Is There Any Really Good Religions Out There?

Discussion in 'Philosophy and Religion' started by thefutureawaits, Mar 23, 2015.

  1. thefutureawaits

    thefutureawaits Members

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    Have you experienced all the religions?.what makes it true? How does a person identify the true religion?
     
  2. Sleeping Caterpillar

    Sleeping Caterpillar Members

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    My personal belief is that religion is just a way of attempting to share a spiritual view in a community. If you really talk to somebody, they each have their own ideas and/or interpretations of religious ideals. Think about how christianity has split so many different times, it's not because it's wrong or right, it's a different community gathering on their interpretation.

    With the internet, I believe we will be opening ourselves up more to individual interpretation. It's hard to argue too much with the people you surround yourselves with.
     
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  3. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    I have experienced very few religions. I have pretty much only participated in christian and pagan events, also Judaism, if you want to count bar mitzvahs.

    The commonality among these experiences has been community, myth, and ritual. Perhaps you can elaborate on what you mean by 'truth' but I didn't identify any inherent truth in the experiences besides participating in communal events.

    Terence Mckenna said something along the same lines as your first sentence, but rather more to do with internet allowing for exposure to accessible information outside of one's own cultural framework, which perhaps leads to your assertion for many regarding individual interpretation. For myself, I have gotten at least some exposure to other religions such as Eastern religions like: Hinduism, Taoism, and Buddhism far removed from my religious cultural framework which was not really accessible prior to the internet. (Although I did read Siddhartha in high school)

    In getting this exposure, I have attempted to integrate certain aspects such as meditation into my life at points, more of as an exercise, rather then ascribing to a full fledged doctrine in which it may be associated with.
     
  4. OddApple

    OddApple Member

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    I'm supposed to be a Daoist so as long as that fits in with native it'll do
     
  5. Fairlight

    Fairlight Banned

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    THERE are some really nice Christians out there who really believe,and practice a genuine prayer for the good of the world.I have two Christians in my life who are very kind,understanding and forgiving people.There are others who are self-serving with the kind of right wing agenda who really believe in the apocalypse and the rapture with whom I cannot empathize.My dilemma is that I do at times have religious feeling,have intimations that the beauty and perfection of nature could only be the work of a master creator,yet still cannot bring myself to believe,as I have never found a religion that would not inhibit my freedom to believe whatever I want from moment to moment.I have my own faith in a super-numinous nature of miraculous powers of the mind as it interacts with external reality,largely because of the experience of living with schizophrenia for twenty years.But for me this cosmic glimpse of a super -nature we don't as yet fully , does not by any way require a conscious entity we call God pulling the strings like some
    like some all-seeing,all knowing puppet master.
     
  6. bird_migration

    bird_migration ~

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    I have experienced quite a few religions, but to experience all of them is impossible.
    There is absolutely nothing that makes it 'true'. Religion is a belief, not a know.

    There is no true religion. It is all arbitrary and mostly dependant on your time and place of birth.
    If for some reason you want to become part of a religion, find one that suits you. I can recommend Pastafarianism.
     
  7. expanse

    expanse Supporters HipForums Supporter

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    I was a pastafarian for years. I am now a methodietist.
     
  8. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    I am very interested in Pastafarianism but as of yet, the Holy recipe of Pastafarianism has not been translated to my native tongue.
     
  9. Fairlight

    Fairlight Banned

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    Try boiling some penne pasta,mix in pesto paste to your taste and then sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.You can usually get the parmesan already grated.Tastes great with some garlic bread on the side.
     
  10. Meliai

    Meliai Members

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    God is Love is the truest truism in Christianity, which is the religion I am.the most familiar with. I think a lot of religions reflect this same line of thinking.
     
  11. bird_migration

    bird_migration ~

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    Love is a chemical reaction. Does that mean that God is a chemical reaction too?
     
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  12. Bud D

    Bud D Member

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    I suppose a true religion would have to know what happens after death. I believe in shamanism as a true religion. I believe we go to trippy mind realms when we die. Also I believe reincarnation as very real.
     
  13. OddApple

    OddApple Member

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    I'm with you all the way up to " I believe in shamanism as a true religion."
    After that I am less than certain and that is not such a surprise.
    In the pool of eternity where others sought their reflections and the knowing of their true name, I cannon balled, back stroked, ran around the edge dangerously and smoked many things in the change room.

    It do also seem to me that there are some rules of it's own you can't break. But really I know nothing.
     
  14. Bud D

    Bud D Member

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    Shamanism may be universal. Species find drugs growing and have higher experiences. If there are rules it's cultural or learned to be safe with the plants and nature.
     
  15. thefutureawaits

    thefutureawaits Members

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    Is there a religion out there that isnt a hypocrite and does not support war. Any religion who supports war is not the right religion.
     
  16. OddApple

    OddApple Member

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    There is. It's adherents live in special colonies where peaceful servants provide for their needs and all they have to do is.....take the maximum federally allowed dose of thorazine for breakfast each day.
     
  17. Mr.Writer

    Mr.Writer Senior Member

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    Given the sheer number of religions, gods, and subsects which have existed since the dawn of time, and given that even IF we know for sure that one of them is true (we don't), then statistically speaking every believer should expect to be wrong sheerly as a matter of statistics. I mean, imagine that the real religion was that of Hash'Mahamoor, in central africa, from 30,000 years ago. All this time, the Dread Lord Mahamoor is furious with us all for having forgotten how he made us from the spittle of a hippo and we have strayed so far from his proscription to never bathe ourselves during night time.

    Of course this is a silly position to take, just as silly as thinking that the religion that you happened to have been brought up in, or eventually swooned into, is the actual correct religion.

