless motivation, but I have to say, the best motivation is that being a dickwad gets you nothing productive.
I was born and I still am a Hindu. I don't believe that people should or shouldn't have a religion but what Flutterbee said sums up my views. As for the whole afterlife thing, I have been brought up to and I still kind of believe in re-incarnation. There still is some possibility that it might happen. If I'm right then things will pay off. If we go to Heaven straight away, then I still would've lived a good life. If we die and rot, nothing extra will be gained but I still would've done good in the world. I don't think choosing the right religion is too important as all religions have the same underlying points.
That is the more commonly used 3 fold law I referred to. I don't believe in the Wiccan 3 fold law either. When I was first told of the 3 fold law it was told to me by a witch the way that I mentioned it, or at least that was the way I understood what she was saying. It was much later in my life that I heard the more common Wiccan 3 fold law. It never made much sense to me either.
Well, being mostly an Athiest, I simply believe that once your time is up, that's it. Dead. Gone. However, that doesn't mean I don't hope there is an afterlife. Certainly, I'd like to be proven wrong. The idea of just dying and that's the end of that just... sucks.
This goes for me as well. I've grown up in a christian extended family (albeit a rather laid back one), but only recently secretly renounced my faith (never took it too seriously anyway). I don't want to die and that being the end of it all. It just makes me feel empty and worthless I guess.
I am good at esoterica. Boredom is a wonderful thing, no? (Brotip, I'm no Wiccan. If anything, I'm a *squee!*happensist.)
That is the thing. People who kill rape and plunder "In the name of God" Are not real Christians or any religion for that matter as I'm sure most if not all have laws against Murder, Rape and stealing. They are using their religion to justify their actions and that is wrong. With me I was raised to be a nice person regardless. And generally that is what happens in all Christian families and all other religions not only because they fear God but because they are genuinely nice people. Of course you will get the ones who mess up but that is normal in all religions and in society. One of the hardest things that I have found as a Christian and a Brony is loving my enemies. That part is really hard because of the way I get treated by them but in time it will come...
Well, it is not up to you or me to determine what someone elses religeon is. If someone says they are a Christian but you don't agree with they way he lives, it is not your place to tell them they are not. There really truely are people that do horrible crimes in the name of Christianity. For instance there are some Christinas that think that it is ok to murder witches, in fact they feel that they are obligated to. Why do they believe this? Because it is in the Bible. Also there is a story in the Bible of when Jehovah told the Jewish people to murder thousands of people of a different race and to take their wives and daughters as their own (rape), the ones that did this regardless of if they were commanded to or not were still in the wrong. Now I don't know if Jehovah actually told those Jews to do that or if they were using it as an excuse. Heck I don't even know if it actually happened, I just know that it is in the Bible.
Wait what...Which bible are you reading? I've read and studied my bible for a couple years and I have never come across that.
They are in the Old testament. It may not be the New testament but it is still in the bible God Telling the Jews to murder and rape: Numbers 31 and Judges 21 Just murder but not rape, but does include murdering children: Joshua 6, Deuteronomy 2 and 3, and 1st Samuel 15. Murder of family members/human sacrifice: Judges 11, Deuteronomy 13, There is another too with I think Joshua was the one that was going to be sacrificed. Hmm, there are also multiple times that God told a follower to take on multiple wives. Abraham had quite a few as I recall Some of the references may not be correct. I wasn't going to read the whole Bible in one night just to find them and there is more that I haven't listed. Exodus 22 is where it tells that you should kill witches.
ooh I see now...That was before Jesus came about...After Jesus came to earth things changed a lot. but yeah I see what you are saying...Exodus Chapter 22 Verse 18. Back in the beginning Jesus hadn't come to earth. That is why you had to make so many sacrifices and offerings. And that explains why the Jews plundered. Boy am I glad those days are over. +1 for you Flutterbee! Good show! *shakes hoof* :derpe:
One thing about Christianity that I like is the first creation of human rights. These early Christians made up some rights and put them onto a couple of stones and named them the 10 commandments. Without them, we'd be killing each other left, right and centre.
Yes there were still many things that came around later. Thousands of tortures and murders at the hands of Christian extremists because others had other views. Granted those things were not mandated by anything in the New Testament. I recall there were times that Jesus himself stood up for those of pagan faiths against the Jewish religious leaders according to the bible. I think that if Jesus were around during the time of the Christian crusades he would have been fighting on the opposite side of his supposed crusaders. Testyal, the 10 commandments are the Jewish laws, thousands of years before there were such a thing as Christians. Those commandments were written before any of those atrocities I mention that God commanded those very same people to do. The ten commandments is just part of the oldest of the old testament that Christians continue to use while the majority of things in the old testament are now ignored. Don't get me wrong, I agree that those things that are now ignored in the old testament should be ignored. Of course in my views you shouldn't accept everything that is in the Bible. It isn't the word of god, if it was it wouldn't have so many contradictions. It is probably the most important book ever written though and one I have read several times. At least everything in the old testament at least once and everything in the New testament at least twice. 52monn, I realize that what I've said above contradicts your beliefs much, you would say that Jesus was around at those times. Again I could debate those things with you. Remember these are my view points as a Non-christian that does know the bible and believes that the bible is at least somewhat accurate on history. I still view it as a book written by people and anything in it could be wrong so I don't take anything in it as 100% fact. Same should be used of any book of history including the ones used in schools. Plenty of records are around to indicate that Jesus did in fact do and say the things that he did. I personally believe he did preform those miracles but I have not found that Jesus has ever claimed that he is a god and that people needed to worship him. I view Jesus as a Witch and a teacher, but few people learned his lessons, so perhaps not the best of teachers. Now I know me calling Jesus a witch is going to be offensive to some people and I really don't care. That is my view on it only just like others view him as a god. Remember that to me the term witch is not an insult and I am not insulting Jesus in any way when I say that. I think the only ones that would be insulted by that are people that consider Witches to be evil, which they usually are not. No I'm not a witch myself by I have friends that are, though none that can accomplish the things that Jesus has.
And then people are like "Magic doesn't exist!" And then I'm like "I read it as science before I heard people call it magic." And then people wonder how I can get the energy I do.
I think I shall keep to my religion thank you very much if you want the specifics on it PM me or chat to me on skype.
For the purpose of this argument I will write as if God does exist. I think that the Bible is more symbolic than a fact file. I'm not sure what symbolises what but I'm pretty sure these "atrocious acts" are symbolic for something else. I don't actually think that God wants us to kill others for the lolz. For instance, in most of our scriptures in Hinduism, everyone kills each other. Indians don't read this and start killing people on the street (well not the sensible ones... at least I hope so...). These wars represent good over evil, a battle that is constantly being fought. Occasionally, evil will be banished and all will be good until another threat comes up. Sometimes, evil will triumph until the Gods fight back. My point is that most scriptures shouldn't be read and be taken literally. They should be broken down and analysing. If they are sacred words of God, they shouldn't be taken lightly. I'm sure this is the same with any religion but if you take any of the scriptures in Hinduism, you're able to analyse the story in great detail and see how they link in with other scriptures and ideas. This, by the way, was NOT an attempt to convert anyone (just to be safe).
