Explain Your Religious Views or Lack Thereof

[Seperates]

Odin is way cooler than Zeus. Zeus is what you get when you give a pompous jerk immortality and thunderbolts. Odin is actually cool.

Odin's boring. The Olympian gods are flawed, three-dimensional figures that act in profoundly human and meaningful ways.

The Olympian gods made man in their image... with all their flaws and vanities.

[Seitonjin]

Clearly you read it the wrong way.

Take it up with those of the faiths, most now agree that the Abrahamic God is similar. All powerful, all knowing, all seeing.

Also, in that case we should throw in Zoroastrianism in the fray because they started the idea of good vs. evil.

No... That is like saying that Protestants and Catholics believe the same thing. Sure, they generally agree when they are separated, but throw their top theologians in a room together, tell them to come to a single consensus, and just watch the fireworks.

What I said was their deity is similar as are the beliefs.

[The Silence of Night]

Odin is way cooler than Zeus. Zeus is what you get when you give a pompous jerk immortality and thunderbolts. Odin is actually cool.

Odin's boring. The Olympian gods are flawed, three-dimensional figures that act in profoundly human and meaningful ways.

Which, given their power, would be less cool, and more terrifying.

[Vareiln]

That is also true. It is far easier to impose moral codes on an uneducated populace through the promise of divine retribution.

On a somewhat related note, I always admired the fact that Greek gods were never portrayed as perfect, omnipotent, omniscient, emotionally stable or even morally superior to humans.

Zeus is a horny pansexual prick, and that is never sugarcoated.

Odin is way cooler than Zeus. Zeus is what you get when you give a pompous jerk immortality and thunderbolts. Odin is actually cool.

Sigurd slayed Fafnir the dragon.

[Seitonjin]

Buddhism at it's core says there are gods and devas but no creator god. It makes no claims of a supreme deity either. Buddhism calls for the logical means of solving things, in this case, renders the idea of godly influence null and void. Instead it suggests that the basics of life itself is cause and effect, a law of the universe. For every action, there is an equal reaction.

In a way Karma at its core is just that.

By this measure it is a more amped up and slightly spiritual version of atheism. After that, it is interpreted by other sects and the like.

Except that Karma doesn't work... some people (not myself) always get the short end of the stick. Karma only works if you assume that there is an afterlife through which punishment or reward occurs, which is essentially extremely basic Judaic afterlife philosophy.

It certainly does not work in most cases as per exact calculations. And afterlife already? I hate talking about that. And remembber Buddhism as with other Dharmic faiths believe in being reborn?

Step outside the western thought of the afterlife.

[Avenio]

Odin's boring. The Olympian gods are flawed, three-dimensional figures that act in profoundly human and meaningful ways.

Which, given their power, would be less cool, and more terrifying.

Ehh, I dunno. The fickle, capricious Yahweh sort of gods seem a lot more terrifying to me, since they're arbitrary, pitiless and change on the turn of a dime. The Olympian gods can be rational, and can sympathize (or not) with the affairs and tumults of human life - largely because they, unlike the more distant gods, live them alongside us flesh-and-blood mortals.

[Southeastern Xiatao]

Sex
To me "sex" is the powerful force of nature in all living things on the Earth, including us human beings. But to me sex can be bad or good depending on the situation dealing with it. If a teenage girl gets pregnant after having sexual intercourse with a another teenager it can be good or bad. If the teenage mom wasn't ready yet for sex and has a child at a young age, then it can be bad if she is a crappy parent raising a kid. It can also be bad if the teen mom's boyfriend disown her and her parents doesn't support her. If the teen mom was raped it can turn out to be a good thing if the mom takes the time raising the kid, it is also good if the teen who was raped sells her baby for adoption if she cannot handle it.

