Religion. - Page 3

mplltt · 10-01-2006, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by }SoC{Sumguy

i went to a christian school for 5 years.

The church is people, a community of the forgiven to serve Christ, I believe is the common theme. The problem with this is that church has some that listen and some that don't but always seem to lead everthing.

http://www.agnosticforums.com/christ...istians-2.html

This is kind of hard to follow if you don't read my imbedded posts, I apologize.

Also I would like to say I am not going to be renewed into christianity, it is like being renewed into stupidity. I threw my bible in the trash, I threw all literature that had any reference to god in the trash, I got rid of everything I am going nuts, because I know what is going on and yet I am still being told I am a christian. I spied on the church by becoming a sit in person. It is a building and its book, the bible, is like the building. If you have it, then you are worthless because when you read it, the church becomes GOD MONEY. ok, ok, Is nobody listening to Trent Reznor's message? God Money? That is what the church is.

mplltt · 10-02-2006, 12:22 AM

hey, if I throw away my literature, does that make me a pagan? If I make a question that entices your comparison ability does that make me an athiest? How much closer to the justification of establishment does it make to will a person to be able to get a message? What is it that makes a message? What will messages that are passed be so quiet that even a trained ear will have to assume they know what is going on . What is being autonomic do to a person?

Did you know that my grandfather, his name is John McClain Gamble is a meth and crack user since 1922? Long befor I was born, he was doing this just when you think that all of my world is ok, he can't seem to get it that trust in people is a good idea and his addiction takes over. My grandmother, Catherine Gamble is addicted to methamphetamine and she does LSD-25 to get over the freebasing that my grandfather does. Do you know what it is like having two drug addicted grandparents? Yet they live in a rich neighborhood and drive lease cars and fly around the country. How screwed up is that, let me explain. It has been 27 years and I have been told, when I was in highschool that they were drug addicted. I live with that hanging over my head. A winner, going to war in the Pacific, addicted to drugs. This is why I question the faith. What makes a winner, whose relatives went to the first world war, win there too, do so many drugs? He's pushing 87, man......

They are avid church goers, and they are really truly righteous people. This is what gets me floored. They expect respect but when it is given to them, they get angry and whine at me about how I pick up the newspaper, or how Arabs are "taking over," or about how wrong I am about politics, or how much I have left of school. I am sick of this balonga.

I now look as if I am definately screwed up in the head for explaining away the establishment this way. If I am too much to handle now, administrator, I wish to be either messaged or lambasted or administered guilt, I don't know what. I think that in my heart I believe that everything I said was in effort to try to leave the path wide open for people to reason with each other. I hope that I questioned everything. The fear that I have.....

}SoC{Sumguy · 10-02-2006, 10:05 PM

im sorry, but i am stil unclear as to what this "establishment" specifically is and what it has done that is so evil. and also what it's motive would be to commit said evils.

**SithLord** · 10-03-2006, 10:51 AM

mplitt are you muslim?

mplltt · 10-03-2006, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SithLord

mplitt are you muslim?

uh, NO. I believe that Christians, Muslims and Jews all pray to the same God with different books to back their bigger picture.

THEWAULRUS · 10-03-2006, 01:52 PM

Those religions are based of off judaism which is partly based off of early Zorastianism

Faydwyn · 10-15-2006, 09:41 PM

To begin with, I’m curious as to what qualifications you (THEWAULRUS) use to distinguish between a philosophy, a religion, and a spirituality.

I’m going to split my post up, hopefully in a way that makes sense, so it won’t be one really long post…

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEWAULRUS

Polytheism is probably one of the earliest and greatest religions of all time for a few reasons. It was practiced widely in the old days. Usually around Middle Eastern countries and Africa. The reason this religion was created was to explain the unexplainable. Everything magnificent in those days was given a spirit/god. Then they were named and given human characteristics. The gods in those religions made mistakes, like humans. They were worshipped by their people, but they did not like all of their gods. For example, some people favored one god and hated all of the others because the other gods weren’t good to them. In religions today gods are depicted perfect and a lot of them don’t have human characteristics.

Animism is often held to be the oldest spirituality or religion and a lot of what you describe here could apply to it as well.

Additionally, polytheism is and was much more widespread than Africa and the Middle East.

Faydwyn · 10-15-2006, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEWAULRUS

Scientology is a very recent religion created from Dianetics in 1952. Dianetics was basically a help-yourself system. Scientology has a few interesting beliefs. The first and most important one is that a human is an immortal spiritual being. That is a proof that religions are created to prevent the fear of death. The other major beliefs are that psychology and psychotherapy are evil and abusive. Every human is basically good but becomes tainted by pain and suffering he has to go through. Scientology stands for "the study of truth." One of the statements that scientology makes is that “true” is only what you have observed yourself. In that religion no one is forced to believe anything, because it operates on the theory “You have to see it to believe it.” Scientology does make a few good points, but some parts of it don’t make any sense. Scientologists believe in auditing which, as they have claimed improves IQ and many other spiritual things. It is a very young religion and they believe of resurrection of soul. Those beliefs are also found in some Indian Religions.

