Nov
26
Georg Rosenbrock
Self improvement and religion might seem like two totally diverse concepts. Many learned people are of the opinion that religion places people in boxes where they have to fit a specified mould, this prevents them from reaching self actualization. Others believe that religion is a vehicle in which a person may embark on a journey of eternal progression. Between these opposite views are some principles which could help you improve.
Most religions have a set of guidelines or standards which governs behaviour, e.g. Christians adhere to the 10 Commandments. By living up to the guidelines, a person will receive rewards (blessings). The standards also prevent believers from indulging in harmful practices. It follows then that a righteous person will be able to progress better with their self improvement.
The guilt believers experience when breaking commandment can have a negative effect on self improvement. Even non-believers experience feelings of guilt to some extent when doing things that bring unhappiness to others. Guilt fills a person with negative feelings and lowers self esteem. These feelings are counter productive to improvement. The process to over come these negative emotions is called repentance. Different religions provide for this in different ways. Part of this process most often involves confession.
Confession can also lift your burdens even if you are non-religious. Just talking about your problem with your closest friend will make you feel better. If you have done some injustice to someone else, just speak to them and iron out your differences. It will make you feel more positive.
Prayer is probably the most used religious principle and can have a real positive influence on self improvement. Prayer is defined as communication with God or a superior being. It is believed that God answers prayers. Religious and non-believers practice prayer in some way or another. Those who pray find strength through the belief that the prayer will be answered, the verbal expression of their needs, the sharing of their dreams and goals motivates them to succeed, belief that they will be assisted in overcoming their problems and feeling that they are not alone in their struggle.
Reading scripture i.e. Holy Bible, Koran, etc can have a positive influence on self improvement. These books abound in examples of people being able to overcome weaknesses and to become more perfect. You don not have to be religious to benefit from reading Holy Scripture.
Being a member of a religious group provides social support to the member. Fellow members understand the need to become more perfect and thus provide support in self improvement efforts. You will most probably find that they are also in turn trying to improve in one way or another.
The most powerful concept offered by religion is that humans are sons and daughters of a God and thus have unlimited potential. This realization can assist believers in motivating themselves to tackle very difficult self improvement projects, knowing that they are very likely to succeed. It also gives them emotional strength and faith to keep on trying when things might look hopeless.
Taking all things into account, maybe self improvement and religion are not as diverse as expected!
Self improvement and religion might seem like two totally diverse concepts. Many learned people are of the opinion that religion places people in boxes where they have to fit a specified mould, this prevents them from reaching self actualization. Others believe that religion is a vehicle in which a person may embark on a journey of eternal progression. Between these opposite views are some principles which could help you improve.
Most religions have a set of guidelines or standards which governs behaviour, e.g. Christians adhere to the 10 Commandments. By living up to the guidelines, a person will receive rewards (blessings). The standards also prevent believers from indulging in harmful practices. It follows then that a righteous person will be able to progress better with their self improvement.
The guilt believers experience when breaking commandment can have a negative effect on self improvement. Even non-believers experience feelings of guilt to some extent when doing things that bring unhappiness to others. Guilt fills a person with negative feelings and lowers self esteem. These feelings are counter productive to improvement. The process to over come these negative emotions is called repentance. Different religions provide for this in different ways. Part of this process most often involves confession.
Confession can also lift your burdens even if you are non-religious. Just talking about your problem with your closest friend will make you feel better. If you have done some injustice to someone else, just speak to them and iron out your differences. It will make you feel more positive.
Prayer is probably the most used religious principle and can have a real positive influence on self improvement. Prayer is defined as communication with God or a superior being. It is believed that God answers prayers. Religious and non-believers practice prayer in some way or another. Those who pray find strength through the belief that the prayer will be answered, the verbal expression of their needs, the sharing of their dreams and goals motivates them to succeed, belief that they will be assisted in overcoming their problems and feeling that they are not alone in their struggle.
Reading scripture i.e. Holy Bible, Koran, etc can have a positive influence on self improvement. These books abound in examples of people being able to overcome weaknesses and to become more perfect. You don not have to be religious to benefit from reading Holy Scripture.
Being a member of a religious group provides social support to the member. Fellow members understand the need to become more perfect and thus provide support in self improvement efforts. You will most probably find that they are also in turn trying to improve in one way or another.
The most powerful concept offered by religion is that humans are sons and daughters of a God and thus have unlimited potential. This realization can assist believers in motivating themselves to tackle very difficult self improvement projects, knowing that they are very likely to succeed. It also gives them emotional strength and faith to keep on trying when things might look hopeless.
Taking all things into account, maybe self improvement and religion are not as diverse as expected!
Nov
24
Religion V Spirituality
Filed Under Metaphysics | Leave a Comment
Rick McBride
A sundance brother recently asked my views on the differences between religion and spirituality for possible inclusion in his doctoral thesis. An interesting question, I thought, as the common assumption is that religion is spiritual, that the two terms are interchangeable, even synonymous. To question that is to ask if religions actually lack a true spiritual foundation. This is not only a large topic, but borderline heretical in some circles. To do it justice requires an exhaustive study of the teachings and actions of literally every known religion and every nonreligious, but spiritual practice, including an extensive lexicon, all of which are well beyond the scope of this article and capacity of its author. But so what, let’s consider these two phenomena anyway through the device of some admittedly homemade definitions, loaded with limitation and opinion.
As I see it, all religions throughout time and throughout the world, are human-made constructs that attempt to define some higher power, both temperamentally and attributively, in what are essentially self-serving terms. From this, a hierarchy usually evolves, what we call a “clergy” in this country; professional social engineers. Another common characteristic of corporate religion is to impose itself at large, and sometimes violently as witnessed in the Inquisitions prosecuted by the Catholic Church spanning some 600 years, to the recent exploits of the Talibahn in Afghanistan, to a number of Christian churches gleefully acting as Indian reservation agencies in the late 1800s US. The inconsistencies here of preaching love while advancing war or trampling other cultures under foot are not at all limited to these religions, either. The Pews of History are filled with heroic tales of religious wars, religion-promulgated, influenced, or condoned imperialism to the lesser sins of religious chauvinism, to innumerable ethical scandals.
I think it’s fair to say that virtually all religions have exceeded the bounds of their legitimate purpose, whatever they might claim it to be. How many nations associate themselves with a particular brand of religion, even today? More than we might realize. Some overtly in their constitutions; England and the Church of England, Israel as a Jewish State, and Iran as an Islamic State. Others putting considerable effort into becoming constitutionally mandated; the USA, where religion and state are supposedly separate, yet there has been a steady and aggressive calling to baptize the nation into Born Again status, even before it was born the first time. And it has had an effect: Witness the litmus test of every candidate having to proclaim some form of Christianity to be acceptable leadership material, and what about national holidays founded in Christian mythology; Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter?
In 1993 I interviewed Deepak Chopra for publication. Now, whenever I spoke with the more interesting personalities, there was usually an agenda or two imbedded in the interview. Chopra’s interview was no exception. And so, I asked him if he thought religions had helped or hindered the growth of human consciousness. I honestly had no idea if he would even take on the question, or cut me off short. You decide.
“R
C:
I think all religions in all times have been the bastardization and corruption of spirituality. When spirituality becomes corrupt, it becomes religion because religion as we have experienced it throughout the course of history, and this is true of Hinduism and Buddhism and all kinds of current religions, have been bastardized into dogma, ideology, and belief systems. And as long as the religion has a belief system, and all religions have one, all without exception, then they hinder man’s evolution. So I think religion is toxic to society, all religions. And that includes the Eastern religions. The Eastern religions, before they became religions, they were spiritual devices or you might say spiritual styles of living with an exact science and methodology to find the truth about one’s own nature. But when they became institutionalized, they became a set of rules and regulations and beliefs and ideas and dogmas and ideologies and there is no religion that I know of, whether it is from Judeochristianity or it is from the East, that has not propagated war and destruction and murder and killing. We have this popular myth in society that Hinduism is a nonviolent religion. Well, the Hindus are burning the Buddhists in Sri Lanka and the Buddhists are doing the same in southern India, so, you know, religion is a very dangerous force, as far as I’m concerned. ” 1…As a very general statement, do you think that modern religions, especially in the United States because that’s what we’re most familiar with, are hindering the evolution of consciousness or are they growing with it and helping to facilitate it?
You have no idea how stoked I was when he stepped up to the plate and gave the answer I hoped he would. Not only did he speak directly to the ubiquitous negative effects of religion, he gives us one of the most eloquent informal definitions of spirituality I’ve heard; “…they were spiritual devices or you might say spiritual styles of living with an exact science and methodology to find the truth about one’s own nature…” To fully appreciate his words, we need spend a little time on the term “spiritual.”
