(OT) Some advice for me / My Depression Thread / Thanks forumers

narf poit chez BOOM · #1 June 3rd, 2003, 10:59 PM

religon's of all types have been used by corrupt people. that is why one must have a personal relationship with god. to simply condemn all religons for the corruptions of a few people is a mistake.

[ June 03, 2003, 22:00: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

Jack Simth · #2 June 3rd, 2003, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
religon's of all types have been used by corrupt people.

A more general Version of that statement is also true: Orginizations of all types have been used by corrupt people to do evil things.

Taera · #3 June 4th, 2003, 12:10 AM

tbonbop, a small confession here, there were only two people who i'd talk to about my problems, and when they were there i didnt have problems to talk about. those two are left in israel. there is no person right now i'd talk to about my problems, each one having a different reason for me not wanting to.

i have posted it here simple because i have spent a lot of time around the people here, as well as i do believe you to be adult people. (and my belief here was justified)

self esteem... i have problems there im trying to solve now.
what yes, one of my... questions? ... is that i dont want to receive pity. sincere or not, pity is pity... feels and sounds wrong.

regarding this particular post, i saw what i wrote - "dont know if anyone cares". in this context though it was more along the lines of the fact that it is a self-discovery i made that i dont know if anyone is interested in knowing. i still posted it here, to kind-of summarize my previous line of thinking and show you, all of you, that you had helped me at least to understand this.

and i want to respond to the thread of religion. this is a much-debated over topic. i, with my sometimes bitter and critical point of view, and i will disagree with you all. religion is a way to a neverending question of humankind, and soul problems. dont tell me im blaspheming in next sentence. god may exist and may not (my beliefs tend to be towards the former) but the belief had not once given people an answer, a solution or a new life. i speak from a non-worshipper point of view, religion is an incredible invention of humankind that had not once united differnt people, helped persons and Groups and nations to survive or to find an answer.
All you can blame on religion is ultimately the fault of the man. as such you can also say biology is the worst invention of the human race - it is the ultimate killer against which there is no escape whatsoever. a recovering patient would not agree with you.

religion is an answer, not means for anything. some people though take beliefs too far, and it is a common humanly trait. and there are always those willing to use the opportunity. when religion becomes fanatiscism it is not religion. it is fanatiscism. hence the different word. and you cannot confuse or even connect the two.

tbontob · #4 June 4th, 2003, 12:20 AM

Yes and the early Christian church was no exception.

It is a little known fact that when Constantine made Christianity the state religion in the 4th century, the Christians turned around and started to persecute the Nestorians.

Until then, the Nestorians were a legitimate sect of Christianity believing that Jesus was totally human. This changed with the Council of Nicia where the Nician Creed was passed which states that Jesus is both totally human and totally divine.

The Nestorians were an Eastern sect and the persecution went on for centuries. Some scholars believe that they were eventually absorbed into the Muslim faith which believes Jesus is a prophet but not divine.

Many of us think of Christianity as a bush growing out of one central source. Scholars now tend to view Christianity as a hourglass with an early explosion of different forms of Christianity followed by a restriction and then expanding again with Protestantism.

narf poit chez BOOM · #5 June 4th, 2003, 12:27 AM

taera, without the answers and support my religon gives me, i would be in worse shape, even if i beleived in god. i could find out answers to my problems with my own faith in god, but i wouldn't be prepared with them beforehand. and i believe if all people truly loved and cared for each other, our problems would disapear fast. case in point: do you rob or kill someone you love? no. so there's war and theft gone right there. and my religon helps me a lot with that.

tbontob · #6 June 4th, 2003, 01:00 AM

Taera, I hear you.

Pity has a connotation of condescension. That the person is not quite right. That he is defective in some way.

But none of us are perfect beings. And if one of us were perfect, what is he doing here?

My feeling is we are on this earth to learn something. What each of us need to learn is different for each individual.

I also believe we visit this realm numerous times. Sometimes as a male and sometimes as a female. I may be Jewish in one life, Christian in another and an agnostic in the third. Or something else.

Is it true? I don't know. I certainly cannot prove it. But to my mind it is just as valid as the Christian belief that we have one life and either end up in Hell or sitting on the right hand of God himself. For Christians cannot prove the validity of that belief however much they may point to the Bible.

If you have taken philosophy, you know you can neither prove the existance of God or disprove his existance. So it all comes down to faith.

People often ask me if I am religious. My answer is no as I do not adhere to any religion. I feel all religions have something to teach us.

But I do believe in God/higher power/greater being etc. I believe in the brotherhood of man. And one of the many lessons we need to learn is how to be compassionate to others who have fallen upon hard times.

Still wanting to put me into some sort of Category, they ask or state "You are spiritual". I answer "Yes", but that does not in any way make me special for I believe we are all spiritual beings temporarily cloathed in flesh.

And I hear you about fanaticism. At the risk of offending Christians, I belief Christ was able to convey only a little of what he knew/discovered. Like a child who could not understand Calculus if we tried to explain it to him, we are like children with the mysteries of the universe.

So you are wise to be skeptical of fanaticism. It can be a trap, since fanaticism implies an intolerance of other beliefs.

But lot of people are drawn to it as it overlays the uncertainties we feel in life and can give a feeling of security in an insecure world.

Atrocities · #7 June 4th, 2003, 02:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chief Engineer Erax:

quote:
Originally posted by Atrocities:
It can also be regrettibly said that man invented religion as a means to control [...]
I know that God has not foresaken me because of this. And how dare some one ever emply that he has.

I'm sure this wasn't aimed at me directly. For the record, my views are similar to yours. But I decided I would study religious doctrine so I wouldn't be caught by surprise in certain situations.

Oh dude, no, my comment was in no way directed at you or any member of this forum. Please forgive the generalization of my post. Chief Engineer Erax I honestly am sorry if I made you think that my post was directed at you. It was not directed at any one.