silvia saint
Bluelighter
2012
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-
AADD Moderators: andyturbo
religion - your thoughts
- Thread starter katmeow
- Start date
silvia saint
Bluelighter
imagine all the people living for today
keystroke
Bluelighter
I did remove my post earlier because I didn't want to offend anyone, but I am going to put a request out to someone that is religious to perhaps PM me (if posting in here isnt wanted) and explain why they believe in God or follow the bible...
I'd be very interested in knowing why some people do and also why some people don't....
being brought up in a family where everyone is athiest, but having cousins families being jehova's witness, I'm just interested to know what else people think and why...
I'd be very interested in knowing why some people do and also why some people don't....
being brought up in a family where everyone is athiest, but having cousins families being jehova's witness, I'm just interested to know what else people think and why...
silvia saint
Bluelighter
^^^
i'm not religious, but the answer is fear. full stop.
i'm not religious, but the answer is fear. full stop.
anna!
Bluelight Crew
Fear isn't why I have a religious affiliation at all. I visited some religious places in Europe when I was there about 8 years ago, having been raised in an environment that wasn't religious at all (my Dad is Baptist, mum is athiest, she didn't like the religious stuff being in the house), and drew my own conclusions. For me it was just about the feelings I had there, and how they were relevant to my life.
And then some of the little religiously related things that happen in my life provide me with positive reinforcement of my ideas. For example, I have a weird phobia of taxis unless they're the van sort. A few months back I was waiting for a cab somewhere I'd never been before, feeling nervous, and just threw out a "hey God, it'd be great if I could catch the van sort", and lo and behold, a van came. I just find it nice to feel like there's someone looking out for me sometimes.
It's not fear. If it was fear, I would go to mass every week (or day!), never break any commandments, definitely not have had a child out of wedlock, etc. I just like feeling like I have a friend nearby whenever I need one. God and I are buddies
And then some of the little religiously related things that happen in my life provide me with positive reinforcement of my ideas. For example, I have a weird phobia of taxis unless they're the van sort. A few months back I was waiting for a cab somewhere I'd never been before, feeling nervous, and just threw out a "hey God, it'd be great if I could catch the van sort", and lo and behold, a van came. I just find it nice to feel like there's someone looking out for me sometimes.
It's not fear. If it was fear, I would go to mass every week (or day!), never break any commandments, definitely not have had a child out of wedlock, etc. I just like feeling like I have a friend nearby whenever I need one. God and I are buddies
silvia saint
Bluelighter
it's fear of being alone in this world, this universe. life being pointless. i'm not saying i'm immune to this headfuck placed on us for control. i'm along the lines of being an agnostic rather than an atheist, i don't really believe in a stereotypical god but i find myself blaming "him" for everything that goes wrong in my life 
it extremely arrogant to believe that we humans are so special that we can have an infinite existance through such an entity.
it extremely arrogant to believe that we humans are so special that we can have an infinite existance through such an entity.
keystroke
Bluelighter
anna! said:It's not fear. If it was fear, I would go to mass every week (or day!), never break any commandments, definitely not have had a child out of wedlock, etc. I just like feeling like I have a friend nearby whenever I need one. God and I are buddies
if you feel you have a "friend nearby" where is he?
in 2000 years lots of people have been "friends" with him, often speaking to him every night, but not once in 2000 years has he shown himself.
personally, if you are praying to Aliens every night, I think you've got a better chance of seeing something....
silvia saint
Bluelighter
keystroke said:
lol. 2012 ppl.
josh_nexus
Bluelighter
I do not subscribe to religion for two reasons.
The first has to do with my views of organised religion. I believe organised religion is a force of division. For every good thing to emerge from it, there are a thousand bad. In most cases the worship of the chosen deity and the broad messages of peace, love and forgiveness, which are central themes in virtually all major religious movements, are pushed into irrelevence by internal bickering about the interpretation of minor points. Religion today is a battle of semantics, with little focus on real issues and no attempt to reconcile it with todays society.
The second has to do with the volume of information contradicting it. I believe, based on the knowledge that we have today, that it would be ridiculous to ascribe our existance to anything other than a tremendous amount of good fortune. We live in a universe that just so happens to have a set of physical laws which allow the existance of life and we just happen to be the lucky bastards who ended up surviving. It is in the first case stupid to assume that we are alone in the universe. We may never know for certain either way, but given the positively mind bogglingly huge size of the universe and the fact that there is nothing about earth that cannot be replicated somewhere else, it would seem to be more likely that there is something else out there. In any case the absolutely Earth centric nature of all of our major religions sugests that they were not written by a deity with a good working knowledge of the universe.
