Is Religion A Form Of Mind Control?

Red Sky at Morning

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Incorrect. He is my Father.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
I guess outside of a restored relationship with God, you have no real experience on which to comment. People end up going along with popular sentiment and repeating the same claims.
 

Awoken2

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The beliefs of these New Agers are identical to the beliefs of the highest levels of Freemasonry. They teach things like astral travel/projection, remote viewing, reincarnation cycles etc. They don't see genocide as a bad thing because they believe we are just sent to the astral plane and we reincarnate only if there is an opportunity...so basically they don't give a shit about people but pretend they do.
This is what I keep finding, time and time again.

Isn't the epitome of evil an adversary who is disguised as your friend? This does appear to be the Freemason's number 1 tactic.
 

Awoken2

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Religion answers questions science can’t prove.
I just don't see this at all. In fact I would say that religion creates more confusion and discord than anything.

It has been demonstrated here, on this forum very clearly. Here you can find the KJB believers and the New Testament believers going at each other trying to justify that their book is the most relevant, it's like a continuous Bible-off with each throwing their favourite passages at each other.

To me, they are just story books, but that story appears to control that person's life to such a degree that any catastrophic MAN MADE event that ensues will be justified as God's work.

That is the most dangerous aspect of religion in my eyes.
 

JoChris

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I just don't see this at all. In fact I would say that religion creates more confusion and discord than anything.

It has been demonstrated here, on this forum very clearly. Here you can find the KJB believers and the New Testament believers going at each other trying to justify that their book is the most relevant, it's like a continuous Bible-off with each throwing their favourite passages at each other.

To me, they are just story books, but that story appears to control that person's life to such a degree that any catastrophic MAN MADE event that ensues will be justified as God's work.

That is the most dangerous aspect of religion in my eyes.
King James Bible (KJV) is the first English translation of the whole bible, which has both the Old and the New Testament. No mainstream Christian would ever be New Testament Only. You need the Old Testament to know why we need a Saviour.
KJV onlyists believe only the KJV is the inspired, infallible Word of God in English. It is not a different faith to e.g. ESV (English Standard Version) supporters.

There are Christians versus Muslims arguments on this forum which are entirely different religions based on different religious texts - bible versus Q'uran- not arguments over which bible versions to use.
 

Karlysymon

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You do realise there is a religion called Scientism. Its conditioned us to accept nothing unless there is a study out there, never mind that the monies behind the studies are meant legitimize a given intent . If a study "proves" that 5g is harmless, then it is. Right?
Darwinism is, itself, one long call for blood. If you aren't fit to survive, you aren't fit to live.....useless eaters kind-of-thing. I suppose the countless lives lost, charged of religion, the same number has been sacrificed on the altar of Science.

“The reason science is a bad master and a dangerous servant and ought not to be worshipped, is that science is not objective. Science is fundamentally about the uses of measurement. What does not fit the yardstick of the scientist is discarded. Scientific determinism has repeatedly excluded some data from its measurement and fudged other data, such as Piltdown Man, in order to support the self-fulfilling nature of its own agenda be it Darwinism, or “cut, burn and poison” methods of cancer “treatment….
This process is observed in the Renaissance, which was informed by a secret gnosis whose core dogma was momentous change in man’s attitude toward nature: the alleged “perfection’ of a “flawed” Creation by the invention of the “omnipotent” human brain. Thus it was the Renaissance magical tradition that gave birth to the monstrous world of machines, industrial pollution, ugliness and the modern way of death we have come to term the “rat race.”
~(Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare-Micheal Hoffman)

"The false faith in man’s reason and scientific methodology must also be accompanied by a false faith in man and his own progress. This is not to say that man cannot use his reason to probe the atom or control the electromagnetic spectrum: He can and does. But why does he do this? In a universe desacralized and emptied of any divine telos , the only logical conclusion is the destruction of what is, and thus man’s quest to dethrone God erupts into an orgiastic fanaticism to annihilate prima materia ."

So how are New Agers linked to Freemasonry?
Oprah Winfrey, New Thought, “The Secret” and the “New Alchemy”
 

Red Sky at Morning

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Is religion a form of mind control? No. Can it be used to control people? Yes. Anything that has even the tiniest bit of influence can be expoiled.
People are seldom moved to any kind of action by a cause they don't believe in. The fact that people search for meaning and truth is part of being human and (arguably) a God given instinct.