In the Medicine Wheel workshop, we define a few terms, two of which are Soul and Spirit. I offer them here for your consideration only. Whether you agree or not is up to you, it is none of my business. But I offer these in an effort to shed light from a different direction:
“Soul & Spirit: I recognize we all have our own ideas of what Soul and Spirit mean. I offer the following definitions of them for the purposes of this class. Thinking of them in this way may help you connect with the Wheel on a deeper level.
Soul
Spirit
Soul is the “Being.” Spirit is the “Actions of the Being.” We know the Soul by what the Spirit does. Spirit is Soul in action, expressing in the physical through us. Spirit is the relational link between Soul and all others. Since Soul is part of the Great Mystery, and all Souls are, of all that is, animate and otherwise, all souls are one. Spirit, then, is the Great Mystery experiencing itself through infinite avenues of expression.
Soul is the Center of our being, it is the Cause of us, that which catalyzes life into existence and action, outside the physical Void, outside of space-time. The Skan.
There is no separation between the spiritual and the material, though mainstream society and its various religions would have us think so (heaven in the sky, spirit only accessible in the afterlife, God looking down upon us “from a distance,” that sort of thing.) Without the spiritual, the material would not function as we know it. Do not confuse “spirit” with “religion.” They are in no way interchangeable.” 2
(as a verb): That through which the Soul relates to all others, and to the various environments it operates in; the physical body of the individual, the physical environment of the Earth, the environment of concepts, ideas, intention, and thought, the emotional environment, the environment of All Our Relations. The Lakota call it the Taku Skan Skan (dakoo shkah shkah), that which is behind everything that moves. The Spirit is the actor that connects everything to the Soul. It is the energy through which the Soul touches, reaches out to, and communicates with all other life.(as a noun): Who and what we are throughout time and outside of time, from the beginning of time and before. The Void, or Cause of all that we are; in the physical and energetically, the invisible. Part of the Great Mystery.
We need also to broaden our discussion of “spirit” to include its use when referring to nonphysical beings, or the intelligent, self-aware energies we call “the Spirits.” One popular perception of Indigenous ceremonial practice is its reputation for working directly with these Spirits, in real time and real contact. This idea fairly rankles most professional clergy when you get right down to the truth of it, except for certain strains of Evangelical Christianity, a relatively recent phenomenon, and one I’m not so sure was not inspired by or heavily influenced by Indigenous practices. In my lifetime I have heard from more than one pulpit on how the Spirits, what many call Angels, told about in the Good Book no longer talked to humankind, that was then, this is now, they have spoken, end of story. Makes it tough when sincere religious people start having direct contact with the Spirits.
Corporate religions actually deny direct contact from the Spirits, especially by the unclean, denigrating those who claim such experience, the intimidation so aggressive from the pulpit most of the flock will close down to the possibility, thereby taking themselves out of the processional long before the first note is even played. For instance, the whole idea of the “personal relationship with Jesus” actually serves to block out any kind of personal relationship with any Spirit not Jesus, as Jesus is the only approved Spirit, but held in such high esteem that we can never expect that he would actually be present at our next prayer meeting in such a way as to physically reveal himself as do the charlatan spirits of pagans.
Some of you may have heard me say or read it on the website, that the Red Road is not a religion, that in general, traditional Indigenous spiritual practices are not a religion (ancient Aztecs, Mixtecs, Inca, Toltecs, et al excluded). Granted, there has been a great erosion of these ways. Consider the hyper-aggressive imposition of Christianity in the Western Hemisphere, Australia, and New Zealand for instance. When you hear an informed person use the word “religion” when discussing the Red Road, it will be more in the nature of an accommodation to those in the mainstream who are unaware of the differences. In our June newsletter (Ceremony) we touched on some of the differences between ceremony and ritual, the most notable being that religion is primarily ritualistic while the Lifeways of Indigenes are more ceremonial in nature. Further, you’ll recall one of the differences between ritual and ceremony is that ritual tends toward rigid and is usually the exclusive domain of professional clergy. Ceremony is flexible and seeks to include everyone present in its execution.
From this, we see it becomes a question of power. In religion, all power is vested in the Church, Temple, or Synagogue etc., usually what is termed religious (Church) Law, and carried out, or franchised, through its various orders or sects, and their clergy. Spirituality, whether Indigenous, New Age, neo-Pagan, or unaffiliated, tends toward acknowledging Creator is in every literal “thing,” be it animated or not, and that we as two-leggeds are directly connected to all Life, not separate from it, neither above nor below it. Where religions perceive their assorted deities generally in anthropomorphic images, they are also set apart in some fictitious place, such as heaven, which is significant as it underscores the erroneous idea of separation. Indigenous spirituality and ceremonial practice tends toward the mundane, its dominant purpose being to support life right here, right now and with immediate benefits. Unlike most major world religions, there is no Great Payoff that can only be received in the afterlife. And where this idea of perpetual forgiveness doled out by the Church for the same repetitive sins actually breeds irresponsibility (“Hey, I can do this…all I gotta do is ask to be forgiven…again…”), the Lifeways of Indigenes may be a little more difficult in that they require one take responsibility for his or her actions now. In other words, there is no Heaven or Hell at the end of this road, we just keep moving ahead.
As you can see, this is indeed a very large subject. We’ve not even gotten into the geographic foundations of religion or spirituality, of how language impacts whether a culture develops religious institutions or remains centered in a living spirituality (the implication here that religions are spiritually void is intentional), nor have we discussed how exporting religions changes them, of how they shift out of geographic relevance and into a historical archive when that happens, of how merging a religion into government fully compromises any spiritual efficacy it might have once claimed, of how religions are damaged when they involve themselves in economic exploitation, or bind themselves to or even instigate the blind religio-nationalism we see in so many countries today, including the US. In the coming months and years, we may consider these.
1: © Rick McBride, Connexions Magazine, 1993
2: © Rick McBride, Teaching of the Medicine Wheel, 2007
This article © Rick McBride, 2008
be well, Rick
A sundance brother recently asked my views on the differences between religion and spirituality for possible inclusion in his doctoral thesis. An interesting question, I thought, as the common assumption is that religion is spiritual, that the two terms are interchangeable, even synonymous. To question that is to ask if religions actually lack a true spiritual foundation. This is not only a large topic, but borderline heretical in some circles. To do it justice requires an exhaustive study of the teachings and actions of literally every known religion and every nonreligious, but spiritual practice, including an extensive lexicon, all of which are well beyond the scope of this article and capacity of its author. But so what, let’s consider these two phenomena anyway through the device of some admittedly homemade definitions, loaded with limitation and opinion.
As I see it, all religions throughout time and throughout the world, are human-made constructs that attempt to define some higher power, both temperamentally and attributively, in what are essentially self-serving terms. From this, a hierarchy usually evolves, what we call a “clergy” in this country; professional social engineers. Another common characteristic of corporate religion is to impose itself at large, and sometimes violently as witnessed in the Inquisitions prosecuted by the Catholic Church spanning some 600 years, to the recent exploits of the Talibahn in Afghanistan, to a number of Christian churches gleefully acting as Indian reservation agencies in the late 1800s US. The inconsistencies here of preaching love while advancing war or trampling other cultures under foot are not at all limited to these religions, either. The Pews of History are filled with heroic tales of religious wars, religion-promulgated, influenced, or condoned imperialism to the lesser sins of religious chauvinism, to innumerable ethical scandals.
I think it’s fair to say that virtually all religions have exceeded the bounds of their legitimate purpose, whatever they might claim it to be. How many nations associate themselves with a particular brand of religion, even today? More than we might realize. Some overtly in their constitutions; England and the Church of England, Israel as a Jewish State, and Iran as an Islamic State. Others putting considerable effort into becoming constitutionally mandated; the USA, where religion and state are supposedly separate, yet there has been a steady and aggressive calling to baptize the nation into Born Again status, even before it was born the first time. And it has had an effect: Witness the litmus test of every candidate having to proclaim some form of Christianity to be acceptable leadership material, and what about national holidays founded in Christian mythology; Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter?
In 1993 I interviewed Deepak Chopra for publication. Now, whenever I spoke with the more interesting personalities, there was usually an agenda or two imbedded in the interview. Chopra’s interview was no exception. And so, I asked him if he thought religions had helped or hindered the growth of human consciousness. I honestly had no idea if he would even take on the question, or cut me off short. You decide.
