God came to me in a dream last night and asked what I thought of this little experiment He is thinking of doing on humans. I agreed that it would be fascinating - but only if I could watch from the sidelines so I knew what was going on:
God cleanses the earth all the bibles and churches and all other houses of worship and religious verbiage from the earth. Swoosh. Gone.
He then commands you to come up with your own religion - anything you want. On your own with nobody else's help.
* Invent a new one *
Would it have a big book like the bible at it's core?
What would it's basic rules be?
There are lots of ways to go with this but mostly, God just wants you to have fun for a while....
And God said "Go forth and make a new religion"
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The Happy Humanist
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Post #2
What a freakin' coincidence. I just sat down with the intent of creating a topic very much like this one, except it's called "What Would You Do If You Were God?" I think I shall still do so, but its weird to see that you just in the last few hours came up with a similar topic with a creative theme.
Jim, the Happy Humanist!
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Any sufficiently advanced worldview will be indistinguishable from sheer arrogance --The Happy Humanist (with apologies to Arthur C. Clarke)
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Any sufficiently advanced worldview will be indistinguishable from sheer arrogance --The Happy Humanist (with apologies to Arthur C. Clarke)
Post #3
Divine intervention! Apparently God really wants a new religion invented.
My topic was written in quickly and not posed very well - perhaps you can do more with it.
I am of the arrogant opinion that, as relatively sophomoric as my writing skills are, I could probably write a more coherent bible than the one currently in existance. It would be short and sweet and to the point. It would encourage curiosity and wonder and embrace diversity. There would be no arguing over what was meant by owning slaves - it would be explicit: Owning slaves is bad thing. Don't do it. Period. I might even explain why it is "bad" beyond just the threat of damnation. War would not be glorified under any circumstances - it would instead be clearly stated as the ultimate failure of intelligent thought. Etc...etc..
Or, perhaps it would just be an instructional manual on how to become an independent thinker.
My topic was written in quickly and not posed very well - perhaps you can do more with it.
I am of the arrogant opinion that, as relatively sophomoric as my writing skills are, I could probably write a more coherent bible than the one currently in existance. It would be short and sweet and to the point. It would encourage curiosity and wonder and embrace diversity. There would be no arguing over what was meant by owning slaves - it would be explicit: Owning slaves is bad thing. Don't do it. Period. I might even explain why it is "bad" beyond just the threat of damnation. War would not be glorified under any circumstances - it would instead be clearly stated as the ultimate failure of intelligent thought. Etc...etc..
Or, perhaps it would just be an instructional manual on how to become an independent thinker.
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The Happy Humanist
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Post #4
To make people truly independent thinkers, I wouldn't provide a Bible. Let's see how they do on their own.Or, perhaps it would just be an instructional manual on how to become an independent thinker.
Jim, the Happy Humanist!
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Any sufficiently advanced worldview will be indistinguishable from sheer arrogance --The Happy Humanist (with apologies to Arthur C. Clarke)
===
Any sufficiently advanced worldview will be indistinguishable from sheer arrogance --The Happy Humanist (with apologies to Arthur C. Clarke)
Re: And God said "Go forth and make a new religion"
Post #5Didn't Mormons do this? So did Lutherans. And christian science. Didn't work to well for them. Doubt I could do a better job.Cmass wrote:God came to me in a dream last night and asked what I thought of this little experiment He is thinking of doing on humans. I agreed that it would be fascinating - but only if I could watch from the sidelines so I knew what was going on:
God cleanses the earth all the bibles and churches and all other houses of worship and religious verbiage from the earth. Swoosh. Gone.
He then commands you to come up with your own religion - anything you want. On your own with nobody else's help.
* Invent a new one *
Would it have a big book like the bible at it's core?
What would it's basic rules be?
There are lots of ways to go with this but mostly, God just wants you to have fun for a while....
What we do for ourselves dies with us,
What we do for others and the world remains
and is immortal.
-Albert Pine
Never be bullied into silence.
Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one persons definition of your life; define yourself.
-Harvey Fierstein
What we do for others and the world remains
and is immortal.
-Albert Pine
Never be bullied into silence.
Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one persons definition of your life; define yourself.
-Harvey Fierstein
Post #6
Sorry, but you have already proven that you most certainly could do a better job. Depending upon your level of personal confidence, you can take that as a compliment or a slam against biblical writing - or both.Doubt I could do a better job.
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Noachian
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Post #8
Intresting, but kinda confusing. Anyhow I would make a Religion based on Ancient manuscripts and Doctirne and would worship God the father and Jesus (thats if it is aloud on this thing). It would have a book called the Holy Manuscripts and have a place of worship called a Natural which would be outdoor. The Religion would be founded on peace and anyone disturbing or changing that peace would be exiled from the Religion (just kiddin). It would be open and free to freedom of speach (but not critisim or offence) and it would be anti-war but would act in self defence. The Religion would avoid extremism and treasure rationality. It would function mainly in science and would work on science.
Post #9
I think I would make a religion that took into account not only the good teachings found in the NT (the OT would be excluded altogether) but also the good teaching found in many of the worlds religions. I would then consider it a individual based faith in that each person is responsible for his or her actions. Instead of emphasis being placed on individual families, I think the community itself should be responsible for the members of their community. Should a father beat his son, regardless of why, the father would no longer be allowed contact with his son. He has shown his is unworthy of a relationship with that child. This places the blame on the father, not the son. There is no "rehabilitation". If you regard the life of your son so little that you would beat him (not s simple spanking mind you), then you have no rights to be a part of that life. The community could then assist that mother with the raising of that child. I don't know that I would include a god, heaven, or hell at all. I think I like the idea of reincarnation better. Each life is designed to learn a set of lessons. If you learn them, you advance with your next life, if you fail to learn them, you digress to say a horse. And so on. I know, I am sick.
What we do for ourselves dies with us,
What we do for others and the world remains
and is immortal.
-Albert Pine
Never be bullied into silence.
Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one persons definition of your life; define yourself.
-Harvey Fierstein
What we do for others and the world remains
and is immortal.
-Albert Pine
Never be bullied into silence.
Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one persons definition of your life; define yourself.
-Harvey Fierstein
Post #10
Interesting topic.
In a way, I've already done this. I was raised Christian, but the more I studied it, the more I realized that I didn't agree with its teachings. I eventually discarded all knowledge I had of religion and just focused on what I felt was divine. It's amazing how much I've learned since then.
If I were to start a religion, I wouldn't base it on any kind of doctrine or dogma. All traditional religions are just someone elses views and ideas of what divinity is, and why anyone would want to put "faith" in someone elses "guess" about such a serious subject...is beyond me. My religion would teach people to take what they feel is divine...and study it. I would teach them to constantly question their beliefs and understandings, and search for their own truths.
I don't have time to finish this...
In a way, I've already done this. I was raised Christian, but the more I studied it, the more I realized that I didn't agree with its teachings. I eventually discarded all knowledge I had of religion and just focused on what I felt was divine. It's amazing how much I've learned since then.
If I were to start a religion, I wouldn't base it on any kind of doctrine or dogma. All traditional religions are just someone elses views and ideas of what divinity is, and why anyone would want to put "faith" in someone elses "guess" about such a serious subject...is beyond me. My religion would teach people to take what they feel is divine...and study it. I would teach them to constantly question their beliefs and understandings, and search for their own truths.
I don't have time to finish this...
