I believe in Universal Conciousness; the power of creation in everyone and everything. Mind over matter. Reincarnation. That sort of thing. A bit of a collection of some buddhist (lamaist) ideas, new-age ideas and some of my own philosophies (sp?). Just call it disillusionism about the illusions of organized religions doing any good in the world fading away
Indeed a good point. Organized religions tend to take away their follower's own power in order to maintain control themselves. Wich, I think, is just dead wrong. Anybody should be able to follow the views he or she most resonates with, but never, ever should someone be made to believe that he or she cannot accomplish something on his/her own. To me, it's just a basic right of existence. Just as the fact that someone should always (when in a right mind ofcourse) be able to have the power to end his/her own life, do whatever he/she wants or believe whatever he/she wants, all without harming another being. It's *your* life. Your life is about *you*, *your* happiness, *your* fullfillment, and *your* learning experiences. *You* can accomplish anything you set your mind to, you don't need a deity/god to do it for you. That is not to say that people should be egotistical, but how can you make others happy if you *yourself* aren't happy? How can you tell another being that he or she can accomplish anything if *you* cannot do it yourself, when you believe that if something doesn't work out you have to pray for it to work out, or that it's a diety's doing when you've accomplished anything? It's not just the fault of the organized religions.. Because without the followers.. there would be no organized religions! I think it's also got something to do with people's laziness. People.. are.. lazy. Whenever possible, they tend to forget their own mistakes (oh well, i'll pray, it'll be allright again) and thus do harm unto others, or they'll make a mistake and condemn themselves for it (now i'll go to hell!) and thus do harm unto themselves, instead of *doing* something about it, improving themselves and/or forgiving themselves! When you learn to walk, and you fall for the first time. What do you do? You try again, because you *know* you can do it, if you practice enough. Not because the next time a diety might grant you the ability of walking. People only become lazy on later in life, it's something you get ingrained when you are a child in the current society. And we should grow out of it. Andyway, back to my point: When you see a person suffering, do you help or do you walk by? Most people tend to do the second, and use religion as a tool to explain their own inability to want to spend energy on others, on overcoming problems, on whatever. And as such, religion isn't the only thing to blame. People are to blame also, though the organized religions are the ones who make it hard to come out of this circle of negativity, though to be honest, if a person does not want to spend energy on improving for example his self and blame something else, then such a person will always find something, even if organized religions were out of the picture. Hmm does this make sense? Probably not. I've got too much in my head... and too little time to get it out. Maybe my head'll be somewhat clearer this evening.
i believe that the creation of the universe is impossible without a higher being. this infinity of beauty definitely did not pop out of a blank abyss without God's help. this is my own proof that God exists, but faith through the Bible should exceed all else. i am lutheran, but i have also attended new hope church for awhile.
Dude, you're not making any sense. If this higher being didn't have a name...how would you call it anything? If ANYthing didn't have a name, how would you know what it is, because you wouldn't be able to refer to it. Names are just words used to represent a thing or idea. [/b][/quote] it makes sense in my head :wth:
You know J Money, you're no worse than the magazine (I think it was US Weekly) that 'turned' KRS-One into a terrorist; taking bits of passages and turning it into something that it isn't.
J Money, I agree with your views on the whole but... 1. There are fundamentalist Christians who believe everything the bible says literally. The majority however believe that the bible uses symbols, so the points you brought up in your list of "verses that are completely outrageous" are not neccessarily meant literally. I was a devout catholic and have been attending catholic school all my life so, before anyone begs to differ, please bear that in mind. By the way, I'm an atheist. 2. Your post might just have turned this into another atheists vs christians thread.
why do you have to bash christianity and judaism? it makes people happy and seeks to save people. try not to be so ignorant. plus that immature anti-christian remark in your reference to numbers 22:28-30 made a fool out of you. christians didn't exist when the book of numbers was written. you don't even know what you're talking about. if you have nothing better to do than to insult the beliefs of myself and many others on this board, i suggest you get a job
Why shouldn't you?it is the Word Of God [/b][/quote] Logic: Statement : Man is errant Statement: Man wrote the Bible Conclusion: The Bible is errant. I'm a Christian, but I've done a ton of debating with myself, and I don't believe in the Bible (generally). I believe in God, and I'd most surely first put my faith in Him than the work of a man. I do believe the Bible was Divinely inspired, making it legitimate only in proving the existance of God. And here's why I don't believe in it. Firstly, it's been translated and edited SEVERAL times, more being lost in it each time. No wonder some things appear as distorted. Secondly, humans were the ones who determined which books were to be put in and kept out of the Bible. I see this simply as controlling what people were going to believe. If I want the truth, I want all of it, not just some selections someone just thought sounded nice. For these reasons, J Money, of course it's easy for you to sit back and pick apart what the Bible has evolved into. But keep in mind how much of what you read is actually what was originally intended.
Logic: Statement : Man is errant Statement: Man wrote the Bible Conclusion: The Bible is errant. I'm a Christian, but I've done a ton of debating with myself, and I don't believe in the Bible (generally). I believe in God, and I'd most surely first put my faith in Him than the work of a man. I do believe the Bible was Divinely inspired, making it legitimate only in proving the existance of God. And here's why I don't believe in it. Firstly, it's been translated and edited SEVERAL times, more being lost in it each time. No wonder some things appear as distorted. Secondly, humans were the ones who determined which books were to be put in and kept out of the Bible. I see this simply as controlling what people were going to believe. If I want the truth, I want all of it, not just some selections someone just thought sounded nice. For these reasons, J Money, of course it's easy for you to sit back and pick apart what the Bible has evolved into. But keep in mind how much of what you read is actually what was originally intended. [/b][/quote] I've always thought this. I distrust parts of the Bible, but I fully believe in God and His son. Glad someone else see's it the same way.