Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

Thank you for saying, "Nearly every..." Some of my favorite people here are Muslim, Thelemic, Buddhist, Gardnerian, Atheist, and so on. To the degree that it's tongue in cheek, the picture in Heyabbot's post speaks to me.

To wit: I'm Episcopalian. My father was Jewish. My mother is United Methodist. Both sides of my family did all manner of curandero/a craft, rootwork, divining, planting by the signs, Kaballistic stuff, talking to the unseen, and interpreting what was out there. I don't have the gifts of my ancestors, but studied much of what they did and have an intellectual understanding and the level of skill for it that comes with academic inquiry. I don't believe in Hell. If I'm comfortable enough with my clergy, they know this.

The Hell thing nearly caused me to cut off contact with an acquaintance years ago. He kept arguing that I either thought he was going to hell and I was a bad Christian for not trying to save him, or I was a bad/fake Christian for not believing in Hell. ::sigh:: If I believe in a created cosmos, and I do, it's not my place to question God's decision to create the conditions to evolve a diverse humanity. If anything, I appreciate it. To wit: You do you, boo.

 

I’m using that word for a reason.

Christianity may be wrong; I don’t think it is, but it may be. But it is what it is. It’s not some other thing that makes people feel better about it. It is an exclusive claim. It is quite offensive in part for that reason.

 

While we're on the subject of offensiveness, I take some offense at being described as a "none." To quote Jesse Jackson, "I am somebody."

 

Which Christianity isn’t wrong? There are so many of them now. And they all differ from the various Christianities of the past.

If you believe it’s correct without evidence because you have faith then it’s just an opinion.

 

For the record, as I understand it, traditional Orthodox Judaism doesn't view Judaism as the only path to a religiously successful life. Jews have a robust regulatory system with extremely detailed rules for every area of life. Non-Jews have a looser system of monotheism + morality. Both can max out on their own scale. There is no proselytization and potential converts are initially discouraged.

 

Yep, you are. Somebody, that is.

 

I’m Reformed Jew, and my understanding is that we believe in Heaven, but there isn’t a hell. I’d like to think that there is a hell, but it’s based more on one’s actions and reserved for the truly evil people like Hitler and Bin Laden and not based upon whether one fully accepts a certain deity or not.

 

That fits in with my understanding as well. In other words, Jews don't recruit.

 

I certainly hope that how you live your life, treat other people, animals, and the environment lead to whatever comes next... not attending a certain building at an appointed time each week.
I know a whooooooole lot of people who never miss a meeting but are generally sorry individuals the rest of the week. According to them, they are good to go while I'm doomed.

 

Jew U. NIL's will entice the best Shmulis.

Yeshiva vs. Notre Dame in '24 title game.

 

I actually don't blame you. I didn't/don't care for the term as applied to people, and I had to look back in this thread to see where "nones" came from. I have to say now, though, that I don't think anyone is, per se, calling anybody "a none."

The none was in reference to whether people either followed any religion/faith, or not. We all need to keep that in mind.

 

I'm sure he thinks being saved is better than not. So do I. But that's different than thinking that you personally are better than someone else. You can think that you're better off, but again, that's not the same as thinking you, yourself, are better than someone else, like, just because.