What is religion for you?

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Hello

Well, I think that by the epoch it is a good question...

Here's a synthetic answer that I did in an other thread and that I would put here again:

Religion is the fact that some peoples practice the same spirituality, that they tie their way of life by this one. And I see the spirituality as something which ties the most basic realities to the deepest questions of the Man. Spirituality, when it is well practiced, is a way to the lucidity, to the balance of the mind, to a good construction of the reality. That's anyway how I see things.

What would be your answer to this question?

Thanks

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Do you mean how I would define religion? I would probably think of it as a set of beliefs that one accepts dogmatically. A church could be considered an institution where people who share similar dogmatic beliefs gather to observe said beliefs. That's how I would define it.

[12th Doctor]

The search, by man, for infinite truths.

[afleitch]

Man's way of rationalising his fear of death and the implications of the choices he has made in life.

[John Dibble]

Man's way of rationalising his fear of death and the implications of the choices he has made in life.

Add to this that it's also how humans explain things they don't understand. Lightning is just Zeus being pissed off for some reason, after all.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Religion, how I define it, is "man's attempt to reach God or a Higher Being".  Every single person is born with the need to worship something or someone.  Whether the worshipped object is God, Allah, Buddha, any one of the Hindu gods, Joseph Smith, Material possessions, or even oneself.

That is why I like Christianity so much is that it, by its very nature, does not fit the normal definition of "religion".  Christianity, has the word "Christ" at its core, and is God mercifully reaching his hand down to lowly and sinful man by coming down to earth in human form as a tiny baby and living life on earth with the same hurts that we face today, all without sin.

As a lot of Southern Baptists, and I'm sure other denominations will join us in saying, we don't practice a "religion", rather we practice a "relationship".

[John Dibble]

Every single person is born with the need to worship something or someone.  Whether the worshipped object is God, Allah, Buddha, any one of the Hindu gods, Joseph Smith, Material possessions, or even oneself.

I disagree. I don't worship anything, not even myself.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Every single person is born with the need to worship something or someone.  Whether the worshipped object is God, Allah, Buddha, any one of the Hindu gods, Joseph Smith, Material possessions, or even oneself.

I disagree. I don't worship anything, not even myself.

[Ban my account ffs!]

A plan and suggestive path to spiritual enlightenment and righteousness.

[??????????]

Man's way of rationalising his fear of death and the implications of the choices he has made in life.

Add to this that it's also how humans explain things they don't understand. Lightning is just Zeus being pissed off for some reason, after all.

Maybe, but does that negate any existence after death at all? What if all religions are wrong but something exists? What if all religions are right and something exists? Isn't a belief in nothing at death a fairly grim way, overall, to look at life?

A great quote I saw on another forum, "Church isn't a collection of saints, it's a hospital for souls."

[Alcon]

Maybe, but does that negate any existence after death at all? What if all religions are wrong but something exists? What if all religions are right and something exists? Isn't a belief in nothing at death a fairly grim way, overall, to look at life?

Not especially, to me.  In fact, the teachings of many religions on what determines damnation are much more upsetting.  The idea that there are souls without redemption, is.  So I suppose is the idea of no objective justice.  But life is good enough that I don't think a non-afterlife is an especially depressing idea.

Not sure what you're getting at with your other rhetorical questions.

[John Dibble]

Man's way of rationalising his fear of death and the implications of the choices he has made in life.

Add to this that it's also how humans explain things they don't understand. Lightning is just Zeus being pissed off for some reason, after all.

Maybe, but does that negate any existence after death at all? What if all religions are wrong but something exists?

Well, I'm an agnostic, not an atheist, so my lack of religion isn't me saying there's no higher existence(s) or no continuation of life in some form or another after death. There could be something, there could be nothing. As far as I'm concerned, such things are probably unknowable to us mere mortals.

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Well, all religions couldn't be right considering the contradictions between them - monotheism vs polytheism, differences in dogma and details, etc.

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That's a matter of perspective, really. That notion scares the living bejeezus out of some people, while others accept it and have no fear of it at all. For the latter types, it even can inspire them to do good in this world in order to leave it a better place than they found it. Also, consider that if there's nothing after death does that not make life all the more precious? It's all in how you look at it.

Speaking of this, I'd like to bring up the matter of certainty to go towards the topic at large. Being certain of something is rather comfortable in it's own way - you don't really have to worry about something you're certain about. That could be that there is life after death, or that there isn't life after death. I think one of man's greatest "fears" (if you can call it that) is that which is unknown, that which is uncertain. Be it through religion or science, man seeks to gather information to make himself more certain of his place in the universe. Some people on both sides tend to think of agnostics as fence sitters who need to make up their minds, but I don't think they understand that the fence they are referring to isn't exactly a comfortable place to sit. I think most of us would prefer to know the truth, be it pleasant or grisly, rather than continuing to not know.

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I don't entirely disagree with that quote. Religion is a highly important part of a number of people's lives. Obviously there are exceptions though - some people take religion to an unhealthy level that can actually be bad for their "spiritual health" so to speak.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Isn't a belief in nothing at death a fairly grim way, overall, to look at life?

A great quote I saw on another forum, "Church isn't a collection of saints, it's a hospital for souls."

Spiritual ways are here in part here to give a place to the death in the human being and in its environment  but not necessarily to say that there is something after death which would concern what you call the "soul".

The "soul" is a spiritual interpretation, nothing less, nothing more and to me the fact that I won't speak of "soul" and of a life for a "soul" after death doesn't rob the human being of its duty of dignity toward itself, of the value of its life and of the requirements it must have toward itself concerning its behavior in its environment. So much things which are very important for humans and which make exists spiritual ways...

[Eraserhead]

Man's way of rationalising his fear of death and the implications of the choices he has made in life.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Eraserhead]

Every single person is born with the need to worship something or someone.  Whether the worshipped object is God, Allah, Buddha, any one of the Hindu gods, Joseph Smith, Material possessions, or even oneself.

I disagree. I don't worship anything, not even myself.

[JSojourner]

27Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.


James 1:27


And for the record, I could do better in all those areas.  But particularly the "unstained by the world" part.

[??????????]

And for the record, I could do better in all those areas.  But particularly the "unstained by the world" part.

Of course, we all could, but life wouldn't have much meaning if we could permanently "fix" our issues.