Why people pray and go to church.synagogue,mosque....?

[Nihilen]

You would think that, sure, but a lot of people don't do it, don't approach things that way. My friends, for instance.

What about you friends, for instance ?

 

[Cimarron]

What about you friends, for instance ?

Just like we said, that they don't try to convert me to Christianity.

These are the things they are juggling in their heads:
1. Those who don't accept Christ as their savior will go to Hell. (the ones I know believe this, I'm not arguing whether it's the case)
2. Friends should care about other friends' futures.
3. Friends should respect other friends' decisions.

It's a delicate balance, and sometimes #3 dominates, like with my friends. Other friends may still pursue it, but not aggressively at all. They know when to back off and let another make their own judgments.

 

[Nihilen]

I live in a quite reserved society where all the believers don't believe atheists exist.
So I just never mention my atheism except to my couple close friends, these are agnostic, no trouble.

I was only questioning the believers hypocrisy, if I see my friend stepping on a mine, I just wouldn't let him, respecting ones decision seems futile when it's about death, or spending eternity in hell.

I wouldn't want them to try converting me either, obviously. I just find it absurd either way.

 

[Sniffles]

I despise superstition.

That's nice, so does the Church.

People who "go to church.synagogue,mosque...." are either very stupid uneducated fools, or people in pain/struggle/depression who need support that they cannot get from humans.

Yeah yeah, just to let you know but repeating this tired old line Ad Nauseum doesn't make it so; nor for that matter even prove religious claims are actually false. As a person who claims to trump logic, you should know this.

The smarter you are, the higher education you get, the richer you become, the less likely you would seek to believe in a higher power. Because you would be able to fulfill your basic needs.

It's usually countries, infested by war, poverty, struggle, and illiteracy who have alarmingly high rates of religious people. These people need to believe in something else because their life is worthless, and that is hard to accept.

Which in the end means that disbelief is as much depended on psychological and social factors as religious belief - which means you're full of it as much as any person who goes to church.

Atheism is as much a crutch as any religion, to give people the illusion of intellectual superiority over the "stupid masses". As the old Russian proverb states: He who boasts is most afraid.

 

[Nihilen]

Statistically, atheists are much smarter and have a much higher education than believers.

Fighting logic seems like a believer's characteristic. So keep it up.

 

[Sniffles]

Statistically, atheists are much smarter and have a much higher education than believers.

Even if true, that still does not prove religion false. You're making an appeal to authority here.

Fighting logic seems like a believer's characteristic. So keep it up.

That's funny, you're the one resorting to logical fallacies here, not me. And in any case, Logic is a whore!

 

[redacted]

I used to go to synagogue a bunch; I went to Jewish preschool and kindergarten, went to hebrew school, had a bar mitzvah, then continued Jewish education until I was 18.

But I fought it the whole time. The older I got, the more I hated it. The day after my bar mitzvah, I made up my mind that I would never participate in religious ceremonies again. I stopped saying prayers (even when literally every single other person in the service was -- something like 2499 out of 2500 people...)

My family friends' parents started getting angry at me because I would stand silently and watch them pray during religious holidays in which I was forced to attend. Bah. Anyway, once I turned 18, I stopped going to any service. I've been to services one or two times since, just by bad luck, and seriously, it is the weirdest experience...

It gives me the chills, to watch thousands of people reciting prayers that they know nothing about. It makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable -- all I keep thinking is...wow, the power of denial affects people so deeply! Religions are just cults, but larger.

Yeah, I'm never going back if I can help it.

 

[Ivy]

Why do you assume they know nothing about what they're saying?

 

[Nihilen]

Cause if they were aware of the monstrosities they were reciting, they would shut up.

 

[Cimarron]

Why do you assume they know nothing about what they're saying?

Part of it's because it's in Hebrew. But he's assuming that they haven't bothered to look at the translation, too.

 

[Ivy]

Part of it's because it's in Hebrew. But he's assuming that they haven't bothered to look at the translation, too.

I'm not Jewish, but I thought most Jews took Hebrew and learned what the words mean.

Hey check this out!

 

[Bella]

I'm not Jewish, but I thought most Jews took Hebrew and learned what the words mean.

Hey check this out!

Oh, that's a Jew?! I thought it was an Amish little guy.

Nice.

 

[Nihilen]

Hey check this out!

GIVE ME YOUR JEW GOLD

 

[Cimarron]

I'm not Jewish, but I thought most Jews took Hebrew and learned what the words mean.

Hey check this out!

But Christians don't have to translate before they pray! Why should we have to? I have seen people who don't bother looking, even though most of the time the translation sits on the opposite side of the page. Some memorize the tune (thus no need for the book), and don't know what it means.

 

[redacted]

Why do you assume they know nothing about what they're saying?

Because 99% of them don't. I definitely got to intimately know a lot of Jews in the first 18 years of my life

I'm not Jewish, but I thought most Jews took Hebrew and learned what the words mean.

Hey check this out!

Hells nah. People are lazy, Jews included. They're just spouting nonsense, for all they know.

 

[Bella]

You're a Jew too, Cimarron? The Forum is full of Jews!!

 

[Nihilen]

But Christians don't have to translate before they pray! Why should we have to? I have seen people who don't bother looking, even though most of the time the translation sits on the opposite side of the page. Some memorize the tune (thus no need for the book), and don't know what it means.

People over here (maronites - lebanese christian sect) pray in a dead semitic language called syriac.

I sometimes go to the mass to have a good laugh at them.

 

[Ivy]

Because 99% of them don't. I definitely got to intimately know a lot of Jews in the first 18 years of my life

I'm embarrassed to admit I wasn't even thinking about the prayers being in Hebrew when I asked.

Hells nah. People are lazy, Jews included. They're just spouting nonsense, for all they know.

What's all this I hear about "Hebrew School"? I got the impression it was pretty much mandatory for young Jews.

Edit: I think I just answered my own question, I went to edit and add "observant" in front of "Jews" and then I realized not all the people in synagogues on Saturdays are particularly observant.

 

[Sniffles]

I go to masses in Latin, like this one:
[youtube="8vb-4A0QQjM"]Credo III[/youtube]

I sometimes go to the mass to have a good laugh at them.

Wow, you're such a funny guy - HA HA! :rolli:

 

[Nihilen]

I go to masses in Latin, like this one:
[youtube="8vb-4A0QQjM"]Credo III[/youtube]




Wow, you're such a funny guy - HA HA! :rolli:

The audience (me) is not supposed to be funny.