...and the heated conversations that follow. The truth is all organised religions have turned shallow. Divinity comes from within. Peace and tolerance are it's starting points. Let's learn to be humans first before we start defending the Divine.
PS : the picture is a representation of all organised religions, and not for a specific few.
I get your point and I do agree with the sentiment but I also see religion being an extention of the individual following it. If you're angry, your religion is angry, if your resentful, your religion is resentful.
I also don't feel like there's any need to discuss religion with anyone but perhaps close friends/ family or when the time calls for it in context because 1) It's personal to you and 2) It's seen and used as a divisive tool and people can no longer discern between existing with personal faith and imposing it on others. Both religious and non-religious.
@NickiHijab I wish I could like this more than once. This is absolutely it.
If you look at conflict zones in the world, the conflicts are always about territory, power, money, the usual stuff. Whether or not the conflicts have a religious nature depends on how religious that area is.
Subject any part of the world to the same pressure west Asia has been put under, and you're going to create a lot of internecine strife and horrific acts of human cruelty. If they were all atheists then we'd be talking about atheist terrorism.
Religion isn't meaningless of course, but human motivations are human motivations.
SW-User
I'm Christian, I have a creationist view of the world and the universe and I believe in an afterlife. Should I lie in bed bitterly looking up at my ceiling cursing the existence of atheists and adherents of other religions/philosophies? Because that sounds like a colossal waste of time. I'm secure in my beliefs, religious and political, I do not change or compromise those beliefs for anyone......and frankly I don't care if someone is an atheist, an agnostic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. That's between that person and God. Don't waste your time and my time fighting with me over how your views are different. If you want to have a civil conversation and share what you believe with me and want me to share my thoughts and beliefs with you, that's one thing....but miss me with the heated conversations and arguments.
@SW-User That explains why you are blinded to the obvious evolution that's going on right under your nose. How many more times does the virus have to mutate before you acknowledge it's happening?
No. It targets Christianity, for one, and is uncalled for, attacking all religions. Not all organized religions have turned shallow. A few bad apples dont make the whole bunch bad, so don't tell us about tolerance. Practice it. And no one has to "defend the divine". He's divine without needing anyone to defend him. Further, divinity doesn't come from within. If so, everyone would be divine and that's not possible. We don't appoint ourselves as "divine", nor is divinity earned. It's posts like this, that stir up division. People don't know the difference between Religion and a real relationship with God. That's why all the confusion and fights.
@Elessar Well, he can, but God wanted to give man free choice. We see what he did with it. It wouldn't make sense, either, for God to create robots. No point. God loves to create. That is part of His nature. Man was his crowning glory, the bible says. He never created anything that was flawed. We may bbn look at it like God made a mistake, but our thoughts are not God's thoughts, and His ways are not such that we should judge him. We don't know all the details. But...we know the most important ones. How to have heaven as our eternal home, where there's no more tears, no more sadness, no disease, no sin, no death....just the way it was meant to be in the beginning, before man messed it up.
Gotta go now. Goodnight. Nice chatting with you. Take care.
@Elessar 😄 Yeh, well, with free will comes choices and responsibilities, like it or not. It's actually a good thing. It's the way we learn and grow. Not stay stale and unproductive. How does one know and appreciate joy, least there's something to measure it by? Humans are happiest when they can set goals, achieve, and thrive. Not sit around like a useless statue. 😂
SW-User
And...the same arguments as usual in this thread. Lol.
Religion will always lead to arguments. People are talking about personal beliefs and things that can't simply be proven empirically. Not to mention that stakes are usually much higher than with other things that cause arguments, like politics.
It's just a matter of people believing they're right, everyone else is wrong, and those who are wrong need to be shown how wrong they are. That's why religious discussion is never going to be cordial.
@Spoiledbrat Exactly. As I mentioned before here, Any discussion can be made cordial, but if you start with the attitude that discussion is best served with one victor, no...it's failed before it gets off the ground.