Rape however is something totally very bad to me, to me rape is a evil force where a man or woman forces another man or woman to have sex with them. Rape is very illegal as we all know in our world we live in. The person who has raped someone, to me I think when someone who raped someone in their life even once or twice they will be reborn as a ugly pig for their punishment. But rape can also be a good thing too, for the victim if the victim was a woman and raises her child, and loves and cares for her child or if the raped woman sells her unwanted baby for adoption then I think that is a good and smart thing. BUT RAPE IN GENERAL IS BAD TO ME

Pornography- Pornography is okay for me the way I think, it is a form of art in photography and lets to masturbation, which gets rid of stress. I do not mind porn. But child pornography and sex slavery is something I take great offense by. Many women think pornography is greatly a offense to feminists. But me as a teenage boy, my mom says she does not mind pornography since is a form of art(expect for child pornography and sex slavery). My aunts think however the total opposite unlike me and my mom do.

Masturbation- Is to me not a 'sin' like most Catholics would consider it. In fact it is actually healthy for anyone to masturbate, according a recent study by British scientists and health officials.

(NOW THIS IS MY RELIGIOUS VIEWS ON WHAT I SAID)

[Riiser-Larsen]

Which, given their power, would be less cool, and more terrifying.

Ehh, I dunno. The fickle, capricious Yahweh sort of gods seem a lot more terrifying to me, since they're arbitrary, pitiless and change on the turn of a dime. The Olympian gods can be rational, and can sympathize (or not) with the affairs and tumults of human life - largely because they, unlike the more distant gods, live them alongside us flesh-and-blood mortals.

Yeah, but there's something weird about knowing that your god does tend to sometimes turn into a duck and have sex with various women on Earth.

EDIT: See various Zeus related stories.

[Seperates]

No... That is like saying that Protestants and Catholics believe the same thing. Sure, they generally agree when they are separated, but throw their top theologians in a room together, tell them to come to a single consensus, and just watch the fireworks.

What I said was their deity is similar as are the beliefs.

But they aren't in the most crucial ways. Christianity is practically paganism. Rabbinic Judaism is more like the schools of greek philosophy. Islam is like antiquated Judaism.

You are missing the key point. These religions do not draw from the same pools of knowledge, they are related... but not as siblings... more like second cousins once removed. To simply say that they are similar is to deny their differences and deny WHY they are different all for the sake of theological compatibility.

[Torcularis Septentrionalis]

Sex
To me "sex" is the powerful force of nature in all living things on the Earth, including us human beings. But to me sex can be bad or good depending on the situation dealing with it. If a teenage girl gets pregnant after having sexual intercourse with a another teenager it can be good or bad. If the teenage mom wasn't ready yet for sex and has a child at a young age, then it can be bad if she is a crappy parent raising a kid. It can also be bad if the teen mom's boyfriend disown her and her parents doesn't support her. If the teen mom was raped it can turn out to be a good thing if the mom takes the time raising the kid, it is also good if the teen who was raped sells her baby for adoption if she cannot handle it.

Rape however is something totally very bad to me, to me rape is a evil force where a man or woman forces another man or woman to have sex with them. Rape is very illegal as we all know in our world we live in. The person who has raped someone, to me I think when someone who raped someone in their life even once or twice they will be reborn as a ugly pig for their punishment. But rape can also be a good thing too, for the victim if the victim was a woman and raises her child, and loves and cares for her child or if the raped woman sells her unwanted baby for adoption then I think that is a good and smart thing. BUT RAPE IN GENERAL IS BAD TO ME

Pornography- Pornography is okay for me the way I think, it is a form of art in photography and lets to masturbation, which gets rid of stress. I do not mind porn. But child pornography and sex slavery is something I take great offense by. Many women think pornography is greatly a offense to feminists. But me as a teenage boy, my mom says she does not mind pornography since is a form of art(expect for child pornography and sex slavery). My aunts think however the total opposite unlike me and my mom do.

Masturbation- Is to me not a 'sin' like most Catholics would consider it. In fact it is actually healthy for anyone to masturbate, according a recent study by British scientists and health officials.

(NOW THIS IS MY RELIGIOUS VIEWS ON WHAT I SAID)

I stopped reading when you said rape can be a good thing.

