On religion

[EternalOptimist]

Historically, a minority of wars have been fought with religion as the basis. The basis of most wars is a desire for power and wealth.

spot on. Economics and power in a roughly 50/50 split

with the occasional religious and batty war thrown in

[hyperD]

What about those people that haven't been given a Christian starter pack - where do they go afterwards?

Heaven?

Hell?

Butlins?

[sasguru]

What about those people that haven't been given a Christian starter pack - where do they go afterwards?

Heaven?

Hell?

Butlins?

Hell is full of Indians, Chinese, Koreans and Japanese. Heathen fookers had the gall to believe in their own fantasies.

[mudskipper]

That's the other problem I have with religion.

There's so many variations on a theme, and all fervently believe their interpretation is the correct one.

That means, even if one accepts there is a God, the vast majority of religious people must be wrong.

[doodab]

Religon is bollocks. Where is that option on the census eh?

[suityou01]

Religon is bollocks. Where is that option on the census eh?

I know quite a few Christians would applaud that statement. I applaud that statement and don't put myself miles apart from those Christians, just that I'm a little lapsed.

What is religion? How do you define it? And how does this in turn differentiate from faith?

[doodab]

What is religion? How do you define it? And how does this in turn differentiate from faith?

Well, faith is unfounded belief in something, religion is an organised system of belief, morality and codes of conduct that is usually predicated on an article of faith of some sort.

[BrilloPad]

Well, faith is unfounded belief in something, religion is an organised system of belief, morality and codes of conduct that is usually predicated on an article of faith of some sort.

Marx said that Religion is what you place highest in life.

[doodab]

Marx said that Religion is what you place highest in life.

In which case my bollocks are religion, which brings us full circle.

[NotAllThere]

So why is there so much in the bible devoted to describing the torments of Hell, if not fear of punishment?

If you spend some time studying it, you'll notice that there isn't. In the gospels, which make up about 6% of the bible, Jesus talks about Hell a few times, but not in great detail, certainly not describing the torments of Hell. His target audience, however, was not unbelievers, but his own disciples.

It seems odd to me that God would turn away a good person who didn't believe in Jesus. Allah sounds a bit more rational in this regard.

Ah, a common misunderstanding. You don't go to heaven because you're good. You don't go to hell because you're bad. You go to heaven because you ask Jesus to get you there. You go to hell because you don't. A matter of choice.

What happens to those who've never heard of Jesus is subject to debate. There's nothing really definitive in the bible that addresses this issue. However, if you have heard the gospel, you certainly are without excuse.