We can, by applying the right conditions, get free elements, in a sort of soup that somewhat resembles the environment on prehistoric earth, to "roll" up into advanced organic molecules. We do not, admittedly, know how they managed to start reproducing themselves and become life. However before you start jumping to the magic of god solution, consider this;
We have been performing these experiments for 30 odd years and perhaps (being generous) 10,000 such experiments with slightly different variables have been conducted. In the infinate vastness of the universe these situations occur probably to the tune of a trillion times every second, for the past 12 billion years. Hence to those who call life a miracle, I would say "well it had to happen eventually". Not to say that our being here is nothing short of miraculous, but then when one asks "why?" in relation to our existance it is prudent to retort "well, why not?".
I also wonder about the fractured nature of religions. Religions in the Americas bare no resemblence to those which originated in the middle east and southern Europe. Obviously most of these religions are expicit in their claim to be the one true faith, and henceforth, (assuming that they are all correct; to actually assume that one is right and the rest are wrong is too ridiculous to consider) one would wonder what type of manevolent God would set his/her deciples up to fight forever about who is religiously correct by giving a totally different view of the world to each group of people. Then we come to the fact that all religions have explanations for everyday occurences which match the natural environment they live in. Some aboriginal tribes believe that a rainbow serpent had a hand in the creation of the world, and those aboriginal tribes live in areas where there are some very large pythons. Its funny that neither the Irish or the Icelandic peoples, whose lands have something of a lack of reptilian life, came to the same conclusion.
It is important to remember that we are able to ask the questions of existance because we are the ones who made it. Yes our existance is a miracle, but only because of the trillions of other failed experiments in life which have come before us. Would you believe in a god if your genetic line had stopped at a single celled microbe because of some unfavourable weather pattern?
These are just a few of my problems with religion. I do actually think there might well be something out there that is beyond us in all aspects (our universe is very, very well suited to life; suspiciously so), but then that can be put down to chance as well. After all we have no idea how many universes have come before us or might come after.
The first has to do with my views of organised religion. I believe organised religion is a force of division. For every good thing to emerge from it, there are a thousand bad. In most cases the worship of the chosen deity and the broad messages of peace, love and forgiveness, which are central themes in virtually all major religious movements, are pushed into irrelevence by internal bickering about the interpretation of minor points. Religion today is a battle of semantics, with little focus on real issues and no attempt to reconcile it with todays society.
The second has to do with the volume of information contradicting it. I believe, based on the knowledge that we have today, that it would be ridiculous to ascribe our existance to anything other than a tremendous amount of good fortune. We live in a universe that just so happens to have a set of physical laws which allow the existance of life and we just happen to be the lucky bastards who ended up surviving. It is in the first case stupid to assume that we are alone in the universe. We may never know for certain either way, but given the positively mind bogglingly huge size of the universe and the fact that there is nothing about earth that cannot be replicated somewhere else, it would seem to be more likely that there is something else out there. In any case the absolutely Earth centric nature of all of our major religions sugests that they were not written by a deity with a good working knowledge of the universe.
We can, by applying the right conditions, get free elements, in a sort of soup that somewhat resembles the environment on prehistoric earth, to "roll" up into advanced organic molecules. We do not, admittedly, know how they managed to start reproducing themselves and become life. However before you start jumping to the magic of god solution, consider this;
We have been performing these experiments for 30 odd years and perhaps (being generous) 10,000 such experiments with slightly different variables have been conducted. In the infinate vastness of the universe these situations occur probably to the tune of a trillion times every second, for the past 12 billion years. Hence to those who call life a miracle, I would say "well it had to happen eventually". Not to say that our being here is nothing short of miraculous, but then when one asks "why?" in relation to our existance it is prudent to retort "well, why not?".
I also wonder about the fractured nature of religions. Religions in the Americas bare no resemblence to those which originated in the middle east and southern Europe. Obviously most of these religions are expicit in their claim to be the one true faith, and henceforth, (assuming that they are all correct; to actually assume that one is right and the rest are wrong is too ridiculous to consider) one would wonder what type of manevolent God would set his/her deciples up to fight forever about who is religiously correct by giving a totally different view of the world to each group of people. Then we come to the fact that all religions have explanations for everyday occurences which match the natural environment they live in. Some aboriginal tribes believe that a rainbow serpent had a hand in the creation of the world, and those aboriginal tribes live in areas where there are some very large pythons. Its funny that neither the Irish or the Icelandic peoples, whose lands have something of a lack of reptilian life, came to the same conclusion.
