Default religion

[JackofSpades]

Do you think its possible that god or gods, when they want to contact people and pull them closer to religion, do so by using whatever religious concept this target person is allready most familiar with, or can naturally connect with? So, every person due to their background or personality, has some default religion that god is going to use for them.

This seems to be closest thing to what I personally believe. I don't think all religions are same, because they do have differencies, but I believe that they all can be used by god(s) to communicate with people. I think religion is not for god, its for men to use as a tool when communicating with divine.

This in turn leads to conclusion that I could aswell make my own religion for myself and it would be just as valid for the purpose than any of the allready existing ones.

 

[orangeness365]

um, I think that IF the God you worship is the most powerful, then that God can use whatever means necessary, including just directly talking to you in a dream and telling you scripture you didn't even know about prior to the incident! God is all powerful. He can do anything. But what if you were forced to worship this God after that, and you didn't even like that God, or want to have anything to do with that God because you thought that God to be vile and despicable?! If your God is not all powerful though then no, they will just have to hope you start to worship them.

 

[TheyCallMeDavid]

Do you think its possible that god or gods, when they want to contact people and pull them closer to religion, do so by using whatever religious concept this target person is allready most familiar with, or can naturally connect with? So, every person due to their background or personality, has some default religion that god is going to use for them.

This seems to be closest thing to what I personally believe. I don't think all religions are same, because they do have differencies, but I believe that they all can be used by god(s) to communicate with people. I think religion is not for god, its for men to use as a tool when communicating with divine.

This in turn leads to conclusion that I could aswell make my own religion for myself and it would be just as valid for the purpose than any of the allready existing ones.

You start out with the wrong premise in paragraph 1 and make a conclusion on it in the last paragraph .

The historical Person of Jesus Christ proved that there are not a number of Gods , only One / that HE was that Creator God / that HE therefore is the way to have a safe eternity because he personally paid for our sins should we choose to receive that unto our sin account / that HE will be our final judge / which therefore nullifies ALL OTHER competing Religions and Secular philosophies as being true. The rest are all false . Why ? Because Jesus Christ did what no other Person ever did : He lived a perfect sinless life, he fulfilled 300 O.T. specific prophecies about his person and first coming , he did real bonified miracles including raising 3 people from the grave , and then raised himself from the grave as evidenced by over 500 eye witnesses over a 40 day subsequent period.

Now. , yes you can make up whatever religion you wish to follow.... but it would be a false one automatically. The real truth, way, and eternal life is found in ONE singular person and if he is not trusted based on the evidence, then humankind has followed the wrong path which the Bible says leads to eternal destruction (and even personal destruction while on earth because ultimate purpose, meaning, and fulfillment is never reached which is what Jesus offers and can deliver on) . And yes, most assuredly, Jesus communicates with those who've surrendered their life to him and even with Non Believers because he is always drawing and pulling on them to come to him and repent of their lifestyle sins ; our Creator wishes that no one would miss the opportunity to get right with him.

Gods way is extremely narrow and found in his Son, Jesus. Many complain about the narrow mindedness of the Christian Faith, but its a very good thing that God chose to provide 'A' way -- the decision is now up to us on what we will do with Jesus CHrist.

 

[Inkfingers]

Do you think its possible that god or gods, when they want to contact people and pull them closer to religion, do so by using whatever religious concept this target person is allready most familiar with, or can naturally connect with? So, every person due to their background or personality, has some default religion that god is going to use for them.

God seems to communicate in languages that the recipient is able to understand - whether that be a matter of words or symbols.

So the answer to your question appears to be a qualified 'yes'. There is a default language that appears to be used.

 

[dazed]

God seems to communicate in languages that the recipient is able to understand - whether that be a matter of words or symbols.

So the answer to your question appears to be a qualified 'yes'. There is a default language that appears to be used.

He certainly works in a mysterious way. There was a one universal language pre-Tower of Babel.

 

[Albion]

Do you think its possible that god or gods, when they want to contact people and pull them closer to religion, do so by using whatever religious concept this target person is allready most familiar with, or can naturally connect with? So, every person due to their background or personality, has some default religion that god is going to use for them.

Maybe, but that requires that the god start with that and use it to move the person away from it and onto the right faith. Otherwise, your concept is that God/gods don't really care what you think, believe, or how you live your life...so long as you're devout or something like that.

 

[FireDragon76]

I think that's likely. That's just a very common belief among liberal Christians. You might even find modified versions of this theme in more traditionalist churches, like Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy. Most would say, though, that its a combination of God leading human beings combined with a large dose of error, however.

