Religion

[KandyGurlSDC]

What is your personal religion? Why do you follow that religion? Is it a religion that flows in your family? Did you find it on your own?

Just wondering. Not trying to start WW3 here... it’s all about the PLUR.... Mostly the UNDERSTANDING and RESPECT if you don’t want to answer I wont take offence to it. The conversation about Religion came up in school today and I wanted to know what my friends at Rave Links thought about the subject

Teardrop the Caribbean green PLUR RANGER

[NeoMeeko]

I personally identify as Jewish. I believe in God, do not believe Jesus is my God. I believe he is a good person, but not a "god" in my definition. I went to a Baptist church, and loved it, however over time did not agree with their ideals. My Dad is Methodist, and my Mom is Jewish. I was raised in a two religion household, and my Mom let me decide what I wanted to be when I was younger. All she said is "I wish for you to believe in God, but if you don't, just believe in being a good person." So that is when I tried going to a Baptist church for a year... just decided that I better fit with my Moms religion. I do the same to my daughter, she is basically raised how I was... but leaning more towards being Jewish.

I respect other religions as long as people within those religions respect me. I have had people tell me my child is going to hell because she was born out of wedlock, and just find that incredibly disrespectful. But hey, I don't believe in Hell, so that's all good! lol. But to tell a mother that is just insane. I don't dictate others faith, they shouldn't do it to me either.

[epitome_of_lame]

I am a Vajrayana Buddhist (the type where you try to acheive enlightenment in one lifetime) and a Taoist. Buddhism is a philosophical religion based on the concepts of karma and trying to end the cycle of suffering for all lifeforms through the practice of kindness, love, and compassion. Taoism is the religion that was the catalyst for Buddhism, it is a philosophical approach to spirituality based on the concept that nothing exists without it's opposite and the practice of balancing those opposites to the point of emptiness that everything and nothing are the same because nothing can exist without fundimental comparative knowledge.

These two religions don't involve anything called "God" or any real figure to worship(but things like the universe, energy, etc. are greater than ourselves). It's more of a proactive approach to making a more meaningful existance for everyone. These beliefs involve many concepts about paradoxes, getting to a point of understanding that we each determine our own reality, interdependence, and what I would call a very logically strong social science. It's hard for me to explain because with all the books written all the answers aren't there and cannot be because it's always been a work in progress, that's why I respect it so much.

I needed a path that made sense to me, for me, and did not exclude anyone for any reason. It's improved my life by building my values, morals, and level of understanding. Trying to live a nice, peaceful life and want that for everyone is beautiful. Accepting bad things happen, but being appreciative that without bad things we couldn't understand or experience good is liberating. There are alot of stereotypes about us being vegetarian, passive, go on hunger strikes, but it's not a requirement and everyone's path is individual.

It's all about freedom and liberation for everyone by living a thoughtful life

Hope that was a more enlightening description of what we practice. To me it about PLUR for everything that exists so I love it!

[KandyGurlSDC]

Well thankyou. That was a quick responce.... alot quicker than I expected. Thankyou very much for your responces you guys. I really would love to hear more about religions. I am currently attempting to choose the right religion for me. I am currently between Satanism ( Because I like the self indulgence and respect aspect of it not because I want to feel evil or whatnot. Because I like their major rules (I will post more on this subject soon) and their belif system) and Paganism (because of the love and respect for the earth and everything else. The acceptance is astounding) Although I know that there are many other religions like this. I really do want to know more about most of the religins before I really get into one or another.... Thankyou in advance for your help and support through this journy.

[epitome_of_lame]

Originally Posted by KandyGurlSDC

Well thankyou. That was a quick responce.... alot quicker than I expected. Thankyou very much for your responces you guys. I really would love to hear more about religions. I am currently attempting to choose the right religion for me. I am currently between Satanism ( Because I like the self indulgence and respect aspect of it not because I want to feel evil or whatnot. Because I like their major rules (I will post more on this subject soon) and their belif system) and Paganism (because of the love and respect for the earth and everything else. The acceptance is astounding) Although I know that there are many other religions like this. I really do want to know more about most of the religins before I really get into one or another.... Thankyou in advance for your help and support through this journy.

