Faith can exist without religion but religion could not exist without faith

angelbutterfly

I used to be one of those people who were really high on religion. Mostly it was through the influence of the person's I grew up with, family and such. I used to belong to a christian org and church choirs. Yes you could call me a religion freak. It wasn't until two years ago that I finally said religion is crap.

People say that I am an atheist but I'm actually not. I do believe in the existence of God. I do believe that God loves us unconditionally. I also believe that he is the Supreme being.

The thing is religion confuses us on a lot of things. God said that a part of him lives in us. He said that his love is unconditional and we are all his children. Then why do religion's God sends his part to Satan or to suffer eternal punishment. If religion's God is the supreme being then why does Satan seem to equal him in power. I actually don't believe in the concept of hell. I mean if God's promise was true then hell couldn't exist.

I don't know I'm a bit confused till now. Sometimes I believe that religion is just misleading us to believe in nonsuch. Maybe religion is just coaxing us for it not to fall. Faith can exist without religion but religion could not exist without faith.

So what do you think of religion? Is it just crap or whatever?

P.S. Please don't give me arguments based on the bible. It doesn't weigh much to people like me.

Ischaramoochie

religion is basically good, it gives something for people to believe in. What makes religion bad is when it's shovew down others' throats

snookems

angel, not all Christians believe that the punishment for sinners is the eternal torment in hell. Some like me believe that sinners will just be annihilated and be punished according to their works(Just as sinners before the flood were annihilated with water, so as sinners on the judgment day, but this time with fire).. This view is wholly consistent with the promises of God(Eze 28:18; Mal 4:3)and his characteristics. Please examine my arguments for the annihilation view in this thread (I used to be theSLASHER). It's really hard to accept that the punishment of a just and loving God for finite sinners is infinite torment. I think that this view is based on faulty interpretations of biblical texts.

How can I not give arguments from the Bible when you yourself based your argument from the Bible?

Ischaramoochie

snookems, are you saying by the statement "according to their works" that they will suffer for some length of time before they become annihilated?

snookems

yes

Ischaramoochie

ok, it seems fair enough. I am a bit skeptical about the eternal punishment since it would mean that everyone would suffer the same degree even though they are not equally sinful.