religion/spirituality

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I'm a Christian so yes I believe in God.

As for spirituality and those who have not seeked it, do you question when people, who have, say they can 'feel it?'

Those of you who have read almost anything I have said here probably know this already.

* I believe that there is a God and he sent his Son to die for us.
* I also believe that religion is not necessarily something that has to be "felt".
* I believe in a moral code of conduct that all people should follow.
* I believe that the world would be a lot better if everyone treated others with more respect.
* I believe that people are entitled to their own beliefs about things.

Other than that and what I have said elsewhere, I have a different philosophy than most people and I doubt anyone from any religious or political sect would find everything that is in my philosophy to be considered as "acceptable". That being said, I won't post about it here (or elsewhere in public) because I'm likely to get flamed for one thing or another.

You have a lot of wobsites Namiko, it's like one of those eggs that open up and there's more eggs inside.

Egotheist/Shinto/LaVey Satanist

I worship myself as God because I contain everything I need to succeed but I also worship nature because we owe our lives to it. Cut all that off and I'm a strong atheist, I deny and disprove the existence of an external "God".

I find it hilarious Namiko, a highly religious man. Has an avatar from a televison show from the mind of a Secular Humanist (Gene Roddenberry) legendary for his distaste for Theism.

I am currently a Christian

As a child I was a mixture of Christanity and Buddhism with some interest in various "pagan" mythologies (still interested, but sincerely glad that Zeus and Odin, for example do not exist.

I confess I know very little about Jainism, other than its origin in India with Mahavira. If at all similar to Theravadan Buddhism, I can see how it might be reconcilable with atheism, but how can Shinto, believing in many Kami, be so readily reconciled with Atheism? I know that Shinto and Buddhism mutually coexist for many Japanese, as with Budddhism, Taoism and Confucianism in China, and as I said some schools of Buddhism could work perfectly well with atheism. (Incidentally I think Mahayana Buddhism could coexist quite well with egotheism and autotheism, as you could obtain enlightenment and be your own Buddha or Bodhisatva). Just curious. interesting to hear from you all.

Why all the hostility to Christians (other than the various Crusades, the Inquisition - and the Gordon Riots and the at least nominally Protestant Ku Klux Klan, but is that not equivalent to blaming all Hindus for the assassination of Gandhi by one of his correligionists and for the actions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, or blaming Theravadan Buddhists for any actions of the Sinhalese military in the same country or combined Shinto-Buddhists for the atrocities of the Aum cult (I cannot remember the full name) in Japan; or blaming all Muslims for the atrocities commited by some groups? Comparisons with blaming all atheists for Stalin's, Mao's, or Pol Pot's atrocities do not work: the more apt analogy would be blaming all socialists, or at least all Marxists

As for having some image from a show created by a secular atheist as an Avatar (a term from Hinduism - just thought I'd throw that in) one might as well ask why Anubis uses the Hellenised version of the name of an ancient Egyptian god (yes I know judging by the Avatar he's more directly drawing it from Stargate SG1 where Anubis is a Goa'ould and therefore a FALSE god, but Anubis is at least partially ascended (about as close as Stargate gets to a spiritual dimension, though neither the Ancients nor the Ori are truly divine, though the latter wish to be considered so) rather than just being a serpent-like parasite controlling a human host, and no one draws any conclusions from this (not that they should).

Great to hear from you all.

How does a LaVey Satanist differ from other schools of Satanism? My only aquaintance is with the succubus Lilith and the incubus Asmodeus, and possibly the Fire Salamander (long story). Actually my childhood mixture was a little more ecclectic than Buddhism and Christianity.

I have sometimes thought that Atheism might be the truth, as well as given careful consideration to other faiths including Islam. Upon reflection I still settled for Christianity (You can consider that biased if you like).

As a child I used to argue with St Paul considering him to be quite sexist. I was also horrified by much of the Old Testament history of relationships between the Canaanites and the Israelites (yes I know the ancients Canaanites practiced sacred prostitution and child sacrifice, but couldn't they just have converted them?) Other sticking points included the Song of Solomon/Songs, particularly the Living Bible translation which I found quite disgusting - I was a bit of a prude at the time - more later

Back again.

Now where was I...

Ah yes early issues with Christianity... I used to be profoundly troubled about the idea only Christians being saved. Also whether animals have souls.

One time when I really wanted to turn my back on Christianity was in my final year of secondary/high school when I was really infatuated with this girl (it began about three years earlier but never really led anywhere). There was this really dark stage unfortunately accompanied by a callous disregard for others when I would gladly have consigned myself to perpetual perdition if it meant I could have her, even though I knew that I should not have continued thinking about her in this way after I heard she had a boyfriend.

Another dark time was when my best friend left for TAFE after year ten. I feel that I was not supportive enough of him about his homosexuality and he had been a very good friend to me for years.

At a later stage there was more a feeling of apathy than actual depression. I have since emerged from both.

I do not believe in God, but I think that people should follow his teachings (with a few exceptions).

In concern of religion i have the deepest acceptancy and respect of different religions and I belong to the protestanthic church. Even though I'm agnostic.

I'm not a believer myself but has seen so much of "believing can change the world" so I encourage faith and belief. But i do NOT encourage sects nor scientology or derivates. I still though read L Ron Hubbards books in SciFi field, like Battlefield Earth.

But most of the theses told by jesus, jahve, muhammed, buddha and so on is so common sense i spell their names without big letters in the beginning. It's just a lecture how people over the last couple of thousand years has agreed to a social skill to get adopted in society. It just makes me sad and angry when I meet people not respecting a persons religion. Even if there is none.

I've come to the decision that I will NOT label my religious beliefs. Truth be told,I'm not all that big on religion itself. But,I will say this: If I HAD to label my beliefs it would be a mixture of Buddhism,Christianity,and Mysticism.


-SpaceCase