[The Silence of Night]

Which, given their power, would be less cool, and more terrifying.

Ehh, I dunno. The fickle, capricious Yahweh sort of gods seem a lot more terrifying to me, since they're arbitrary, pitiless and change on the turn of a dime. The Olympian gods can be rational, and can sympathize (or not) with the affairs and tumults of human life - largely because they, unlike the more distant gods, live them alongside us flesh-and-blood mortals.

Except that one time they almost wiped out all life on the planet over a little cannibalism by Kronos.

[Seperates]

Except that Karma doesn't work... some people (not myself) always get the short end of the stick. Karma only works if you assume that there is an afterlife through which punishment or reward occurs, which is essentially extremely basic Judaic afterlife philosophy.

It certainly does not work in most cases as per exact calculations. And afterlife already? I hate talking about that. And remembber Buddhism as with other Dharmic faiths believe in being reborn?

Step outside the western thought of the afterlife.

Yes, assume I know nothing of all Eastern theology. How condescending.

Prove rebirth balances karma.

Fucking "Western thought" "Eastern thought"

It's all thought.

[Shaggai]

My Point of View in my religious beliefs

I am Catholic and was baptized a Catholic ever since I was a baby. But now I'm fifteen years old and now I'm starting to think more like this then unlike most Catholic would think about the afterlife, God, etc. Currently I'm beginning to think that when you die, your reborn again in a nonliving or living thing, and that you don't go to the afterlife.

My Current Views and Beliefs

After Death
I used think, when you die you either go to Heaven, Hell, Limbo or Purgatory. But now I do not think that there is no afterlife. I now think that when you die, depending on what you did in your life you be reborn into a living or nonliving thing. For example if someone was a wise, smart and kind person who cared for others in his/her life they will be reborn into another human being, with a great positive personality. If someone was a "bitch", evil, cruel, racist and thing that is negative and bad they will be reborn into a lesser living thing like a parasite, or a rock. I think Hitler the most evil dictator in human history, was reborn as a tapeworm for his punishment of his cruelty against the Jews in World War II.

So basically, screw developmental and evolutionary psychology, screw neuropsychology, screw neuroscience, screw neurochemistry, etcetera.
And Hitler was not the most evil dictator in human history. Under the definition of a ruler who does not rule through democratic means, Genghis Khan was far worse, because he actually succeeded. Comparable death toll to world war II, but a massive chunk of the world's population instead of a small percentage dead.

Well, Genghis Khan wasn't as evil as Hitler. He was ruthless, for sure, but he wasn't as genocidal, and if you surrendered you got a pretty good life for a conquered people. Religious tolerance, promotion of education IIRC, and so on. He was a terrible person, but not as evil.

Although I will argue that Hitler wasn't truly evil either. Being truly evil requires knowing that your actions are horrible and wrong and doing them anyway. AFAIK, Hitler genuinely believed that by exterminating the Jews he was improving the world. Again, terrible person, even worse than Genghis Khan, but not pure evil.

[Seitonjin]

What I said was their deity is similar as are the beliefs.

But they aren't in the most crucial ways. Christianity is practically paganism. Rabbinic Judaism is more like the schools of greek philosophy. Islam is like antiquated Judaism.

You are missing the key point. These religions do not draw from the same pools of knowledge, they are related... but not as siblings... more like second cousins once removed. To simply say that they are similar is to deny their differences and deny WHY they are different all for the sake of theological compatibility.

That's an interesting way to look at it.

I never denied their differences, to say something is is similar is to accept that there are differences.

[Vareiln]

Sex
To me "sex" is the powerful force of nature in all living things on the Earth, including us human beings. But to me sex can be bad or good depending on the situation dealing with it. If a teenage girl gets pregnant after having sexual intercourse with a another teenager it can be good or bad. If the teenage mom wasn't ready yet for sex and has a child at a young age, then it can be bad if she is a crappy parent raising a kid. It can also be bad if the teen mom's boyfriend disown her and her parents doesn't support her. If the teen mom was raped it can turn out to be a good thing if the mom takes the time raising the kid, it is also good if the teen who was raped sells her baby for adoption if she cannot handle it.

