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Author: Wilberforce Reid Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 291
Book Description
According to United Nations statistics, 25,000 men, women, and innocent children worldwide die from starvation each day, yet the majority of us give praises and thanks to God every day for providing us with our daily bread. We do know (or should know) that millions of people were killed, including being burned at the stakes, because they did not conform to the official doctrine of the Christian Church. In spite of this, each day we sing about how loving and merciful God is to mankind. In the creation of our conscious mind, are we more susceptible to indoctrination than to logical and objective analysis of a subject? By exposing stories swept under the rug because of our unconscious bias, this book will uncover many uncomfortable truths.
Author: Wilberforce Reid Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 291
Book Description
According to United Nations statistics, 25,000 men, women, and innocent children worldwide die from starvation each day, yet the majority of us give praises and thanks to God every day for providing us with our daily bread. We do know (or should know) that millions of people were killed, including being burned at the stakes, because they did not conform to the official doctrine of the Christian Church. In spite of this, each day we sing about how loving and merciful God is to mankind. In the creation of our conscious mind, are we more susceptible to indoctrination than to logical and objective analysis of a subject? By exposing stories swept under the rug because of our unconscious bias, this book will uncover many uncomfortable truths.
Author: Wilberforce Reid Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: 1664190694 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 209
Book Description
This book was written from a layman’s point of view with no bias toward religion or academia. The human instinct to worship a superior being and the consequence of this attribute are evaluated by the author. Ever since humans have evolved to the level of consciousness where we started to ask ourselves the question “Who am I?”, we conceptualized a god who made it all happen. These existential concepts that we have correctly or erroneously adopted come with confusion and contradictions. Does an anthropomorphic god, who is loving and caring, allow or cause a tsunami or pandemic to kill millions of people? Would the same loving and caring god allow one group of people to use his name to facilitate the dehumanization, pillaging, and mass killing of another group of people? The answers to these questions are usually not objectively explored because of religious and cultural biases.
Author: David Lewis-Williams Publisher: Thames & Hudson ISBN: 0500770433 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 330
Book Description
A controversial exploration of the origin of religion in the neurology of the human brain. In this book the noted cognitive archaeologist David Lewis-Williams confronts a question that troubles many people in the world today: Is there a supernatural realm that intervenes in the material world of daily life and leads to the evolution of religions? Professor Lewis-Williams first describes how science developed within the cocoon of religion and then shows how the natural functioning of the human brain creates experiences that can lead to belief in a supernatural realm, beings, and interventions. Once people have these experiences, they formulate beliefs about them, and thus creeds are born. Forty thousand years ago, people were leaving traces in the archaeological record of activities that we can label religious, and Lewis-Williams discusses in detail the evidence preserved in the Volp Caves in France. He also shows that mental imagery produced by the functioning of the human brain can be detected in widely separated religious communities such as Hildegard of Bingen’s in medieval Europe or the San hunters of southern Africa.
Author: Wilberforce Reid Publisher: Xlibris Us ISBN: 9781664190702 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 286
Book Description
This book was written from a layman's point of view with no bias toward religion or academia. The human instinct to worship a superior being and the consequence of this attribute are evaluated by the author. Ever since humans have evolved to the level of consciousness where we started to ask ourselves the question "Who am I?", we conceptualized a god who made it all happen. These existential concepts that we have correctly or erroneously adopted come with confusion and contradictions. Does an anthropomorphic god, who is loving and caring, allow or cause a tsunami or pandemic to kill millions of people? Would the same loving and caring god allow one group of people to use his name to facilitate the dehumanization, pillaging, and mass killing of another group of people? The answers to these questions are usually not objectively explored because of religious and cultural biases.
Author: Reza Aslan Publisher: Random House ISBN: 0553394738 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer explores humanity’s quest to make sense of the divine in this concise and fascinating history of our understanding of God. In Zealot, Reza Aslan replaced the staid, well-worn portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth with a startling new image of the man in all his contradictions. In his new book, Aslan takes on a subject even more immense: God, writ large. In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as a remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, “Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless of whether we’re believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves.” But this projection is not without consequences. We bestow upon God not just all that is good in human nature—our compassion, our thirst for justice—but all that is bad in it: our greed, our bigotry, our penchant for violence. All these qualities inform our religions, cultures, and governments. More than just a history of our understanding of God, this book is an attempt to get to the root of this humanizing impulse in order to develop a more universal spirituality. Whether you believe in one God, many gods, or no god at all, God: A Human History will challenge the way you think about the divine and its role in our everyday lives. Praise for God “Timely, riveting, enlightening and necessary.”—HuffPost “Tantalizing . . . Driven by [Reza] Aslan’s grace and curiosity, God . . . helps us pan out from our troubled times, while asking us to consider a more expansive view of the divine in contemporary life.”—The Seattle Times “A fascinating exploration of the interaction of our humanity and God.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “[Aslan’s] slim, yet ambitious book [is] the story of how humans have created God with a capital G, and it’s thoroughly mind-blowing.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “Aslan is a born storyteller, and there is much to enjoy in this intelligent survey.”—San Francisco Chronicle
Author: G K Beale Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press ISBN: 1789740002 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 311
Book Description
The heart of the biblical understanding of idolatry, argues Gregory Beale, is that we take on the characteristics of what we worship. Employing Isaiah 6 as his interpretive lens, Beale demonstrates that this understanding of idolatry permeates the whole canon, from Genesis to Revelation. Beale concludes with an application of the biblical notion of idolatry to the challenges of contemporary life.
