If Christianity is man made, why does everything about it go against man’s desires? Does Christianity go against man’s desires? If so, is that evidence for Christianity? I answer this question, discussing the history of Christianity, the cognitive science of religion, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and more.
The whole “atheists can’t answer this question” and “atheists can’t explain this” thing is really getting old.
“Thou shall not kill” - God
“What!? But that goes against my base desires!” - A “christian”
Most people have no trouble following Christianitys rules, and if you struggle without Sky Daddy watching your every move, maybe your a bad person.
i dunno. the whole glutony thing. the orgies thing. those can be kinda fun until you’re fat and have more STD’s than are known to medical science.
the reality is religion- including Christianity- is a form of social control. the rules were established specifically to control people. men, sure. but women especially.
Christianity specifically was also an amalgamation of a lot of other popular myths and religions of the time, as well as the appropriation of various popular pagan rituals like Saturnalia (Xmas), Samhain (Halloween), and Oestara (Easter). Many of the saints fall under this too.
Social control + wrangling popular myths/legends/etc = the most perfectly profitable control mechanism for roughly 2000 years
If all stds were cured, would there still be such a stigma attached to sexual promiscuity? Religion has always suggested getting a sexual disease is gods punishment for debaucherous behaviour.
dunno. probably. It’s not like religion has a monopoly on prudishness- there will always be “not enough” weirdos and the “far too much” weirdos. (and then all the people who are too-normal, also being weirdos. Okay so I think humans are weirdos by default.)
Religion has definitely been coopted for control, but the 10 commandments, and most of Jesus teachings are not really controversial or controlling (The arent progressive in todays terms, but for their time I think they are very reasonable).
The layers of bullshit that has been built on top certainly is controlling.
The whole adultery thing isn’t controlling?
Marriage required recognition by a priest. All sex must happen inside the union if a marriage.
They were literally controlling who had kids with whom.
The whole theft thing protected the rich way more than it did the poor.
The “worship none one beside me” was also about keeping people from leaving.
Murder was about maintaining stability. Remember, murder is the unjustified killing of another. Who do you think was better at justifying it with a little bribe?
But all of that is besides the point that religion vastly predates the Ten Commandments. The only reason that they’re not “progressive” was because as a basic moral code, they’ve been around longer than Moses.
Oh, and forget the whole store of the exile from Egypt and stuff. That’s all justification for genociding their neighbors.
Moving beyond the 10 commandments which are far from the only religious law… ancient Judaism was extremely controlling. Off the top of my head:
There’s a lot more there. And there’s a reason for that. By making it so restrictive, and threatening eternal damnation, it ensures people do what you tell them to do, and there’s plenty of people that- as ardent believers- are terrified and will do all kinds of stupid shit to stay in god’s good graces.
I am concerned you don’t know the 10 commandments if you think they’re not controversial or controlling.
To name a few most forgotten:
Honor the sabbath day. Only worship yhwh. Don’t make any idols. Don’t take yhwv’s name in vain. And a lesser thought-crime: Don’t covet.
Sure, the rest are societally beneficial. But these that are often forgotten are about control and nothing else.
Edit: It’s hardly ever brought up that monotheism in Judaism wasn’t a thing until much later. So, again, these forgotten rules are about controlling who and even how to worship.
Fair, those three arent the best, but they are also open to interpretation. Honor the sabbath doesnt have to mean hide in a cave all day, could just be treated as take some time to rest. One god, the lords name and idols dont really impact anyone (as most.christians dont follow it anyway, and most athiests dont care either)
And while those may cause a minor impact to someones life, its nothing compared to the control being exerted via abortion bans and other modern religeous bullshit.
You mean they have no problem following those rules that are not specific to a religion and are (in some form or another) necessary for a civilized society. But the rules that define Christianity are more or less meaningless to someone not following it, and a lot of Christians are pretty loose about them as well. “No idols”? “No other gods”? “Keep the sabbath holy”? “Don’t use god’s name in vain”?
The “trick” about religions is that they are part necessary rules and customs that keep society going, and then they mix in their own, and that conglomerate keeps people bound to a religion and religions around even in “enlightened” times when people should be aware that those rules are not anything divine.
Sex besides and before marriage and same sex partners are not avoidable desires like killing
The fall