My understanding of C.S. Lewis is that he thought that God used other religions, even pagan ones, to prepare nations for the Gospel, that's fairly obvious from reading his Narnia series and other writings.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Do you think its possible that god or gods, when they want to contact people and pull them closer to religion, do so by using whatever religious concept this target person is allready most familiar with, or can naturally connect with? So, every person due to their background or personality, has some default religion that god is going to use for them.

This seems to be closest thing to what I personally believe. I don't think all religions are same, because they do have differencies, but I believe that they all can be used by god(s) to communicate with people. I think religion is not for god, its for men to use as a tool when communicating with divine.

This in turn leads to conclusion that I could aswell make my own religion for myself and it would be just as valid for the purpose than any of the allready existing ones.

JackofSpades,

Some Christians might respond to this by affirming that there are two kinds of revelation by which God communicates to humanity, the first being General Revelation, and the second being Special Revelation.

The former kind can be dispensed to all of humanity, while the latter kind is given only to particular individuals or people groups (e.g. The Jews), to then be dispensed by way of normal human interaction.

So, yes. Individuals living within diverse cultures could still pickup on the General Revelation, and be drawn to the idea that, at the least, a theistic response to the cosmos seems appropriate. However, General Revelation can still be unfocused or hazy enough from a human vantage point that something more specific is still needed, which is where Special Revelation would come into play (e.g. the Gospel of Jesus Christ).

Peace

 

[lesliedellow]

This in turn leads to conclusion that I could aswell make my own religion for myself and it would be just as valid for the purpose than any of the allready existing ones.

That makes about as much sense as manufacturing your own physics or your own geography. There may be no absolute guarantee that any particular religion is true, but it is as close to certain as makes no difference that something you pull out of your own head will be false.

 

[Davian]

That makes about as much sense as manufacturing your own physics or your own geography. There may be no absolute guarantee that any particular religion is true, but it is as close to certain as makes no difference that something you pull out of your own head will be false.

I do not see the analogy. Physics or geography have facts that can be observed or replicated by others. Even if all of the books were destroyed we could eventually replicate all of the existing knowledge.

Is there a religion that cannot be explained as being "pulled from someone's head" at some point in history?

 

[Eyes wide Open]

Do you think its possible that god or gods, when they want to contact people and pull them closer to religion, do so by using whatever religious concept this target person is allready most familiar with, or can naturally connect with? So, every person due to their background or personality, has some default religion that god is going to use for them.

Well lets just sat that under the umbrella of an unknowable entity anything is possible right? I do believe that there are connective elements to life and that through these connective elements we gain guidance or perhaps intuitive drives and leanings towards certain understandings that suit where we are at, which may well involve a religion. I think there needs to be a distinction between religion and spirituality, I think spirituality is a foundational component to being a human being and religion is the structural component that surrounds that, and that structural part is subject to culture and context, of which is changing and diverse. I will state that spirituality in the context I am using it does not mean a belief in a deity, although it can.

This seems to be closest thing to what I personally believe. I don't think all religions are same, because they do have differencies, but I believe that they all can be used by god(s) to communicate with people. I think religion is not for god, its for men to use as a tool when communicating with divine.

You would have to qualify what you mean here about communication with the divine. Are you saying that we 'need' a religion to communicate with the divine, or is it that the religion by its formation in our psyche and perception tells that we are indeed communicating with the divine. What definitions are you using here regarding communication , intuitive drives, a booming voice from the sky, a voice in your head??

This in turn leads to conclusion that I could aswell make my own religion for myself and it would be just as valid for the purpose than any of the allready existing ones.

I would say that your personal journey of discovery would be as valid as anything you can find in the world religions, but would suggest that some foundational beliefs about life and how we interact should run parallel to that otherwise it could run the risk of (as an example) turning into some Aztec type scenario where the voices in your head, or the entity you believe is communicating with you demands that human sacrifice is the order of the day. In that instance your personal journey of discovery is not valid because it interferes and indeed wipes out another's in the process.

 

[Messy]

Do you think its possible that god or gods, when they want to contact people and pull them closer to religion, do so by using whatever religious concept this target person is allready most familiar with, or can naturally connect with? So, every person due to their background or personality, has some default religion that god is going to use for them.

This seems to be closest thing to what I personally believe. I don't think all religions are same, because they do have differencies, but I believe that they all can be used by god(s) to communicate with people. I think religion is not for god, its for men to use as a tool when communicating with divine.

This in turn leads to conclusion that I could aswell make my own religion for myself and it would be just as valid for the purpose than any of the allready existing ones.

