purpose of religion

[H:O:R:A:C:E]

Originally Posted by Timothy

Funny thing about 'Love' is that it defines equality in the game of tennis but often defines submission in the game of life.

love is service. (i believe)
"for God so love the world that he gave..." [John 3:16]

[Baile]

Originally Posted by H:O:R:A:C:E

love is service. (i believe)

Did you add "I believe" as an IMO, or because you're thinking it could be something other than service?

I don't see love as service so much as it is a gift freely given. I can give gifts all day, whereas I tend to feel resentment and skepticism when I think of life as servicing others. Too many people take too much advantage of people who serve. I don't trust people enough for that lol.

[knightofalbion]

Alas, Orthodox religion tends to veer towards control and division ...

Whereas religion, or more specifically spiritual doctrine, should be about exalting the soul. Teaching and inspiring its practitioners to aspire to higher things.

Souls are a lot like birds! They don't belong confined in cages; they should be soaring on the wing through boundless skies.

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by Baile

Did you add "I believe" as an IMO, or because you're thinking it could be something other than service?

I don't see love as service so much as it is a gift freely given. I can give gifts all day, whereas I tend to feel resentment and skepticism when I think of life as servicing others. Too many people take too much advantage of people who serve. I don't trust people enough for that lol.

Think on this.

You're in town shopping. You're approaching a shop and you see a woman carrying bags coming the other way, so you open the door for her.
She very politely smiles and says 'Thank you so much'.
You're a gentleman. She's a lady.

Another woman is coming, so you hold the door for her too. She just barges past you without a word, like you were dirt.
She's no lady ... but you are still a gentleman.
And that's the thing. It's not about thanks or so forth, its about doing right.

[Baile]

Originally Posted by knightofalbion

Think on this.

You're in town shopping. You're approaching a shop and you see a woman carrying bags coming the other way, so you open the door for her.
She very politely smiles and says 'Thank you so much'.
You're a gentleman. She's a lady.

Another woman is coming, so you hold the door for her too. She just barges past you without a word, like you were dirt.
She's no lady ... but you are still a gentleman.
And that's the thing. It's not about thanks or so forth, its about doing right.

That's a very good example, one that explains my position. I am the sort who will always hold that door open. I do that with every door I open in public, I always check to make sure I'm not closing it on someone behind me.

Now, person A says thank you and person B walks by me and acts like I'm their personal doorman. So I can feel good about person A. And I can feel disgust at the behavior of person B. I give the gift either way, but I'm not someone's servant. And if they abuse my gift and kindness, I will speak up and point it out to them. Service in the form of being considerate is one thing; being quiet and saying nothing while people abuse your kindness, is submissive (I agree with Timothy here) dysfunction. It's enabling their bad behavior.

[Baile]

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.

If indignation at wrong action and behavior is improper; if it is spiritually incorrect to loudly condemn the wrong behavior of those whose behavior is wrong; if being a person of service means sumissively accepting the actions of those who manipulate and take advantage; why then Matthew 21:12? And I think we can all agree that Jesus was the epitome of a person of selfless service.

[H:O:R:A:C:E]

Originally Posted by Baile

Did you add "I believe" as an IMO, or because you're thinking it could be something other than service?

I don't see love as service so much as it is a gift freely given. I can give gifts all day, whereas I tend to feel resentment and skepticism when I think of life as servicing others. Too many people take too much advantage of people who serve. I don't trust people enough for that lol.

the statement "i believe" was meant to show that the prior statement
("love is service") was a belief; a belief of mine.
my beliefs about love are more expansive than that simple thought however.
i belief that love is, essentially, the all of everything.
(unconditional) love is the most inclusive field of energy that i am aware of;
it incorporates everything, and excludes nothing.
there is nothing more lovable than love; nothing more worthy of esteem,
respect, and admiration. "power" is a subsidiary of love; without love
directing power it has no usefulness; power is unwilling to yield where
love is quite capable to do so, so power is a lesser aspect of love's expression.
these are beliefs of mine and as such they cannot supersede anyone else's
beliefs -- we are all entitled to our own beliefs. (imo)

[Baile]

Originally Posted by H:O:R:A:C:E

i belief that love is, essentially, the all of everything.
(unconditional) love is the most inclusive field of energy that i am aware of;
it incorporates everything, and excludes nothing.
there is nothing more lovable than love

Nice. I certainly understand that intellectually. I haven't incorporated it into my being though. You know how you know you should probably do something or other, but you procrastinate and put it off, and try and forget about it because that's more comfortable? It's like that with me.

[H:O:R:A:C:E]

Originally Posted by Baile

Nice. I certainly understand that intellectually. I haven't incorporated it into my being though. You know how you know you should probably do something or other, but you procrastinate and put it off, and try and forget about it because that's more comfortable? It's like that with me.

i understand that removing a splinter can be painful, but leaving it be
and hoping it won't get disturbed doesn't resolve the issue (and proper
healing will not result from the inaction).
just saying

[Baile]

Originally Posted by H:O:R:A:C:E

i understand that removing a splinter can be painful, but leaving it be
and hoping it won't get disturbed doesn't resolve the issue (and proper
healing will not result from the inaction).
just saying

Well this is a good point to bring up with regards to the OP's original question. Religion does in fact build character because it makes one aware of the need to heal one's self of their personal, self-recognized inadequacies. Different from church-mandated and doctrine-determined inadequacies pertaining to humanity and the human condition, which people here correctly pointed out is a form of control.