SW-User
@ReflectionsInTime Which is how most religious discussions go. It doesn't help that many religions assert that they are the only correct path, so from the outset there can only be one victor.
@ReflectionsInTime [quote]Some want to hate or find fault with Christians.[/quote] I don't hate Christians. I hate what the church has done historically over the centuries. And I hate the fact that your Bible specifically instructs you to do the things that the church has done over the centuries. There's a difference. [quote]Jesus said in the last days, his followers would be hated, and even killed by those who hate them, simply because they are Christians.[/quote] 9 million accused witches would probably have a better reason to kill Christians than that. Too bad they aren't still alive. [quote]Division is brought on by the world's religions, causing chaos and confusion, and God is not the author of confusion.[/quote] Then why are you trying to convert me to the Christian religion? [quote]We are not a member of any religious institution. [/quote] Yes. You. Are.
@LordShadowfire I never said you hate Christians, nor implied it. However, I've seen many on here, who do.
Not all churches are bad. Just as not all people are bad. There are failures in every area and walk of life. The good and the bad. I don't know who's bible you're talking about, but my bible doesn't instruct me to kill and hate people. I don't know one that does. And what about you? What are your faults, before you pick at mine? Do you read the bible and know what it says? Should I fault you if you don't? Pick apart or assume your fallacies? No.
In the century where so-called witches were burned, it literally makes me sick. Those were entirely different times, full of superstition and not all who judged them were Christians. We can't say nor prove that. Those poor souls had no chance at all.
This old accusation and assuming I'm trying to convert you, is really distressing and just plain old. Such nonsense, so ridiculous. Are you so helpless that you can't make your own decisions? You can be forced? Good grief. Show me once, where I asked you to believe what I do, or join in.
Arguing over religion is never right. It only does more harm, not good. It was prophesied that some churches would fall, because their hearts were not right to begin with. Just like everything else in this world...phonies in all walks of life, not just in the religious beliefs in this world. But not just one certain church will make it to heaven. There are many true believers all over the world, who shall be saved. Only God knows their heart. We cannot judge anyone. And yes....Jesus told all of us to practice what we preach. Live it. God goes by individual hearts. Not individual religions. That makes it a personal relationship and commitment. A way of life, not a part-time commitment. There's no such thing where true love abides.
Our connection with our Creator is all that really matters.
I agree that the Catholic Church distorted and perverted the original message of Jesus Christ through the centuries, and they DID use torture and murder, through their own ignorance and often out of fear.
Historically, there is NO group or religion whose hands are clean.
SW-User
We got the nice disingenuous smiles version of the Spanish Inquisition with no thumb hanging necessary, because they realised the best way was simply to lie and pretend they had all the answers to children who were barely old enough to spell their own names.
@Doometernal I think you're confusing religion and cult here.
SW-User
Sometimes I feel it's used to segregate people ..You're bad and you're good because you did xyz ...and now you get to go to heaven ...or not ...it's just another set of rules you're supposed to follow ...
SW-User
What bothers me is that people are told they couldn’t possibly know God, it must be of the devil, if one doesn’t find God through the church. It just [i]has to[/i] be the path [i]they[/i] say, and all others must be of evil.
@SW-User We do. Then we're accused of pushing our beliefs if we state them here. 🤣 And...if people really want to discuss, they can always pm, or find a church that teaches the gospel according to the way God intended it to be taught, not deviating from the Word.
@SW-User Beat up would be more the word. 🤭 I've taken many a beating by people who decide to judge and put words in my mouth I didn't say, including yesterday, but thanks for your kind sentiments. I really appreciate that. It hurts, but I try to ignore. Jesus said in the last days, this would be the case. I still love them. 🤗
My only beef with the issues that so many people have with religion is that organized religions are filled with people that are full of faults.
It happens that they are human. Many of the people that claim certain religions don't even follow the religion or they don't know the religion. Some are confused. Some are using the religion for their own aims, some who hate the religion infiltrate it because they want fame, money or power. Faith is personal and people need to judge the religion for themselves. Should I judge all Germans based on Nazis?