Would a "truther" be tempted to take on someone they believed strongly to be a corrupt low life in a Washington triangular shaped food establishment? Would they have done more than confront him if they had the chance?

My point is nothing more than to simply point out that religion alone is not responsible for these kinds of fights and bloodshed. It is those with influence who seek to leverage what people genuinely believe to their own ends who have the blood on their hands, from the not so innocent Pope "Innocent III" to the French Revolution, Stalin, Mau, Pol Pot and right up to the erstwhile leader of ISIS.

Nobody is caught up in a revolution they don't believe in. To assume that "believing in something" is the domain only of those who believe in God is to miss the lessons of history, and to become blindfolded by the Spirit of the Age.
 

Aero

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I was counting down how long it would take for people to start shoehorning. And by page 2, people are all in. It's like every time there is any scandal or disaster it must reinforce an anti new age narrative, or fulfillment of biblical prophecy. I think it's interesting how that logical fallacy ensnares the religious and non religious alike.

I think that shoehorning is one of the worst things people can do. Maybe most people aren't intending to lie, but what you are doing is lying. You are making false connections out of the convenience of belief. It's done for popularity and profit, not the truth. And when you combine shoehorning with dogmatism, what you have is basically a stubborn liar.

Go ahead and run with that dogmatism, but for everyone's sake. Stop shoehorning everything. Faith has little to do with reason.
 

Kung Fu

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Incorrect. He is my Father.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Just like how Mary is the mother of God, right?
 
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Its simple: Humans aren’t perfect and humans created God. Thus “God” isn’t perfect.

God is a belief created by man to answer questions that cannot be answered. God IS the answer (at least for now). God is a tool people use to feel comfortable with things or events out of their control. Or seemingly out of their control. God is like divine super glue. God sticks all the pieces together that people seem to have trouble doing themselves.
Hi Awoken2, If names have any meaning, you have not awoken yet, In fact, your are dead in your sins of the flesh as all men are. You can not come to Christ unless the father draws you (John 6:43-45). Here is how that is done (Luke 24:13-32). If Luke does not make any sense to you then you are not looking for Christ. You have to read the Scriptures at least before you make a decision. The world hates Christ and all that are born again (John 15:17-19). The world of Christendom is full of cons, false prophets, and cults. Some are Catholicism, LDS, CofC, JW, Islam, Buddhism, Scientology, WWCG and the likes. The Church is small (body of Christ) (1 Cor. 12:1-31), And God does not call the wise and shrewd of the world because most think they are smarter. (1 Cor. 1:26-29). Nature itself is a witness of God.(Rom. 1:16-23) The fulfillment of prophecies is a witness to Christ, True science is a witness to Christ, but the most and perfect proof is the Holy Spirit that a born again believer receives.
There is one body, one Lord one Spirit, one Faith, one Baptism (Holy Spirit) and one God the Father (Eph. 4:4-6) The wars and killings in the name of God in Jesus Christ is not from God, it is from religious men.
One of the more remarkable prophecies being fulfilled is the statue in Daniel Chapter 2:36-43. Try at least to study the Epistle of John.
In Christ,
Douglas Summers
 

TruthSucker

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Just for the record, the question was: "Is Religion a form of mind control?". Not "Is spirituality a form of mind control?".
My answer is a definite "yes".

I consider myself an agnostic. And I totally agree with you Awoken2, Religious books are just story books. Made by humans for humans to control humans and steer them in the "right" direction.
The problem with brainwashed or mind controlled people is: it's very hard to get them out of their mindset. Cause this would mean to change your whole perspective on the world as we all in here know best I think.

You do realise there is a religion called Scientism. Its conditioned us to accept nothing unless there is a study out there, never mind that the monies behind the studies are meant legitimize a given intent . If a study "proves" that 5g is harmless, then it is. Right?
I wouldn't say that Science is a religion, and that's why your argument is none. Science is able to make mistakes and correct them afterwards. Religion makes no mistakes. Or where is the study how Jesus was made? Just for example.
 

Awoken2

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Hi Awoken2, If names have any meaning, you have not awoken yet, In fact, your are dead in your sins of the flesh as all men are.
Just this one statement alone demonstrates how far gone you really are.

Please don't trouble me with your book, I have absolutely no interest in it at all.

Your post has simply confirmed my already strong belief that you do not have the strength of charachter to form your own beliefs based on the world you are currently living in today.

You have been indoctrinated and are now preaching to try and indoctrinate others.

