Hey guys. I've been watching a lot of debates on youtube about this topic where theists, apologetics, philosophers, scientists, agnostics and atheists discuss whether religion has a monopoly over what people perceive to be right or wrong. Guys like WLC, Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Frank Turek, Richard Dawkins etc. Go after each other's throats to prove their points and honestly, i think every one of them has a valid argument.
What do you think?
I agree, everyone has a unique perspective based on their own individual knowledge and personal experiences. This knowledge and experience is subjective due to the numerous variances that help shape and mold the human Psyche. Through the eyes of another, definitions and interpretations tend to vastly change, for example: "
One mans trash, is another mans treasure. One mans pain, is another mans pleasure."
Religion or better said, spirituality often becomes mans basic necessity, it gives man a sense of self, a feeling that maybe the life he lives and experiences is actually bigger than just himself. Religions can be dogmatic when taken to the extreme of course, but the underline principal is that religions contain basic morals & ethics that a religious follower can aspire to live by.
Hypothetically speaking for arguments sakeExample: In the religions of Catholicism and also Judaism, there exists a set of 10 basic commandments followers must adhere to.
10 Commandments1.I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me.
2.Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3.Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4.Honor thy father and mother.
5.Thou shalt not kill.
6.Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7.Thou shalt not steal.
8.Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9.Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife.
10.Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods.
Now, looking at religion through an outsiders perspective, the Commandments 1 - 3 might seem a bit absurd, especially to an atheist, while commandments 4 - 10 seem like basic codes and tenants any man regardless of their race, political affiliations, gender, sexuality, religious doctrine, or creed could live by.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
(Commandments 4 - 10).
But Jesus says that you are to love God above all things (Commandments 1 - 3), and then your neighbor as yourself (Commandments 4 - 10). Why the difference?
Because when Jesus died on the cross for all people, taking away the sins of all, He made God into family. It's not that God isn't God any longer. It's simply that God has become a neighbor, through the death and resurrection of Jesus.