Quote Originally Posted by hazetwostep
well the way i look at (my opinion) it is that those who have a "faith" of some sorts (statistically) live longer, healthier, and happier lives. so if there is nothing after then believing can't hurt, only let you enjoy the only time you have a little longer, healthier, and happier. if there is then you are moving in the right direction. it is a win, win!

plus i actually do believe that there is more than meets the eye to our existence.. so all i can do is go with the conclusions that i have come to. that is all anyone can do whether athiest, agnostic, or spiritual.
That's great... but religous belief is based on FEAR, fear of life, fear of judgement, fear of what might happen if... I say fuck that. You don't need religion to be a spritual person, granted some of the bullet point teachings of Christianity and many faiths are inherently good ethics, 'Don't kill people, Don't steal', but it ends and should be cut loose right there and then, I'm all for communion and Church every now and then because its a good sense of community and requires you to have empathy for others you otherwise wouldn't without even be aware of without that regimentation, that's all good. But in terms of religion enriching someones life, this may be true, does it run the risk of allienating that person from others around them? Most certainly.

I don't know whether your aware of this but as you go up the religious hieracy you increasingly find people who have lost touch with reality, they have never lived in the real World, so how can they possibly teach others what they have never experienced themselves? Faith is all about paradise and divinity but I think suffering and misery are just important to shaping someone, if not more so.

Take a plant for example, a cutting taken at the top of a plant has always had light, its had a breezy life, all it has to do is lap up the sun day in day out. Take a cutting at the bottom of the plant, its having to struggle for its survival, having to fight and battle its way thoughout its life. That cutting, given the chance, given the opportunity to florish, will do so, because its had it hard all its life. How is it possible not to recognise suffering and hardship as a vehicle of change to make us better, more worldy beings.