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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Religions & Faiths > Interfaith

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  #11  
Old 01-07-2014, 05:12 PM
Seawolf Seawolf is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,274
 
Religious just means having and practicing spiritual beliefs. If you feel drawn to spiritual beliefs, you can try finding a group that you feel comfortable with. You can learn about religion from reading, talking to people, and going to religious groups. Then you can start to narrow down what you're interested in.

If you feel guilty for not being religious, find something that works for you. There's probably a part of you that yearns for spirituality and is causing you to feel drawn to it. If you have overwhelming guilt for things you've done in the past, that's something different, but religion can help with that too. You can also seek professional help from a psychologist. Actually those who are religious have been shown to do much better in psychological therapy.

The punishment is not something God does to you, but what we do to ourselves when we reject outright wholesome things like religion and morality. People that are religious are less likely to end up with many common problems because they have a strong sense of morality. It's good to find a group of religious people that you feel comfortable with and interact with them (in real life, not online).

Many people today hate religion, and you can see how our society has become. Focus on negativity and it will affect your life negatively, but focus on something positive like religion and you will become happier. A scientific study showed that religious people were the happiest people in the UK.
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  #12  
Old 28-08-2014, 04:42 PM
samsara4
Posts: n/a
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RabbiO
By now you should be aware that the people who post on these forums differ greatly as to belief and whether or not one has to believe as they do in order to find favor with the divine.

I could give you an answer as a Jew which you might like, but close on my heels might come TeeHee, a Christian, with a different answer, and close behind him might come slaveofallah, a Muslim, with a third answer, and not to be outdone psychoslice, who dances to his own music, might weigh in with still another answer.

Each of us would give you an answer based upon the truth as we see it. You need to seek and to search, to research and ponder and then follow the path that your mind and your heart lay out for you.

B'shalom,

Peter

Wonderful answer, RabbiO. As Ramakrishna is reported to have said, "There is one Truth but many (pathless) paths".

Each must surrender to the Spirit inherent in all and it will unerringly guide one to Truth one-step-at-a-time. Everyone is unique and intuitively knows the path most suitable for one's unfolding and this can change significantly during the unfolding process.
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  #13  
Old 30-08-2014, 07:27 AM
Morpheus Morpheus is offline
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Location: The Matrix
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"If you seek Me you will find Me, if you seek Me with all your heart" - From Jeremiah

The individual who started this thread had stated that he tries to be good. This is fine and well, but, regarding the Almighty, what is, "Good"?
In comparison with the Divine, the Spirit... scripture states "There is none good, no not one." Referring to this physical, material world and human manifestation within the time/space construct.

Meanwhile, The Almighty has been referred to in the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, both as "Savior", and "Redeemer".

Then, there are differing perceptions of "Religion", also. Meanwhile, God in His Love for mankind, has offered the gift of salvation, and, for the sake of conscience.

The Gift must be recieved. One must be in willing reception of it. Recognizing it's worth, expressing gratitude for it.

James 1:17
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation, (variableness), nor shadow of changing."
__________________
"I believe there are two sides to the phenomena known as death. This side where we live, and the other side, where we shall continue to live.
Eternity does not start with death.
We are in eternity now." - Norman Vincent Peale

"There is no place in this new kind of physics for both the field and matter, for the field is the only reality." - A. Einstein
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  #14  
Old 16-09-2014, 10:13 PM
guthrio guthrio is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 4,094
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Confused!!!! So what do I do?

Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkthinkthink
Hi!
I am confused by religion, I don't lnow which way to turn...there's so many! Does it matter if I even have a religion? Will I be punished for not having one or taking the time to look for on that suites me best?
The thing is with me is that as I'm confused by religion, I still know there's a higher power 'god' if you like, who smiles down on me when I'm singing along to myself as I ride my bike back home after a good day at wrk, a god who is there for me and I can feel all around (sometimes feels like 'he' is gone when having a hard time tho, which is odd but I feel 'him' more when things turn around for the better, which I guess is 'his' idea in the first place?) I have a very big concious and know right from wrong, like 'he's' there telling me the right path, sometimes I make wrong decisions like everyone else but all in all in all I'm a happy positve person, greatfull for the life I have, I stop and smell the flowers everyday, look up at the beautifull sky with thanks. I love this world and all the beautifull things in it. I try to be good as I can be and when I don't I'm my own worst judge on my wrong doings. So with all this in mind, saying as how I don't follow a religion will I be punished for this?

Thanks to all who answer and help
Peace

Thinkthinkthink,

What to do ? "Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you."

My own search over the years has involved considering that EXPERIENCING WHAT IS TRUE about Reality is the knowledge I needed.....not being sidetracked into finding a science to categorize it, or a philosophy to explain it, or a religion to save me.

Looking at the world through the "eyes" of Scientific Spirituality, I realized that the truth about the "reach" of our very understanding of REALITY is that each and every advancement has come about after we discovered what has ALWAYS BEEN TRUE, and waiting for us to discover it....our progress is based on SELF-DISCOVERY of what ALREADY IS....TRUE !!

