It is easy to see that many religious promise a virtuous existence, either in this life or "the next".

Where is their biggest failing? What is it about most organized religions that makes them so inefficient?

I'll give my opinion on this if someone asks, but for now I want to hear other people's.

edit: I should probably make myself more clear... They offer that hope, but often fail to deliver it. Why? This may be not be the fault of the teachings themselves, but what people do with them.

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No proof. That simple.

Thats for the people who don't believe in the religions... I am also talking about the members of the religions who believe it (or think that they do).

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that i cant do anything i want cuz i wanna go to heaven, even though im skeptical about god and heaven and all that, i like to believe in a heaven cuz it keeps me going, otherwise then whats the point really?, so its like you cant do anything u want on earth or god will be pissed at you and shit lol, if i was raised to be an athiest or w/e i would've been robbed mad people already lol

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They don't respect other religions. Everytime i have a religious discussion with a christian (just using it as an example, it's happened in plenty of other cases, too) and catholicism comes up or something they're so quick to talk like "BUT CATHOLICISM IS A FAKE RELIGION, THEY PRAY TO MARY AND SAINTS THATS WHY IT'S CALLED THE TRINITY" or they're like "MUSLIMS ARE WEIRD THEYRE ALLOWED TO HAVE 5 WIVES".. who cares.. I'm sure both those religions can pick out stuff about christianity thats sketchy, and if it's not that they always try to push beliefs upon you like if you do such and such you're going to some inferno that their book invented.

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What's your opinion?

Compose: I guess thats not really a downfall depending on how you think of it... The religions aren't necessarily telling you what you should do. It's a matter of poor wording and/or interpretation. You don't go to hell for disobeying the 10 commandments, they are simply a guideline. However, it is in your own interest to follow "rules" like this.

Pen pusher: Yeah, I agree. Pretty huge downfall that one.

My opinion is that people get hooked, attached, stuck, whatever you want to call it to the religions themselves. This is both the fault of the members of the religion and the way the religion is conveyed. I'm sorry to christians for always using christianity as an example, but I'm going to use it again to explain why this is so major.

Christianity... What is its main teaching? Believe in jesus and you are saved. That is all. Your sins are forgiven. You have done wrong, but don't worry about it, because it doesn't matter, you are saved. For some odd reason, people don't seem to understand this. They think that they have to beat themselves up because they are a sinner, try to become a "better person", go to church every sunday etc. Obviously it seems they aren't too confident in their religion. If they are suckling on the teet of religious dependance for too long, they never want to leave. This is often a result of being raised in a christian family or converting to christianity. They become accustomed to it.

Why is this wrong? Because of the nature of the teachings. But the way they are taught, people can't see that, they don't know that they don't need religion to be religious. They see religion as a diet, something they need to partake in regularly, constantly and if they stop then they feel that they are a bad person. However religion is a medicine, a cure to the problem that is our existence. The why... It is an asnwer to the why. Sometimes people take one dose of a medicine and they are cured, sometimes they need years and years of treatment, but once they are cured... You tell me... Do they need to continue taking the medicine?

If a christian has realized christ, he is apparently saved. What more can christianity do for this person? All thats left is for life to be lived. If a Buddhist attains Nirvana, he need no longer be a buddhist, for the teachings are useless to him.

If these people had truly attained the goal of their religion, they would naturally end up doing what their religion states they ought to do, roughly at least. A realized christian would convey the message of christ brilliantly, because he understands. A Buddha would convey well the teachings, maybe too well, because lay people stuck in their spiral of misunderstanding mistake the pure message. Same with christianity.

Another way to put it is religion is like a raft you use to cross a river. After you have utilized the raft for its function, would you carry it on your back while continuing your travels onto the land? It would be foolish to do so.

The downfall of religion is not telling this to people. Its not their fault though, they don't know what they're doing.

By the way, I don't mean they HAVE to stop doing the religious things once they realize the goal, they can continue them if they want to, but it should not be because they feel they should or have to.

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the various denominations and man-made doctrine that gets intertwined into the scriptures.



Example: "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"

Says who?


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P.S. Tero...what you said about realizing salvation being the end all of Christianity isn't true...

Let's get real here...None of us will ever achieve perfection here on earth...

So, the bible says, "be ye holy for I am Holy...and be ye perfect for I am perfect"...perfect meaning Mature...

Christianity is an ever changing/growing walk with God...It's about realizing your destiny in Him and then bringing others to his fold.



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Yes that is christianity, that is realizing the trust necessary between man and God. Doing that is often a long walk of not only self discovery, but external discovery.

I am saying that after seeing what there is to be seen on this journey, be it short or long, the bells and whistles of christianity become unnecessary. Ones understanding exceeds or is equal to the understanding of the person teaching people. From there, such a christian can effectively spread the message of the bible. The bible makes sense to them because they know the context of it. They dont need to become a preacher or anything, but they are liberated. They could die tomorrow and not have a single real problem with it.

But a lot of people THINK they know... THINK they believe... But deep down they are lost and not 100% certain of things. These people have not made it to the other side of the river. Some people never do... Its easy to get caught up in the current, thinking the raft is the safest place for you to be. Next thing you know, you're out in the vast ocean, and who knows IF you'll ever find the land again. This is far more common, especially in christianity, than realizing the ultimate truth and making it to the other side.

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religions have too many beliefs rather than ideas and they all have their own figures heads... they make those things so big it shadows the good ideas they have, like u have to believe in a somthing or someone a certian way to be a good person, they should just preach the good ideas about caring for others and what not , and fade away from the "this person says to do it"... who cares if jesus or whoever said it, if it seems like a good thing to do then do it, and if it seems dumb than dont. i dont need to believe in someone to learn from them. just respect every good idea and not discared other good thoughts just cuz they have a different figure head for their religion.

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