any thing that claims to have the absolute truth and to be followed with faith without question is a dangerous thing
as it eliminates doubt - elimination of doubt and vagueness leads to beliving you hold the absolute truth, which means all those that don't adhere to it are wrong
this is the thinking of all fundamentalism and the thinking of the Nazis
I can sum up all religious thinking in 2 lines:
"everything in this book is true,
because the book says it is"
no other aspect of life is subjected to this level of absurdity
i'm not religious but I am spiritual
religion is about giving up personal responsibilty (not the opposite as most argue) through a structured set of coda (created by others), spirituality is about embracing it, unfortuanatley its the harder path which is why most people choose the religious one (I would class some forms of scientific 'faith' as this too)
(, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:25, Reply)
how to start a war or an argument:
bring up religion. it will never end well in a discussion and some one will be insulted. im happy with people telling me their views and opions, but not on my door step or when im in the street and they come up to me and start waving booklets and leaflets into my face.
(
Captain Pilchard The king of B-movies!, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:34,
Reply)
they do that because they
belive they are right and you are wrong - without any doubt in their minds
.
(, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:40, Reply)
That's some nice pissage right there.
That's generally what annoys me about so many religious debates - people are usually arguing the same point, just with some small caveat that the other person won't agree with.
(
gronkpan, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:43,
Reply)
I think it's more of an "I'm right, you're wrong" attitude that starts arguments and wars. Religion is just an easy subject to get this kind of thing going.
I think all religions have a lot they could learn from each other if people could just forget their egos for a few minutes.
(
gronkpan, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:42,
Reply)
but quakers still belive in Christ
the derivative of Mythralism and sun worship (Sun of God)
did you know there were 17 dieties before the christ myth who were crucified for our sins and rose again?
rose again and celebrated in the time of year the sun rises in the northern hemisphere again after winter - also Dec 23 - a new Sun is born
the symbol of the cross is the ancient symbol of the sun
(, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:50, Reply)
There are plenty of quakers who aren't christians. Myself included.
I don't believe in a higher power as such. I believe we've all got something inside of us that we haven't been able to properly explain yet.
I don't believe in an afterlife.
(
gronkpan, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:57,
Reply)
are you 100% sure ther isn't an afterlife? or the survival of some essence?
Im not 100% sure of anything
although it could be said there is only 1 thing any of us can be sure of
'awareness of being aware'
(, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:58, Reply)
Nobody has a better idea than the next person about what's going to happen after they die.
That doesn't mean I can't have an opinion on the subject.
Like I said earlier, it is important to always question things. No-one will have an answer until they die, and then they might not be around to discover it.
I'm sorry if you think I'm saying you should believe what I do.
(
gronkpan, Tue 15 May 2007, 14:04,
Reply)
I'm a very anit-religious type
but that sounds kinda interesting
research time!
(
VampireMonkeyOnSpeed unexpected arse in the bagging area, Tue 15 May 2007, 16:54,
Reply)
That's kinda why I settled on quakerism.
There is no absolute truth. Everything is open for debate, and we're all still learning. It's called continuous revelation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_revelation#Friends_.28Quakers.29
It's all about listening to your inner voice. Call it your soul, call it that little guy inside of you, call it your internal dialogue, call it your conscience, call it god, whatever. We all have something.
Some religions are about giving up responsibility, others are about taking responsibility and asking questions.
(
gronkpan, Tue 15 May 2007, 13:38,
Reply)