    In reality the sheer amount of belief systems on offer should tell us that religions are a dime a dozen and that should be a big red flag for taking any of them seriously.
     
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  18. themnax

    themnax Senior Member

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    well the most current itteration of aramaic religions, and claiming to bring together the treads of other sequences as well, is something called the faith of baha'u'llah. (which is essentially to islam what islam is to christianity, what christianity is to judaism, what judaism is to what abraham taught, abraham to noah, noah to, well each in turn those thousand year begats in numbers, but i digress)

    i agree essentially that mankind is one, all religions are one, and all are of the one same god. that is, assuming of course such a thing as a god exists at all.
    but there is one point on which i don't see eye to eye with that faith, or any faith that claims to, and that is the notion of ANY thing, EVEN A GOD, being infailable.

    other beliefs i can suggest, as making a reasonably high degree of sense, are the individual indiginous beliefs of individual indiginous cultures.

    buddhism for the most part, though like christianity and islam, there are many sects within it, disagreeing of issues of varying degree of importance

    also shinto seems likely to be one, though it seems pretty much locked into being the religion of japanese culture and japan being the culture of shinto.

    and then there is tao or dao, however you want to pronounce it, which at least phylosophical taoism, tries to limit itself to making sense, and seems to me, to do a reasonably good job of doing so. (i'm not even certain what "religious" daoism even IS. only that the very term seems slightly self contradictory)

    i would really avoid, at this point in history, embrassing any sect of christianity or islam.

    by way of illustrative example, if baha'i is windows xt, islam is like reinstalling 98, and christianity the dreaded 95.
     
  19. themnax

    themnax Senior Member

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    number one: is it consistent i.e. not conflicted, with itself. that eliminates christianity, islam, and much of "western thought" RIGHT THERE.

    number two: is it consistent with observable natural reality. does any religious belief pass this second test? i don't know. some might come closer then others to doing so. (oddly enough, "joke" religions, like pastafarianism, might come closer to do doing so then more orthodox and mainstream beliefs) also though, shinto, tao and indiginous traditions may come closer to doing so as well.
     
  20. Laci

    Laci Members

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    I kind of made my own religion- more of my personal life guidelines.

    1) I believe in avoiding doing harm whenever possible.
    2) I believe in the basic golden rule: treat others the way you would like to be treated
    3) It's not your job to judge anyone else. You have not experienced every second of their lives the way they have- you don't know why they act the way they do. I learned that lesson the hard way. I was in 6th grade, and I got bullied pretty severely, particularly by one boy who would slap me, push me down, make rude remarks to me because of my appearance and my sexual orientation. One day I called him out on being an asshole and punched him in the face. He came to school the next day with a huge black eye and his face all messed up. Turns out he was being severely abused at home and his behavior reflected what was going on at home. Had I known that, I would have had every bit of sympathy for him. Was it necessarily right to be mean to me? No. But at the same time, that was his way of coping with his situation at that time, he didn't know a better way of coping. We eventually made up and became really good friends. Now I'm not saying someone can treat you like dirt and it's okay, I'm just saying that not everyone has the same coping tools in their tool box as you do. You wanna start by saying, "Hey, I don't really like what you're doing. That's not nice, you wouldn't like it if I treated you that way." If that doesn't work, you should respectfully but firmly tell them that what they are doing is not okay and won't be tolerated. If it continues to a point that you need to physically defend yourself, only do it in a situation where they're throwing the first punches sort of deal. Some people are just asshats and they'll probably never change- all you can do is try to keep that negative energy out of your life, try to avoid being around them as much as you can, and move on. But if they ask for forgiveness and show that they've earned it, I think it's only fair to give a second chance. I know I've needed second chances. And third chances. And even fourth chances.
    4) I believe in doing all that you can to help those who need it- one candle can light a thousand other candles and not lose it's flame. You want to help others as much as you can, but also be kind to yourself and not overwhelm yourself so much that you can't enjoy life. Don't do things for others with expectations of getting something in return, do it because it's the right thing to do.
    5) Try to see the positive in everything. We are given a very limited time on this Earth, you don't know if you'll be dead 5 minutes from now. You don't want to be laying on your death bed and realize that you spent all your time miserable, worried about never meeting expectations, never having the most money, the nicest car, the biggest house. Don't be that person that gets so buried in work that you have no time to enjoy your life. You also don't want to have spent all your time upset, worried, angry, hurt. I'd much rather live in a shack with very little money but enjoy my life than live in a huge house with a nice car but never get to enjoy the things I have because I'm working all the time.
    6) Have respect for the Earth and the animals that live here. Remember that humans are not the only species living on this planet. Do what you can to make the world a healthier, safer, happier, and more coexisting place to live. I choose to eat a vegan diet and follow a vegan lifestyle, recycle, compost, be active in various causes, choose what I consume or use carefully. Just be mindful of the planet and the other critters on it- we only have one planet to live on. Don't ruin it.
    7) As far as the afterlife, I believe we all decompose and become part of the Earth- we become another part of the ecosystem. Maybe dirt, a tree, a shrub, a turtle, who knows. I guess you could say we're reincarnated. I just believe that things live, they decompose, they become something else, and the cycle continues. Every natural thing on this planet plays a role in the ecosystem. Everything and everyone has a purpose to fulfill.


    I guess that's kind of how I feel about religion. Those beliefs are a collection of ideas from various religions I've studied, different experiences I've had, various people I've met and things I've seen. I developed my ideology by living life and learning from it.
    Don't worry so much about finding a religion as finding your personal beliefs and morals. You don't need a book, a pamphlet, a guide to tell you what you should believe. Good luck :)
     

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