It is important to remember that we are able to ask the questions of existance because we are the ones who made it. Yes our existance is a miracle, but only because of the trillions of other failed experiments in life which have come before us. Would you believe in a god if your genetic line had stopped at a single celled microbe because of some unfavourable weather pattern?
These are just a few of my problems with religion. I do actually think there might well be something out there that is beyond us in all aspects (our universe is very, very well suited to life; suspiciously so), but then that can be put down to chance as well. After all we have no idea how many universes have come before us or might come after.
Raz
Bluelighter
I have two thoughts about religion.
On one hand, I really hate organised religion. I hate that it encourages people to be ignorant, to fear and hate any part of the world they can't understand, and to place so much of their development into the hands of human beings who couldn't give a fuck about anything other than controlling the most people. I believe the Bible (and for that matter, all holy books) were documents written by human beings trying to understand their world and bring order to their society. While I personally have had a pretty good run with religion, it hurts me that so many of my friends have been brought to their lowest point because their religion deemed it more important for them to conform to an ideal thousands of years out of date than it did to make them happy with themselves. I see people who've devoted their lives to following the doctrines of an outdated religion and it makes me sad to see these people throw their lives away on this because it's easier than examining what it is inside of them that needs this kind of outside control.
On the other hand...part of the reason I've survived as long as I have is because of my unshakable religious beliefs. As far as I'm concerned, the rules of the bible and of the church were written by Man, and these are fallible. But I do believe in God, I believe in a God who loves us and who created his children to appreciate beauty, and there have been times in my life when this was the only thing I believed. I need to believe that there has to be a point to the pain that we suffer in life. I need to believe that there has to be some continuity of existence beyond physical death, because I know that's when I'll be reunited with the people I love who have already gone there. There has to be a point to the men and women who give up everything to serve humanity and die without any kind of recognition. There is the capacity for selfishness and selflessness inside all of us, and there has to be a reason for that.
I do think there's a difference between religion and faith though, and that's where my next part comes in. Most of what I conceptualise as my faith in God comes from my mostly Catholic religious education. But I've thrown off most of the rules of that religion and I believe that even if I hadn't had that education I would still have the faith in a higher power, albeit in a different form. Personally, I think that all of us who feel that faith feel it for the same thing. I call it God, some people might call it Allah, and some people have polytheistic beliefs, where they worship a pantheon of Gods rather than just the one. But ultimately we believe in a benevolent creative force which cares for us.
Having said all of that...I'm also the first to admit that these are my beliefs. I have no evidence to prove that they're real, and to be honest I don't really want any evidence. Part of the magic of it all for me is that it is just faith. There's no magic in believing in the postman, because you see him come every day. God on the other hand...other than a feeling inside, what else do I really have? One of my best friends is completely atheistic, and completely anti-religion. I respect her totally for this, and I don't judge her in the slightest because to do so would be supremely arrogant of me. But I respect her right to have her own beliefs, and she respects mine, and I'm quite ready to accept that maybe I'm completely wrong anyway and I'll be nothing more than dead in the ground when my time comes.
I don't expect people to share my beliefs...if some Christians actually followed Christ's example a little more closely, they might realise that his was a message of tolerance and acceptance. In the end, it doesn't matter at all whether he was a divine being or just a well-meaning but deluded person--his message is what matters. And that message is that everybody matters, and everybody is deserving of love. It's a shame the church a lot of the time forgets that.
[/end rant]
On one hand, I really hate organised religion. I hate that it encourages people to be ignorant, to fear and hate any part of the world they can't understand, and to place so much of their development into the hands of human beings who couldn't give a fuck about anything other than controlling the most people. I believe the Bible (and for that matter, all holy books) were documents written by human beings trying to understand their world and bring order to their society. While I personally have had a pretty good run with religion, it hurts me that so many of my friends have been brought to their lowest point because their religion deemed it more important for them to conform to an ideal thousands of years out of date than it did to make them happy with themselves. I see people who've devoted their lives to following the doctrines of an outdated religion and it makes me sad to see these people throw their lives away on this because it's easier than examining what it is inside of them that needs this kind of outside control.
