I was attending my political science class when I brought up religion. The following statement was said: Religion has always been a form of government and has done the same amount of bad things the untied states government has. I believe there is a difference between a set religion like catholicism and the belief in Jesus Christ and deity compared to the religion it is linked to. If God is really all knowing, why would a person have to dedicate their life to prayer and attending church, when they can be out helping others and doing the basic set lines of how to be a good person and get into heaven. When discussing this, I was surprised to not be killed on the spot, knowing how controversial the religious issues are. In fact, I was praised for deep thought and had many people agreeing that set religion was good, but is now just abused and a way to brainwash people, when they should be out finding themselves and their own beliefs and knowing that as long as one is a good person they do not need to throw away their time when it can be used productively.

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Were these the same people that said the following?: So it is a fact that it is not the religion but the followers. And if a religion were to preach foolishness, you could accuse the religion, but if the follower were to exclude themselves from their judgment, then they aren't taking responsibility for their own actions. However, accusing the religion mostly comes from ignorance: an assumption that is taken up when people only observe but not interact.


Being dedicated to prayer and attending church can involve helping others. In fact, by going to church you can very well help others. One of my personal favorite churches i visit hold a feast almost every weekend (when they can afford to), and they allow others to come in and eat. Many nearby homeless people have been known to come in and be served. By being dedicated to prayer you help prolong this want to help. Also, many who go to church seek spiritual healing; hope goes a long way. So, prayer and attending church can be and is productive.

And since you mention Christianity you cannot say that by doing good one will enter Heaven—this is the opposite of Christianity's teachings. Christianity teaches that the moment one does an evil act they no longer are considered a good person, since good is the abscence or complete lack of bad or evil. By believing that you can enter heaven through good works though you've done bad works in the past is to believe that you are a good person. The average person performs evil several times for each one good deed. Many go on in their daily lives not knowing that they've committed an evil act in that day.

Although you say "basic set lines" of doing good, how many people do you know follow these "basic" set lines? Everyone needs a reason to do something—whether they're a believer or not, whether it is beneficial or not, and whether they can tell you their reason for doing something or not. However, what are these "basic" set lines, and how many "lines" are there? If humans could make up their own set lines for entering heaven, then heaven is just make belief (to them), and you are bound, if not certain, to see a lack of dedication to do good.

However, it is also fully possible to do good and still be a bad person. For example, one may do good public deeds but fail in their private time.


Now-a-days, that should be expected. Many people take up the belief that followers of certain religions lack sense or some form of intellect. Because of this, many believe, because of how convicted the believer is to their religion, that the believer is blindly following their religion. But this is not an absolute. In fact, it requires deep thought in order to understand many, if not most or all, religions.


However, everyone will state anything—whether just or not—to not follow something; but something just or, in this case, "i don't want to" is acceptable. I am unsure of what church or facility you've or others have been to that have brainwashed people for their own benefit which in turn makes them unproductive, but you are capable of suggesting things according to their ability; however, you may find that they already do such productive things.

 

 

 

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Actually, I have heard it said that it is exactly that which keeps Christianity from not being a religion: that it is not about being a good person to get into Heaven. According to the Bible, all of us are guilty wretches who can never be good enough to get into Heaven. This is a good thing since it keeps us from being able to condemn or punish one another, since we can't bop others with rocks unless we are un-bop-worthy ourselves.

Since Christianity involves becoming a new person, a saint, simply by asking Jesus to save us and trusting His sacrifice on the cross to save us from our evil deeds (meaning we first must admit we're evil), it completely eliminates the element of pride that comes with religion. We can't brag because we owe everything to Jesus, and stand every moment only by God's mercy towards us. Furthermore, since we're all a bunch of jerks, or at best, redeemed jerks, it means we should be merciful to others, or else God won't be merciful to us.

And, since we're saved by grace, not by our works, it also means we should do good towards others not out of fear God will punish us, but out of love and our hearts being right inside. However, it does not condone laziness or evil deeds because if we're saved at all our lives should begin producing good fruits naturally, not because of our efforts but because of our very natures having been changed.

As for churches, they really don't matter. We should try to be around other Christians to be kept accountable, to fellowship with them, to praise God, and just because we like being around God's people, but that doesn't mean going into a literal building. It could be a bunch of Christians sitting in a tree and be about as effective (or maybe more), imo. If anything, church buildings can prove a distraction since they can get the focus on legalism, structure, and externalism rather than God.

Also, brainwashing is a bad thing, but I never understood the term. Wouldn't people want their brains nice and clean instead of all dirty and icky? I mean, it's good to give a dog a bath once a while, wouldn't it be the same with a brain? It couldn't really work like a carwash, maybe more like sticking a hose in one ear, and...

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