I have met many wonderful Satanists and Pagans throughout my life and those are good paths for anyone who wants to practice a spiritual path that is solitary and doesn't require a group for it to be beneficial. Keep looking and doing your research to find what is right for you. I have friends of many faiths, from Therian to Agnostic, and they're all great people with different positive contributions steming from their spirituality or feelings on that topic.

Thanks for starting a great thread and I'm glad it was helpful to you, I'm sure it will help others too. I think it's easier to open up about religion in a place that already has diverse people with a common link.

Good luck on your journey! Without it, there is no destination!

[Incoherent]

Satanism is a rip off of Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism, the only diffrence is they decided to add in some Magik Bullshit on top of that philosophy.

[KandyGurlSDC]

Incoherent, Do you know how to be anything other than negitive? I am asking you now nicely to not bash anyones religion. Infact this request goes to all RLers that might stumbel across this thread. I do not wish to have a thread under my name that has people bashing others for no reason. You just like everyone else are entitled to your oppinion and as long as you present your oppinion in a positive way I will not request that this thread get removed. I do not wish to take away a thread made to be a place of welcoming and being able to be understood. Please do not start fights. If you wish to talk of "Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism" then do so. Enlighten us all, but please do not bash others religions by calling it bullshit or anything like that. Others will inturn hopefully not call your belifs bullshit and we will be able to have a nice discussion, instead of a thread filled with fights.

[JP..]

Originally Posted by KandyGurlSDC

Incoherent, Do you know how to be anything other than negitive? I am asking you now nicely to not bash anyones religion. Infact this request goes to all RLers that might stumbel across this thread. I do not wish to have a thread under my name that has people bashing others for no reason. You just like everyone else are entitled to your oppinion and as long as you present your oppinion in a positive way I will not request that this thread get removed. I do not wish to take away a thread made to be a place of welcoming and being able to be understood. Please do not start fights. If you wish to talk of "Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism" then do so. Enlighten us all, but please do not bash others religions by calling it bullshit or anything like that. Others will inturn hopefully not call your belifs bullshit and we will be able to have a nice discussion, instead of a thread filled with fights.

agnostic, but I hope there is something in the end that would be nice, but what if there isnt anything...

[KandyGurlSDC]

Thankyou JP. I dont personally know if there is anything after this life but I do share your hope that there is something. It would be nice, to either live eternity after life somewhere or be reincarnated.... or whatever else there is... I dont want to think about just rotting into the earth. That dosnt fill my dreams with hope.

[epitome_of_lame]

The idea of an afterlife is interesting and all the different ideas about what it is and where you go. As a Buddhist I strive for Nirvana, but have taken a vow that I'm willing to be reborn in any form for the benefit of all sentient beings if I am infact reborn. We believe in cyclic existance with no beginning or end and part of it is avoiding being trapped in the past, while not getting caught up in the future too much.

For us we strive to live in the present and consider everything around us as temporary phenomena. I think a cyclic existanse makes sense when you figure that energy cannot be created or destroyed and by looking at life cycles and biology and stuff.

I can understand an afterlife concern, but accept that everyone has to live and die. I can't say though that I know what will happen because it's not like you can ask the dead. I choose not to worry though because death will happen anyways, but the different things that could happen after that are facinating and I'm intruiged by the unknown because I have no information to form a negative opinion.

[Incoherent]

Oh gosh, alrite alrite im sorry i made fun of some Religion Started by a Former Circus Carny. Atleast your not a Scientologist.

[guerillabedlam]

I guess I would consider myself Agnostic. My whole viewpoint is the idea of a GOD(s) is much to complex to understand therefore i leave it alone and don't feel it's something I should praise or worship. There may be some, maybe even many "beings" that are more complex lifeforms than us out in this universe or possibly different universes/dimensions.

Although I haven't practiced it much yet I do see myself eventually getting into some form of meditation and while I don't know how strongly i believe in karma i think it's kind of a good moral rule to live by. So some of the tenets of Buddhism interest me and it's something i may look more into.