On the other hand...part of the reason I've survived as long as I have is because of my unshakable religious beliefs. As far as I'm concerned, the rules of the bible and of the church were written by Man, and these are fallible. But I do believe in God, I believe in a God who loves us and who created his children to appreciate beauty, and there have been times in my life when this was the only thing I believed. I need to believe that there has to be a point to the pain that we suffer in life. I need to believe that there has to be some continuity of existence beyond physical death, because I know that's when I'll be reunited with the people I love who have already gone there. There has to be a point to the men and women who give up everything to serve humanity and die without any kind of recognition. There is the capacity for selfishness and selflessness inside all of us, and there has to be a reason for that.
I do think there's a difference between religion and faith though, and that's where my next part comes in. Most of what I conceptualise as my faith in God comes from my mostly Catholic religious education. But I've thrown off most of the rules of that religion and I believe that even if I hadn't had that education I would still have the faith in a higher power, albeit in a different form. Personally, I think that all of us who feel that faith feel it for the same thing. I call it God, some people might call it Allah, and some people have polytheistic beliefs, where they worship a pantheon of Gods rather than just the one. But ultimately we believe in a benevolent creative force which cares for us.
Having said all of that...I'm also the first to admit that these are my beliefs. I have no evidence to prove that they're real, and to be honest I don't really want any evidence. Part of the magic of it all for me is that it is just faith. There's no magic in believing in the postman, because you see him come every day. God on the other hand...other than a feeling inside, what else do I really have? One of my best friends is completely atheistic, and completely anti-religion. I respect her totally for this, and I don't judge her in the slightest because to do so would be supremely arrogant of me. But I respect her right to have her own beliefs, and she respects mine, and I'm quite ready to accept that maybe I'm completely wrong anyway and I'll be nothing more than dead in the ground when my time comes.
I don't expect people to share my beliefs...if some Christians actually followed Christ's example a little more closely, they might realise that his was a message of tolerance and acceptance. In the end, it doesn't matter at all whether he was a divine being or just a well-meaning but deluded person--his message is what matters. And that message is that everybody matters, and everybody is deserving of love. It's a shame the church a lot of the time forgets that.
[/end rant]
Backo said:I'm curious to know what, if any, religious beliefs my fellow BLs hold
If you do subscribe to a particular religion...
What is it and how strongly do you hold those beliefs? I am a Roman Catholic. I am a firm believer in God, Jesus and the Holy spirit. I used to be an alterboy if that helps make u understand how much I dedicated my life to god. I also contemplated joining the priesthood when i was a teen. Although my views of religion have changed very much since i left school. It is no longer about what religion u belong to rather its the values that religion brings out in you. I dont believe that God is going to kick out the Jews Muslims Buddhists blah blah just cause only Christians can go to heaven... thats complete bollocks... After studying religion for the HSC I became familar with many different texts and realised that organised religion preaches the same thing... and that the best way to view religion is of taking bits and pieces from all religions.
Is it something you made a conscious decision on, or have you followed in what your family does? I used to go to church because my parents made me go, I then attended a Catholic School... I dont attend church anymore because I dont agree with the Catholic way.. inrespect to the homily.. religion should be taken from the bible... the popes or priests interpretation means little to me and i dont really care what they have to say... u probably think that I sound like an Anglican or Lutheran but to be honest I think organised religion separates people into groups when everyone should be brought together... I subscribe to my own religion now.. expression through actions and meditation
On a side note, how do you reconcile your drug taking - which I'd imagine would be against most religions? Not at all ... Jesus and God never said anything about drug taking... God drank alcohol and ive read my websites about mushrooms and Jesus lol... Why would God give u the effect that drugs give u if it wasnt to explore your being and allow you to superficially be in contact with him for a short space of time... many religions throughout history have used psy drugs to communicate with the spirit world.. that I am also a believer in.
I took a saints name for confirmation... Its Ignatius and it reminds me about much of my religious past... just a bit of trivia for u.
Jesus Christ!! What a little Full of myself God boy I sounded like back then.
onetwothreefour
Bluelight Crew
josh = best post in this thread.
raz, yo' not bad yourself
raz, yo' not bad yourself
onetwothreefour
Bluelight Crew
oh btw, jesus christ is one of my favourite philosophers of all time. i just find it amusing that someone as anti-religion as myself seems to appreciate the "good lord and saviour" on a more basic level than most actual christians do.
and i'm not pointing fingers: most people on bluelight here seem pretty damn reasonable.
and i'm not pointing fingers: most people on bluelight here seem pretty damn reasonable.