“Those beliefs are also found in some Indian Religions.”
This sentence isn’t clear. Which beliefs? Indian religions don’t believe in auditing for example.

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEWAULRUS

Hinduism is the oldest major organized religion in this world. It is mainly practiced in India. They believe is reincarnation of the soul. Most Hindus consider cows and snakes sacred. They worship the nature and try to be at peace with it. Most Hindus also believe in Karma. Karma is a system where beneficial events are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful events from past harmful actions. A large partition of Hinduism does Yoga. Islam and Hinduism are mortal enemies. That is the reason Sikhism was created.

I’m not an expert on Hinduism, but there are a couple of errors I see. I wouldn’t say that they worship nature, but there is a major panentheistic element of Hinduism and this might be where you got this idea.

Additionally, you did not “talk” about the concept of AUM (or OM), which is an important element of Hinduism. Nor did you discuss the concept of Brahman, which is extremely important.

Secondly, one does not do Yoga one lives Yoga. Yoga is much more than the exercise that has become popular in the “West.” It is a philosophy unto itself.

As far as Hinduism and Islam, I don’t know a lot about their relationship, but I think that saying that they are mortal enemies is a bit much. Hinduism has historically been one of the most accepting and tolerant of all religions. Additionally, Sikhism may have been an outgrowth of Hinduism; but, from what I have read, they are considered separate religions.

Faydwyn · 10-15-2006, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEWAULRUS

Judaism is the first of the three most powerful religions the world has ever seen, the other two being Christianity and Islam. It is arguably the first truly monotheistic religion, and its followers believe that the universe was created by and is still controlled by a single omnipresent and omnipotent entity, who is also said to be totally benevolent. The religion was founded over the course of thousands of years, during which time the Jews were separated into tribes and led a nomadic existence in the deserts of the Middle East.

Arguable indeed. Many scholars point to Egypt as having the first monotheism.

Faydwyn · 10-15-2006, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEWAULRUS

Buddhism translates to the teachings of the awakened one. ( It’s referring to Buddha) It is a very peaceful religion. You have to purify your mind by meditating, and living a virtuous and moral lifestyle. In Buddhism, the goal is to reach a certain state of mind called Nirvana. (Nirodha) The religion follows the Four Noble Truths. They basically state that everything is suffering and you must rid yourself of humanly possessions and worldly attachments in order to reach Nirvana. The religion is currently practiced around India and Tibet. This is one of the most peaceful religions in the world. No wars have been started that involved this religion.

There are a couple of clarifications I’d like to make:

Buddhism doesn’t say that everything is suffering; it says that there can be a lot of suffering in life. Suffering is caused by desire and clinging to things, as well as our actions. It’s like hey life can suck, but here’s a way you can make it better.

While Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, Buddhists follow the Eightfold Path (which was also taught by the Buddha).

Furthermore, the goal is not so much to reach Nirvana but to alleviate the suffering of yourself and others and to become enlightened. Once you become enlightened you can then enter Nirvana. Nirvana has several definitions, one of which is to become one with your karma.

Here are some other points about Buddhism and its teachings:

Buddhists do not worship the Buddha. He is a teacher that they strive to emulate.

Buddhism is more laid back. It’s not like “THOU SHALL NOT….” It’s more like, “If you do something bad sooner or later it will come back to bite you in the ass.”

Buddhism has the very interesting element of being non-theistic. The Buddha did not discuss God even when asked to, nor is there any discussion about how we got here. God is irrelevant to Buddhism. Another interesting element is that questioning is OK. There is a sutra about how one should not believe something because a priest, sage, etc. said so or just because it is written down in holy books.

Buddhism is much more compatible with science. I don’t know of any of the Buddha’s teachings that have been disproved. It also seems to have an increased longevity and greater adaptability. Take homosexuality for instance; in regards to sexuality, Buddhism has an admonition against “sexual misconduct.” It is thus open to interpretation and that interpretation can change based on the culture that adopts the teachings (which it has).

Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation, they believe in rebirth. This may seem like semantics, but there is a distinct difference.

In regards to Buddhist history, Buddhism grew out of Hinduism sort of like Christianity grew out of Judaism.

Buddhism is far more widespread than you imply; and though it originated in India, there is actually only a very small Buddhist population there. There are two major branches of Buddhism, as well as multiple sects. Tibetan Buddhism is probably the most familiar to people because of the Dalai Lama; however, it is also very different from the other versions. Zen, which is one sect that originated in Japan, is very different from Tibetan, for instance. As Buddhism spread, it integrated beliefs and traditions from the cultures it was incorporated into; which is why the Buddhism practiced in Japan is so different than what is practiced in Tibet.

That’s enough on Buddhism for now…