If God existed, there wouldn't be loads of religions

[exleper]

This is a thought that struck me the other day, discuss or dismiss as you please.

If there was some sort of God, surely it would make sense that there would be just the one religion? If we are to believe, as some religions claim, that the concept of God is innate from the day we are born, then surely this concept would be exactly the same for all humans? And surely God would ensure that religion was unified under one matching dogma so that we could all worship Him to an equal and similar degree? And this would stop any danger of disagreement between religions and lots of silly 'holy wars' leading to the deaths of millions?

personally I find the fact that there are literally thousands of religions (and thousands of Xian denominations) does not prove the existence of God at all; rather it proves the existence of several thousand concepts of God. We all have our own individual ideas on where we came from, and the multitude of slightly different religions is the manifestation of this. Perhaps God is an archetypal concept within us, I cant be sure, but I cant believe that an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God would want us fighting over who's got the right idea about him..

 

[fudgefactorfive]

but he's ineffable

he might want there to be lots of religions for reasons we can't possibly understand

so stop asking questions

 

[Pete the Greek]

the default position of the church in many of these sorts of examples is that:

it's God's way of testing our faith.

That's what I have found anyway.

 

[exleper]

i caught quite a good line in that shitty arnie theological-action movie 'end of days', spoken by, er, satan.

Something good happens, "It's His will." Something bad happens, "He moves in mysterious ways."

(copied from imdb)

 

[rhys gethin]

'Something good happens, "It's His will." Something bad happens, "He moves in mysterious ways." '

Aldebaran - I think - would say that no created thing could conceivably understand its Creator. I'd say that this argument, like the rest of the rubbish in our human brains, is a pointless waste of time, which should be replaced by meditation on the nonsense that prevents our waking up to Nothingness. Wish I could get that done instead of wasting my own time here, fair play!

 

[JHE]

This is a thought that struck me the other day, discuss or dismiss as you please.

If there was some sort of God, surely it would make sense that there would be just the one religion? If we are to believe, as some religions claim, that the concept of God is innate from the day we are born, then surely this concept would be exactly the same for all humans? And surely God would ensure that religion was unified under one matching dogma so that we could all worship Him to an equal and similar degree? And this would stop any danger of disagreement between religions and lots of silly 'holy wars' leading to the deaths of millions?

personally I find the fact that there are literally thousands of religions (and thousands of Xian denominations) does not prove the existence of God at all; rather it proves the existence of several thousand concepts of God. We all have our own individual ideas on where we came from, and the multitude of slightly different religions is the manifestation of this. Perhaps God is an archetypal concept within us, I cant be sure, but I cant believe that an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God would want us fighting over who's got the right idea about him..

You underestimate God's wicked sense of humour. He's quite a card.

 

[Stigmata]

I'm not sure. To draw a daft and inadequate comparison, in mathematics a person can reach the same end result through a variety of different means. Maybe the mechanism doesn't matter overmuch.