...even when the tightly held ideas WE THOUGHT WERE TRUE were REALLY based on false information and dogma, WHICH virtually everyone believed, transmitted, and acted upon AS IF TRUE .....that is, until others, following their OWN ideas came along, who had quantifiable, repeatable, verifiable evidence based on a DIFFERENT set of ideas that turned the paradigm of established scientific or religious consensus on its head !!

Can there be any truer indictment of the history of mankind’s exploration and discovery of both scientific and religious Truth than to acknowledge that it is replete with examples of this or that scientist or religious prelate pontificating that this or that phenomena is impossible ???

The Principles of Life uncovered by scientists that govern the relationship between mass, gravity, time, and the curvature of space to produce black holes have been in perfect operation just as eternally before their discovery of those principles as is the frequency upon which you enjoy listening to your favorite music; indeed, existent ever since the Universe cooled it into resonance along with the infinite gradations of frequency radiating beside it. These principles HAD to have been in operation just as perfectly BEFORE we discovered how to harness them into technology as they presently operate now. Or we would not be able to continue to utilize them for our technology today, much less build them into technological improvements tomorrow!

The 6-volume set of books I've used as reference, below, changed my life and how I see EVERYTHING. I strongly believe they will have a similar effect on yours. You'll see why (especially by the time you get to page 21 of Vol 1) !

Once I understood what Baird Spalding meant in the reference below, that "Perfection does not come from projecting our own ideas but from awakening to the knowledge that it is already the established order of things." ,

...it was simply a matter of applying that perspective as Scientific Spirituality in the following manner (as also excerpted from the reference)
”Becoming aware of yourself as a spiritual being, offspring of an infinite spiritual system and one with all the powers and capacities within that system, is the very essence of attainment. To grow from the present state of awareness of himself as a material being and into the consciousness that he is a spiritual being contains the full secret of man's attainment.' Man's nature cannot be reversed for he always remains a spiritual being. He can only reverse his notion of himself. Instead of doing this, he should reverse his mistaken idea that he is a material being and retain the truth that he is a spiritual being created in the image and likeness of God."

With these considerations in mind, I've found that the search for answers has always been WITHIN!

Seek and you WILL find....

Hope you are helped in your own search by this, and the references below...

Reference: Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East Volumes 1 - 6 by Baird T. Spalding

Reference: http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...4&postcount=22

Reference: http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...72&postcount=8
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  #15  
Old 04-10-2014, 02:16 AM
passnthru2 passnthru2 is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 73
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Thumbs up sounds like you got a good thing going, dont mess it up!!

stay away from religion. I have been researching religion for 60 years. [check out Cesar's Messiah on youtube.] every religion was started by some schizophrenic psychopath hearing voices in his head. it is called 'LEFT TEMPERAL EPOLEPSY', THE PERSON HAS HALUCINATIONS OF A RELIGIOUS NATURE. it is all up to you, check out Michael Harners "Cave and Cosmos" and Hank Wesselman's Spirit Walker Trilogy. cheap ay Amazon. Shamanism is well over 70,000 years old, there is some evidence it may be 150,000 years old. it is as old as Mankind. you don't have to be a Shaman, a practitioner simply lives a Shamanic life. which is one devoted to helping others. no one can call themselves a Shaman, only others can after they produce consistent miraculous healings.
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  #16  
Old 04-10-2014, 02:48 AM
TaoSandwich
Posts: n/a
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkthinkthink
I stop and smell the flowers everyday, look up at the beautifull sky with thanks. I love this world and all the beautifull things in it. I try to be good as I can be and when I don't I'm my own worst judge on my wrong doings. So with all this in mind, saying as how I don't follow a religion will I be punished for this?

Thanks to all who answer and help
Peace

Thinkthinkthink,

This God that you experience here, just find ways to better get in touch with it. If this involves studying different religions and seeing which ones bring you into the closest communion with this (I do this!), then that is one path that works. The important things is that you know in your heart, from what you described, what God "feels" like. Some religious concepts can help you to understand more aspects of God, but NEVER let religious concepts turn you against what you know to be true in your own heart.

Best Wishes,
-TaoSandwich
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  #17  
Old 04-10-2014, 05:21 AM
Morpheus Morpheus is offline
Master
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The Matrix
Posts: 6,575
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Quote:
Originally Posted by passnthru2
stay away from religion. I have been researching religion for 60 years. [check out Cesar's Messiah on youtube.] every religion was started by some schizophrenic psychopath hearing voices in his head. it is called 'LEFT TEMPERAL EPOLEPSY', THE PERSON HAS HALUCINATIONS OF A RELIGIOUS NATURE. it is all up to you, check out Michael Harners "Cave and Cosmos" and Hank Wesselman's Spirit Walker Trilogy. cheap ay Amazon. Shamanism is well over 70,000 years old, there is some evidence it may be 150,000 years old. it is as old as Mankind. you don't have to be a Shaman, a practitioner simply lives a Shamanic life. which is one devoted to helping others. no one can call themselves a Shaman, only others can after they produce consistent miraculous healings.

