The Basics of Religion.

[Lexington_Steele]

Airlift, in answer to your question Confucious says:

Man who keep feet firmly on ground have trouble putting on pants!

[Hijinks]

Originally posted by Airlift
I have an allegory

Allegory is the last refuge of the wicked.

[Rayzer]

Originally posted by Lexington_Steele
All of the following is merely my take on things and is not intended to be read as fact.

I see religion as a tool for those seeking spirituality. There are just a number of things you have to keep in mind.

Organized religion is a good place to give you direction in a seach for spirituality. Organized religion is not to be the end of that search. I think that everyone should reach a point in their search where they cast off the structure of organized religion and have spirituality become very personal to themselves. However I believe that it is very helpful for some people to have an organized religion to start their search from and as a forum to begin discussion and questioning.

Holy books are there to offer you questions to ask yourself and think about. Holy Books are not there to present you with all the answers, or to tell you how to live. Life is not as easy as following a printed list of rules, and it is not as boring either.

The person behind the pulpit does not necessarily know more than you and is not privy to information that you do not have access to. However they do spend their lives thinking about and discussing spirituality with their colleagues, so they often have interesting and well thought out ideas on the subject.

/nods

Very good post and basically identical to how I view Religion. People often fail to note the difference between religion and spirituality.

At its core Hinduism is a beautiful religion and subscribes to the belief that you should use the image of The Divine that suits you the best. How many Gods does a Hindu believe in? 1-3-33,333 is the answer. You use the image of The Divine that helps you the most to become more spiritual. But in the end, they are all the same thing. Anyway, its been a while since I've discussed this stuff and I don't want to get my facts wrong.

But eMa. Thank you for this thread, too often I don't take the time to think about these things and just go on ignoring them. Thanks for the reminder.

[Tobias]

Everyone but chuck has their own opinion about relgion, and for the most part nothing anyone can say will change that, and know one truely knows who, if anyone, is right.

[OneManArmy]

One.. never knows tobias.. While probally no one will change there mind. it always is possible. free speech and strong ideas are a powerful thing.

[Airlift]

Originally posted by Hijinks
Allegory is the last refuge of the wicked.

One-line posts are the last refuge of the guy with nothing to say.

Hi, this is line two of this post

[Mtx]

Originally posted by Airlift
One-line posts are the last refuge of the guy with nothing to say.

I'm going to Heaven one day.

Who's with me?!

[Nohimn]

Denali, I'm not asking to be flamed! THAT'S WHAT PISSES ME OFF!! because I'm an atheist and I explain why (people usually ask anyways, so it doesn't matter), I end up getting flamed by assholes!! I was somewhat happy that this thread so far didn't include any flaming!! that's the kind of arrogance I worry about when I mention that I am an atheist


sry for the flame... just continue talking regularly.....

[SandTrout]

I'm not going to read through this entire thread.

Any debate over religion is pointless. Relegion is based off of faith, something that doesn't require a reasonable explaination. My guess is that we are just here as entertainment for the gods(yes, plural), which play only a very limited role in the world. They probably have rules about how they are alowed to affect the world, so that they can get the most fun and/or chalenge out of it.

Don't know anything about the afterlife, because I haven't been there yet.

[Airlift]

You should have read the thread, there's not really any debate. Everyone simply stated their opinions and why they felt the way they do.

[Lexington_Steele]

Originally posted by SandTrout
I'm not going to read through this entire thread.

Any debate over religion is pointless.

I disagree. When we discuss an issue we force ourselves to re evaluate and organize our own ideas as we are putting them to text.

We also get to hear the thoughts of other people and may gain new insight on the issue and gain new questions to ask ourselves. This in turn gives us new ideas on the subject and our own beliefs begin to evolve.

[Nohimn]

there's something that I read in "The Salmon Of Doubt" that was very interesting.... I'll post it in while..... hold on.....

edit:: sorry... I can't find it.... it was VERY interesting though...

[eMaGyN]

lol, i'm sure it was


I think it is good to talk of these things, it makes you think about your faith and beliefs...
I believe in a lot of ways, its those who do not want to discuss religion that are strict in their ways... or completely nonchalant about the scenarios in its entirity...

but i wish you would take the time to read at least some of the post... that way you can learn, if not about the person who you are... then about the people we are.


eMa

[Nohimn]

nicely said ema. I couldn't have said it any better.

[eMaGyN]

Aw, thank you Nohimn