[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Neo

Your sense of self is derived from your seperation from others.

Wrong. Your personality is derived from both nature and nurture, the latter being far more powerful. You are who you are because of those that you have lived with and learned from. Without them, you would be a retarded sociopath (this is fact, not opinion). Religion is a path that preserves the need for family and the group dynamic, which in turn preserves the individual and develops it. Its a two way street. To say that the group destroys individuality is absurd because the individual would not exist without the group, in both physical and phychological terms.

And while I'm at it, I might as well mention that I think the ultimate purpose of existence is to experience joy. Some would say the purpose is to love. While loving may be the best way to obtain joy, it's still the joy itself we're after. Plus I feel like it's kind of a slap in the face to those who may have recently lost someone or gone through a bad break-up. Some suggest the purpose of life is to learn, but I ask why do we want to learn? We learn because it gives a different kind of joy. We wouldn't learn if it made us feel bad. Same thing with helping people. Helping people and sacrificing ourselves for them makes us feel good. This is really a type of egoism, but I could argue that all actions are selfishly motivated, even that of self-sacrifice. It just depends on your perspective.

I agree that the purpose of life is joy, but its how we reach that purpose that tells the story of our lives and determines our ultimate happiness. Mass Murderers find joy through murdering people. Our values, which are reflected by laws, tell us we cannot do that and protects the individual from harm. Some find joy through promiscuity. Our values, reflected by our taboos, tell us that you should not do that and in turn protects us from venerial disease, unwanted pregnancy, etc. Some find joy in a lifelong selfish pursuit of self indulgence. Our values tell us to be generous to one another, which in turn builds a benevolent society, that in turn looks out for the individual. Yes, many Christian and religious social values are in the end selfish, but it is in their unselfish nature that the individual is preserved , protected and in the end is able to find joy. These morals and taboos are not arbitrary, they are to benefit us all.

I feel like christianity is kind of a jazzed-up version of spirituality. If religion is a book, then christianity is the flashy movie inspired by it. It has its players, heros, enemies, and a personified God which thinks, makes choices, and becomes wrathful. When you apply these qualities it necessarily generates philosophical problems which drive some people (me) up the wall.

Well what kaind of Christianity are you talking about? Lutheran? Methodist? Baptist? Evangelical? Catholicism? Orthodox? Mormons? Protestant (Church of England)? There are whole lot of very different versions which you have lumped together.