I suspect it's an evolutionary instinct. In the days of early man, life expectancy was not very long, and your parents were likely to die before you finished raising your children, so I think it's ingrained in us to recreate our childhood. For some people that had relatively good childhoods, that's a good thing, they recreate that type of environment for their children. For others that were traumatized as children, it's not so good... it's why some people seem to make the same decisions repeatedly, even if they are unhealthy... whether it's choosing your relationships, the way you treat your children, whether you believe in god, or if you abuse drugs or alcohol. It influences what is in your heart. How do you recreate your childhood?
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Seek and ye shall find
I have heard this... "Be careful what you look for, you will find it." It seems that people don't have much control over what they look for. They seem to compulsively recreate their childhoods, frued called it repitition compulsion.
I suspect it's an evolutionary instinct. In the days of early man, life expectancy was not very long, and your parents were likely to die before you finished raising your children, so I think it's ingrained in us to recreate our childhood. For some people that had relatively good childhoods, that's a good thing, they recreate that type of environment for their children. For others that were traumatized as children, it's not so good... it's why some people seem to make the same decisions repeatedly, even if they are unhealthy... whether it's choosing your relationships, the way you treat your children, whether you believe in god, or if you abuse drugs or alcohol. It influences what is in your heart. How do you recreate your childhood?
I suspect it's an evolutionary instinct. In the days of early man, life expectancy was not very long, and your parents were likely to die before you finished raising your children, so I think it's ingrained in us to recreate our childhood. For some people that had relatively good childhoods, that's a good thing, they recreate that type of environment for their children. For others that were traumatized as children, it's not so good... it's why some people seem to make the same decisions repeatedly, even if they are unhealthy... whether it's choosing your relationships, the way you treat your children, whether you believe in god, or if you abuse drugs or alcohol. It influences what is in your heart. How do you recreate your childhood?
The Gods aren't Angry
My last post was about Rob Bell's video "The God's aren't angry", which discusses the broad trend across ancient civilizations to make sacrifices to appease the Gods. Today I saw the conclusion, and he said we look back on ancient civilizations as barbaric, but he asks is it still true today... People sacrifice large pieces of their lives for success, and acceptance... some people still even cut and mutilate themselves. Today we would say those people have disorders, but it's not significantly different from the psychology of ancient civilizations. Today there is a sense of coming to God to avoid going to hell... or God will help you prosper, but that's the same mentality of ancient religions.
The message of the first Christians that you can let go of the guilt, shame, anxiety, and reasons you make pointless sacrifices. That the Gods aren't angry... and to those who sacrifice their lives... "You don't have to live like this."
The idea has a twist, and that is that you even though Christ has sacrificed himself for you, you should sacrifice yourself for others, that you should be a living sacrifice, that you should do stuff to help others out.
The message of the first Christians that you can let go of the guilt, shame, anxiety, and reasons you make pointless sacrifices. That the Gods aren't angry... and to those who sacrifice their lives... "You don't have to live like this."
The idea has a twist, and that is that you even though Christ has sacrificed himself for you, you should sacrifice yourself for others, that you should be a living sacrifice, that you should do stuff to help others out.
What's up with human sacrifice?
Today I watched a video call The God's aren't angry. It explains that cavemen were dependent on plants growing and hunting animals to survive, and beyond that they were dependent on the rain and sun and birth for survival, things they couldn't control. So the early religions were an attempt to appease the gods, the forces in the heavens on which their survival depended. The way they attempted to appease them was through sacrifice. They would sacrifice part of their harvest, animals, they would cut themselves, castrate themselves and even perform human sacrifices. The strange thing is these acts weren't isolated incidents, this was a broad trend across human history and geographical areas. Examples are given from the Incas to Asia Minor.
Part of the story of Abraham, the root of all Western religions, is that God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his kid and then called it off at the last moment. He sacrificed a ram that God provided instead. When you read the story today you think "how barbaric that God would even ask him to kill his son"... but consider the time. This was a change from the Angry Gods that demanded sacrifices to a God that would provide. This was a God that spoke to man. It was also a single god, rather than a god of the moon, and a god of the sun, etc. It was a dramatic shift in the evolution of religion.
It seems most religions gave up even on animal sacrifice. The jews quit animal sacrifice in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the temple. Christians believe that Christ died for everyone's sin and there is no longer the need to sacrifice animals. So for those who think religions are barbaric at least we've moved past human sacrifice and self castration.
Part of the story of Abraham, the root of all Western religions, is that God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his kid and then called it off at the last moment. He sacrificed a ram that God provided instead. When you read the story today you think "how barbaric that God would even ask him to kill his son"... but consider the time. This was a change from the Angry Gods that demanded sacrifices to a God that would provide. This was a God that spoke to man. It was also a single god, rather than a god of the moon, and a god of the sun, etc. It was a dramatic shift in the evolution of religion.
It seems most religions gave up even on animal sacrifice. The jews quit animal sacrifice in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the temple. Christians believe that Christ died for everyone's sin and there is no longer the need to sacrifice animals. So for those who think religions are barbaric at least we've moved past human sacrifice and self castration.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)