pachomius2000

Why do people even bother to tell other people what religion they espouse and to explain their religion?

For example in this forum of IIDB which from its very title professedly adopts an attitude of being a-religious, or more properly a-theistic, we have all kinds of people with all kinds of religions, telling anyone members and guests about the religion they espouse and trying to explain it.

Without being discourteous to fellow members of IIDB who are possessed of a religion and who do exert themselves to explain their religion to people here, I like to find out what is their motivation for being busy with telling people about their religion and explaining it and even defending it.

Right away anyone can see that their motivation is precisely what everyone's motivation is in talking, namely, to communicate to others what's in their heart and in their mind. Talking is also a way to communicate to and with oneself, the so-called monoloquy or soliloquy.

So we have to delve further about the ends of communication.

For the present I am going to look up Aesop's fables to find what Aesop has to say about the human behavior of people talking to other people, namely, the objectives sought in communiction.

Then we will apply our findings from Aesop to people who are telling other people about their religion and explaining it to them.

But may I share here the words of the Master in Christianity, Jesus, about people who might have the good happenstance to have found the Kingdom, that they are like the merchant seeking for a pearl of great price, and once having found it would be so secretive that they would hide it most guardedly from other people.

Shouldn't people then with a religion be very secretive about thir pearl of great price, and just leave all those poor fellowmen who do not possess a pearl of great price, leave them to themselves in their blindness and unhappy fate?

Pachomius2000

Dust

They do it just to PISS ya off.

And if it wasn't for them theists, there would be no atheists.
Your existence is dependant on THEM!

HA.

Ojuice5001

It's just something I enjoy doing. And I'm used to being criticized.

Yes. We all like talking about the things we think about.

I myself am a devotee of Aesop's Fables. But I can't think of any that shed light on the motivation for talking to other people. There seem to be quite a few fables whose point is that "talk is cheap." Especially, for instance, "The Boasting Traveller."

Well, consider this. If no one believes me, then effectively I haven't given away my pearl of great price at all. If only a few people believe me, and they benefit as a result of this, I'd say they have earned it.

Shven

No. Christians should, since they hold Jesus' words sacrosanct. Non-Christian religious folk have no reason to follow this bit of advice.

Grizzly

Interesting OP, but probably better suited to GRD. Off you go....

Steve K

With regard to the secreting away the pearl bit...

The analogy breaks down a bit because a physical pearl, if others find it and take it, then the original owner loses it. With an idea or experience, such as religion, arguably many people can experience it without devalueing it (although I think there is disagreement on this, hence "mystery" religions and the like).

pachomius2000

I think you make a very good distinction.

With religion, sharing yours does not take away anything subject to diminuition, but not with purely material things.

"Giving away" your religion makes you feel you are doing others a favor yet you don't lose anything which you would otherwise feel bad about were it not religion but something like pearls of great prices.

On the contrary it makes you feel good that you are doing something right, decent, noble, charitable, generous, altruistic, idealistic, etc. And you are better than others who don't share their bonanza.

So, one reason why people with a religion speak about it and want to impart it to others or thereby also want to explain it and to defend it, is because it all makes them feel better.

Pachomius2000

jdlongmire

John 9


Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
12"Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.

............................

Christians are the mud (dust and spit) for the world. We know where that Man is...

Zora

People like people that are like themselves. People are afraid of/distrustful of people who are not like them. If people share their religious beliefs and get other people to believe like themselves, they feel safer.

When humans were living in small clans, it was easy to know who to trust and who to fear. When societies became larger, it was necessary to invent common ground (religion perhaps) to help identify friend from foe. It seems more a fact of animal behavior to me. Nothing "altruistic" there at all, IMO.

pachomius2000

I think you have brought up a very insightful observation of human behavior and the state of things with mankind.

People do engage in behavior to piss off other people.

I used to live in a neighborhood where my next door neighbor bought a really high volume music box and would play this new toy with maximum blaring capacity for the whole neighborhood to enjoy his kind of music, as he himself enjoyed it.

So I courteously asked him to turn down the volume or place his music box in the basesment and make sure all exits to the outside world would be sealed off: because I would like to enjoy some quiet in the enivironment.

No, he didn't accommodate; instead he bought an amplifier to make the 'music' even louder.

What did I do? What else but to close all the windows tight in my house.

No, I didn't notify the police, because knowing the guy as he was then, things would just get worse, seeing that he had the very common behavior of the wickedness of human nature, namely: to piss off people.


About your other observation, if there were no theists there wouldn't be any atheists, that is also very true.

Some very profound philosopher or philosophers tell us that man's mind is such that when he thinks of something in one direction automatically the same thought in the exact opposite direction will emerge in his mental grasp.

What is that principle or idea or discovery? Something like thesis will stir up antithesis.

Now, if you are smart you eventually come to some kind of a middle ground which they call synthesis.

Hopefully, we will have some kind of synthesis on why people want to tell other people about their religion, to explain it, to defend it, and even to get you to join them.

Pachomius2000