Rape however is something totally very bad to me, to me rape is a evil force where a man or woman forces another man or woman to have sex with them. Rape is very illegal as we all know in our world we live in. The person who has raped someone, to me I think when someone who raped someone in their life even once or twice they will be reborn as a ugly pig for their punishment. But rape can also be a good thing too, for the victim if the victim was a woman and raises her child, and loves and cares for her child or if the raped woman sells her unwanted baby for adoption then I think that is a good and smart thing. BUT RAPE IN GENERAL IS BAD TO ME

Pornography- Pornography is okay for me the way I think, it is a form of art in photography and lets to masturbation, which gets rid of stress. I do not mind porn. But child pornography and sex slavery is something I take great offense by. Many women think pornography is greatly a offense to feminists. But me as a teenage boy, my mom says she does not mind pornography since is a form of art(expect for child pornography and sex slavery). My aunts think however the total opposite unlike me and my mom do.

Masturbation- Is to me not a 'sin' like most Catholics would consider it. In fact it is actually healthy for anyone to masturbate, according a recent study by British scientists and health officials.

(NOW THIS IS MY RELIGIOUS VIEWS ON WHAT I SAID)

I stopped reading when you said rape can be a good thing.

I was skimming through that post and I missed that until you pointed it out.

[Southeastern Xiatao]

Sex
To me "sex" is the powerful force of nature in all living things on the Earth, including us human beings. But to me sex can be bad or good depending on the situation dealing with it. If a teenage girl gets pregnant after having sexual intercourse with a another teenager it can be good or bad. If the teenage mom wasn't ready yet for sex and has a child at a young age, then it can be bad if she is a crappy parent raising a kid. It can also be bad if the teen mom's boyfriend disown her and her parents doesn't support her. If the teen mom was raped it can turn out to be a good thing if the mom takes the time raising the kid, it is also good if the teen who was raped sells her baby for adoption if she cannot handle it.

Rape however is something totally very bad to me, to me rape is a evil force where a man or woman forces another man or woman to have sex with them. Rape is very illegal as we all know in our world we live in. The person who has raped someone, to me I think when someone who raped someone in their life even once or twice they will be reborn as a ugly pig for their punishment. But rape can also be a good thing too, for the victim if the victim was a woman and raises her child, and loves and cares for her child or if the raped woman sells her unwanted baby for adoption then I think that is a good and smart thing. BUT RAPE IN GENERAL IS BAD TO ME

Pornography- Pornography is okay for me the way I think, it is a form of art in photography and lets to masturbation, which gets rid of stress. I do not mind porn. But child pornography and sex slavery is something I take great offense by. Many women think pornography is greatly a offense to feminists. But me as a teenage boy, my mom says she does not mind pornography since is a form of art(expect for child pornography and sex slavery). My aunts think however the total opposite unlike me and my mom do.

Masturbation- Is to me not a 'sin' like most Catholics would consider it. In fact it is actually healthy for anyone to masturbate, according a recent study by British scientists and health officials.

(NOW THIS IS MY RELIGIOUS VIEWS ON WHAT I SAID)

I stopped reading when you said rape can be a good thing.

Depends for victim who was raped and gives birth to a child is a good thing if it is raised by the raped victim or sold to adoption. However the person done rape to the victim is highly a bad thing to me.

[The Grey Wolf]

Odin is way cooler than Zeus. Zeus is what you get when you give a pompous jerk immortality and thunderbolts. Odin is actually cool.

Odin's boring. The Olympian gods are flawed, three-dimensional figures that act in profoundly human and meaningful ways.

I beg to differ. The Tuatha De Danann are the best.

[Torcularis Septentrionalis]

I stopped reading when you said rape can be a good thing.

I was skimming through that post and I missed that until you pointed it out.

You're telling me.
As a rape survivor, let me give it a big motherfucking thumbs down.

