Religion Thread

Since I've been seeing a LOT of posts about religion recently, and checking that there isn't already a thread made about this subject, I took it into my best nature to make this thread. Please keep all religious arguments/debates/conversations in this thread, as to not disrupt The Order of the Treehouse.

So...yeah.

There is a Debate thread, already...

I think he implied this thread is about general religion discussion, not just debates.

True, but I just thought there should be a thread about this instead of just debating over it. Does it have to be a debate? Why can't it just be a simple conversation?

Rare wrote:I think he implied this thread is about general religion discussion, not just debates.

Exactly. Thank you.

Because it's religion, and who has simple conversations about religion?

Muslim: Hello Christian.

Christian: Uh, hello Muslim.

*Both akwardly stare at each other...*

Christian: Well, uh, Im just gonna-

Muslim: HEY! REMEMBER THAT TIME YOU INVADED MY HOMELAND AND SLAUGHTERED A BUNCH OF MY PEOPLE? HAHA, GOOD TIMES. GOOD TIMES.


- Average conversation about religion.

Christian: Remember that time one of your guys fucked up my guys' shit?
Muslim: Oh come on-
Christian: NEVER FORGET.

Well this is off to a good start.

Can we not intentionally make stupid posts, guys?
Serious thread, serious uses.

I think this thread is a good idea, Tai.

SEMICOLON wrote:Well this is off to a good start.

Can we not intentionally make stupid posts, guys?
Serious thread, serious uses.

I think this thread is a good idea, Tai.

I think it's a bad idea.

It cannot lead anywhere nice.

Well, let's just see how far it can go before it gets nasty.

Besides, if it gets too out of hand, the mods can just lock or delete the thread, right?

Im not saying close it, or anything.

Just, I doubt it will be used very often. And, even when it is, probably not for calm discussions...

But, we'll see. Perhaps I'll be surprised.

I'll kickstart the thread, then.

I'm Buddhist, and I plan on going on a spiritual retreat soon to the four noble truths and practice The Eightfold Path. Hopefully I can do this retreat sometime this year.

The Eighfold path is the path taken to learn about the noble truths in life and to bond your spirit to nature and to your inner-self. It's making yourself aware of life and walking the path to a clean soul and conscious. You take every detail of your self, and every action, word, and behavior is used to clean your mind, soul, and those around.

I also meditate, but it's not like what the television usually demonstrates.

Yeah, I always laugh at how TV shows meditation.


It's like they purposefully took the most boring possible type of meditation, and tried to say that all meditation was like this.

^My post is a joke, okay? Okay.
As for meditation, Theravada Buddhism involves much stricter methods required for achieving enlightenment. We are talking sacred herbs, purification rituals, and the proper form for poses.
Mahayana Buddhism, the Middle Way(which encompasses the Eightfold path) has quite a bit more leeway to it. The story of the schism between the two is really very interesting.

Story time.
I used to have a really nice Episcopalian church where we grew vegetables in our garden to give to the food bank, which provides sustenance for those in need. Having utilized the program on occasion ourselves, we knew its worth.There was drama(complicated) and we left. My mum and sister and I became Methodist, for a time, at a church that also provided comfort and sustenance for homeless people and sundry others. They're still really nice over there, and I visited recently for Easter. I experienced my most profound religious revelations under the pastorship of an extremely caring, sensitive and thoughtful woman who moved to Central Texas a month or two later. I went through the process of Confirmation(if it sounds arduous to you, it's because it is) with this old man whose caring yet incredibly blind stance on issues that he knew nothing about drove me mad. Politics in the church proved too much for me, and I left shortly after I was 'confirmed'.
The institution of the church is one that does incredibly valuable work in communities across the world. As with all institutions, it also contains its fair share of those who seek not to 'glorify god' as their mission statements suggest, but to accrue power and supporters.
I no longer identify myself as a Christian. I don't feel the need to be pious and seek comfort in ritual where I lack it in day-to-day life. I still see music, reflection and the utilization of wisdom(ancient and otherwise) as necessities for spirituality. Now I simply seek truth on my own terms, and I don't have to watch my mouth or be mindful of upsetting a deity upon whom rests my sole chance of peace.

Meditation in Buddhism is simply amazing. It takes awhile (for me it took MONTHS just to relax enough to sit for an hour). You enter a semi-trance state, and sounds and feels are intensified tremendously. You feel relaxed and when you start moving again, nothing can rustle you. Virtually nothing.

Meditation is used to calm the mind and settle desire or craves (which is said to lead to most evil and unhappiness) and allows one to focus and become enlightened. I guess Meditation is the Buddhist way of Prayer, even though we don't have a 'God' so to speak to pray to. We pray to our bodies and to see the world as it really is.

I guess what amuses me about how media shows meditation, is that everyone sits in the same position and says the same thing - "Oooohhhm."

Ooohm is often used, because it's said to represent the universe breathing (Yeah, I thought that was silly too). But that's not the main reason. When you meditate, you want to focus on one thing - usually the sound of your breathing, or the sound of very light music (I usually listen to chimes or trees rustling), and you focus on it. It helps with the breathing process and to bring you down to a relaxed state. Oooohm is used a lot but you have to find your own way to relax.

And there are various positions of meditation, each meaning a certain thing. Some people meditate standing up, but I heard that's really hard to do. So long as you are in a way where your blood can circulate freely throughout your body and you are comfortable.


Edit - Ziggy's right, there are different sections of Buddhism and some are more stricter then others. Some don't allow females at all, some DO require you to shave your head and wear nothing but the traditional robes. These Buddhist monks are considered very higher up for forgoing their houses, clothes and food and will often be worshiped if seen meditating or teaching on the streets (in their homeland - I doubt they would get the same treatment here in Detroit).

