This is a question worth asking yourself, and others. If
religion is just some old system of beliefs that no longer
has any viability for today, then it would be silly to
trust our lives to it. That is for sure. The qualifying
question to accompany this question would be, "Is there
information that I have not yet received or investigated?".
This is important in finding the answer to this
life-changing enquiry. Take a look at some of the
information that we've assembled and hopefully, we can help
you to arrive at an intelligent conclusion.
"Does it really
matter which god I believe in...aren't they all the
same one?"
I believe this question immediately follows the question
above. Say for instance, you believe in some sort of
"higher power" or god of some sort, but you are inundated
with all sorts of options as to who or what this god is, or
looks like, or is it a he, she, or
it? One option that has been proffered, would say
that to avoid this confusion, just believe that "all gods
are one!", "All paths lead to the same destination" and
"whatever is true for you or whatever you believe, makes it
true for you". But are they all really the same one? Or do
they seem to contradict each other so decidedly that the
option of claiming ALL are true is simply absurd? Before
approaching this question, it might be a good idea to take
a look at our discussion of truth: what it is, what it
isn't, and the types of truth that are commonly
mentioned in discussions of logic today. If they are
not ALL true, then which one? Click the question above
and visit the link to do a little research on the
topic for yourself. It can't hurt to learn something
new and possibly observe this subject from a different
perspective.
This is a question that I have asked numerous times in the
past, present, and will ask continually in the future. It
is a quandary to say the least. Think about it: an "all
loving" God who supposedly loves all his creation,
ESPECIALLY mankind, is all-powerful and is capable of all
things that power can achieve, does not HIMSELF inflict
evil (because he's supposedly all loving), he has the power
to not only stop evil, pain, and suffering today, but has
the power to prevent it from EVER happening again, yet
evil, pain, and suffering exist so how can that be? How can
an all loving all powerful God co-exist with evil, pain,
and suffering yet does nothing to stop it or prevent it?
The rabbit hole goes very deep here, so if you're
ambitious, click the link & away we go!
"What happens when I
die?"
Some believe that when we die, we roam the Earth as spirits
either good or bad, such as in animism and voodoo. Some
believe that if, and that's a BIG if, we life our lives
perfectly right, praying to a specific god 3-5 times daily
while facing the direction of a specific city, make a
pilgrimmage to that city, or fight in a jihad, etc. we just
might get to go to a type of heaven that involves either
having a harem of women or being a part of a harem of
women, such as the Muslims believe. Others claim that we
live a
life of doing good and evil and when we die, the good
serves to advance us up the ladder of existence to higher
and higher life forms and higher and higher people classes
(castes) until we achieve Nirvana or a "oneness" with
Brahman, as it is with the Hindu faith. Still others like
Buddhists, Taoists, Confucianists and Atheists believe that
the life we live now is our only shot so we had better live
by the right code to make the most of it i.e. Humanist
Manifesto, Four Paths of Buddhism, etc. These are only a
few of the many diverse and varied belief systems that
attempt to give and explanation for what happens to the
existence of a human being when he or she dies. Click the
link in the question to compare and contrast these claims
and see which one makes the most sense. As you will see,
this is a big question and really shouldn't be trivialized
by the relative truth approach.
This might sound like a silly question to some but to
others, it is often a difficult concept to get one's mind
around. Is God all-powerful? If He is, can he use that
power to create something that renders his power,
powerless? This question is often communicated to
demonstrate the supposed fallacy behind the concept of a
being (whoever that might be) that is considered "all
powerful" or "omnipotent" these vocal few would claim that
obviously if a being is all powerful it can do ALL things
INCLUDING making itself go out of existence. If the answer
is "no he can't do that" the typical response is, "Well
then he is not all powerful". If the answer is yes he can
do that, then the response may be, "If he can make a rock
so big that even HE can't move it, then he can't move it,
therefore he is not "all powerful". Some have chosen not to
address this little question, which has led others to
abandon ANY being, including God, that claims to be all
powerful. Click the link above and see what the answer is.
You'll be amazed at how simple the solution is to this
even-simpler question.