“R
C:
I think all religions in all times have been the bastardization and corruption of spirituality. When spirituality becomes corrupt, it becomes religion because religion as we have experienced it throughout the course of history, and this is true of Hinduism and Buddhism and all kinds of current religions, have been bastardized into dogma, ideology, and belief systems. And as long as the religion has a belief system, and all religions have one, all without exception, then they hinder man’s evolution. So I think religion is toxic to society, all religions. And that includes the Eastern religions. The Eastern religions, before they became religions, they were spiritual devices or you might say spiritual styles of living with an exact science and methodology to find the truth about one’s own nature. But when they became institutionalized, they became a set of rules and regulations and beliefs and ideas and dogmas and ideologies and there is no religion that I know of, whether it is from Judeochristianity or it is from the East, that has not propagated war and destruction and murder and killing. We have this popular myth in society that Hinduism is a nonviolent religion. Well, the Hindus are burning the Buddhists in Sri Lanka and the Buddhists are doing the same in southern India, so, you know, religion is a very dangerous force, as far as I’m concerned. ” 1…As a very general statement, do you think that modern religions, especially in the United States because that’s what we’re most familiar with, are hindering the evolution of consciousness or are they growing with it and helping to facilitate it?
You have no idea how stoked I was when he stepped up to the plate and gave the answer I hoped he would. Not only did he speak directly to the ubiquitous negative effects of religion, he gives us one of the most eloquent informal definitions of spirituality I’ve heard; “…they were spiritual devices or you might say spiritual styles of living with an exact science and methodology to find the truth about one’s own nature…” To fully appreciate his words, we need spend a little time on the term “spiritual.”
In the Medicine Wheel workshop, we define a few terms, two of which are Soul and Spirit. I offer them here for your consideration only. Whether you agree or not is up to you, it is none of my business. But I offer these in an effort to shed light from a different direction:
“Soul & Spirit: I recognize we all have our own ideas of what Soul and Spirit mean. I offer the following definitions of them for the purposes of this class. Thinking of them in this way may help you connect with the Wheel on a deeper level.
Soul
Spirit
Soul is the “Being.” Spirit is the “Actions of the Being.” We know the Soul by what the Spirit does. Spirit is Soul in action, expressing in the physical through us. Spirit is the relational link between Soul and all others. Since Soul is part of the Great Mystery, and all Souls are, of all that is, animate and otherwise, all souls are one. Spirit, then, is the Great Mystery experiencing itself through infinite avenues of expression.
Soul is the Center of our being, it is the Cause of us, that which catalyzes life into existence and action, outside the physical Void, outside of space-time. The Skan.
There is no separation between the spiritual and the material, though mainstream society and its various religions would have us think so (heaven in the sky, spirit only accessible in the afterlife, God looking down upon us “from a distance,” that sort of thing.) Without the spiritual, the material would not function as we know it. Do not confuse “spirit” with “religion.” They are in no way interchangeable.” 2
(as a verb): That through which the Soul relates to all others, and to the various environments it operates in; the physical body of the individual, the physical environment of the Earth, the environment of concepts, ideas, intention, and thought, the emotional environment, the environment of All Our Relations. The Lakota call it the Taku Skan Skan (dakoo shkah shkah), that which is behind everything that moves. The Spirit is the actor that connects everything to the Soul. It is the energy through which the Soul touches, reaches out to, and communicates with all other life.(as a noun): Who and what we are throughout time and outside of time, from the beginning of time and before. The Void, or Cause of all that we are; in the physical and energetically, the invisible. Part of the Great Mystery.
We need also to broaden our discussion of “spirit” to include its use when referring to nonphysical beings, or the intelligent, self-aware energies we call “the Spirits.” One popular perception of Indigenous ceremonial practice is its reputation for working directly with these Spirits, in real time and real contact. This idea fairly rankles most professional clergy when you get right down to the truth of it, except for certain strains of Evangelical Christianity, a relatively recent phenomenon, and one I’m not so sure was not inspired by or heavily influenced by Indigenous practices. In my lifetime I have heard from more than one pulpit on how the Spirits, what many call Angels, told about in the Good Book no longer talked to humankind, that was then, this is now, they have spoken, end of story. Makes it tough when sincere religious people start having direct contact with the Spirits.
Corporate religions actually deny direct contact from the Spirits, especially by the unclean, denigrating those who claim such experience, the intimidation so aggressive from the pulpit most of the flock will close down to the possibility, thereby taking themselves out of the processional long before the first note is even played. For instance, the whole idea of the “personal relationship with Jesus” actually serves to block out any kind of personal relationship with any Spirit not Jesus, as Jesus is the only approved Spirit, but held in such high esteem that we can never expect that he would actually be present at our next prayer meeting in such a way as to physically reveal himself as do the charlatan spirits of pagans.
Some of you may have heard me say or read it on the website, that the Red Road is not a religion, that in general, traditional Indigenous spiritual practices are not a religion (ancient Aztecs, Mixtecs, Inca, Toltecs, et al excluded). Granted, there has been a great erosion of these ways. Consider the hyper-aggressive imposition of Christianity in the Western Hemisphere, Australia, and New Zealand for instance. When you hear an informed person use the word “religion” when discussing the Red Road, it will be more in the nature of an accommodation to those in the mainstream who are unaware of the differences. In our June newsletter (Ceremony) we touched on some of the differences between ceremony and ritual, the most notable being that religion is primarily ritualistic while the Lifeways of Indigenes are more ceremonial in nature. Further, you’ll recall one of the differences between ritual and ceremony is that ritual tends toward rigid and is usually the exclusive domain of professional clergy. Ceremony is flexible and seeks to include everyone present in its execution.
From this, we see it becomes a question of power. In religion, all power is vested in the Church, Temple, or Synagogue etc., usually what is termed religious (Church) Law, and carried out, or franchised, through its various orders or sects, and their clergy. Spirituality, whether Indigenous, New Age, neo-Pagan, or unaffiliated, tends toward acknowledging Creator is in every literal “thing,” be it animated or not, and that we as two-leggeds are directly connected to all Life, not separate from it, neither above nor below it. Where religions perceive their assorted deities generally in anthropomorphic images, they are also set apart in some fictitious place, such as heaven, which is significant as it underscores the erroneous idea of separation. Indigenous spirituality and ceremonial practice tends toward the mundane, its dominant purpose being to support life right here, right now and with immediate benefits. Unlike most major world religions, there is no Great Payoff that can only be received in the afterlife. And where this idea of perpetual forgiveness doled out by the Church for the same repetitive sins actually breeds irresponsibility (“Hey, I can do this…all I gotta do is ask to be forgiven…again…”), the Lifeways of Indigenes may be a little more difficult in that they require one take responsibility for his or her actions now. In other words, there is no Heaven or Hell at the end of this road, we just keep moving ahead.
As you can see, this is indeed a very large subject. We’ve not even gotten into the geographic foundations of religion or spirituality, of how language impacts whether a culture develops religious institutions or remains centered in a living spirituality (the implication here that religions are spiritually void is intentional), nor have we discussed how exporting religions changes them, of how they shift out of geographic relevance and into a historical archive when that happens, of how merging a religion into government fully compromises any spiritual efficacy it might have once claimed, of how religions are damaged when they involve themselves in economic exploitation, or bind themselves to or even instigate the blind religio-nationalism we see in so many countries today, including the US. In the coming months and years, we may consider these.
1: © Rick McBride, Connexions Magazine, 1993
2: © Rick McBride, Teaching of the Medicine Wheel, 2007
This article © Rick McBride, 2008
be well, Rick
Nov
24
Why the Sum of All Religions Can’t Amount to Knowledge of God
Filed Under Spirituality | Leave a Comment
Hannah Henderson
It seems logical to reason that one can achieve spiritual enlightenment through the acceptance and practice of the good aspects of every religion. However, like any other discipline, religion has a foundation of core teachings that determine if one is even permitted to accept instruction from other belief systems.
It’s interesting to note that the Protestant Bible actually aligns the building of faith in God to the construction of an invisible, but very real, building into which the believer is to move permanently. Scripture even advises one to sit down and think over such a task before undertaking it, to determine if he really wants to construct a sound structure that must not fail him later. Certainly if one cannot even plan a foundation, he can never hope to lay one. If he cannot lay a foundation, he has nothing on which to raise walls, place a ceiling, and add barriers, making his building a fortress.
Jesus asked, “for which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient (will power/desire) to finish it (KJV, Luke 14.28)?
What would cause the believer not to be able to finish his building in Christ? Obviously, the lack of supplies would stop him. What are his supplies? The teachings of the doctrine of Christ, in Christianity, are his supplies, along with his willingness to follow them. This is only one of literally a vast number of scriptures that should cause a person to realize that the materials used to construct knowledge of the sound doctrine, or building of Christ, cannot be grabbed from any source. If this were not the case, all the builder would have to do when he ran out of supplies is take from another source, in other words, from any other doctrine.
One might suggest that a person then lay his foundation from materials not belonging to the restrictive doctrine of Christ. The logic would be that an inter-faith foundation would be a lot more flexible to accept the good building supplies from many sources (doctrines). However, Christ doesn’t allow the taking of his materials to be added to a foundation that he did not supply. This is why he was very descriptive in what kind of content makes up his foundation.