Don't waste any more of your scriptures on me as I've already stated before, I am lead by my head and not by my hand, as you are.

Don't pity me, I'm fine, honestly.
 
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Just this one statement alone demonstrates how far gone you really are.

Please don't trouble me with your book, I have absolutely no interest in it at all.

Your post has simply confirmed my already strong belief that you do not have the strength of charachter to form your own beliefs based on the world you are currently living in today.

You have been indoctrinated and are now preaching to try and indoctrinate others.

Don't waste any more of your scriptures on me as I've already stated before, I am lead by my head and not by my hand, as you are.

Don't pity me, I'm fine, honestly.
One day A2 you will cry out to God without even thinking about it. Your post made no sense?
 

Red Sky at Morning

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One day A2 you will cry out to God without even thinking about it. Your post made no sense?
I read this blog recently and there was so much truth in it...

"I recently re-listened to a dramatization of The Last Battle, a book I’ve read or listened to countless times. Experiencing the story again, I discovered that the “battle” in the title refers to more than just the physical conflict over Narnia. There’s also a struggle raging for faith and optimism while under the shadow of great spiritual darkness, one that applies to our experience today here on Earth.

Finding Hope in The Last Battle
An allegory for the end times, Lewis maintained a bittersweet tone in The Last Battle. Narnia experienced a tragic end, but also a new beginning. The enemies of Narnia and conniving beasts overthrew the country and killed the protagonists. In the end, the great lion Aslan – creator of Narnia – destroyed that world entirely.

But fortunately for readers, the story didn’t end there. Aslan brought all the faithful Narnian creatures and heroes to the “real” Narnia in his eternal country.

The old Narnia “had a beginning and an end,” explained Lord Digory, the now grown-up title character from The Magician’s Nephew. “It was only a shadow or copy of the real Narnia which has always been here and always will be here: just as our own world, England and all, is only a shadow or copy of something in Aslan’s real world.”

One particular plotline stood out to me during my latest experience with The Last Battle. The story’s protagonists – King Tirian of Narnia and children Eustice and Jill from Earth – daringly rescued about 30 dwarves from being enslaved by Narnia’s enemies. Instead of responding with gratitude, all but one of the dwarfs refused to fight for Narnia alongside Tirian, Eustice, and Jill.

The dwarfs’ main complaint was they no longer trusted in Aslan after Narnia’s enemies set up a false Aslan, whom they used to perpetrate atrocities.

“I feel I’ve heard as much about Aslan as I want to for the rest of my life,” Griffle the dwarf said. “We’ve been taken in once and now you expect us to be taken in the next minute. We’ve no more use for stories about Aslan, see!”

Sadly, the dwarfs’ cynicism continued leading them astray. They later fought ruthlessly against Tirian and his faithful Narnians.

Perhaps in their most famous scene, the dwarfs demonstrated a baffling level of cynicism, eerily reminiscent of modern Western thought. The dwarfs refused to acknowledge they had arrived in Aslan’s country (aka, the “real” Narnia). They insisted they were still in old Narnia, imprisoned in the stable where they were thrown by their enemies. Even Aslan himself tried to convince the dwarves that they were free, but to no avail.

“Starting a new lie! Trying to make us believe we’re none of us shut up, and it ain’t dark, and heaven knows what,” the dwarfs said.

They later insisted Aslan wasn’t really there: “Don’t take any notice! They won’t take us in again.”

“They will not let us help them,” Aslan explained. “They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own mind, yet they are in that prison, and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.”

Dispelling Cultural Disillusionment
The dwarfs in The Last Battle demonstrated a type of dismal thinking reminiscent of the fundamental intellectual shift that occurred in Lewis’s time. Following the World Wars, deep-seated disillusionment set in as suspicion of religion and the superiority of Western democracy increased. These Earth-shaking conflicts gave rise to a surging tide of secularism in the West, particularly Europe.

“A counterfeit gospel, a false myth, created a cacophony of despair in the West,” wrote Dr. Joseph Loconte, Associate Professor of History at The King’s College in New York City.

While many authors added their voices to this cacophony of despair, Loconte pointed to two notable exceptions in his book, A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War. Lewis and his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, both World War I combat veterans, decided to exalt hope instead of gloom in their writings.

“Fortified by their faith, they proclaimed for their generation—and ours—a True Myth about the dignity of human life and its relationship to God,” Loconte argued.

