I was bored, so here's some food for thought.

[Soulstone]

Social Control
Jonathon Tyson

There are times that men will dream, looking to the stars to find something that they cannot explain. They hope that they will be able to find meaning or some form of truth. But in all truth they are afraid and that is all that they are. They seek to look away from the truth, looking instead to delete themselves from the aspects of reason. The fact that they are mortal, the eternal truth that all men must face. That all things that dare call themselves ?alive,? must come to grips with. The terms of mankind are that of purity, the purity of loss, and the truth that all of them are nothing more than an animal. An animal, incapable of the perfection they so seek. So, to rid themselves of this truth they create religion. Ah yes, religion, the one true staple of human society, created from the fear that he is just another animal, and maintained as a symbol of power and ability throughout society. There is no true meaning to it, no real divine being that will in some way save those that become his or her servants. All of it is fiction that is made up to protect people from the truth that they are in no way immortal. There is no proof of anything that has been said by the religious theologians of the past. All that we can do is believe. And if we do not believe in something that we cannot prove, nor have the slightest bit of proof of, we are labeled as evil.

Well if such is the case then label me as evil. For I believe in nothing that I cannot prove. I cannot prove the existence of a Supreme Being of one form or another. Nor is it that I can say that I myself am in any way shape or form a good creature. I am a creature of nature, the same laws that apply by nature to all forms of life, also must apply to me. Why then would I deny those laws by saying that I have a soul while other animals do not, I cannot logically say that I am above them, for as I am alive and they are as well, we must have the same natural rights. But man is allowed to ignore this? Because his morals tell him that he is able to do whatever the hell he wants to. But is that in the slightest bit right? Our entire system of morals comes from our activities with our own species. But yet we find ourselves able to control the fate of another species? I see neither honor nor morality in such a thing.

But! Back to my original discussion on man and the way that he hides himself from the simple truths. Accept the fact that life is short. If you do not you will retain a sense that you are in some way immortal. This is in no way the case. There will be no god to save you when you are about to die. Perhaps there will be some form of divine afterlife, but that doesn?t mean that it will help you while you are here on earth. As such is the case it is best said that all people should try to live their life the way they wish to live. Not squander it looking to impress the masses of their society to gain a higher social rank. But most people will ignore this. Allowing their interests and other things that actually make the diverse group that they are cloud into the ideas of their friends. That is when there is no more socialism in any truth. There is instead nothing but a control of society on the actions of another. If one is not being hurt by those actions why is it that we ignore them? Is there some reason that we should not think and feel, as we want to?

The answer is simply no. No there is no reason that by nature we should follow that which society gives us. We are not machines. If such were the case my entire argument on society?s control on it?s members would be of little use. But we are alive. And as such we must act on the instincts that we have been given. To deny this is nothing more than a plea to be something that we are not now, nor shall ever be. Whilst you are going about your busy day, remember what you have read or heard here. That you are a free will, and spirit and that no one should ever be able to take that away from you but yet we allow them to. In conclusion! Be you! That?s all that is important. If your friends find the real you to be something that they don?t like then maybe they aren?t the right friends for you. Keep this in mind while you are going about in your social shells.

[Dan L]

Firstly, that was pretty well written.. and not long ago (about a year) I would have agreed totally.. but now I don't completely.. just don't take this as a personal attack as such, but as a different opinion ;)

I'm not in the mood for a quote-by-quote analysis, as I kind of feel that that's nit-picking in this case, and I don't think it does justice to your arguments, so instead I'm just gonna write a whole post without quotes. [b]Note:[/b] references to faith are generally with regards to Christianity rather than religion as a whole, as I don't have much knowledge of other religions..

