Brainwashing is the attempt to change the thoughts and beliefs of another person against their will. Religion is actually a form of brainwashing. (Ya, I know I just made everyone mad) It begins at a very early age. I'm not saying it's bad, it is just what it is, brainwashing! Do you think your religion is that much different than ones which we commonly refer to as "cults"? Believe me, it isn't. Yours just has more followers, that's all.
You people are arguing over beliefs, not facts. (on the wrong website) Don't confuse the two! You all are only arguing over what you believe the truth to be. Those books are interesting but they were written by people a very long time ago. Don't take them so literally and argue with every passing person who has been brainwashed to think differently than you have.
Religion is based on beliefs, not facts! I've watched people die and heard their very last words as they lay in a road ditch praying for god to help them. I've killed in self defense and I've seen people who had been killed in the name of God. This stupid friggin thread is just a bunch of arguing by people who think they know something that they don't.
Every night, I go out alone and work an area most cops refuse to. I believe in God but I still carry a 1911, Bushmaster and a Rem 870. (Oh ya, a mean dog too) I don't choose to believe that God is going to keep me alive no matter what. I still have to wear my seatbelt and my vest. I've been shot at, hit by a car and several people have tried to stab me. God didn't save me, a lot of hard work and preparation saved me. Last night I climbed through broken glass to arrest two people who were fighting with the door barricaded. I hope your comfortable and warm in your house while someone else does this for you in your area of the world while you sit there and pass judgment on some strangers beliefs.
Big Buck, get a friggin hobby. Don't try to brainwash people with your beliefs. Give up on threads like this dude. You are on the wrong website. Do you even own a gun? Leave the rest of us alone to think what we want. In the end, it's between me and God.
The rest of you, don't respond to Big Bucks BS postings and threads. Let them die! Maybe he will leave us alone to talk about guns and LRH!
I became interested in this website because I like LRH and thought it would be a great place to learn more about it. What I found was a bunch of **** sheep, arguing about whether mighty mouse can beat up superman!
There, did I offend everyone enough that they will finally let this useless thread die?
Tom
Roaddog,
You certainly didn't offend me and you bring up some interesting points of discussion.
Whether you want to believe it or not, we are all brainwashed, using the kind of logic you used. It's just a matter of what we choose to allow ourselves to be brainwashed by. That, my friend, you do have a choice in.
Aww...the old religion is brainwashing idea. Anything you allow yourself to be involved in or philosophy you adopt is 'brainwashing' in a sense, using the logic you're using.
So, since you aren't 'religious', you aren't brainwashed and so are the 'normal' among us?
Since we are talking about 'religion', what, after all, is a definition of religion? Wikipedia states, "A
religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a supernatural agency or agencies..." Huh... "A
religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe..."
Do you (anyone in general) have any beliefs concering the cause, nature or purpose of the universe? If you believe in evolution as the origin for all things, for instance, then you have a religion by this definition. Certainly if you have studied the natural outflow of philosophies and beliefs that come from a consistent understanding of what evolution means, for instance, then you do. If a person doesn't understand the 'natural outflow of philosophies and beliefs that come from a consistent understanding of what evolution means', then by all means, do some studying of the issue.
If, on the other hand, you say you don't believe anything or that nothing has any purpose, well, that is also a core set of beliefs and is a 'religion' in and of itself. Humanists, in particular, (a philospophy that I would say is quickly 'brainwashing', to use roaddogs thinking, western culture--are you it allowing to 'brainwash' you?) love to say they are against religion and do not have one themsleves, yet they clearly, as a whole, retain a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature or purpose of the universe, do they not?
Do you see what I mean? No one has a choice in this matter. Everyone is 'religious', whether they want to admit it or not. They've just chosen which set of beliefs they will have.
And, yes, it does begin at a young age as we are constantly bombarded with philosophy and belief systems (religion) from the earliest of ages.
People that use this term religion in this way do so to tell you that what they have (really, their religion, if they are willing to open their minds a bit and think about it) is really better. Hmm...is that what you are saying people shouldn't do?
It's not a matter of people being religious because everyone is whether they want to accept that or not. It's a matter of making the right choices to find the one true religion that really is a right relationship with your Creator.
John 14:6 "Jesus answered, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" THE way, THE truth, THE life. Not one of the ways or one of the truths. A rudimentary study of Jesus' life reveals that either he was a complete nut or he was exactly what he claimed to be...God sent to earth as a man to sacrifice himself for our sins. There is so much factual (since you like that word) evidence to back up exactly what the Bible says and it is no less the case when the issue at hand is determining the status of Jesus, his life, death and resurrection showing his power over death and power to take away our sins and restore us to a right relationship with him. What other 'religion' or belief system that any human has conjured up offers hope like that? None of them.
Again, if we 'pretend' for a moment for arguments sake, that the Satan of the Bible exists, then he won't care what religion you choose as long as you don't choose to have a right relationship with Christ. As long as you don't have a right relationship with Christ, you have a right relationship with Satan in it's place. There really are only two choices here.
BTW, I spend parts of alot of shifts working alongside police officers in various situations as a career firefighter/emt and I have the greatest respect for what you do. Thank you for what you do. Work hard at keeping safe and alert and keeping a decent attitude about the situations you deal with day in and day out. I know I have to. We both put up with alot of junk from the nasty side of peoples life.
Jon