Author: J. Anderson Thomson Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA) ISBN: 0984493239 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 89
Book Description
In this groundbreaking volume, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, with Clare Aukofer, offers a succinct yet comprehensive study of how and why the human mind generates religious belief. Dr. Thomson, a highly respected practicing psychiatrist with credentials in forensic psychiatry and evolutionary psychology, methodically investigates the components and causes of religious belief in the same way any scientist would investigate the movement of astronomical bodies or the evolution of life over time—that is, as a purely natural phenomenon. Providing compelling evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, and related fields, he, with Ms. Aukofer, presents an easily accessible and exceptionally convincing case that god(s) were created by man—not vice versa. With this slim volume, Dr. Thomson establishes himself as a must-read thinker and leading voice on the primacy of reason and science over superstition and religion.
Author: Jefferson Bethke Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM ISBN: 1400205409 Category : Self-Help Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
Abandon dead, dry, religious rule-keeping and embrace the promise of being truly known and deeply loved. Jefferson Bethke burst into the cultural conversation with a passionate, provocative poem titled "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus." The 4-minute video became an overnight sensation, with 7 million YouTube views in its first 48 hours (and 23+ million in a year). Bethke's message clearly struck a chord with believers and nonbelievers alike, triggering an avalanche of responses running the gamut from encouraged to enraged. In his New York Times bestseller Jesus > Religion, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew in the poem--highlighting the difference between teeth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair, and hope. With refreshing candor, he delves into the motivation behind his message, beginning with the unvarnished tale of his own plunge from the pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile existence that sapped his strength and led him down a path of destructive behavior. Along the way, Bethke gives you the tools you need to: Humbly and prayerfully open your mind Understand Jesus for all that he is View the church from a brand-new perspective Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he's not a pastor or theologian, but simply an ordinary, twenty-something who cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. On this journey, Bethke discovered the real Jesus, who beckoned him with love beyond the props of false religion. Praise for Jesus > Religion: "Jeff's book will make you stop and listen to a voice in your heart that may have been drowned out by the noise of religion. Listen to that voice, then follow it--right to the feet of Jesus." --Bob Goff, author of New York Times bestsellers Love Does and Everybody, Always "The book you hold in your hands is Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz meets C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity meets Augustine's Confessions. This book is going to awaken an entire generation to Jesus and His grace." --Derwin L. Gray, lead pastor of Transformation Church, author of Limitless Life: Breaking Free from the Labels That Hold You Back
Author: Christopher Hitchens Publisher: McClelland & Stewart ISBN: 1551991764 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
Christopher Hitchens, described in the London Observer as “one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time” takes on his biggest subject yet–the increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris’s recent bestseller, The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.
Author: David DeSteno Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1982142324 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
Drawing on a wealth of new evidence, pioneering research psychologist David DeSteno shows why religious practices and rituals are so beneficial to those who follow them—and to anyone, regardless of their faith (or lack thereof). Scientists are beginning to discover what believers have known for a long time: the rewards that a religious life can provide. For millennia, people have turned to priests, rabbis, imams, shamans, and others to help them deal with issues of grief and loss, birth and death, morality and meaning. In this absorbing work, DeSteno reveals how numerous religious practices from around the world improve emotional and physical well-being. With empathy and rigor, DeSteno chronicles religious rites and traditions from cradle to grave. He explains how the Japanese rituals surrounding childbirth help strengthen parental bonds with children. He describes how the Apache Sunrise Ceremony makes teenage girls better able to face the rigors of womanhood. He shows how Buddhist meditation reduces hostility and increases compassion. He demonstrates how the Jewish practice of sitting shiva comforts the bereaved. And much more. DeSteno details how belief itself enhances physical and mental health. But you don’t need to be religious to benefit from the trove of wisdom that religion has to offer. Many items in religion’s “toolbox” can help the body and mind whether or not one believes. How God Works offers advice on how to incorporate many of these practices to help all of us live more meaningful, successful, and satisfying lives.
Author: Wilberforce Reid
Author: Wilberforce Reid
Author: Wilberforce Reid
Author: David Lewis-Williams
Author: Wilberforce Reid
Author: Reza Aslan
Author: G K Beale
Author: J. Anderson Thomson
Author: Jefferson Bethke
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Author: David DeSteno