In a nutshell, any foundation that denies and rejects him as the one and only Christ of God is identified in the Bible as being of the spirit of anti-Christ (1 John 2:22-23). Any foundation that denies and rejects his divinity is also identified as being of the spirit of anti-Christ. Where does the Bible say this? The scripture of 1 John 4.1-3 speaks of the significance of Jesus’ coming to Earth “in the flesh”. “In the flesh” refers directly to divinity–God in the flesh. How can one be sure of this? In the very first verse of the New Testament book of St. John, it’s recorded that, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Later, verse 14 of the same chapter (one), says that, “the Word was made flesh.” Having previously called the Word “God”, the reader is being plainly told that God came “in the flesh”.
People continue to mix and mingle the beliefs, teachings, and doctrines of various religions. However, when they attempt to include bits and pieces from the doctrine of Christ which will not be broken into pieces, they end up with neither a foundation, nor a building that is acceptable to Christ.
Jesus spoke plainly and authoritatively when he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (St. John 14:6).
Christ is the foundation for every believer in his word. These various believers cooperate with him in the building on to that foundation. However, the foundation, completed structure, and adornment that they work with, are all encompassed in the one and same doctrine.
Again, the Bible teaches that, “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).
The Bible teaches why the sum of all religions can’t amount to the knowledge of God.
© 2008 Heavenly Manna and Hannah Henderson
It seems logical to reason that one can achieve spiritual enlightenment through the acceptance and practice of the good aspects of every religion. However, like any other discipline, religion has a foundation of core teachings that determine if one is even permitted to accept instruction from other belief systems.
It’s interesting to note that the Protestant Bible actually aligns the building of faith in God to the construction of an invisible, but very real, building into which the believer is to move permanently. Scripture even advises one to sit down and think over such a task before undertaking it, to determine if he really wants to construct a sound structure that must not fail him later. Certainly if one cannot even plan a foundation, he can never hope to lay one. If he cannot lay a foundation, he has nothing on which to raise walls, place a ceiling, and add barriers, making his building a fortress.
Jesus asked, “for which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient (will power/desire) to finish it (KJV, Luke 14.28)?
What would cause the believer not to be able to finish his building in Christ? Obviously, the lack of supplies would stop him. What are his supplies? The teachings of the doctrine of Christ, in Christianity, are his supplies, along with his willingness to follow them. This is only one of literally a vast number of scriptures that should cause a person to realize that the materials used to construct knowledge of the sound doctrine, or building of Christ, cannot be grabbed from any source. If this were not the case, all the builder would have to do when he ran out of supplies is take from another source, in other words, from any other doctrine.
One might suggest that a person then lay his foundation from materials not belonging to the restrictive doctrine of Christ. The logic would be that an inter-faith foundation would be a lot more flexible to accept the good building supplies from many sources (doctrines). However, Christ doesn’t allow the taking of his materials to be added to a foundation that he did not supply. This is why he was very descriptive in what kind of content makes up his foundation.
In a nutshell, any foundation that denies and rejects him as the one and only Christ of God is identified in the Bible as being of the spirit of anti-Christ (1 John 2:22-23). Any foundation that denies and rejects his divinity is also identified as being of the spirit of anti-Christ. Where does the Bible say this? The scripture of 1 John 4.1-3 speaks of the significance of Jesus’ coming to Earth “in the flesh”. “In the flesh” refers directly to divinity–God in the flesh. How can one be sure of this? In the very first verse of the New Testament book of St. John, it’s recorded that, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Later, verse 14 of the same chapter (one), says that, “the Word was made flesh.” Having previously called the Word “God”, the reader is being plainly told that God came “in the flesh”.
People continue to mix and mingle the beliefs, teachings, and doctrines of various religions. However, when they attempt to include bits and pieces from the doctrine of Christ which will not be broken into pieces, they end up with neither a foundation, nor a building that is acceptable to Christ.
Jesus spoke plainly and authoritatively when he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (St. John 14:6).
Christ is the foundation for every believer in his word. These various believers cooperate with him in the building on to that foundation. However, the foundation, completed structure, and adornment that they work with, are all encompassed in the one and same doctrine.
Again, the Bible teaches that, “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).
The Bible teaches why the sum of all religions can’t amount to the knowledge of God.
© 2008 Heavenly Manna and Hannah Henderson
Nov
23
American Religion and the American Way
Filed Under Religion | Leave a Comment
Patrick Roberts
We Americans love our religion because it allows us to pick and choose God’s goals for us. The substance of our religion is an infatuation with control, which is also the case for all lovers of religion.
We suppose that we’re clever for finding new religious standards against which to measure ourselves. These measurements are easy to understand and they make us feel good about ourselves for a while because they tell us what we want to hear.
We are following something that looks vaguely like faith down ever-darkening alleys of religious presumption. With our actions say we say, “We’re striving ahead even if we have to run out ahead of God!” Yet such overbearing insecurity is spiritually self-defeating. This is the opposite of Christ-centered surrender. We love our plans and our plans love us back and on and on until we become utterly clueless about true spiritual usefulness.
Our American minds cannot comprehend the fact that God is disregarding our best laid plans. We want some kind of guarantee for tomorrow but God keeps telling us not to worry about it. Therefore, because God fails to give us the credit we deserve, we shrug our shoulders at His heavenly wisdom while we continue using His name to label our man-made methods. Christ’s command to take up our crosses seems unreasonable to us, so we dismiss it as such.
However, even more dependable than our inclination to make plans is God’s inclination to explode our plans. God dismantles our manly construction with shocking persistence. Evidently, we have a God who is much fonder of surprises than we might have hoped.
God’s lack of respect for our plans is purposeful. We assume that we’ll live long enough to accomplish our silly little plans, but this will not necessarily be the case.
A savvy businessman might plan for and successfully builds twenty skyscrapers during his earthly sojourn. However, if that man fails to take care of business with God, then, by neglecting the Main Thing, that man loses everything forever. Therefore it works out for that man’s eternal wellbeing that God demolishes his plans. He is blessed to be swallowed up, plans and all, by God’s devastatingly merciful grace. Not that looking ahead is a bad thing, but if we follow Christ then we are called to take care of business with God before everything else.
So what remains for us after God has taken away all that our flesh holds dear? Only a life-consuming dependence on Christ remains. In God’s estimation this is the highest honor any person could hope for.
Our goal as Christ’s followers is to be so reduced in Him that we are completely dead to our old selves. This is strategic. At the point that we are so thoroughly humbled, there will be nothing left to shield us from the truth about ourselves in relation to God’s kingdom.
After we are reduced to the point that we boast in nothing but Christ and our crucifixion in Him, then He will move us beyond ourselves and therefore also beyond our miserable failures and shortcomings.
That Christ is All and we are nothing is great news! We should embrace the chance to become nothing because this makes room for Christ to be our All in all. We will learn from experience that God bounces people who are even as bad as us back onto the right spiritual track.
So here is American churchgoers’ first order of business: Stop using religion to resist God. If we want to hear from the Lord again, then one little thing remains: We must relinquish everything we hold dear. We have to give up the right to even understand God and His Way of doing things.
Now is the best time to start embracing the superiority of God’s Way over the American way. We have abundant reason to weep, maybe even bitterly at first. But this is a joyful weeping because it proves God’s faithfulness to keep our consciences alive.
by Patrick Roberts. Find his book and additional resources at www.BooksByPatrick.com
We Americans love our religion because it allows us to pick and choose God’s goals for us. The substance of our religion is an infatuation with control, which is also the case for all lovers of religion.
We suppose that we’re clever for finding new religious standards against which to measure ourselves. These measurements are easy to understand and they make us feel good about ourselves for a while because they tell us what we want to hear.
We are following something that looks vaguely like faith down ever-darkening alleys of religious presumption. With our actions say we say, “We’re striving ahead even if we have to run out ahead of God!” Yet such overbearing insecurity is spiritually self-defeating. This is the opposite of Christ-centered surrender. We love our plans and our plans love us back and on and on until we become utterly clueless about true spiritual usefulness.
Our American minds cannot comprehend the fact that God is disregarding our best laid plans. We want some kind of guarantee for tomorrow but God keeps telling us not to worry about it. Therefore, because God fails to give us the credit we deserve, we shrug our shoulders at His heavenly wisdom while we continue using His name to label our man-made methods. Christ’s command to take up our crosses seems unreasonable to us, so we dismiss it as such.
However, even more dependable than our inclination to make plans is God’s inclination to explode our plans. God dismantles our manly construction with shocking persistence. Evidently, we have a God who is much fonder of surprises than we might have hoped.
God’s lack of respect for our plans is purposeful. We assume that we’ll live long enough to accomplish our silly little plans, but this will not necessarily be the case.