With this in mind, Lewis’s purpose for including the dwarfs in The Last Battle sharpens into focus. The dwarfs served as a clear metaphor for the contemporaries of Lewis and Tolkien who disavowed their faith.

Today, we live in a world lacking hope. The clouds of despair and disillusionment following the World Wars still hang over Western civilization. Like Lewis’s dwarfs, many are imprisoned by “their own mind.” They refuse to find the freedom of the gospel because they are “so afraid of being taken in.”

https://juicyecumenism.com/2016/01/12/dwarfs-disillusionment-last-battle/
 

Mr.Grieves

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Religion could be said to be the original 'mind-control', in that its entire objective is to form and inform people's fundamental world-view. It defines the world, our lives within that world, and the rules/responsibilities with which we are supposed to live that life. It takes the prehistorical power of stories told round campfires to teach the young and crystallizing them into a single, overarching story, taking the power away from the camp-fire and the story-teller, and putting it instead in the hands of an institution who- rather than tell their own stories- retell, protect, and enforce the crystallized story.
As the stories we're told are what defines how we live and what we think, there's a clear and obvious power-motive in controlling the stories being told, particularly in times when stories were all we had to go by. A man in a golden hat and robe seems a far more authoritative and believable source than Grandpa, a radiant cathedral adorned with gold seems far more majestic than a camp-fire. Controlling the stories meant controlling the people, namely controlling their minds.
Don't get me wrong, our minds need controlling. Without it they run rampant in all makes of derpy directions, and nothing of 'value' would ever get done. I don't resent religion its role, as for all the horrors of it throughout history there's also many beauties, and our cultures and civilizations are built upon religious control. But the intention of religious doctrine is to indoctrinate, which is 'mind-control' at its most fundamental level.
 

Red Sky at Morning

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Religion could be said to be the original 'mind-control', in that its entire objective is to form and inform people's fundamental world-view. It defines the world, our lives within that world, and the rules/responsibilities with which we are supposed to live that life. It takes the prehistorical power of stories told round campfires to teach the young and crystallizing them into a single, overarching story, taking the power away from the camp-fire and the story-teller, and putting it instead in the hands of an institution who- rather than tell their own stories- retell, protect, and enforce the crystallized story.
As the stories we're told are what defines how we live and what we think, there's a clear and obvious power-motive in controlling the stories being told, particularly in times when stories were all we had to go by. A man in a golden hat and robe seems a far more authoritative and believable source than Grandpa, a radiant cathedral adorned with gold seems far more majestic than a camp-fire. Controlling the stories meant controlling the people, namely controlling their minds.
Don't get me wrong, our minds need controlling. Without it they run rampant in all makes of derpy directions, and nothing of 'value' would ever get done. I don't resent religion its role, as for all the horrors of it throughout history there's also many beauties, and our cultures and civilizations are built upon religious control. But the intention of religious doctrine is to indoctrinate, which is 'mind-control' at its most fundamental level.
Suppose there were such an oxymoron as a "true" religion... Do you suppose it would say something to all of the human heart or largely let people get on as best they could without reference to God?
 

Mr.Grieves

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Suppose there were such an oxymoron as a "true" religion... Do you suppose it would say something to all of the human heart or largely let people get on as best they could without reference to God?
I think Religious Humanism is a fairly decent example of a religion rooted in truth, but it's not exactly popular.

I'm uncertain as to the intent of your question, though.
 

Kung Fu

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The way people are describing "religion" as a form of mind control could said about practically everything meaning we gone in circles and we haven't gone anywhere. In other words saying "religion" is a form of mind control is meaningless.
 

Red Sky at Morning

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The way people are describing "religion" as a form of mind control could said about practically everything meaning we gone in circles and we haven't gone anywhere. In other words saying "religion" is a form of mind control is meaningless.
You could just as easily say Marxism, Capitalism or just science were forms of mind control, and truly I have met people who genuinely believe politics or progress will "save the world".
 

TempestOfTempo

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My opinion on the topic:
In the best sense, it can be because religion comes with moral codes and laws of social interaction. If taken the right way, its a way for us to control our own minds. Its a way for us to gain the strength to continue on a right path (or at least trying for the right path), and a big part of that is having the control over oneself to do what is right and avoid what is wrong.

In a worse sense, I feel its obvious that people have been manipulated by religious "leaders" much to their own determent and that of society in general as well. There is really no argument to be made that people dont use it to control other people. And that is a true shame.

So thats my take on it. Yes, but it aint always bad.
 
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