Religious Harmony

[lolipop]

I'm the kind of person that almost always asks "Why?" I guess you could say that this comes from the fact that I was born within a religion that seems to have simple answers to hard questions. My questioning is mostly aimed at the fact that the understanding within other religions doesn't seem to make much sense.

My father tells me that these different understandings comes from how everyone views their god, or the One True God (whichever one applies to the religion). Those that believe that their god is jealous and is all "fire and brimstone" seem to look severely on those that are not a part of their religion and yell at those who do not believe. So some would say that this is the stereotypical Baptist minister. Then there are those that believe that their God doesn't care about them at all. This brings up the problem of not caring what they do, even if it is destructive to themselves. Then there are those that believe that their God loves them, just as he loves everyone, and wants them to be happy without any ties to guilt, or in other words a full joy. Those that believe this treat others like they are important, and wish nothing more than to ensure the safety and happiness of those they know and maybe even those they don't.

I would like to think that I am the last one, as many have told me that I am respectful and care about what people have to say. In fact, I've never been one to yell at people unless it is absolutely necessary, which is what I believe my God would do if he was in my place. The question I have is whether you all see the same thing that I see, or if you see a variation on it. Also, does anyone have an explanation for these different behaviors?

[kris]

lolipop, the title of your thread is why I decied to make a post here. I love oxymorons! Unlike you, I was not born within any religion. But I like to ask hard questions and have not found answers to them in the religions that I have looked into. So while it is possible that one or some of the religions I have not looked into may have answers to my questions, the religions I have looked into have been totally disappointing.
My questioning is mostly aimed at the fact that the understanding within other religions doesn't seem to make much sense.
That is a curious statement. While many here on this forum appear to have been born within one of the Christian religions, some of them seem intrigued, if not impressed, by the answers they find in other religions, notably Buddhism. But I have a question for you. Why doesn't understanding within other religions make sense to you? On a more fundamental level, why seek answers within religions at all? Why does it make sense to limit our understanding to the confines of a religion or religions?

[lolipop]

Why doesn't understanding within other religions make sense to you?

I guess you could say that I have yet to look at religions outside of Christianity. Maybe that's where I need to start looking. :) Anyway, the reasoning that other Christian religions have doesn't make much sense to me because they seem too depressing.

"Either you accept Christ, or you go to Hell." Well, what about those that have not even heard of a being called Jesus? For example, the people in the southeastern region of Asia (like China or Japan) have believed in many gods ruling over a particular aspect of life, or no religion at all. How are they supposed to know that there is a Messiah when he wasn't born among them, or didn't visit him? Are we supposed to believe that only those living in America and Europe will be saved and everyone else will have to make due with the fiery pits? That doesn't seem right to me.

Now, there are those that don't see it like that, but they never really answer that question. They'll agree with you and say, "Oh yeah, everyone should have a chance in their life."

"Well then, what about those that don't even know that there is a god?"

"...Let's go on to something else." I actually had a conversation like this one at school with my biology teacher who is very religious and likes to talk about how science is inconsistent with her beliefs (but she's off the hook since everyone in the class is Christian). When I give her questions like, "Should babies really be sent to Hell since they have done nothing wrong?" She nodded her head, told me that baby's are "poor little things" and moved on with the lesson. I don't know why, but I felt very frustrated since it seemed that she didn't even think about my question.

On a more fundamental level, why seek answers within religions at all? Why does it make sense to limit our understanding to the confines of a religion or religions?

I understand what you mean by this, and I have to agree. I am actually very fond of mathematics and science, just as long as people are able to explain it in a way that helps me understand what they are thinking. I am not denying the answers we can get from math and science at all. It's just that math and science make more sense to me than other Christian religions do. I don't think it's on the idea of "blind" faith, but more on how people don't want to explain why they believe what they believe.

I believe what I believe because, to me, it gives the math and science meaning. Why do we have all of this information in our grasp if we are not meant to use it after we die? How can we be an accident if we are capable of mixing pleasure with survival? There must be a reason for everything.

[vicente]

I guess you could say that I have yet to look at religions outside of Christianity. Maybe that's where I need to start looking. :) Anyway, the reasoning that other Christian religions have doesn't make much sense to me because they seem too depressing.



Religious Harmony? That's for adding to the list of oxymorons.

V



http://www.thebigview.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3757&highlight=oxymoron

[lolipop]

Religious Harmony? That's for adding to the list of oxymorons.

I'm sorry, but I would have to disagree to a point. When it comes to the Christian religion, you can see a lot of similarities between the religions. So that must mean that they all came from one singular religion, and that would come from, I guess, the religion from England. But now, if you look further, the Christian religion in England came about from the teachings from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament came about from the teachings that the disciples of Christ spread after Christ's death and resurrection. These teachings are what I would say a liberal form of what the Jews had been going by. So, Christianity originally came from the Jews. Another thing that supports this is the Old Testament. As far as I know, the Jews believe what is written in the Old Testament. It's just the New Testament that they don't agree with.

Now, I know I might be stretching a little far with this, but you could say that Muslims and Christians are related, too. This is because the Muslims believe that Christ was a good prophet; it's just that they think that Muhammad was the best prophet. Now, when it comes to the other religions, such as Budhism and Taoism (are those the same things?), I don't really have a clue. So that's where I have to admit that the religions don't seem to make much sense.

But now that I think about it, there is one other religion that I know about that's outside of Christianity. The Native American culture, you could say is a form of religion. Anyway, I remember one story that my teacher told me that did not think connected to the Bible stories. It was the story of the tortoise. A tree fell from the sky, and it would destroy the whole earth, but the tortoise gave its life to save everyone else. He did die, but the rest of the earth was safe, and that was how land came about. I don't know about everyone else, but I see some parts that connect to this.

First of all, there was a tree. According to the Old Testament, the Tree of Knowledge was what started the time of man, and it came from the sky in that God had made it. Second of all, the tortoise giving his life is in the similtude of Christ giving his life in order to save everyone else. He did die, but he was resurrected and now everyone has a chance to be saved.

I hope this makes sense, but with all of this in mind, you could say that all of these religions/cultures are related.