A savvy businessman might plan for and successfully builds twenty skyscrapers during his earthly sojourn. However, if that man fails to take care of business with God, then, by neglecting the Main Thing, that man loses everything forever. Therefore it works out for that man’s eternal wellbeing that God demolishes his plans. He is blessed to be swallowed up, plans and all, by God’s devastatingly merciful grace. Not that looking ahead is a bad thing, but if we follow Christ then we are called to take care of business with God before everything else.
So what remains for us after God has taken away all that our flesh holds dear? Only a life-consuming dependence on Christ remains. In God’s estimation this is the highest honor any person could hope for.
Our goal as Christ’s followers is to be so reduced in Him that we are completely dead to our old selves. This is strategic. At the point that we are so thoroughly humbled, there will be nothing left to shield us from the truth about ourselves in relation to God’s kingdom.
After we are reduced to the point that we boast in nothing but Christ and our crucifixion in Him, then He will move us beyond ourselves and therefore also beyond our miserable failures and shortcomings.
That Christ is All and we are nothing is great news! We should embrace the chance to become nothing because this makes room for Christ to be our All in all. We will learn from experience that God bounces people who are even as bad as us back onto the right spiritual track.
So here is American churchgoers’ first order of business: Stop using religion to resist God. If we want to hear from the Lord again, then one little thing remains: We must relinquish everything we hold dear. We have to give up the right to even understand God and His Way of doing things.
Now is the best time to start embracing the superiority of God’s Way over the American way. We have abundant reason to weep, maybe even bitterly at first. But this is a joyful weeping because it proves God’s faithfulness to keep our consciences alive.
by Patrick Roberts. Find his book and additional resources at www.BooksByPatrick.com
Nov
20
The One Religion—the Religion of Mankind
Filed Under Religion | Leave a Comment
Amlan Roychowdhury
THE ONE RELIGION—THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY.
In today’s world, all that we see or hear, is the mindless killing of innocents in the name of religion. Be it the total destruction of the world trade center, or the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai India or the senseless massacre of the Christians in some of the eastern block countries, or Orissa in India, it is the innocent people, mothers , fathers, who suffers the most. They are forced to leave their habitat, homes, jobs, schools, and live in dilapidated refugee camps. No sectarian group who perpetrate such senseless mindless war think about the crying child, the wailing mother, the hapless father. Their only aim is to spread fear and terror all in the name of Religion. The perpetrators feel that they are doing a tremendous job and that by doing such an act they will be rewarded by the Divinity. God, Bhagwan, Allah, Christ, or any other name that one might give, will bless them with martyrdom. Does ones conscious sustain such concept?? Does Bhagwad Geeta tell us to kill people?? Does Quran teach us to inflict pain and agony to our fellow human beings?? If not Then why in the name of religion such acts are perpetrated??
We must have some idea about the evolution of religion to understand that religion helps us to bind together within the group and between the groups.
From the very beginning when man was an advance ape scientifically termed as Australopithecus he lived in a group. Living in a group has lot of advantages, one of the prime being safety. Then there was the economic reason for man to be in a group. During the early Paleolithic period when man was a hunter gatherer, he needed a well defined group with a well defined division of labor among the group for the group to be economically viable. The animals that were hunted were as mammoth as the wooly mammoths. When the economy shifted from hunting gathering to agrarian the groups needed to be much larger. Therefore there needed to be some rules, rites, rituals, and certain norms that gave the group an inherent control from within. Thus becoming a well structured social group. The rites, rituals, and and certain norms were basically made for the groups to be more economically viable by creating an atmosphere of harmony and not discord at any times. Therefore we see the development of religion or a spark of it among the Neanderthals. Neanderthals were the first hominids to intentionally bury the dead. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. Some scholars, however argue that these bodies may have been disposed of for secular reasons. Likewise a number of archeologists propose that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. Emil Bächler in particular suggests (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal bear cult existed.
The evolution of religion is closely connected with the evolution of the mind and behavioral modernity. Evidence for Paleolithic burials is often taken as the earliest expression of religious or mythological thought involving an afterlife. Such practice is not restricted to Homo sapiens, but also found among Homo neanderthalensis as least as early as 130,000 years ago. The emergence of religious behavior is consequently dated to before separation of early Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of symbolic ritual activity besides burials may be a site in South Africa dated to 70,000 years ago.
Does evolution of mind and behavioral modernity justify killing of thousands of innocent people ?? No religions in this world, in its truest sense preach cruelty and killing. Every religion in this earth preach unconditional love, brotherhood of man, and love thy neighbour. Quran, Bible, Bhagawad Geeta and all other religious text preach only one thing and that is help mankind in his hour of need irrespective of caste creed *** propagate love and not ****. Here in modern time we are all doing just the opposite.
The religious ideas also make their impact by crossing the boundaries of their origin (or dominance) to far off places. Religious faith of economically and militarily strong race (or nation) tries to dominate the weak and the underdeveloped. The mode of *********** and percolation of religious ideas may be through missionary activities, or through persecution by the sword and the pen. Tactful, but definite, attempts may also be made to derogate the native religious beliefs and customs, and to eulogize the religion of the strong. Thus, customs and rituals, religious faiths and traditions, art and literature, all find free flow from dominant culture to economically weaker one. The resistance of the native people is chiefly through the strength of their own religious principles and traditions. Militarily the native may not fight back, but the religion of the land might be capable of keeping its head afloat if its level of growth, faith in scriptural tradition, and history are strong.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa lived such a highly spiritual life that he made India strong in this field, and thus, Vedanta could sustain and extradite itself from the influence of narrowness of religious dogma. Moreover, in the process, a wonderful synthesis and harmony of religions was established as the basis for universal religion. In addition to Hindu ways, Sri Ramakrishna undertook the sadhana of both Islam and Christian faiths. Between 1868 and 1874 a devout Muslim and a Christian initiated Sri Ramakrishna in their respective methods of worship. On both the occasions, he had visions of the great Prophets of those religions, who merged in his body. On both the occasions Sri Ramakrishna was established in Nirvikalpa Samadhi state after the visions. He could then emphatically say: “As many faiths, so many paths!”
He explains that every human soul has an objective and that is to connect to the divine. It is like a mountain top and there are umpteen number of ways to reach the top. If one takes a route to climb the mountain top and half way through he decides that this route is treacherous and he comes down to take another route, he will never reach the top of the mountain. He has to take a route and stick by it. The route is the religion and the top of the mountain is the almighty. The Divine. Which ever way he chooses his ultimate destiny is that one point –The mountain top, The divine.
As intelligent creatures and as gods finest creation we must realize this and stop all this senseless and mindless brutality. In the vast space earth is like a pin head and the only place where Gods most precious creation “MAN” lives. There can be only one religion and that is of Humanity.
THE ONE RELIGION—THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY.
In today’s world, all that we see or hear, is the mindless killing of innocents in the name of religion. Be it the total destruction of the world trade center, or the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai India or the senseless massacre of the Christians in some of the eastern block countries, or Orissa in India, it is the innocent people, mothers , fathers, who suffers the most. They are forced to leave their habitat, homes, jobs, schools, and live in dilapidated refugee camps. No sectarian group who perpetrate such senseless mindless war think about the crying child, the wailing mother, the hapless father. Their only aim is to spread fear and terror all in the name of Religion. The perpetrators feel that they are doing a tremendous job and that by doing such an act they will be rewarded by the Divinity. God, Bhagwan, Allah, Christ, or any other name that one might give, will bless them with martyrdom. Does ones conscious sustain such concept?? Does Bhagwad Geeta tell us to kill people?? Does Quran teach us to inflict pain and agony to our fellow human beings?? If not Then why in the name of religion such acts are perpetrated??
We must have some idea about the evolution of religion to understand that religion helps us to bind together within the group and between the groups.
From the very beginning when man was an advance ape scientifically termed as Australopithecus he lived in a group. Living in a group has lot of advantages, one of the prime being safety. Then there was the economic reason for man to be in a group. During the early Paleolithic period when man was a hunter gatherer, he needed a well defined group with a well defined division of labor among the group for the group to be economically viable. The animals that were hunted were as mammoth as the wooly mammoths. When the economy shifted from hunting gathering to agrarian the groups needed to be much larger. Therefore there needed to be some rules, rites, rituals, and certain norms that gave the group an inherent control from within. Thus becoming a well structured social group. The rites, rituals, and and certain norms were basically made for the groups to be more economically viable by creating an atmosphere of harmony and not discord at any times. Therefore we see the development of religion or a spark of it among the Neanderthals. Neanderthals were the first hominids to intentionally bury the dead. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. Some scholars, however argue that these bodies may have been disposed of for secular reasons. Likewise a number of archeologists propose that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. Emil Bächler in particular suggests (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal bear cult existed.
