What religion are you?

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Donal

Now everybody wanna go to heaven but nobody want to die- Krayzie Bone

Beth

Welllll.....I don't follow a religion at all, and Donal, unless I am mistaken, being an Agnostic isn't actually a "religion" either. Religions usually have some sort of system attached to them that sets a particular standard, or doctrine, for that religious belief.

Here is a rundown and definitions of some standard western choices:

Thesism [from the Grk Theos] is the belief in God.

Atheism from the Greek "a" (without) and "theos" (God) is the doctrine or belief that there is no God

Monotheism believes that there is only One God. This very specific type of theism is the basis of all three major western religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Polytheism believes in more than one God, and is usually associated with the further designation "paganism."

Deism [from the Latin Dei] is similar to theism by believing in the existence of a God or supreme being but denies revealed religion, basing his belief on the light of nature and reason. It is said that some of the founding fathers of the USA were Deists, e.g., Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

Gnosticism from the Greek gnosis "knowledge"; a belief system that flourished in Hellenistic culture. Gnostics held that the closest that humanity could come to knowing anything about God was to obtain "knowledge" of as such as possible. Through knowledge of the physical world, it became apparent to Gnostics that the physical world was just a chaos of dying matter, and thus evil, and that the spiritual world was both ordered and eternal, and thus the only and highest good.

Agnosticism from the Greek "a" (without) and "gnosis" (knowledge) is the philosophical view that while there may be a God, we cannot know anything about it, so the matter is actually irrelevant to physical life.

Seeker
is someone who cannot say what one believes at the time, and thus is usually on a search for their own truth.

These pithy definitions are, of course, far from saying all there is to say about any one of them.

I don't really fit into any of these categories, but I guess would I lean more toward Gnosticism than any other; even then it is not an exact match! I have always had my own brand of belief!! :wink:

~Beth
Become a Critical Thinker!
"Ignorance is the greatest of all sins."
                   --Origen of Alexandria

kai wren


shadow.pulsar

She changes everything she touches...
~Shadow~

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Nay

Hey Beth!  Thanks for the list. :smile:  So the Gnostics believe in one God, right?  I'm not knowledgable at all about these things.. :razz:

Nay

Quote from: kai wrenHail Eris!

Who's that?  

Nay  :grin:

kai wren

Eris is the Greek goddess of discord and strife. She is Ares' constant companion and follows him everywhere. Eris is sinister and mean, and her greatest joy is to make trouble. She has a golden apple that is so bright and shiny everybody wants to have it. When she throws it among friends, their friendship come to a rapid end. When she throws it among enemies, war breaks out, for the golden apple of Eris is the Apple of Discord. She did this once during the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and this act brought about the Trojan War.


Eris has been adopted as the matron deity of the modern Discordian religion, which was begun in the late 1950s by Malaclypse the Younger and Lord Omar Khayam Ravenhurst. In the process, however, she has lightened up considerably in comparison to the rather malevolent Graeco-Roman original. A quote from the Principia Discordia, the first "holy book" of Discordianism, attempts to clear this up:

   One day Mal-2 consulted his Pineal Gland and asked Eris if She really created all of those terrible things. She told him that She had always liked the Old Greeks, but that they cannot be trusted with historic matters. "They were," She added, "victims of indigestion, you know."[1]

The story of Eris being snubbed and indirectly starting the Trojan War is recorded in the Principia, and is referred to as the Original Snub.

Nay

Hehehe.. You just described me and all my bitchy friends.  :lol:  

Girls gone wild.. :vavoom:

kai wren


Ryuji

im of no religion either.

but i do follow a bunch of religion's teachings ;)

so in that sense im a wiccan + shaman + druid + gnostic + buddist

WSDGB ... hehe

i do prefer the way of the pagan, or more closer an earthy one that does vibate more to my sould along with buddist (japanse type of thought system)

owell odd post this is :roll:

Blessings,
Ryu

Kallas

Well Donal im Agnostic too.

They had this big religious speech in chapel about two weeks ago (i go to a christian school) where they said that agnosticism is sitting on the fence in relation to christianity, god i wanted to kill some one. I really have very little respect for many christians my age they, really can be quite pathetically stupid.

Beth

Quote from: NayHey Beth!  Thanks for the list. :smile:  So the Gnostics believe in one God, right?

