Being referred to as a sheep.

[flobadob]

If someone was to call you a sheep, you would most likely take offence as they are inferring that you are a mindless idiot with no will of your own.

Why is it though that people are happy to use this analogy when talking about religion and are happy to be told by Jesus that we are sheep?

[mike11111]

The analogy is not that people are like sheep in that sense but that Jesus cares for his people as a shepherd cares for his flock.

[craft1948]

They must have a mind of their own hence the parable of The Lost Sheep.

[andy-hughes]

Absolutely.

The analogy was used frequently by Jesus, always in terms of caring for his flock as any good shepherd would.

In his time, many people depended on shep flocks for food and wool, so this analogy would resonate with them.

[d9f1c7]

Religious people are by definition "sheep" so I guess it's a case of empathy.

[FredPuli43]

Jesus is a shepherd and the followers are sheep? Then what is the lamb of god they keep talking about?

[flobadob]

And lo he did say, I am the general and you are my drones.

[atalanta]

Strange, isn't it, that there are so many references in the Bible to sheep as sacrificial animals.

[naomi24]

^^ It's appropriate.

[wildwood]

They had lamb chops at the last supper.

[moonraker558]

I will have you know that I do have a will of my own.....

I just can't remember where it is.

[nescio]

moonraker,
get in touch with your solicitor. He/she will have it, but will probably charge you for informing you of the fact...

[birdie1971]

Because quite a lot of people remove their brains when the subject of religion is brought up. They quite literally sidestep logic, reason and rationality in order to incorporate their chosen belief system into their otherwise rational conscientiousness.

All rational people know that fluids do not spontaneously change from one form to another without some kind of external stimulus. All rational people know that because of buoyancy, objects sink when they exert a force greater than that which can be repelled by a fluid over a given surface area. All rational people know that large, chemically complex objects do not spontaneously replicate.

And yet Christians believe that Jesus turned water into wine - literally; Jesus walked on water - literally; Jesus fed five thousand people with just a few scraps of bread and fish - literally.


I find it completely absurd and more than a little scary to know that an otherwise rational and intelligent person can disengage their brain to such an extent that they can allow themselves to believe such utter nonsense.

As you say Flob, people would normally take offence at being called a sheep. However, when Jesus says it, logic, rationality and even self respect goes flying out of the window.

[mike11111]

"...without some kind of external stimulus"

Exactly. Who's to say that external stimulus isn't God? Not you obviously, but you don't have a monopoly on wisdom or rational thought.

[birdie1971]

First, I never said that I had a monopoly on wisdom or rational thought. It is open to all who wish to participate.

Second, I simply don't believe in a supernatural deity from whom we have heard nothing in almost two thousand years. In the meantime, scientific knowledge has accelerated to such a degree that we now know the chemical properties of (almost) everything on earth. We certainly know the chemical properties of water and wine.

If you want to believe and cling to the impossible notion that a supernatural deity, in order to show his munificence, allowed his corporeal son to transmogrify water into wine, then nothing I can say will sway your illogical and irrational belief – you apparently believe in divinely created miracles without a shred of proof and despite all physical and chemical evidence to the contrary.

As I said, “... quite a lot of people remove their brains when the subject of religion is brought up...”. You are clearly a case in point.

[flobadob]

Dynamo walked on water to.

[flobadob]

o.

[David H]

Non-religious human sheep are defined (by me) as those who accept whatever they read or here without checking. If corralled and interviewed they parrot whatever they have picked up and treat it with the same status as anything they'd studied for an exam, although it turns out they only have a general set of cliches available and little or no data to support it. That attitude is a pre-academic one, and although academics are not immune to it occasionally it seems the default among people who have not been trained to check their information before treating it as accurate and passing it on to fellow sheep.

As unfortunately they clearly make up the majority of the population the goats (the leaders in the know) exploit this attribute and can easily make things up to persuade people to buy their products, hate their enemies and the like when in fact people taking 125% mortgages, adding to their credit limit and buying structured financial instruments are all things the bankers themselves would rarely if ever do but the sheep do en masse. Most bankers would not touch a credit card with a barge pole. That demonstrates the perfect example, those who are in charge do not do what they persuade others to as they know it is wrong. And credit cards are just the best of pages of similar examples, I'm sure we can all think of many more.

[birdie1971]

David - “... human sheep are defined (by me) as those who accept whatever they read or here without checking. If corralled and interviewed they parrot whatever they have picked up and treat it with the same status as anything they'd studied for an exam... it seems the default among people who have not been trained to check their information before treating it as accurate and passing it on to fellow sheep.”

Although your above quote was written specifically to describe atheists and other non-religious people, I would politely suggest that you have inadvertently (and very accurately) described the vast majority of religious people. I accept that a great many people, both religious and non-religious, believe in a great many things that they haven't studied in any great detail and cannot prove.

However, it is a fact that a belief in a supernatural deity is belief without evidence and hence is the very essence of the 'sheep' mentality.

[birdie1971]

David - “... Most bankers would not touch a credit card with a barge pole...”

Really? I seriously doubt the veracity of your statement. I would suggest that you've just made up that 'fact' for the benefit of your own argument. I would think it far more likely that most bankers would have at least one credit card, if not several. Whether they pay interest on their credit cards is another matter entirely.