The evolution of religion is closely connected with the evolution of the mind and behavioral modernity. Evidence for Paleolithic burials is often taken as the earliest expression of religious or mythological thought involving an afterlife. Such practice is not restricted to Homo sapiens, but also found among Homo neanderthalensis as least as early as 130,000 years ago. The emergence of religious behavior is consequently dated to before separation of early Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of symbolic ritual activity besides burials may be a site in South Africa dated to 70,000 years ago.
Does evolution of mind and behavioral modernity justify killing of thousands of innocent people ?? No religions in this world, in its truest sense preach cruelty and killing. Every religion in this earth preach unconditional love, brotherhood of man, and love thy neighbour. Quran, Bible, Bhagawad Geeta and all other religious text preach only one thing and that is help mankind in his hour of need irrespective of caste creed *** propagate love and not ****. Here in modern time we are all doing just the opposite.
The religious ideas also make their impact by crossing the boundaries of their origin (or dominance) to far off places. Religious faith of economically and militarily strong race (or nation) tries to dominate the weak and the underdeveloped. The mode of *********** and percolation of religious ideas may be through missionary activities, or through persecution by the sword and the pen. Tactful, but definite, attempts may also be made to derogate the native religious beliefs and customs, and to eulogize the religion of the strong. Thus, customs and rituals, religious faiths and traditions, art and literature, all find free flow from dominant culture to economically weaker one. The resistance of the native people is chiefly through the strength of their own religious principles and traditions. Militarily the native may not fight back, but the religion of the land might be capable of keeping its head afloat if its level of growth, faith in scriptural tradition, and history are strong.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa lived such a highly spiritual life that he made India strong in this field, and thus, Vedanta could sustain and extradite itself from the influence of narrowness of religious dogma. Moreover, in the process, a wonderful synthesis and harmony of religions was established as the basis for universal religion. In addition to Hindu ways, Sri Ramakrishna undertook the sadhana of both Islam and Christian faiths. Between 1868 and 1874 a devout Muslim and a Christian initiated Sri Ramakrishna in their respective methods of worship. On both the occasions, he had visions of the great Prophets of those religions, who merged in his body. On both the occasions Sri Ramakrishna was established in Nirvikalpa Samadhi state after the visions. He could then emphatically say: “As many faiths, so many paths!”
He explains that every human soul has an objective and that is to connect to the divine. It is like a mountain top and there are umpteen number of ways to reach the top. If one takes a route to climb the mountain top and half way through he decides that this route is treacherous and he comes down to take another route, he will never reach the top of the mountain. He has to take a route and stick by it. The route is the religion and the top of the mountain is the almighty. The Divine. Which ever way he chooses his ultimate destiny is that one point –The mountain top, The divine.
As intelligent creatures and as gods finest creation we must realize this and stop all this senseless and mindless brutality. In the vast space earth is like a pin head and the only place where Gods most precious creation “MAN” lives. There can be only one religion and that is of Humanity.
Nov
19
John Edmond
For every practice or thought, there is an opposite viewpoint. This is true with religious beliefs, political beliefs, and even opinions and studies of the environment. As humans, we both consciously and unconsciously choose to believe a side. There are many, many individuals who can see the reasoning on both sides of the proverbial fence, but there are also those that are staunchly devoted and will see no side other than their own. Medical treatments are no exception to this rule.
There are religious groups through out the world, including some who believe that a transfusion of blood is sacrilegious and would never take someone else’s blood into their body, as it makes them “impure”. There are some who do not believe in modern medicine and still, to this day, practice holistic medicine. However, most religions do not have a prejudice against Western medicine in whole, but may be against particular things, such as prescriptions for depression. Many Eastern religions have given birth to medical practices of their own. An example of this would be Taoism. Taoism believes in studying nature and its influences upon man. From this belief and observation rose the practice of acupuncture, which has to do with the flow of energy, Qi (pronounced chee), and how those affect areas of the body.
Many religions consider that believing in outside energies is a farce and their followers will spurn procedures using such magic and mystery. Others discount the studies of researchers, considering the strength of acupuncture to lie in the possibility of something intangible, such as Qi. Bibles and scriptures of all types warn against the “Devil’s work” and mysticism, which leaves some individuals to believe that acupuncture is evil or wrong.
However, for the most part, acupuncture is receiving a positive welcome in communities around the globe. Perhaps this is because of exercise programs, such as Yoga and Pilates, which have become so popular. Asian culture has exploded into the main stream in fashion, thought, spirituality, technology, and medicine. Years ago, such things as acupuncture and Yoga were only for the “beatniks”. The regular Joe did not practice such things and would not have heard the positive benefits, but nowadays, people around the globe want different choices when it comes to their bodies. Many individuals want to try to live a life with minimal medication and invasive procedures, turning to nature to help with illness and pain. Acupuncture is a good alternative.
Acupuncture, as mentioned before, has to do with the flow of energy in the body. The energy flows along pathways, fourteen to be precise, which are called meridians. All along the meridian, there are points within that can become blocked. Acupuncture is used to unblock the meridian and allow the energy to flow. This is done with the use of long, thin, solid needles, but most people report that the procedure is painless, so do not worry.
The medical field and the health-care services we choose to receive fall into our set of values and beliefs, be they moral or religious. Certainly, the ultimate decision to accept acupuncture or consider it nothing more than psychological smoke and mirrors remains yours alone, depending much on your personal group of beliefs and your opinion.
For every practice or thought, there is an opposite viewpoint. This is true with religious beliefs, political beliefs, and even opinions and studies of the environment. As humans, we both consciously and unconsciously choose to believe a side. There are many, many individuals who can see the reasoning on both sides of the proverbial fence, but there are also those that are staunchly devoted and will see no side other than their own. Medical treatments are no exception to this rule.
There are religious groups through out the world, including some who believe that a transfusion of blood is sacrilegious and would never take someone else’s blood into their body, as it makes them “impure”. There are some who do not believe in modern medicine and still, to this day, practice holistic medicine. However, most religions do not have a prejudice against Western medicine in whole, but may be against particular things, such as prescriptions for depression. Many Eastern religions have given birth to medical practices of their own. An example of this would be Taoism. Taoism believes in studying nature and its influences upon man. From this belief and observation rose the practice of acupuncture, which has to do with the flow of energy, Qi (pronounced chee), and how those affect areas of the body.
Many religions consider that believing in outside energies is a farce and their followers will spurn procedures using such magic and mystery. Others discount the studies of researchers, considering the strength of acupuncture to lie in the possibility of something intangible, such as Qi. Bibles and scriptures of all types warn against the “Devil’s work” and mysticism, which leaves some individuals to believe that acupuncture is evil or wrong.
However, for the most part, acupuncture is receiving a positive welcome in communities around the globe. Perhaps this is because of exercise programs, such as Yoga and Pilates, which have become so popular. Asian culture has exploded into the main stream in fashion, thought, spirituality, technology, and medicine. Years ago, such things as acupuncture and Yoga were only for the “beatniks”. The regular Joe did not practice such things and would not have heard the positive benefits, but nowadays, people around the globe want different choices when it comes to their bodies. Many individuals want to try to live a life with minimal medication and invasive procedures, turning to nature to help with illness and pain. Acupuncture is a good alternative.
Acupuncture, as mentioned before, has to do with the flow of energy in the body. The energy flows along pathways, fourteen to be precise, which are called meridians. All along the meridian, there are points within that can become blocked. Acupuncture is used to unblock the meridian and allow the energy to flow. This is done with the use of long, thin, solid needles, but most people report that the procedure is painless, so do not worry.
The medical field and the health-care services we choose to receive fall into our set of values and beliefs, be they moral or religious. Certainly, the ultimate decision to accept acupuncture or consider it nothing more than psychological smoke and mirrors remains yours alone, depending much on your personal group of beliefs and your opinion.
Nov
18
Why not Religion?
Filed Under Religion | Leave a Comment
Cathi Bee
It is a fact that the world today is very religious. One needs only to examine how many religions there are as opposed to the single direction of “Atheism” to see this. Many feel that the tendency towards some sort of faith is proof for the existence of God. Many claim to derive great power from their religious practices. Many believe that their specific belief system is the only truth and that the whole world should be converted to their views. So why not you? There are about as many good arguments against religion as there are for it.
The religious drive was developed in very primitive societies. Human beings could not understand what they saw and experienced. Lightning was a scary mystery and crop growth was subject to scarcity and abundance at apparent random. People needed religion to explain the world to themselves. Religion was their weapon against the fear of life and the fear of death.
Despite the fact that people have meanwhile discovered science to explain the world to themselves, ancient religion survives well, as does the fear. One reason for this could be a type of “sheep” or “follow the leader” mentality. People are unwilling to trouble themselves with too much critical thinking, and therefore accept whatever they learn from their parents. This is the conformist paradigm.
