Are all religions just one big con trick?

Naturally said:
Some people view certain religious movements as scams or cons, particularly if they exploit followers for money or manipulate beliefs for personal gain. However, many others see religion as a genuine source of meaning, community, and moral guidance. Amen
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like a well organized social club??
 

But where is the divine ?? - "up in Heaven "?? - where? where? where ? in our hearts? where ?? with the priest?? ???????
 

smiley said:
But where is the divine ?? - "up in Heaven "?? - where? where? where ? in our hearts? where ?? with the priest?? ???????
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There have been MANY threads here with those exact same questions.

The divine is often understood as existing in a realm beyond the physical world, associated with deities or a supreme being, and can also be perceived in the natural world through experiences of beauty, order, and morality. Different belief systems interpret the presence of the divine in various ways, such as through sacred texts, religious experiences, or the inherent qualities of nature.

If interested, here is a shared personal experience when I met my higher power ... He sent me back.
Dear Diary: Strange Dream (Spiritual in Nature) 1972

I can't pick and chose how I will ultimately go but if I could, it would be by lightening. I never felt nor heard a thing.

What has your pastor told you about all this?
 
thanks I remember reading that way back and was very impressed then! but it could have been a delusionary process of brain matter??
 
smiley said:
thanks I remember reading that way back and was very impressed then! but it could have been a delusionary process of brain matter??
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It could have been anything YOU THINK it was. Just like your opinion of religion.
My experience in the real, was a profound revelation to me. I can't help you experience or believe what I personally experienced.
I simply shared and tried to understand and explain as best I could.

Just know that there are some things science is yet to explain and there are some things science has been wrong about.
Based on my personal experience, I KNOW there are things beyond human comprehension. Perhaps there always will be.
What occurred to me in real time was something I felt my brain attempted to put into a context I might understand.

Maybe it was a dream I had, but strangely, it happened when I was here one second and then gone quicker than the blink of an eye.
And I have never under any circumstance before or since ... met my higher power ... and been sent back. Dream or otherwise.
I feel what happened to me was very real and He sent me back. Amen

... that was 53yrs ago and counting. I have NEVER lost faith in my higher power nor doubted that He is in my life at all times.
I will see Him again some day when I go through the light again.

An interesting (to me) image, cobbled together for "fun" but might be shown at my funeral or memorial service ... or not
Of course the picture isn't real, but simply perhaps one expressive interpretation of an experience where there were no cameras.

IQRhESd.jpeg
 
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smiley said:
But where is the divine ?? - "up in Heaven "?? - where? where? where ? in our hearts? where ?? with the priest?? ???????
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You won't get the right answer if you keep asking the wrong questions.

The correct question is, "Who is my neighbour?"

You'll find this question, and the answer, in Luke 10:25-37.

If you haven't read this passage since you were a pup, I suggest a commentary written for grownups.
will help you understand why this passage is so important.

A Summary and Analysis of the Parable of the Good Samaritan
 
good neighbour relationships has nothing to do with religion/God necessarily?? some people just try to make it so - like you are now??
 
MarkD said:
No not trying to censor him, just calling out what I see as gratuitous rudeness. That is the only thing I think is an affront to the community. Holding whatever philosophical and religious views he may is no concern of mine.
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I feel you attempted to ostracize him.
 
My experience with the divine is that he is ever-present. I never liked church, never cared what people thought either. Probably would have never liked God, but his guidance has kept me alive and out of trouble all these years. Why? I dunno. Maybe better for everyone else.
 
smiley said:
good neighbour relationships has nothing to do with religion/God necessarily?? some people just try to make it so - like you are now??
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I disagree. At the core of every major religious tradition is an instruction to have compassion and concern for our neighbours and strangers. It is certainly in the heart of the monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For all I know it was probably also found in Zoroastrianism that predates the afore mentioned religions.
 
Warrigal said:
(y) I found your post interesting because most people do not recognise the difference between good/evil and right/wrong.
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That is because, to the religious, there is no difference between 'good and bad' and 'right and wrong'.

But the non-religious say that 'good' is indefinable and 'bad', a synonym for 'evil', is likewise meaningless.

They don't accept that 'good', in another meaning is also a synonym for 'right' so that good and bad can correctly equal right and wrong to the masses if not to everyone.
 
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gruntlabor said:
That is because, to the religious, there is no difference between 'good and bad' and 'right and wrong'.