LahLahGatecrasher
Bluelighter
I belive in god, I belived jesus died on the cross for our sins.. I belive but I dont go to church.. *did when I was younger* I dont belive that you have to go to church to belive... its something personal.. I wouldnt push a religion onto anyone else.. I think having your own opinon about it is great and if your not for it then thats your choice.. the end...
anna!
Bluelight Crew
Originally posted by keystroke
if you feel you have a "friend nearby" where is he?
in 2000 years lots of people have been "friends" with him, often speaking to him every night, but not once in 2000 years has he shown himself.
personally, if you are praying to Aliens every night, I think you've got a better chance of seeing something....
if you feel you have a "friend nearby" where is he?
in 2000 years lots of people have been "friends" with him, often speaking to him every night, but not once in 2000 years has he shown himself.
personally, if you are praying to Aliens every night, I think you've got a better chance of seeing something....
I don't need to be able to "see" who I'm talking to in order to feel as though they're listening. It's just a feeling I have, I don't need to be able to go and have a few beers with God. Different friends serve different purposes, and the purpose of having God as a chum is to know that I have someone who will listen to the crap I say and still love me, or forgive me, or whatever. If other people don't feel that way, or they feel as though they can't enjoy something that they can't see, then that's fine too.
Incidentally, I didn't mention Jesus in my post at all. The fact that Jesus lived ~2000 years ago has very little, if any, bearing on the way I feel religiously. If He came back tomorrow, apart from bringing about the Apocolypse, I wouldn't be any more or less confident in my beliefs than I already am.
I also don't believe in a lot of the things that (Christian) religions insist upon - the joke that goes around in my extended family goes:
Q: Why don't Baptists have sex standing up?
A: They might end up dancing!
A lot of it is stupid to me. So I just live life the way I think I should, and as long as I feel like God probably thinks it's okay (or at least forgivable), then that's fine. And when I do go wrong, I feel like having someone to talk to (tangible or otherwise) gives me back a bit of direction.
onetwothreefour
Bluelight Crew
*bump*
endlesseulogy
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2003
- Messages
- 2,831
Where beauty is, then there is ugliness;
where right is, also there is wrong.
Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent;
delusion and enlightenment condition each other.
Since olden times it has been so.
How could it be otherwise now?
Wanting to get rid of one and grab the other
is merely realizing a scene of stupidity.
Even if you speak of the wonder of it all,
how do you deal with each thing changing?
You cant have a bright day without a dark night
You cant have life without death
You cant have poverty without wealth
You cant have good without evil
You cant have hate without love
You cant have love without hate
You cant have on without off
You cant have strength without weakness
And most importantly.. you cant have POSITIVE without NEGITIVE
They are all different, but the same
how would you know you are a good person if it wernt for bad people?
how would you know you are beautiful if it wernt for ugliness?
Think about it :D
Ok thats my taoist contribution to the tread !
where right is, also there is wrong.
Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent;
delusion and enlightenment condition each other.
Since olden times it has been so.
How could it be otherwise now?
Wanting to get rid of one and grab the other
is merely realizing a scene of stupidity.
Even if you speak of the wonder of it all,
how do you deal with each thing changing?
You cant have a bright day without a dark night
You cant have life without death
You cant have poverty without wealth
You cant have good without evil
You cant have hate without love
You cant have love without hate
You cant have on without off
You cant have strength without weakness
And most importantly.. you cant have POSITIVE without NEGITIVE
They are all different, but the same
how would you know you are a good person if it wernt for bad people?
how would you know you are beautiful if it wernt for ugliness?
Think about it :D
Ok thats my taoist contribution to the tread !
Mary Poppins
Bluelighter
i believe in *a* god, and at this point in my life i don't think i know enough about it to even begin to conceptualise what i think that god really is...but i guess to this point my impression has been shaped by a christian viewpoint. I grew up in a very loosely christian home....I would go to church with my grandparents on occasion but not with my mum. I went to a christian highschool but not fervently so (we had chapel every 2 weeks).