(You kind of set me going w.r.t. the philosophical approach)

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1- the issue of Faith

Mortality, as you said, is something everyone should come to terms with at some point. It doesn't matter whether you believe man dies because of his sin, or just because he is not immortal, and it doesn't matter whether you believe there is something or nothing after death. The only certainty in the situation is death itself. Thus it is something you should expect sooner or later. Beliefs are all very well and good, but a man who believes purely so that he may not die, will never have a deep faith. Instead a belief should be worth more than that, one who is truly humble in beliefs will not fear the death he claims to deserve, whereas a man who wishes to be eternal alone is not as humble as he claims to be. Faith isn't merely a belief, but it is a way of life. A man with a deep rooted faith will not only believe, but he will act on his beliefs for he does not fear that others may think of him as weak, which they may, but only those who acknowledge their weakness can hope to gain God's strength, such a man doesn't fear being told he is weak, as he already knows this.

A man with a deep rooted faith also acknowledges his own failings, where he has been, and will yet be, much less than perfect. Through this he should put himself on equal ground with others, acknowledging that he is no better than anyone, and that he has no more right to call a man evil, than he has to be called evil by another. Sadly, the majority of Christian leaders do not see this when they read it, understand it when they hear it, or put it into action when they are instructed to do it, so instead the stereotype of faith becomes one of judgement, punishment, and condemnation.

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OK... after that.. o_O.. whatever that was, I'm gonna switch to my more usual style..

2- The issue of proof

When you say "you believe in nothing you can not prove", you are making a huge assumption. The assumption being that there is no evidence to contribute towards a proof of God. I study Physics and Biochemistry at uni, and I've been scientifically minded for 9 times longer than I've been a Christian (I don't count the first 10 years of my life as "scientifically minded", though I had no faith either), so I don't exactly take decisions like that lightly. And yet I still chose to believe in God.. why?.. well, I won't go into the details of how I got into the situation, but I felt something which I didn't feel from anything else, and I saw things which by my own scientific laws were impossible, or highly unlikely ([b][i]highly[/b][/i] unlikely). And this was just at a small, local church with a real faith for God. People who I'd never seen before said thing which just hit home.. and I don't mean like "well, if I choose to do this, then that, then you take this away, then it kind of sounds right", but rather "whoa, that was spot on". After not too long I started praying, and the prayers were always answered. By "answered" though, it doesn't mean "I always got what I prayed for". Sometimes you ask for something and you get told "no", purely because it's not really any good for you, much as you'd hate to admit it.

None of that actually means anything to you though, because it's a very personal thing.. I can't prove God to you, using my own personal experience. There is proof, but you have to actually want to find it, or you won't, because no-one can prove it to you but yourself.

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That's about all I really have to say.. heh.. but yeah.. decent bit of writing, dude ;)

[Corey]

I'd have to agree with Dues when he said that most religious attacks are toward Christianity. I also see this thread turning into one very large religious debate, as it seems to be doing already... I hate seeing beautiful literary works like this being disected. This should really go in the Poetry/Fan Fic/Literature forum...

Very good piece Soulstone. I think I'll print it off when I get home. :)

[Dan L]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by DarkOrderKnight [/i]
[B]I'd have to agree with Dues when he said that most religious attacks are toward Christianity.[/B][/QUOTE]

I said that?. o_O.. I didn't mean to but heh.. maybe I did..

To be honest I don't mind a good religious debate.. it's when it turns into an argument that it just turns stupid.. but yeah.. If this thread turns into one big religious argument it'd be a shame..

[Guest TLOL_Vash]

a man seeking perfection, is a man truly at loss, it's not our place to find ourselves above others, nobody is perfect until you love them, and life has no meaning except as a walk to death until your give it a meaning, and I'll continue to live my meaning out, nobody ever called me evil for believeing what I believe, but I'm not part of a major religion, I'm not religious at all, few people called me freak but that's their problem, I'll be what I wish, if I'm evil then I'm gpoing wrong, because the purpose I've chosen is to not be, evil is each man's decision, some might find me evil, it's up to me to decide on my own if I think i'm evil

[Marron347]

okay, first of all, just because you cant prove it doesnt mean it isnt true. there might be some other form of science or some other way of proving it out there that you dont know about.

secondly, there is a little thing called magic (of course there are other words for it) that happens in the world and just because you havet seen it doesnt mean it doesnt exist