There have been other sects created for those in more modern areas like cities who can't participate in strict practices, and because we don't have a God to pay ritual to, the teachings remain the same but the methods can change depending on the situation.

I'm not a very religous guy. I guess I'd define myself as a Christian, but it doesn't really factor into my life. I believe in God, and Jesus, and some of the stuff in the Bible, but that's about it. Adnd even the stuff I believe in is the stuff that actually might have happened, and even if it didn't, is still believable.

There's this one story about how Jesus was giving a talk somewhere, and a little boy went to join the crowd of listeners. His mom couldn't come with him, but she gave him a bag of 2 or 3 slices of bread and some other food in case he got hungry. Well, Jesus's talk went on and on, and, while people didn't want to leave in the middle of it, they were still getting hungry and eventually asked Jesus if they might break for lunch. Jesus then says "Well we're kind of far from any places to get food, but maybe we could share what we all have brought. Could anyone who has food please pass it around?" It seems no one has brought food however, except for the littel boy, who starts passing around his bag, despite the fact that there's not nearly enough in there for the whole crowd.
But by the end of it, when the boy gets his lunch back, everybody has gotten a nice share of food, and there are still entire loaves of bread leftover for the kid.

Now, the lesson could just be "If we share, then Jesus will grant us a miracle of food." but the more rational idea that my mother and I believe is that there were plenty of people who brought their own lunches, and did not want to get them out for fear that they would have to give some of it up, but when they saw this little boy give up the little bit he had, they felt like stingy jerks, so they started sharing what they brought too, and it all added up eventually.

Out of the few bible stories I've ever heard, that one is definatley one of my favorites. Nothing really controversial, just a nice lesson in sharing.

When someone asks me what my religion is I usually just pawn it off with "atheist" or "christian" depending upon who I'm talking to, unless I want to spark a debate and go deeper. There's no set religion that describes how I feel about it all, religion has always been the most complicated, personal topic of all, to me. I guess, if anything, I follow what's known as the Joyous Life, a teaching of Tenrikyo. It promotes abstinence from vice and goodwill to others; "sins" are redeemed through heartfelt charity, from what I understand.

I know the Golden Rule isn't unique to any religion and I don't believe in everything Tenrikyo teaches, particularly their understanding of a higher power, but some of the tenets just really click with me.

Alright, if we're going to do this, I might as well join in.



So..

I find organized religion to be ardous and unneccessary. There is, in my opinion, no need at all for a governing body for religion.

I believe that every single religion is wrong. Every single one of them.

The odds of us even being able to understand a divine being, are literally zero. The human mind simply cannot do it. When people read the Bible, or any religios texts, and take it literally, it frustrates me.

The Bible makes as much sense as Aesop's Fables. Yes, it teaches some good lessons, but you shouldn't take everything it says as reality. Nor should you think it's the Word of God. The idea that a god would even care about what we do is, frankly, wishful thinking.


In my opinion, the Christain God, were he to exist, is not worth worshipping. He is, at best, a dick. He has wiped out huge amounts of people at least twice, that I can think of off the top of my head. Plus, he has the power to end all suffering, and yet he doesn't. Thus, he is not worthy of my worship, or even love. He is a jealous, spiteful thing. If he was human, people would consider him a tyrant, and he would be killed in a Coup.


I much prefer the Eastern religions. Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, etc.

Because, for one, two of those are not religions. They are philosophies. They are all the good parts of religion (The morals, the love, the kindness, etc.) without all the bullshit.


Even Hinduism, which is a religion, handles it better than Christianity. Hinduism says, "We don't really understand the gods and/ or God, so just worship him however you want, as long as you're a good person."

That is how religion should be.

Er, let me clarify: I am NOT against religion. Feel free to believe whatever you want. If you want to worship Princess Celestia as our divine saviour, go ahead.

BUT, you're going to have to deal with me poking fun at it. I think it's dumb, and I am going to make jokes about it. Don't feel like I am attacking you, because I am not.

If it came down to it, I would defend your right to believe whatever you want to the death.

For the longest time I went to a Pentecostal church (15 years). I believed in and worshipped God. But for some reason, I kinda just eventually stopped going. Like Zebra, I realized that religion bites. Every religion. Turns out that just about all of the people in my church were egotistical snobs.

I've chosen to live each day as it comes. I don't worship anymore, and I don't care. Whatever happens, happens.

I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints.

More commonly known as Mormon.

Born that way, and most likely will die that way.

Please keep in mind that any stupid and sexual jokes that I do on this forum are to be linked to myself and not in any way to my religion.

Well you shouldn't have to worry. Mormons are the only people who get into Heaven.

Now, don't get me wrong.

I DO believe that it is possible that there is some divine creator.

But I don't think he really cares about us that much. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, We, humans, or even Earth, are nothing. We do not matter at all.

Not one. Single. Fuck.

So I think it's a bit snobbish to think that there us some divine being, watching over every single action we take.

Well if this divine being is omniscient, then he can look at literally everything in detail, including us.

Top Hat Zebra wrote:Now, don't get me wrong.

I DO believe that it is possible that there is some divine creator.

But I don't think he really cares about us that much. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, We, humans, or even Earth, are nothing. We do not matter at all.

Not one. Single. Fuck.

So I think it's a bit snobbish to think that there us some divine being, watching over every single action we take.

Actually, I always pictured a whole bunch of angel paparrazzi or something up there, taking pictures and writing notes when we do stupid things