Another reason is, as mentioned above, fear. There are all sorts of fear attached to religion: eternal damnation takes up a significant part of the religious energy. Christians for example believe that all non-Christians are damned to eternal hell. In more immediate terms, some are afraid that that life itself would be meaningless without religion, not to mention what such a lack of belief would mean for death.
This fear is responsible for many a religious atrocity. Religious leaders use it to their own advantage and the disadvantage of many. In ancient societies, human beings may have been simple enough to listen to their leaders without thinking about what they heard. But we live in the information society.
We have the freedom and the right to choose what to believe and what to discard. We are intelligent enough to decide what makes sense and what does not. We have the knowledge to determine who is self-serving and fraudulent and who is genuinely interested in serving the human evolutionary process.
We no longer have to kill or maim to bring our point across, and yet this still happens. We are no longer obliged to believe any specific thing, and yet we still do. Not learning from history seems to be our only consistent trait.
If more people grounded their views in the human rather than the religious viewpoint, perhaps we might have less starvation and murder in the world. We may have fewer power-hungry leaders who kill in the name of God, more who serve life rather than death, and peace rather than fear. A loving heart can change everything.
It is a fact that the world today is very religious. One needs only to examine how many religions there are as opposed to the single direction of “Atheism” to see this. Many feel that the tendency towards some sort of faith is proof for the existence of God. Many claim to derive great power from their religious practices. Many believe that their specific belief system is the only truth and that the whole world should be converted to their views. So why not you? There are about as many good arguments against religion as there are for it.
The religious drive was developed in very primitive societies. Human beings could not understand what they saw and experienced. Lightning was a scary mystery and crop growth was subject to scarcity and abundance at apparent random. People needed religion to explain the world to themselves. Religion was their weapon against the fear of life and the fear of death.
Despite the fact that people have meanwhile discovered science to explain the world to themselves, ancient religion survives well, as does the fear. One reason for this could be a type of “sheep” or “follow the leader” mentality. People are unwilling to trouble themselves with too much critical thinking, and therefore accept whatever they learn from their parents. This is the conformist paradigm.
Another reason is, as mentioned above, fear. There are all sorts of fear attached to religion: eternal damnation takes up a significant part of the religious energy. Christians for example believe that all non-Christians are damned to eternal hell. In more immediate terms, some are afraid that that life itself would be meaningless without religion, not to mention what such a lack of belief would mean for death.
This fear is responsible for many a religious atrocity. Religious leaders use it to their own advantage and the disadvantage of many. In ancient societies, human beings may have been simple enough to listen to their leaders without thinking about what they heard. But we live in the information society.
We have the freedom and the right to choose what to believe and what to discard. We are intelligent enough to decide what makes sense and what does not. We have the knowledge to determine who is self-serving and fraudulent and who is genuinely interested in serving the human evolutionary process.
We no longer have to kill or maim to bring our point across, and yet this still happens. We are no longer obliged to believe any specific thing, and yet we still do. Not learning from history seems to be our only consistent trait.
If more people grounded their views in the human rather than the religious viewpoint, perhaps we might have less starvation and murder in the world. We may have fewer power-hungry leaders who kill in the name of God, more who serve life rather than death, and peace rather than fear. A loving heart can change everything.
Nov
15
True Religion & Worship
Filed Under Religion | Leave a Comment
K VIVEKANANDAN
TRUE RELIGION AND WORSHIP
Purpose of Life
God has not made the creation for a sport but with a great purpose. We were not created merely for a short term life but for eternity. All of us humans, angels, Jinns are destined to live eternally. No one will be spared from eternal life. We humans are here on the earth only for a passing life which is only a trial period to qualify ourselves either for eternal bliss or eternal doom. God, the merciful and benevolent did not impose this trial on us but we, humans only did choose the trial. Though we chose the trial in the beginning of creation, out of his infinite mercy, God promised us to give his guidance to emerge victorious from the trial as we need God’s guidance and protection at all times since the evil force(Satan/Mara/Angra Mainyu) who is one of the creatures of God and who revolted against God the Almighty, is always trying with his hosts to make humans go astray and deviate from the right path. After all, the evil force and his hosts could be able to revolt against God with the free will given by God to his creatures.
Guidance from God
As promised in the beginning, God sent his guidance by choosing some of the righteous men as his prophets(Rishi/Nabi) from among the peoples that lived in various parts of the world in all ages right from the period of the first man Adam to the last prophet Muhammad(Muhammad is the last one in the line of prophets), and giving them books by revelation(Sruthi/Sroasha/Wahi). Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Laotzu, Manu, Krishna, Mahavir, Gautama Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Muhammad who are well known personalities are only prophets of God, but not gods, semi-gods, God’s incarnations or partners to God. There are many more prophets, most of them are unknown to us today because of loss of the books revealed to them or any records or even a hint about them in the written human history.
What is religion
Books revealed to prophets are of two types, ie 1. Books containing laws and ordinances regarding rituals, criminal as well civil procedures inter alia, prophecies, and other teachings and 2. Books containing only prophecies and other teachings. The first type of books institute a new religion ie a religion to a people/nation like Vedas(Hinduism), Gathas(Zoroastrianism) Torah(Judaism), ), Tao Tehking(Taoism), Qur’an(Islam) and the second type of books do not institute a new religion but append to the existing religion like Gospel and old testament books(Judaism), Upanishads, books given to Mahavir, Buddha, etc(Hinduism). Only God revealed books containing laws and ordinances only institute a religion or in other words, God’s religion is based only on the authority of the books revealed by God and any religion based on other than God’s books is not accepted by God.
Worship God Alone
God is one, only one, not two or three…. No one but God is God or can become God in any sense. God is self existing and unborn. He never takes birth either as humans or any other creatures. God taking birth ie incarnation is inappropriate to his nature, might and attributes. The notion of incarnation of God is only a human invention and there is nothing true in that. All the prophets were ordained by God to preach worship of God alone. God has very clearly and strictly ordained all humans in his books to worship him alone and has warned us against worshiping other than him or associating partner to him. God has made it very clear that worshiping other than God or ascribing partner to him is the greatest of all sins.
What is Worship
All acts like praying, praising, bowing, kneeling, saluting, prostrating, calling to help and other acts done in reverence is tantamount to worship. There is a difference between worship and merely showing respect to living humans. The afore-mentioned acts done just as a gesture of respect to living humans do not amount to worship but if the same acts are done before a statue, idol, any picture or any other articles and calling or praying to the dead persons, the acts become worship other than God.
Two Forms of Worship
1.Worship by praises, songs, bowing down, kneeling, prostrating, meditation or any other acts like saying “ In the name of God, If God will, invoking God’s blessings” etc, before starting any work.
2. Worship by rituals ordained by God. There are many rituals ordained by God in his law making books, to be performed by all humans. Among these rituals is a compulsory worship to be performed daily by every human being. This compulsory ritual worship has was ordained by God in all religions instituted by him. All prophets, their immediate followers and some generations after them performed this compulsory ritual worship. But, miserably this compulsory ritual worship has vanished from the practice of existing religions except in Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. This compulsory ritual worship is none other than Yajna(Yagna/Yaga) in Hinduism and Yasna in Zoroastrianism. But peoples have distorted the pure form of performing Yajna/Yasna. It has to be purged of human distortions and restored to its originality and should become a part of day to day household and public practice. We all who believe in God should strive for this cause and serve God.
TRUE RELIGION AND WORSHIP
Purpose of Life
God has not made the creation for a sport but with a great purpose. We were not created merely for a short term life but for eternity. All of us humans, angels, Jinns are destined to live eternally. No one will be spared from eternal life. We humans are here on the earth only for a passing life which is only a trial period to qualify ourselves either for eternal bliss or eternal doom. God, the merciful and benevolent did not impose this trial on us but we, humans only did choose the trial. Though we chose the trial in the beginning of creation, out of his infinite mercy, God promised us to give his guidance to emerge victorious from the trial as we need God’s guidance and protection at all times since the evil force(Satan/Mara/Angra Mainyu) who is one of the creatures of God and who revolted against God the Almighty, is always trying with his hosts to make humans go astray and deviate from the right path. After all, the evil force and his hosts could be able to revolt against God with the free will given by God to his creatures.
Guidance from God
As promised in the beginning, God sent his guidance by choosing some of the righteous men as his prophets(Rishi/Nabi) from among the peoples that lived in various parts of the world in all ages right from the period of the first man Adam to the last prophet Muhammad(Muhammad is the last one in the line of prophets), and giving them books by revelation(Sruthi/Sroasha/Wahi). Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Laotzu, Manu, Krishna, Mahavir, Gautama Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Muhammad who are well known personalities are only prophets of God, but not gods, semi-gods, God’s incarnations or partners to God. There are many more prophets, most of them are unknown to us today because of loss of the books revealed to them or any records or even a hint about them in the written human history.
