Oddbean new post about login | logout Why is still relevant after couple thousand years?
The same reason fiat and governments are still relevant. People are stupid and easy to control.
How much time did you spend reading the bible?
Way too much time. How much time did you spend reading the other religious texts? Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam?
Who needs text when you have almighty Zeus and the tooth fairy
Fair. How are getting people controlled by Religion exactly?
Religion tells people what they can and can’t do. It tells people what is right and what is wrong. It determines punishments and rewards for people. Not very different from a government except it claims to be from god which they can’t prove. And if you ask for proof, they gaslight you by telling you that you need to pray harder and keep looking for arbitrary “signs from the universe” which are still not evidence.
If there is no higher authority or total truth about good and bad, who defines what is good and bad?
You do
Moral relativism is a scam.
Moral absolutism is the scam. A lot of the morals in the Bible are outdated and/or evil. Moral relativism allows for nuance and does not require one to subject himself to corruptible authorities like the church or the state.
Do you think murder is wrong?
I do think it’s wrong. But why does my opinion matter? I am not the authority on morality. Do YOU think murder is wrong?
Your opinion matters, at least for yourself and for the people you are responsible for. There is an authority on Moral, people think Moral evolved, look how degenerate and wicked the world is right now. The western world lives on an christian based standard it is in plain sight but people’s hearts are to hard to see it.
But why are you worried about my morals? Worry about your own life. This is another annoying thing about religious people. You guys can’t mind your own business lol also I don’t see how the western world is living on a Christian standard. Maybe America is loosely on a Christian standard but the rest of the western world is pretty agnostic. The state has separated government from the churches as well.
I am talking about the core values, yea government tries to destroy those. It’s about your soul my friend. Have a blessed day!
Under many circumstances killing a person can be just and necessary yet considered murder by someone else. Actually... I'd say the vast majority of murder victims are not so innocent and in the event that someone is liberally murdering they themselves would be murdered and natural selection(a theory that's backed up over and over by real science) would weed these people out. Sooo idk... Murder might not be wrong
it is voluntary though
Not really. Religion commands the murder of certain “sinners.” You have to participate in their delusions or risk your safety.
In Christianity no, Old Testament was the Law which Jesus Christ fulfilled. Eye for an Eye is abolished.
The creator of the Old Testament is the same god as the creator of Christianity. That means some people are still living with the eye for an eye mentality.
Then they do not understand the Gospel. Don’t make your decisions dependent on other peoples behavior.
Religion was the beta version of governments 😅
Christianity is different compared to the ones you list. In christianity God reaches out to have a relationship with you and the rest it is about good deeds. You never know if you are saved. Imagine a kid has to do good deeds to be accepted by their parents how screwed up that child would be. No, in “cases” the parents give love and furthermore are gracious! Human need love like fish need water. Without love there is death.
That is not what I am trying to say, you need to look at how salvation looks like, is it based on merit of good deeds or grace alone?