Discussion How does religion "save" people?

[ScaredCutter]

my apologises if this is the wrong area to post this.

i dont mean any harm, i just cant understand religion well enough, any kind of them. its mostly christianity which is what ive seen commonly.

my dad is catholic and my mum is an atheist but, they dont fight over beliefs or force any upon their kids. ive never been to a church, never read any religious things either.

im just wondering, how can religion save one? like, how does it manage to help somebody find something? i dont understand what finding smth in god/jesus means, that the bible or whatever knwos the meaning of it all, that are their deepest a god lent them a hand and saved them. i dont understand when people put in comments saying something about finding the answer in jesus, to put faith in him and such. i dont understand what the end goal is. how can someone who u cant physically see or hear even help? how does reciting some prayers do something? how can someones situation be "cured" from just finding god? it just feels like its just a game of imagination, nothing changes or ever happens, i dont understand whats meant to happen when u rely on religion as the answer for the problem.


im not religious myself and im not against religion, im not an atheist or a follower. ive just never seen the point in religion "helping" things. wouldnt something more physical do more change than something that you cant see? or hear? ive heard about religious phsycosis (if thats the right word) where their faith becomes more stronger like, thye believe they ARE hearing god, that whatever is next to come is in god's favour, no matter what it is or how horrifying it is. ive never seen how it can save someone when it can also reach that point, where ur belief becomes so strong, u cant even tell the difference anymore.

i apologise if im coming across as rude! ive just never been able to understand what people say or mean by "god can save you" or has saved them. im very opened to hear what others say and any criticsim!

 

[maylurker]

i dont know its more of a sense of purpose when i was at my lowest i basically felt the urge of being heard and talk to God was the easiest way out

 

[Forever Sleep]

I don't know personally but, I have witnessed it. A lady at work was coming out of an abusive relationship. I was so naive- it was a colleague who pointed out she wore thick make up, likely to cover bruises. But- she claimed Jesus had saved her. Another family friend became very religious.

I suppose I see it like an imaginary love and support. And- if it's protection we want- you can't go much higher than a God! I can only imagine that they transfer maybe human love onto this other figure.

It doesn't entirely make sense to me though, because even the character/ nature of God would require a bunch of selective thinking to love. This is the same God who enabled peadophilia and created creatures that can only survive by eating others alive. I think they have a more fairytale idea of a loving, caring father figure though.

You can convince yourself something is real though. So to them- it may not be such an obvious fake. But something they are sure exists.

I think maybe as a species, we are able to feel connection to things. To nature. Even to things we greatly resonate with. We'll say we 'love' a television series say. I also think we don't have reasons for everything. Even our feelings don't always make sense. So- maybe we simply dump stuff like that into religion, spirituality or magic.

I think also- it's just that we want more. We feel more than we are able to contain or label. Plus, our ego's are enormous. We may not be content with being just another animal because consciousness feels so powerful. So- perhaps it's all just delusions of grandeur. That an all powerful God values us more than any other species. That we are special. That we are loved individually.

Who isn't attracted to the idea of someone loving us and always being there for support? How many even have that in real life?

But, having been prone to limerence (obsessive crushes on guys,) I can absolutely attest that it's possible to feel love towards an idea of a person. An idea of a relationship too. Our brains are hugely powerful. Maybe the only difference is- they may truly believe God is real.

 

[InversedShadow]

Because people need purpose and support, and God that is everywhere, has limitless grace and love for each individual and onethat is merciful and understanding, conceptually is a perfect choice for a person that struggles and is open to any help.
- Im glad that there are no religious fights in your family, it's really amazing.
It's difficult to explain but every person has some kind of religious need, if you read in, you might learn that in fact religious stimuli is one of the most unique in our brains, we're wired and destined for some spiritual things, but refusing them is also a religion on its own; hence why Atheists often become so obsessed, because they're religiously repeating their own things.
The primary goal is to find the truth, seek comfort and trust in God, devoting yourself to the teachings in the process, the end goal is just living life religiously as the scripture says so that the person can be saved and not condemned forever for their sins.
How do prayers help? Well, prayers themselves are just a way to voice your own thoughts to God, for example to ask Him for help, to tell Him about your problems; repetetive prayers are one way to turn to God, but the ones that I mentioned are more on "personal level", hence why they feel more spiritual; the point isn't seeing, touching or smelling or feeling, as humans our understanding is limited and we cannot fully grasp the divine; in any religion actually, what you feel isn't just the doubt of Christianity, but rejection of all things spiritual, you should ask yourself if you believe in anything that you cannot see, if there's anything that you want to believe in that isn't straight up physical, the point of belief, often isn't just to receive or give, but for example to study and research or to experience, some people just want to experience something higher than what we can see in our daily gray lifes.
I personally always thought, that spirituality is something that adds colors to life, hence even when I temporarily left Christianity, rather than just completely turning away from anything spiritual, I just went from one belief to another.

The issue with that state of religious pshycosis that you mention, is the fact that it's kind of delusional, there is a difference between a vision sent by God, and a human mind playing tricks on one, or it even being an influence of an evil being; if someone experiences such a state, they have to be very careful and proceed with caution.
However, you know, if their faith is so beautifully strong, and they can withstand even most horrifying things, it's good for them! Drying a horrible death because of the faith they wanted to spread might seem foolish at first, but it's a grand act of devotion to God, something that can be hardly understood by us.
It's all good, it's a great thing to seek knowledge, even in a place like this, I somewhat try to understand things, so your questions were inspiring to do some reflection.