Actually...no! :grin:

This is one of the main reasons that "Gnostics" were deemed as heretical to the Roman Catholic Church.  Also, what "we" now term "Gnostics" were not just one group or sect; there were actually quite a few!

Most Christian Gnostics were dualistic/polytheistic, if we want to term it as such, in several different ways:

One group that I know of worshipped both a male and a female deity. I don't think that they even tried to roll this dualism into two different aspects of the ONE God, like Catholicism did with the Trinity.  For whatever it is worth, this was actually a pretty cool group: both men and women were priests and deacons and the women could actually serve and perform the ritual for the eucharistic meal. Needless to say, the Roman Catholic Church did not like any of this one bit!!!  :shock:  Believe it or not, it is also interesting to note that they did not have one designated "head of the church"--other than Christ; they would actually draw lots to see who would perform the rituals at the next gathering! Pretty democratic if you ask me!!:wink:

Other various Gnostic groups incorporated quite complex divine heirarchies complete with demi-gods and goddessess, also known as "archons" with the main kahuna God placed so high that he/she/it was not even involved with this physical world. They also developed very large "angelologies" and "demonologies" that would war amongst themselves, or wreak havoc on humanity whenever they took a notion~

Personally, the polythesistic tendencies is where I have to split from "Gnosticism proper" because I do not think that GOD has a personifiable gender or means of adequate description at all.  I do, however, like the Gnostic idea that "knowledge" is the highest and best way to obtain "salvation" and to glean whatever knowledge we can is to bring us that much closer to obtaining knowledge about "God."

~Beth
Become a Critical Thinker!
"Ignorance is the greatest of all sins."
                   --Origen of Alexandria

Nay

Wow, very interesting.  Thanks Beth.  I like the idea of female and male. :grin:

Nay

El-Bortukali

Scientology.but i don't see it as a religion :smile:
Tá mo chroí istigh ionat

Synergy

Rosicrucian myself.... even though they don't consider it a 'religion' as such, it most fits my beliefs!

I was born and raised a Catholic but nothing in Catholicism really clicked with me. Firts of all, I am a woman, and the whole 'women can't be priests' etc urks me. Second, any mention of OBEs and they say you are dabbling with the devil!  Well... all of my OBEs were pretty much spontaneous when I was growing up... so was Satan out to get me for some reason??  I don't think so.... my Father who had studied to be a proest actually dragged te local parish preist up when I was a teenager, to tell me that I was dabbling evil things.... imagine!  I wasn't even asking to have OBEs! They even threatened that I would be open to possesion!

Anyway Rosicrucianism actually gets into the descriptions of the astral and etheric levels... and gets into cosmology, sacred geometry, etc and thats what I find 'fits' most with me.  It almost uses science to explain existence... and they do believe in a supreme being... the Great Architect of the Universe... (very similiar to Freemasonry actually) That's the G in the Masonic Symbol btw.

Any other Rosicrucians out there??
My Site: SPIRIT-QUEST An OBE community w/ mbr jrnls, ebook lib, music dlds, video, forum & more! 
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atomvy

just starting out to be a shaman

ubiquitous

I'm not religious but reckon god is an atheist, god has to be? unless there is goddad

Layla

I don't really know. One of my parents is Christian and one is Muslim.
So, I don't really know yet. I'm doing research though.

Vilkate

I'm an odd mutation between Catholic, Buddhist and Pagan.

I guess that's called just "spiritual"
~Our name is Eternity~

On my way to the infinite universe of Light and Unity.

Stookie


WindGod

Sun and wind worshiper.

Getting too much skin damage now, so I'm canceling the Sun worship part.

Still pray for winds though.

Also sort of a platonic Jehovah Witness. My spouse participates and sometimes we go to J/W lunch and dinner events together.
Are weather forcasters psychic?

James S

If I needed to stick a label on myself I'd say I'm a spiritualist. I don't belong to any religion or any church. Spiritualists have churches and even they're too doctrinal and preachy for me.

I guess I follow the concepts of New Spirituality as have been pretty well discussed in the Conversations With God books.

Blessings,
James.

thesickmoon

I practice Haggenery, which is sometimes known as Haggenism.
"Chair-swiveling is an old and honorable avocation for any accomplished and self-respecting villainous personage."
--Ronald D. Moore, March 12, 2005

Pasco


WalkerInTheWoods

While I don't claim any one religion, Buddhism has become an interest of mine lately and I am looking to learn more about it.
Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.