"Religion is the Opium of the People"  

Posted by Geoffrey Janes

Ever heard that before? I am reading the book by Ravi Zacharias called "Beyond Opinion." I was reading the chapter called Challenges from Atheism. The famous quote is from Karl Marx - "Religion is the opium of the people." The basic idea is that God is some kind of spiritual narcotic that dulls our senses to the pain of the world and helps us cope with it.

Then along came the Polish Poet Czeslaw Milosz. He said "Religion, opium for the people! The true opium of modernity is the belief that there is no God, so that humans are free to do precisely as they please."

It is true that man creates god(s) in his own image. We project our ideas of what we want God to be. Some even try to project the absence of a god so that they can live any way they please. The truth is something that cannot be changed. God does exist. We were created by Him, not the other way around.

What does this mean for you?


This entry was posted on Thursday, January 03, 2008 at Thursday, January 03, 2008 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

2 comments

Anonymous  

If you say, "God exists", then, God comes into being in the moment of the saying.
Otherwise said, if you say "God exists" then there is a God for you.

If I say, "God doesn't exist", then, God doesn't exist for me.

If you say, "God exists", I cannot deny you the existence of God, for you have brought God into existence for yourself by declaration.

If I say, "God does not exist", you cannot deny me the non-existence of God, for I have said that God does not exist for me because I say so.

Word is Sacred. What you say is what you get.

October 17, 2008 at 5:36 PM
Anonymous  

If I say, "You don't exist" then you don't exist for me.
If you say "I don't exist" then I don't exist for you.

The problem is - no matter what you or I say, neither one of us begins to or ceases to exist.

Truth is not dependent on what you or I say. Truth is - whether you or I say that God exists, or that you or I exist, or don't exist.

"The Word" is sacred. My words, and your words, are just words. What you get is what is - what you say doesn't change the truth.

October 17, 2008 at 5:45 PM

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