Yet one thing you could absolutely guarantee was that Grandma would die. No amount of prayer to whatsoever kind of deity has ever prevented a human body from eventually dying.
Very interesting thread, my new forum friends, for I have also, thought about this quite a bit. So, here is my conclusion, (unless I change it later.) So obsessed am I, I can trace the roots of all North Hemisphere religions, based on the creed back to the Lau Tsu, and the Tao in China. The Way of All Things. I had a lot of time on my hands and it was a lot of work. But, just me, I had to know, for me. Religion spread by foot, word of mouth and by war. It morphed and changed and left clues about that, which I traced.
And though we now have Science we still have the same Mystery of Allness and Oneness, unsolved. We can feel it. It is an emotional certainty for most people on Earth. I just read that 90% of Americans, believe in Ghosts.
There is no proof one way or the other.
All Religions cannot be all Right.
There is some Truth across them all.
My personal experience with meditation seems to suggest this Godness we seek, is Us. it is higher Self, and Quantum Physics suggests it is all powerful, all knowing. IT is all of us at once. Makes sense to me anyway. :mrgreen:
Now take it or leave it, all Religions began as Cults and became War Cults to prevail. Even Buddha was the son of a war lord. Buddhist and Hindu have been slaughtered by Muslims. Buddhists burned out Muslim Mosques in Burma, last year. The story of Krishna is from the back of a war chariot. Lau Tsu, in 2500 BC wrote about Peace and a Way and reasons to follow it, in the "Time of the Trouble with Warlords." We know about Joseph Smith, and the Mormons. They became a War Cult in Ute Indian territory, now Utah.
So, I see war and religion as two sides of the same coin, down to "no atheist in the fox holes." Right. Someone will friendly fire you for being an atheist.:roll: It happened recently, to Tillman,
in Afganistan.
We have religion for two important reasons. A way to instill morality in children, and a way to let God sort it out, in War.
Discuss?