But the non-religious say that 'good' is indefinable and 'bad', a synonym for 'evil', is likewise meaningless. ,

They don't accept that 'good', in another meaning is also a synonym for 'right' so that good and bad can correctly equal right and wrong to the masses if not to everyone.
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🤔
 
DailyArtsyCrafter said:
I think so. Faith, if chosen, is a strong inner desire which then receives an inner revelation. It doesn't need an organized religion.

A man-made word for man-made procedures.

I began my faith journey by choosing to go to a church that resonated with my personality. I was faithful and grew in faith while attending different, similar churches, depending on where I lived. I didn't just depend on what the pastor/minister said when I was in church. I studied and prayed everyday at home. I supplemented what I learned in church with self-guided learning. My experiences in churches were good and bad. Some 30 yrs ago or so, I fell away from church attendance but I certainly did not fall away from my faith.

I have continued my personal faithfulness and have grown profoundly over the years. Regular church attendance helped me when my faith was new. I don't think, however, that I would have grown to the extent that I have had I still been attached to the umbilical cord or organized religion. Some who live by faith must always be religiously connected to an organization. Others must be unrestrained, to grow onward and upwards.

Yes, we all have been allowed to have a personal choice and accepting the choices of others can give us peace within.

I think we are born with an inherent, moral knowledge that comes to fruition at the age-of-consent and that is not the result of any manmade religion. It becomes apparent in varying degrees in various people.

They are religious-based and pressured but I feel that no one has the right to pressure others, annoy others or pry into whether a person has chosen to have a faith or not. I believe that no one has the right to try to change anyone from what they believe or to use tactics to try to convert them.

I don't feel that it matters. If a person desires to develop faith, he/she only has to search for a group of people who seem to believe similarly and who conducts meetings where the person feels comfortable. If the person is not interested, ignore it all.

Amen! People have changed permanently, in ways that those who have known them feel that they never could or would have.

Yes, that is certainly what matters. What so many people need and what this world needs is peace.

They're not extinct. There are 2 of them left, Brother Arnold Hadd and Sister June Carpenter. Here is a very good overview of what is happening in this Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine. Meet the last two living Shakers in the last active Shaker community in the world: Are all religions just one big con trick? I have never desired to become a Shaker but I've been reading about them for years. Their history and current activities are fascinating.

​

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Here's the correct link to the Meander Maine website for the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Meet the last two living Shakers in the last active Shaker community in the world
 
smiley said:
I once attended a Church of Christ ; there were also a few remaining Churches of God ? - then in UK they have the Church of England - gets a bit confusing heh?? - then there is the Church of Scotland and probably Wales too - and if we listed them all there would be dozens and all having different types of services - some have the Eucharist meal weekly some every few months - who's making the rules around here??
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I attend the Uniting Church in Australia. It is a christian denomination that was formed in 1977 from a coalescence of Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists. It is progressive and takes the teachings of Jesus very seriously, but the ways we express our faith are not necessarily the same as other denominations such as Catholicism or Anglicanism. However, historically, our roots are deep within both Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism.

You seem to be taunting people like me, but I refuse to take the bait. You think religion is all about rules and coercion. If that were the case, I would have remained an atheist but my lived experiences as an adult have led me to live by faith and love. I am certain of very few things now, but I have experienced the love that passes all understanding, the love that leads to faith and offers forgiveness. My heart is full, and my mind is calm.

I am fulfilled as a woman and as a human being because of my faith in the unknowable Divine.
 
I watched an interesting documentary this evening ... The Kindness Within: A Journey To Freedom
It is on Amazon Prime. I really wish it was on YouTube and freely available for all.

The documentary features Leon Logothetis aka The Kindness Guy and his search for God.
But I think anyone watching the film should not make Leon Logothetis and his personal journey the main focus.
Instead, focus on the words of the various spiritual and religious teachers from many disciplines presented within.
The questions posed in this and other threads and felt by so many, are addressed with their words.
If you have an open mind and listen carefully, the words will resonate.
 
It is not so much a con as it is a massive cult. Especially orthodox starting with Catholcism.
Believers don't usually change their minds because their beliefs are based in emotion, like fear and comfort, not reasoning. This idea goes back to the 1700s. I take no credit for it,now.
 
Victor said:
It is not so much a con as it is a massive cult. Especially orthodox starting with Catholcism.
Believers don't usually change their minds because their beliefs are based in emotion, like fear and comfort, not reasoning. This idea goes back to the 1700s. I take no credit for it,now.
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Germany - 2023 520.000 exits, 2024 320.000 exits for the Catholic Church but I cannot pull the statistics on the English version of Vatican News. D: Kirchenstatistik 2024 veröffentlicht - Vatican News.
 

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