HappyCamper said:
Noone is being oppressed if that's what you mean.
Christians have oppressed those of other and no religion for thousands of years. Violently.
HappyCamper said:
If I read that I should stray from infidelity and premarital sex, is that God oppressing me?
You could be oppressing yourself. God would have to exist to oppress you. You could be oppressing yourself because you choose to do all your religion dictates without question. However, if you're truly happy not having premarital sex, then you're not oppressing yourself whatsoever in that instance.
HappyCamper said:
If I do as is said, I am then protected from things like STDs, unwanted pregnancies, emotional distress
Condoms also protect from STDs and unwanted pregnancy. I personally would be emotionally distressed if I was still a virgin at my age, so I am protecting myself from that by having premarital sex! I don't want to 'protect' myself from the joy of making love either.
HappyCamper said:
Who other than me is receiving the full benefits of leading a moral life? I certainly wouldn't find and guidelines on the subject anywhere else in today's world.
There you go assuming that your way of living is the only 'moral life'. Exactly my point on how religion breeds intolerence.
I have been having premarital sex my whole life and I'm very happy that I have. Sex is one of the joys of life. I lead an ethical life. As a dedicated green,
I consider
myself to be more ethical than
you... because my ethics are not the same as yours.
When one goes around preaching that someone (who isn't hurting anyone) is comitting a sin- a recent topic in
that thread, but it could apply to your example of premarital sex too- then actually one is hurting oneself, as well as society, and of course those one rails against unjustly. Why? Because one is filling oneself up with negative emotions by pouring one's disdain on others, by fearing and chastising others who don't follow a certain god's rules even if their actions are ethically justified outside of religion. Hate, fear and piousness etc corrupt from the inside out. A negative person attracts other negative people, and warns away positive people. Karma does not have to be a mystical concept- I call it 'practical karma'. I have experienced it myself unfortunately, but I'm learning from my mistakes.
I'm not perfect I know... my rants about Christianity are born out of frustration. But I get the feeling there is great sadness inside you- even simple things like the name and avatar that you have chosen give it away. I really hope that you stay here, open your mind and learn from others. I'm not asking you to drop your religion or anything, just some of your negativity. Pot calling kettle maybe, but they say it takes one to know one!
---
I didn't really answer your earlier question fully earlier. What do I think will happen when I die? I don't know and I'm in no hurry to find out, because I cherish every moment of my life and I'd love to live forever. I suspect (and fear if I think about it) that when I die that'll be the end of me. Loss of consciousness. But I have a thin hope that my consciousness will live on somehow. Perhaps through infinite recurrence, to live all my joys and mistakes again in ignorance of my past lives. Or better, perhaps consciousness is separated from matter- a different dimension maybe- and my consciousness will continue. My experiences with loss of consciousness due to fainting, sleep and substance-induced ego death and unconsciousness make mea little pessimistic about that one though. Of course I'd rather just attain immortality as I am now, but I've only got 50-odd years to go and I think it'll take science a little longer to achieve that feat.
As for god, I am an atheist... but then everything is made of the same stuff- energy- and all connected, all the same, so maybe you could call all of existence 'god', ourselves included. One big mass called existence. Just as the cells of my body go about their seperate duties within my body which I understand as 'the whole', I go about my business within existence (or god or whatever you want to call it) that is 'the whole' at the ultimate level.
These are just thoughts, and I might be wrong. I hope I'm wrong and the truth is more desirable than my suspicions. Contrast that attitude with the adamant views of the religious.
As for what started the Big Bang... that's about as tough as the question 'who made god?' I eagerly await the next scientific breakthrough. Scientists, philosophers and psychologists are my 'priests'... well more teachers, with the plants as SWIM's priests.