It seems to me that all religion ultimately boils down to ‘Does some part of us survive the death of the body, or not?’. If not we should be doing something useful with our time and not buggering about on this part of the website. So lets assume it does.
If we do it seems reasonable to expect roughly the same thing to happen to all of us. Since nobody has come up with more than ‘It will be glorious’ it will presumably be in some way almost, if not completely, beyond our comprehension.
It would also seem reasonable that those who have done more to help their fellow man (and I include those nearest and dearest in this), and the world in general, will gain the greatest benefit in the long run. I can’t think of any other way to gain ‘brownie points’, if indeed 'brownie points’ are there to be gained.
It would, therefore, appear that you do not require any of the established religions unless you need them to remind you of your purpose. If you do, however, then presumably any religion will do. Any one, that is, that does not in any way advocate ‘doing down’ another human being just because of his beliefs, or for any other reason, and is therefore losing you ‘brownie points’.
Logically, therefore, it would seem that any religion which belittles others, in any way, only does so because of the weakness of it’s leaders and their wish to maintain power and status amongst their fellows, and that religion should be shunned.
From their perspective, Hell is real. Wouldn’t you be happy that somebody told you so if it did in fact exist? That’s why it’s usually quite usless to attack religion on their stances, and better to attack them on the validity of their core beliefs.
It is hard for me to find worthy of worship a God who sends people in hell just because they were skeptical (or because they believed in another religion).
Fear not, hell does not exist. It was just a concept invented to keep all you unbelievers in order. The worst that appears to exist is described in the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’, and as that clearly points out this is just the de-brief of some of the murkier corners of the mind you (and the rest of us) have developed during this incarnation.
This is not accurate… Love your neighbor as yourself; Love your enemy as yourself; Be perfect; Honor your father and mother; Don’t steal; et al. All these things are not about the afterlife (even if they some preach that by disobeying you will burn in hell). Religion is an attempt to explain the universe–it is also a philosophy: live this way as it leads to the truth. However flawed religion is we must consider that this is at the core (which in turn is made up of many other things).
Also, if I am not mistaken, Hellfire (religious dogma) was championed by Augustine in the 4th century (circa 380 C.E.). The afterlife is a concept that is used by religions to advocate obedience… that is not even the tip of the iceberg.
I think I disagree. Whilst I do agree that these philosophies are, in many cases, admirable there appears to be no penalty, in this life, associated with ignoring them. If, therefore, there is no other existence they are merely personal philosophies and the invocation of God to back up the argument is merely someones attempt to ‘push’ their ideas on to others.