Right. Now the fad is the, "Roman Savior".
The opinion of those disaffected towards Christianity, and Religion in general. Who misunderstand what Religion actually is. And of course, most likely by the same people who embraced, "The Davinci Code" as fact, before it was revealed for what it was.
- Farce.

How about you, "passn"?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Morpheus
"If you seek Me you will find Me, if you seek Me with all your heart" - From Jeremiah

The individual who started this thread had stated that he tries to be good. This is fine and well, but, regarding the Almighty, what is, "Good"?
In comparison with the Divine, the Spirit... scripture states "There is none good, no not one." Referring to this physical, material world and human manifestation within the time/space construct.

Meanwhile, The Almighty has been referred to in the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, both as "Savior", and "Redeemer".

Then, there are differing perceptions of "Religion", also. Meanwhile, God in His Love for mankind, has offered the gift of salvation, and, for the sake of conscience.

The Gift must be recieved. One must be in willing reception of it. Recognizing it's worth, expressing gratitude for it.

James 1:17
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation, (variableness), nor shadow of changing."

Essentially, so said the Buddha.

Any comment?
__________________
"I believe there are two sides to the phenomena known as death. This side where we live, and the other side, where we shall continue to live.
Eternity does not start with death.
We are in eternity now." - Norman Vincent Peale

"There is no place in this new kind of physics for both the field and matter, for the field is the only reality." - A. Einstein
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  #18  
Old 04-10-2014, 03:28 PM
Gem Gem is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 22,075
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkthinkthink
Hi!
I am confused by religion, I don't lnow which way to turn...there's so many! Does it matter if I even have a religion? Will I be punished for not having one or taking the time to look for on that suites me best?
The thing is with me is that as I'm confused by religion, I still know there's a higher power 'god' if you like, who smiles down on me when I'm singing along to myself as I ride my bike back home after a good day at wrk, a god who is there for me and I can feel all around (sometimes feels like 'he' is gone when having a hard time tho, which is odd but I feel 'him' more when things turn around for the better, which I guess is 'his' idea in the first place?) I have a very big concious and know right from wrong, like 'he's' there telling me the right path, sometimes I make wrong decisions like everyone else but all in all in all I'm a happy positve person, greatfull for the life I have, I stop and smell the flowers everyday, look up at the beautifull sky with thanks. I love this world and all the beautifull things in it. I try to be good as I can be and when I don't I'm my own worst judge on my wrong doings. So with all this in mind, saying as how I don't follow a religion will I be punished for this?

Thanks to all who answer and help
Peace

I'm pretty sure anyone can just be themselves and not be punished for it, and really, people are basically uncertain when it comes down to it... a sense of certainty really comes from self confidence and trust which develops through being honest with yourself and living with with self determination... so personal virtue based in truthfulness is key, I reckon.
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Radiate boundless love towards the entire world ~ Buddha
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  #19  
Old 04-10-2014, 06:44 PM
Florence Florence is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 197
 
I was raised Roman Catholic and there were so many rules, for example not eating meat on Fridays, going to confession before communion, attending mass every week, supporting the Catholic church. We were told that the Catholic church was the only true religion and everyone else was going to hell. This was all about control!! Now that people are more educated the churches are suffering and closing their doors. I have not gone to church for many years but it took a long time to stop feeling guilty after being brainwashed for years.
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  #20  
Old 23-11-2014, 06:58 AM
eileen rose
Posts: n/a
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkthinkthink
Hi!
I am confused by religion, I don't lnow which way to turn...there's so many! Does it matter if I even have a religion? Will I be punished for not having one or taking the time to look for on that suites me best?
The thing is with me is that as I'm confused by religion, I still know there's a higher power 'god' if you like, who smiles down on me when I'm singing along to myself as I ride my bike back home after a good day at wrk, a god who is there for me and I can feel all around (sometimes feels like 'he' is gone when having a hard time tho, which is odd but I feel 'him' more when things turn around for the better, which I guess is 'his' idea in the first place?) I have a very big concious and know right from wrong, like 'he's' there telling me the right path, sometimes I make wrong decisions like everyone else but all in all in all I'm a happy positve person, greatfull for the life I have, I stop and smell the flowers everyday, look up at the beautifull sky with thanks. I love this world and all the beautifull things in it. I try to be good as I can be and when I don't I'm my own worst judge on my wrong doings. So with all this in mind, saying as how I don't follow a religion will I be punished for this?

Thanks to all who answer and help
Peace


Like anything in our life, it is time to investigate, rather than decide (via the mental ideas you have).
Try some on for size...that is what I do (in such circumstances).

When I need a new teacher, I start to attend sessions, of a teacher/teaching, tell I find the right fit, for me and my circumstances (like income, locality, etc.). God will send you what you need, if you keep being clear, you do need something.
Same with church, aka religion.
If you feel good in a service type situation, then there is your answer (regarding attending services).

I have discovered, in my own walk on this planet, that you don't have to be right (or nervous) about your decisions. You just need to make some (to get the energy moving in said direction).

Once you have laid the foundational work (for any endeavor), then you can begin to push off into other realms, or study individually....because now your course (foundation) is set.
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