[Grenartia]

Sex
To me "sex" is the powerful force of nature in all living things on the Earth, including us human beings. But to me sex can be bad or good depending on the situation dealing with it. If a teenage girl gets pregnant after having sexual intercourse with a another teenager it can be good or bad. If the teenage mom wasn't ready yet for sex and has a child at a young age, then it can be bad if she is a crappy parent raising a kid. It can also be bad if the teen mom's boyfriend disown her and her parents doesn't support her. If the teen mom was raped it can turn out to be a good thing if the mom takes the time raising the kid, it is also good if the teen who was raped sells her baby for adoption if she cannot handle it.

Rape however is something totally very bad to me, to me rape is a evil force where a man or woman forces another man or woman to have sex with them. Rape is very illegal as we all know in our world we live in. The person who has raped someone, to me I think when someone who raped someone in their life even once or twice they will be reborn as a ugly pig for their punishment. But rape can also be a good thing too, for the victim if the victim was a woman and raises her child, and loves and cares for her child or if the raped woman sells her unwanted baby for adoption then I think that is a good and smart thing. BUT RAPE IN GENERAL IS BAD TO ME

Pornography- Pornography is okay for me the way I think, it is a form of art in photography and lets to masturbation, which gets rid of stress. I do not mind porn. But child pornography and sex slavery is something I take great offense by. Many women think pornography is greatly a offense to feminists. But me as a teenage boy, my mom says she does not mind pornography since is a form of art(expect for child pornography and sex slavery). My aunts think however the total opposite unlike me and my mom do.

Masturbation- Is to me not a 'sin' like most Catholics would consider it. In fact it is actually healthy for anyone to masturbate, according a recent study by British scientists and health officials.

(NOW THIS IS MY RELIGIOUS VIEWS ON WHAT I SAID)

I stopped reading when you said rape can be a good thing.

Ok. I can understand the general idiocy about trans* people, but rape 'can be a good thing'?

What the fuck.

[The Rich Port]

Sex
To me "sex" is the powerful force of nature in all living things on the Earth

Probably because you've only recently hit puberty.

[Avenio]

Ehh, I dunno. The fickle, capricious Yahweh sort of gods seem a lot more terrifying to me, since they're arbitrary, pitiless and change on the turn of a dime. The Olympian gods can be rational, and can sympathize (or not) with the affairs and tumults of human life - largely because they, unlike the more distant gods, live them alongside us flesh-and-blood mortals.

Except that one time they almost wiped out all life on the planet over a little cannibalism by Kronos.

In self-defence, I should note. I can understand them trying to fight back against Kronos to prevent being eaten alive. And other than the whole Deucalion incident (which was probably imported from other non-Greek theologies), the Olympians have a pretty low body count in comparison to a lot of other gods (coughYahwehcough).

[The Grey Wolf]

I stopped reading when you said rape can be a good thing.

Depends for victim who was raped and gives birth to a child is a good thing if it is raised by the raped victim or sold to adoption. However the person done rape to the victim is highly a bad thing to me.

I'm going to just leave this thread for a few post, before I say something I'm going to regret.

[Torcularis Septentrionalis]

I stopped reading when you said rape can be a good thing.

Depends for victim who was raped and gives birth to a child is a good thing if it is raised by the raped victim or sold to adoption. However the person done rape to the victim is highly a bad thing to me.

FIRST OF MOTHERFUCKING ALL, You do not sell babies.
Second of motherfucking all, NO, rape can NEVER be a good thing.

[Vareiln]

I was skimming through that post and I missed that until you pointed it out.

You're telling me.
As a rape survivor, let me give it a big motherfucking thumbs down.

I'm disgusted that anyone could think rape is good in any possible way.
And, well, I can't think of any other way to respond to your post but, well...

[Blasveck]

I was skimming through that post and I missed that until you pointed it out.

You're telling me.
As a rape survivor, let me give it a big motherfucking thumbs down.

"As a rape survivor"

Oh my God Torc.
I'm so sorry.