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GwynJ,
You wrote:
> God can be pretty scary to adults,
> nevermind kids. He's a friend, not just
> some boogeyman or something. Some people
> are just weird. But then, if God didn't
> exist, those same people would find or make
> up some other dissociated party to scare
> kids so they (the parents) wouldn't have
> to feel any responsiblity if the kid
> misbehaved.
A scary God may have first developed from our fears, primarily of death. A scary God may have been promoted by early religious leaders who wanted their people to obey them, whether these leaders believed God was scary themselves or not.
A friendly God is more often promoted today.
It's sometimes mentioned in religious circles that the God of the Old Testament is a much less loving, much more vengeful god than the God of the New Testament.
God has evolved as society as evolved, which is further evidence that God is something men created, not the other way around.
I see God as a kind of Santa Clause for Adults (and children). He blesses them when they are good, curses them when they are bad. He has magical powers that go far beyond what adults can understand. He changes as we change. Believing in him makes adults happier than not believing in him.
If God didn't exist man would invent him.
Religious people often blame problems on Satan and give credit for good to God.
When I asked a religious person how someone can know if inspiration is from God rather than just their own mind, he said that if the inspiration leads one to do good then we can be sure it came from God since all good comes from God. This suggests that humans can't do anything good on their own, it all has to come from God.
This reminds me of a scene in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when someone suggests that Albert Einstein was an alien. Some people don't seem to think their fellow human beings are talented enough to do the things they do on their own as human beings. A supernatural or extraterrestrial source has to be invoked.
It would be better for society if we would take more responsibility for our own actions, our own successes and failures. |