Yes, but I don't understand the conclusion. If you make up your own religion you won't find out if it's true. I made my own religion as a kid, I had one girl who said: Wow, how do you know all that?
When I got older I got interested in reading occult things about spirits and astral travel, materializing things, with that same friend by the way and I believed everything I read, it also scared me a lot and it brought me to the conclusion that spirits exist. The next thought I had was: Well, I can't call myself an atheist anymore, I'm as superstitious as can be and in Dutch that's bij-geloof (literally a believe next to another belief), so I thought: Why then not just be believing? There are ghosts, so why wouldn't there be an upperghost? I really believe God gave me that thought, because that's when I started to check out if He was real and everything I asked to test Him He did and a year later it was just too much to be coincidental and I was convinced and went to a church and got saved. My brother was doing zen meditation at the time and he saw Jesus when he was doing that. He went to different kinds of churches until he found one he liked and he asked me to come too and I had just promised God that now that I did believe He existed I'd go to a church.
So yes, He uses what you believe in to make Himself known to you, but if I had just stayed with a belief in ghosts or made something up I'd never have known that He existed and if I hadn't gone to a church I'd never heard about the offer of Jesus and that you need to accept Him to really come into contact and a relationship with Him.

 

[lesliedellow]

I do not see the analogy. Physics or geography have facts that can be observed or replicated by others. Even if all of the books were destroyed we could eventually replicate all of the existing knowledge.

Is there a religion that cannot be explained as being "pulled from someone's head" at some point in history?

The origins of Judaism is lost in the mists of history, in spite of the manifold speculations which regularly get recycled as "facts". But it is all but certain that it didn't originate with any one person. Instead it is the result of a community's collective religious experience.

 

[Davian]

The origins of Judaism is lost in the mists of history, in spite of the manifold speculations which regularly get recycled as "facts". But it is all but certain that it didn't originate with any one person. Instead it is the result of a community's collective religious experience.

Or, in the absence of evidence for actual gods, their collective imagination.

 

[FireDragon76]

Or, in the absence of evidence for actual gods, their collective imagination.

I just love how atheists completely sidetrack threads and can't stay on topic.

 

[Davian]

I just love how atheists completely sidetrack threads and can't stay on topic.

How does that not apply to the OP? Is he not saying that his fabricated religion has as much value as any other? Keeping in mind that no actual gods are required for the existence of religions, it is his imagination or yours, or someone else's. Take your pick.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

I htink we all have our subjective religion, or lack of it. The truth is out there, but we "grapple" (as in a grappling hook) with our ascents in our own terms.

 

[JackofSpades]

I think there needs to be a distinction between religion and spirituality, I think spirituality is a foundational component to being a human being and religion is the structural component that surrounds that, and that structural part is subject to culture and context, of which is changing and diverse. I will state that spirituality in the context I am using it does not mean a belief in a deity, although it can.

That's rather close to my view. I think it in a way that ideally, spirituality is born first and then religion is built around it, as a theoretical construction to have words and concepts for spirituality. But it can work other way around too, when becoming familiar with religion sparks spirituality.

What definitions are you using here regarding communication , intuitive drives, a booming voice from the sky, a voice in your head??

For me personally, its mostly feeling of presence of god, experience of being guided, visions, dreams, inner sense of being connected to spiritual being etc. Stuff like that. I understand not everyone experiences it same way so it can mean other stuff too.

I would say that your personal journey of discovery would be as valid as anything you can find in the world religions

If religion is understood to be like language to communicate with divine, then it is.

, but would suggest that some foundational beliefs about life and how we interact should run parallel to that otherwise it could run the risk of (as an example) turning into some Aztec type scenario where the voices in your head, or the entity you believe is communicating with you demands that human sacrifice is the order of the day. In that instance your personal journey of discovery is not valid because it interferes and indeed wipes out another's in the process.

I'm too influenced by western and Christian moral standards to accept such extreme ideas I assume, unless I totally change and lose myself. So possible risk scenarios would be different.

But there is interesting view point: While it's possible to end up morally lost while being individualistic with religion, if we look in the history of organized religions and see all the stuff organized religions have done, I just think that being organized religion is not any better guarantee of being morally on right path than being individualist is.

 

[JackofSpades]

... *zip* ...

Thank you for sharing this, you both have had interesting spiritual journey!

 

[JackofSpades]

Otherwise, your concept is that God/gods don't really care what you think, believe, or how you live your life...so long as you're devout or something like that.

I think god wants friendship with humans, not for sole reason of becoming their moral authority but just for sake of being in connection with them. In such case, person having possibly incorrect ideas about god wouldn't be so huge deal for god. I also think that if gods spirit has renewing power in moral sense, that can work within wide variety of moral standards.