Egotistical Or Humble?

Coffrey
Coffrey: I don't want this thread turning into something about proof of God or your god or Jesus or none of that stuff, no specific religious talk here. I just want to talk to the people that think God made us "special" of all other creations, and of course, dissenters of that opinion.


Are people who believe God made us "special" egotistical or humble?
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pioneer
pioneer: In my opinion, not necessarily any of the two, although some are, of course. But we also find similar counterparts among the non-religious pert of the population.

The way I see it, however, is that some religious people like to present themselves as righteous at everybody elses expense, thereby belittling them and their opinions. They refuse to accept that people holding other opinions are also entitled to respect and that their moral principles may be equally valuable. They thus promote an arrogant attitude of superiority that only comes across as ridiculous in the eyes of others, while being too narrowminded to understand that themselves.

Luckily, such individuals are few in number, but they create more problems than their size should indicate, since their comments and actions may actually be detrimental to society and ultimately cause armed conflicts.

Few things have sparked religious wars more than the notion of being special and chosen. The idea of having God on their side seems to be a valid argument when they try to destroy their opponents by all means available and thus justifies their misdeeds in their eyes.

Such people quite obviously are bad representatives of their religion and they have a thing or two to learn from their more humble co-believers.
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violeta23
violeta23: Egotistical.

We made God in OUR image, not the reverse. We've created God so that he suits and benefits us, when I say 'us' I mean generally white, hetero males. Patriarchal society and all.

The main example that springs to mind is how we treat animals, 'in the name of God' to the religious, as he made us superior... apparently. I don't see that when I walk down the street, that's all I'm saying, haha. I see people acting like pigs and dogs and...savages, and that's an insult to pigs and dogs. But anyway, this is just justification to slaughter millions of the innocent for our pleasure and consumption. Like I said, whatever benefits us, we put it in a book and called it 'holy,' and 'from Him.' If God is omnibenevolent, we're slandering his name. Any ethical person would never condone the slaughter of millions of innocent sentient beings for profits, and for the satisfaction of your palette.

We're not special, we were just the ones who conquered one species of primate after another until we emerged on top. We wiped them all out.

It is pretty egotistical to claim you were made a superior being when really, it essentially came down to survival of the fittest, who could adapt and evolve the quickest and outwit opponents.


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Barbara the Jew
Barbara the Jew: White heterosexual males ruling religion! Most religions have their origin in the middle east and asia. (their not white) In Judaism you Jewish by my mother not your father. It is the mother that passes down the "bloodline"
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Crocodilia
Crocodilia: In the name of honesty, we tend to notice the aggressive, militant and intolerant theists much more than their humble and loving spiritual brothers and sisters, so I think that the latter are in majority, although they rarely come to the attention of outsiders.

I personally know specimens of both categories and I can assure you that the egotistical variant is a demanding one, trying to provoke conflicts and irritation among their fellow human beings wherever they go. After having followed this forum for more than two years, I have experienced my share of them here, too; and most encounters have been far from pleasant.

Let's hope that the birth rate among the humble ones is higher...
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Barbara the Jew
Barbara the Jew: well put Crocodillia!
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lavendar_star
lavendar_star: "White heterosexual males ruling religion! " I think your mistaking what violeta is saying Barbie, yes the origins of the Biblical characters maybe in the middle east but since the 15 century there has been euro centric of Christian iconography, the imagery of Jesus, Adam and Eve n even God has been white and/or male or that God made man first and the catholic church and the hierarchy of organised Christianity is pretty male and white too.

As for the original question Are people who believe God made us "special" egotistical or humble I think it can go either way depending how people apply the religious texts. I do think that the belief that we are some how specially made by God and that we have a special purpose can lead people to become egotistical and more so when they become representatives of God on this earth; priests. Imans, mullahs etc and then exploit or control people for their own means. At the same time a belief with or without the belief of God that being born and existing in the first place can make one humble too.

I do think to a certain extent for some religious people one has to be slightly egotistical in the sense that their God is supreme and is the one true God over others.
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harmonica
harmonica: All known groups of "special chosen ones" deny others the right to use the same expression. If that isn't egotistical, I don't know what is.
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violeta23
violeta23: I'm entitled to express an opinion on whatever I wish, as long as the comment isn't directly harming or shaming anyone.

Unlike religion, which does do harm, and oppresses, and shames people just for being...who they are. So many oppressive, damaging things done in the name of God. Denying women, homosexuals, trans* and other minorities rights is just one of them, this is of course a system designed to benefit heterosexual males. Notice how they are not repressed?