I like others in this thread believe the bible was written by men, and also strongly reflects the ideologies and attitudes of the TIME IT WAS WRITTEN. and though to many christians this seems reason enough to take it as guidelines to live modern day life by, i believe a lot of what it contains is merely reactionary statements to the attitudes of the time. Sure - the basic commandments and golden rule etc. i think will always be pertinent, but the things which everyone picks the bible apart over [condemnation of homosexuality, statements such as that men should not have sex with a menstruating women] i believe should only be viewed in context.
we had a great chaplain for most of my high-school who was rather young and incredibly tactful and adept at handling the myriad criticisms, questions and challenges thrown at him by classes upon classes of rather precocious, assertive young women.
i think he basically reaffirmed my faith, rather than dedication to religion due to the fact that he taught me that the bible doesn't need to be taken literally for you to live a christian life, and gave many many examples of how the rules can be adapted to modern life.
I like others in this thread believe the bible was written by men, and also strongly reflects the ideologies and attitudes of the TIME IT WAS WRITTEN. and though to many christians this seems reason enough to take it as guidelines to live modern day life by, i believe a lot of what it contains is merely reactionary statements to the attitudes of the time. Sure - the basic commandments and golden rule etc. i think will always be pertinent, but the things which everyone picks the bible apart over [condemnation of homosexuality, statements such as that men should not have sex with a menstruating women] i believe should only be viewed in context.
we had a great chaplain for most of my high-school who was rather young and incredibly tactful and adept at handling the myriad criticisms, questions and challenges thrown at him by classes upon classes of rather precocious, assertive young women.
i think he basically reaffirmed my faith, rather than dedication to religion due to the fact that he taught me that the bible doesn't need to be taken literally for you to live a christian life, and gave many many examples of how the rules can be adapted to modern life.
drEaMtiMe*@#
Bluelighter
there's far too many posts to read in this thread with my current lack of brain power ![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
but i just wanted to say that i love the idea behind the jing jang symbol. the fact that nothing is absolute, and that everything is cyclical; is beautiful.
as far as my own beliefs go i have to say that i don't believe in a god... or many gods for that matter. i believe in a sort of universal force that exists in everything in our world and beyond. kind of more like an energy which is made up of many things but essentially positive, or at least constructive.
i really can't elaborate on any of that cos obviously i speak on behalf of something that is just my feeling as there is no way that any of us can ever really know, or be sure.
when it comes to thinking about all the different popular religions, i don't like to think about it for too long because nearly every one of them in the end manages to somehow make me frown.
it is amazing though what people are able to achieve when they have true faith in something. faith in a higher power. it's just a pity that we live in such a ego driven world where there will always be those attempting to manipulate and control the masses in order to gain strength and rule.
i also agree that essentially the core of the messages in the bible are good, as they focus on and encourage love and respect, however if you refer to what i just wrote above i think that it was also deliberately written in a particular way so as to evoke slight room for interpretation, or more precisely misinterpretation.
besides that i've mentioned before in other threads that out of all the main religions i'm the fondest of buddhism as there just seems to be such a peaceful harmony in its teachings.
i really should educate myself more in this area though. it never pays to remain ignorant.
but i just wanted to say that i love the idea behind the jing jang symbol. the fact that nothing is absolute, and that everything is cyclical; is beautiful.
as far as my own beliefs go i have to say that i don't believe in a god... or many gods for that matter. i believe in a sort of universal force that exists in everything in our world and beyond. kind of more like an energy which is made up of many things but essentially positive, or at least constructive.
i really can't elaborate on any of that cos obviously i speak on behalf of something that is just my feeling as there is no way that any of us can ever really know, or be sure.
when it comes to thinking about all the different popular religions, i don't like to think about it for too long because nearly every one of them in the end manages to somehow make me frown.
it is amazing though what people are able to achieve when they have true faith in something. faith in a higher power. it's just a pity that we live in such a ego driven world where there will always be those attempting to manipulate and control the masses in order to gain strength and rule.
i also agree that essentially the core of the messages in the bible are good, as they focus on and encourage love and respect, however if you refer to what i just wrote above i think that it was also deliberately written in a particular way so as to evoke slight room for interpretation, or more precisely misinterpretation.
besides that i've mentioned before in other threads that out of all the main religions i'm the fondest of buddhism as there just seems to be such a peaceful harmony in its teachings.
i really should educate myself more in this area though. it never pays to remain ignorant.
ar_gee
Bluelighter
Believing in anything leaves your intellect dormant.
I personally agree along the lines of
"The Freedom Of Choice", anyone read that?
With a few of my own crazy ideas thrown in.
I personally agree along the lines of
"The Freedom Of Choice", anyone read that?
With a few of my own crazy ideas thrown in.