As an atheist, I feel that religion is an archaic mythological way of describing the universe. Is there a sensitive way to describe this viewpoint, in a way that's more likely to provoke a constructive debate?
Answers from theists might be especially useful, but anyone should feel free to offer suggestions. —Josh Speckman
Many people have feelings such as you have. Although, I am not sure whether they are the feelings they possessed as children. This is because feelings are not something that we use to construct images or ideas. Feelings are a response to stimuli of some sort, like when we are prodded by a sharp object. Although, it is doubtful being hit on the head with a sledge hammer will elicit the same response.
Being a human, I have come to realize that we are actually beings that have the capacity to feel and the ability to make choices between ideas. We have the ability also to follow our nose like a dog, even if not with the dog’s natural ability. We can manufacture smells like a skunk. We have the capacity to exhibit animal behavior. Yet, amazingly, we also have the means to transcend being merely an animal of instinct.
Now if you were to think that religion is an archaic myth, someone must have told you that it was; otherwise, I am inclined to think that you would have not known this to be so. But let us assume that you actually thought of this yourself.
What does the world “religion” mean? How do you define the word “myth”? These are very important to the conversation that you are putatively desiring to seek.
Many people speak from a imaginative position as they condescendingly attempt to cover their inner inadequacies. Very few people are always genuine. Being genuine at the time is not the same as being genuine—period. Those who actually seek God themselves and make it a do or die thing are genuine because they know that if their Creator does not respond, then there is nothing to live for other than what the other animals do.(Either the gun will kill you or it will not. When it comes to Russian roulette, there is one way to find out.)
Religion is really the quest for the truth. That is true religion is the quest of the truth. The other variety where an assumption is made that is not provable in the present time is pure myth. People who talk about anything to which they were not a witness or what someone else told them happened outside their lifetime have a high likelihood of speaking about myths—or an urban legend. They are speaking hearsay and not from personal experience. Myself, I favor experience over claptrap or any other nonsense. Wouldn’t you rather a have an experienced surgeon operate on you, if necessary, rather than someone who read a book or was told something by someone about how surgery can be done.
Honestly, it is one thing to be able to say that one has read many books and has numerous certificates acknowledging that one has fulfilled the requirements for have a particular certificate granted to one from an institution, and another to actually be doing what one has read about.
An acquaintance of mind wrote three books that were published. One was in its third print as a hard copy. He enrolled into a masters program for creative writing. The aim of the course was to teach students how to successfully become a published writer. At the finish of he course, my acquaintance was given a fail. The dean contacted my acquaintance and explained to him that even though he had been given a fail, if the institution failed him, this would disqualify the program and bring disreputation upon the institution, since he had already successfully accomplished what he was being taught to do.
My acquaintance was given his piece of paper to frame, burn or put in the rubbish.
The reason my acquaintance was marked as a failure to complete the requirements of the course had to do with the bigotry of his atheistic tutors. They hated the fact that he wrote about and filmed evidence documenting the miracles and healings that occurred in third world countries, when people called upon the name of Jesus. His evidence they refused to accept. This is the dilemma many atheists have. Their problem is they would rather reject the truth for their myth that there is significance in being born to die, while having to suffer during that short existence they have on Earth.
The Difference Between A Myth And The Truth Is Really A Matter Of Experience
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