Society is ruled and dominated by white, heterosexual, cisgender, upper class, able bodied, males in the west. In places in Asia it's just a variant of the same thing, except not white. That's all.
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violeta23
violeta23: Uh....hahaha, not repressed, OPPRESSED. Sozzerz.
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Coffrey
Coffrey: Lavendar got it exactly right, as usual it's not about a religious person appearing humble or egotistical, it comes down to this: you think an all powerful god who created everything in the world, things far bigger and more complex than you, arranged them in such a fashion as to be a brilliant display of a lot of systems working in tandem. Like galaxies, solar systems, black holes, and down to the smallest thing, atoms, protons, electrons, dark matter, DNA, and not to mention the diversity of life. Okay, you know what I'm trying to say. Now you think this same god cares about you, what you do, what you say, hell even what you think. You think that god made you special and gave you a purpose in life (just a side note, what is the purpose in life that you all claim? To worship him?). Not the view that you are just another example of life, like a lizard or bird or whatever, but that you were specially created. Can you honestly say that you are humble if you think this?

And secondly, imagine if you will if there wasn't a god and that everything happened naturally. Then imagine someone walking up to you and saying they've been made special. Would you see that person as full of humility?
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WillowManChe
WillowManChe: thats are choice to be either, we can either be nice or bad
same thing
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Barbara the Jew
Barbara the Jew: Violetta take China for example, It is a non religious country women are opresed and second class citezens. Culture is also the culprit not necesary religion.
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Farwuq
Farwuq: Barbara Marie: Violetta take China for example, It is a non religious country women are opresed and second class citezens. Culture is also the culprit not necesary religion.
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That is just called male-chauvinism: It's the lame excuse "philosophy" of " Do as I say, because I'm male, and I have more brute strength than you, so if you don't....... " Yeeeeeeeah........

And because there are more men in positions of "power" throughout the world, they (men) think
they can get away with it....... Cave-man days? what cave-man days? Well, at least being in the year 2012 (for phucks sakes) it is good to see how far we have come, and we have "evolved",at least......... smfh
(Edited by Farwuq)
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Coffrey
Coffrey: At least in a society like China, they can change that, evolve to a better position like we have.
In religions, that shit is written in stone, right? God's word never changes, right? Countless passages of where women are to serve men and basically be on a lower rung than men
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Farwuq
Farwuq: Yep sad
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Farwuq
Farwuq: The only thing worse than religions preaching this nonsense, is the fact so many people subscribe to this "defies-common-sense" bullshit
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Farwuq
Farwuq: It shows (among other like examples), how many retards are out there wrecking the planet as a whole, by abiding this kind of crap.
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Aura
Aura: A hard question because, I do not believe in a God and I still think homo sapiens is special. This whole conversation about something as abstract as ego, humility and believe makes us special when compared to the rest of the animal kingdom. Yes, we have made a big mess of things, but that we made that mess, and that we care, makes us special. Do you think a cow gives a second thought to the green house gasses released every time he farts? Nope. Does a cat feel immoral when it kills a bird to eat because the poor thing is in terror? Oh hell no, that adrenaline makes it taste better! Don't kill it right out, play with it a bit.
Yeah poor pig is in such a small cage it can't even turn around, i do feel sorry for it. But that's crazy in itself, I can identify with a random pig. it's not even part of my pack (as in a pet or something). All that makes us pretty special on earth.
However, I do not think 'special' means "better" or "worse", it just means we can do stuff no other animal can.
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Barbara the Jew
Barbara the Jew: oh please! Man has always abused women and they dont need religion to do so.
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violeta23
violeta23: Religion has been around for thousands of years. Religion WAS the excuse to abuse women. Men abusing women 'in the name of God.' I'd say it's the predominant reason why we live in a patriarchal society today. I feel pretty certain that religion has caused our whole culture of violence against women, since many religions teach we are inferior to men - hell, just look at original sin in Christianity, we were fucked right from the beginning. Religious cultures have condemned women, violated our rights. No abortions, no right to be sexually liberated, no right to education or job opportunities, no right to reveal our bodies, to marry multiple men, to have children by different men. I could go on.

Religion is a patriachal structure, it's been designed by men to benefit men.
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lori100
lori100: We are all special because we are God's creation, if we truly realized this we would not be capable of violence to each other or the planet, we would honor each other, the planet, and all life everywhere. As for men oppressing women, it is because they need women so much and hate themselves for needing women. Women bring new life into the world, create the next generation of humans, while men after being sperm donors can die and life will continue. That is where hostility to women comes from-----it has been well established that married men have longer , healthier, happier lives than single men, while single women have happier, healthier lives than married women.
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Barbara the Jew
Barbara the Jew: Please man dont need an excuse to abuse women. In Asian cultures there is no God and women are still being abused and made second level citezens.
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Farwuq
Farwuq: That's why I made my statement earlier; religions are irrelevant on almost every level; as far as abusive people go...... To be "abusive" is a CHOICE, and as with ALL CHOICES, there are no EXCUSES.
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Coffrey
Coffrey: You're missing the point, Barb, religion doesn't even help. Your God is just as bad as those "lowly" Asian cultures.
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Barbara the Jew
Barbara the Jew: how so? did you know that in marriege contract "ketuba" sexual satisfaction is a right of the wife and not of the husband
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