What is religion
Books revealed to prophets are of two types, ie 1. Books containing laws and ordinances regarding rituals, criminal as well civil procedures inter alia, prophecies, and other teachings and 2. Books containing only prophecies and other teachings. The first type of books institute a new religion ie a religion to a people/nation like Vedas(Hinduism), Gathas(Zoroastrianism) Torah(Judaism), ), Tao Tehking(Taoism), Qur’an(Islam) and the second type of books do not institute a new religion but append to the existing religion like Gospel and old testament books(Judaism), Upanishads, books given to Mahavir, Buddha, etc(Hinduism). Only God revealed books containing laws and ordinances only institute a religion or in other words, God’s religion is based only on the authority of the books revealed by God and any religion based on other than God’s books is not accepted by God.
Worship God Alone
God is one, only one, not two or three…. No one but God is God or can become God in any sense. God is self existing and unborn. He never takes birth either as humans or any other creatures. God taking birth ie incarnation is inappropriate to his nature, might and attributes. The notion of incarnation of God is only a human invention and there is nothing true in that. All the prophets were ordained by God to preach worship of God alone. God has very clearly and strictly ordained all humans in his books to worship him alone and has warned us against worshiping other than him or associating partner to him. God has made it very clear that worshiping other than God or ascribing partner to him is the greatest of all sins.
What is Worship
All acts like praying, praising, bowing, kneeling, saluting, prostrating, calling to help and other acts done in reverence is tantamount to worship. There is a difference between worship and merely showing respect to living humans. The afore-mentioned acts done just as a gesture of respect to living humans do not amount to worship but if the same acts are done before a statue, idol, any picture or any other articles and calling or praying to the dead persons, the acts become worship other than God.
Two Forms of Worship
1.Worship by praises, songs, bowing down, kneeling, prostrating, meditation or any other acts like saying “ In the name of God, If God will, invoking God’s blessings” etc, before starting any work.
2. Worship by rituals ordained by God. There are many rituals ordained by God in his law making books, to be performed by all humans. Among these rituals is a compulsory worship to be performed daily by every human being. This compulsory ritual worship has was ordained by God in all religions instituted by him. All prophets, their immediate followers and some generations after them performed this compulsory ritual worship. But, miserably this compulsory ritual worship has vanished from the practice of existing religions except in Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. This compulsory ritual worship is none other than Yajna(Yagna/Yaga) in Hinduism and Yasna in Zoroastrianism. But peoples have distorted the pure form of performing Yajna/Yasna. It has to be purged of human distortions and restored to its originality and should become a part of day to day household and public practice. We all who believe in God should strive for this cause and serve God.
Nov
14
Small Article- Religion
Filed Under New Age | Leave a Comment
Dalip Singh Wasan
Religion.
There are so many religions in this world and now we are establishing so many new sub religions and this process is going on. This world and its people have divided themselves into religions and sub religions and now they have got separate religious books, separate religious places, separate way of living, separate attires, separate system of meeting each other, separate system of marriages and separate laws on divorce and maintenance of children and spouses. All the religions have got their own system of worship and prayers. Every child gets the religion in which he is born and very rarely people could change religion.
Actually the people of this world have been divided and now there seems no chance that they may unite and become one. All efforts made till date to unite the religions and become one have failed. We all are declaring that God is one, but still there are different religions and all the people have faith in their own religion and they do not believe that their prayer shall be accepted if they follow the methods prescribed in another religion..
Religions had been playing good roles, but now they are dividing the people and they are becoming enemy of each other. Some groups are turning terrorists and some are taking revenge through riots and therefore, in all parts in history of this man, the people in different religions had been fighting amongst each other and they had been killing innocent people and therefore, some roles of religions had not been good and even today, we are of the view that the next world war, if at all is shall be there, it shall be fought amongst different religions and one religion shall be trying to write off the other religion.
Time has come when somebody must come forward and unite all the religions and turn into one religion so that all these divisions of mankind could be abolished and if these divisions continue, one day this man shall destroy the man and all developments made update. We all should pray before God and request Him to send a man of will who could unite all the people and turn them one.
Religion.
There are so many religions in this world and now we are establishing so many new sub religions and this process is going on. This world and its people have divided themselves into religions and sub religions and now they have got separate religious books, separate religious places, separate way of living, separate attires, separate system of meeting each other, separate system of marriages and separate laws on divorce and maintenance of children and spouses. All the religions have got their own system of worship and prayers. Every child gets the religion in which he is born and very rarely people could change religion.
Actually the people of this world have been divided and now there seems no chance that they may unite and become one. All efforts made till date to unite the religions and become one have failed. We all are declaring that God is one, but still there are different religions and all the people have faith in their own religion and they do not believe that their prayer shall be accepted if they follow the methods prescribed in another religion..
Religions had been playing good roles, but now they are dividing the people and they are becoming enemy of each other. Some groups are turning terrorists and some are taking revenge through riots and therefore, in all parts in history of this man, the people in different religions had been fighting amongst each other and they had been killing innocent people and therefore, some roles of religions had not been good and even today, we are of the view that the next world war, if at all is shall be there, it shall be fought amongst different religions and one religion shall be trying to write off the other religion.
Time has come when somebody must come forward and unite all the religions and turn into one religion so that all these divisions of mankind could be abolished and if these divisions continue, one day this man shall destroy the man and all developments made update. We all should pray before God and request Him to send a man of will who could unite all the people and turn them one.
Nov
12
Have Knowledge of All Religions
Filed Under New Age | Leave a Comment
Dalip Singh Wasan
Have knowledge of all religions.
If you want to know what God is, what are we to God, what is God to us and what should be the goal of our life, we should read all religious books which could be available to us irrespective of religion to which those books should belong. If we call ourselves religious people, we should be having information about all the religions available on this earth.
Time has come when religion should be just a guide and not anything more to us. We must believe some basic things and those are that God is one and only one, we all are His children and we all are related to each other and we all are one family on this earth. We should be honest and straightforward and we must not deceive any one around us nor we should be having any discrimination because when all are our relatives, then we must be considering them all equal before us and we should not exploit the position of the weak.
When we read religious books of all religions we shall be surprised that all the religions are telling us the same things and there is no new or different life philosophy preached or introduced by any religion. All the religions are telling us that we are children of one God and we all are near to each other and therefore, we must love all on the earth and must live life here like brothers and sisters. If the teaching are one, we must try to learn to live like members of one family and we must see that what we had been doing in the past must be avoided now because we had been killing each other only because some people were belonging to another religion. Religions are one and if they have got different names, it is only because that all the religions had been taking their birth at different places and at different time and date and even the creators were different. But we must be happy and thankful to those who established these religions, that they did not make much differences and therefore, we must try to learn that we are one and therefore, we must bring a time on this earth when there should be no war on the basis of religions because such wars have already caused us much losses. Had the people been asked or guided to read religious books of all the religion, we would have been better people and if we had failed in the past, we must learn a lesson from the past and we must start now. And if need be we should introduce a syllabus for all the classes where we should teach religions to all the students and when we teach them religions, we must start picking out common principles from all the religious books. And that shall be the best course which we should adopt without any waste of time now.
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Have knowledge of all religions.
If you want to know what God is, what are we to God, what is God to us and what should be the goal of our life, we should read all religious books which could be available to us irrespective of religion to which those books should belong. If we call ourselves religious people, we should be having information about all the religions available on this earth.
Time has come when religion should be just a guide and not anything more to us. We must believe some basic things and those are that God is one and only one, we all are His children and we all are related to each other and we all are one family on this earth. We should be honest and straightforward and we must not deceive any one around us nor we should be having any discrimination because when all are our relatives, then we must be considering them all equal before us and we should not exploit the position of the weak.
When we read religious books of all religions we shall be surprised that all the religions are telling us the same things and there is no new or different life philosophy preached or introduced by any religion. All the religions are telling us that we are children of one God and we all are near to each other and therefore, we must love all on the earth and must live life here like brothers and sisters. If the teaching are one, we must try to learn to live like members of one family and we must see that what we had been doing in the past must be avoided now because we had been killing each other only because some people were belonging to another religion. Religions are one and if they have got different names, it is only because that all the religions had been taking their birth at different places and at different time and date and even the creators were different. But we must be happy and thankful to those who established these religions, that they did not make much differences and therefore, we must try to learn that we are one and therefore, we must bring a time on this earth when there should be no war on the basis of religions because such wars have already caused us much losses. Had the people been asked or guided to read religious books of all the religion, we would have been better people and if we had failed in the past, we must learn a lesson from the past and we must start now. And if need be we should introduce a syllabus for all the classes where we should teach religions to all the students and when we teach them religions, we must start picking out common principles from all the religious books. And that shall be the best course which we should adopt without any waste of time now.
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