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Posted by Collin on September 27, 1999 at 01:31:30:
Human kind needs to learn, want to learn, and wants to understand itself and the world around it better. In a Christian perspective, Adam and Eve ate and apple and the next thing ya knew, they learned to be ashamed and then learned of the world outside of Eden and then learned of the Land of Nod. (a discussion for another day, I'm afraid) In a non-Christian sense... Religion exists for the same reason science does. we have an innate curiosity about ourselves and the world around us. Religion tells us that we have a creator. That everything has a beggining and will eventually have an end. For many people, religion gives us a desperatly needed hope. Sometimes life is so bad, that we need the hope of a happy afterlife to keep us motivated. Consider this, the Visigoths (later Vikings) believed in a Hall of Warriors. Men only went to heaven if they died in battle. What does that do? It ensured that all men would be in the army and protect the clan/group. It made them fight valiantly, obviously to the point of death. By created Gods such as THor and a heaven where warriors were sent they funneled the socities morals and ideals to keep themselves alive. Had their religion been like Christianity, they would have abhorred war and they all would have died from invasion. For some peoples, it's about hope. Remember the Puritans in early America. Life was rough for them. it was rough in England and it was rougher here. The entire basis of their religion was ... behave and when you die all the pain of the world will be over and you'll go to heaven. The whole thing as about waiting to die. Talk about pessimistic! But what they believed was that since life was so bad here, that Jesus must be testing them, as He tested , and that when they 'ped' their 'test' they would be much happier in death!
Responses?
Collin