what is your relegion?

[Dondi]

Originally Posted by RubySera_Martin

Flow, this topic is near and dear to my heart. I am not sure where to discuss it. I guess I'll carry on here and if a new thread is needed we'll deal with it then.

QUESTION: How do you envision this new form of Christianity to look?

I've seen you on The Center for Progressive Christianity and I've read their pdf handbook. Do you envision something along that line?

I would like to see a thread on progressive Christianity, perhaps in this Belief and Spirituality forum, since it may delve into non-orthodox areas.. Could you all start one like this?

[Dondi]

Grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist church. Got saved at 13. Withdrew from church in my late teens and partied with friends. Degenerated to a marginal agnostic. But I soon got disenchanted by partying lifestyle I was living. Delved into ESP, hoping it would some how change me, but backed out after author started to encourage speaking with "spiritual guides". Figured if "spiritual guides" were real, then God must is real. So one night,
I fell on my face to God for repentance, without any expectation of God answering, for even if He did hear, he seemed a million miles away. Got the surprise of my life when an incredible force of what I can only describe as pure love pour over me in a flood of forgiveness of my sin and shame and no longer felt despair(I cried for quite some time, but joyfully). I felt cleansed and somehowed refreshed in my life (Only those who have felt this really know what I'm talking about) Got involved in an Apostolic Church, upon to finding the first Christian I met after my experience inviting me there. Grew quite a bit there, but soon disagreed with their doctrines concerning salvation and their "shepherding" (I was expected to attend every service unless Providentially hindered. I didn't see much freedom and liberty in Christ in that.) Found a charismatic Baptist church, of all things (that is a story in itself). Continued to follow Charismatic churches ( I moved a lot in the Navy). Got married to a Baptist Filipina (a rarity, since 95% of Filipinos are Catholic, but that's another story, too) Even after I met her and courted her and nearly engaged to her I didn't know she was Baptist. To this day, I believe I felt she was God appointed for me, and I to her (she'd been praying for a Baptist husband).

So then for the last 16 years, I've been a fundamental Baptist again. however, in the last two years, my paradigm about the exclusivity of salvation has broadened significantly. I see the Spirit of Christ in people of other religions and denominations. And I continue to re-evaluate my positional beliefs.

[flowperson]

Dondi:

I've been through similar spiritual experiences, but did not feel that they happened to me because I was a sinner. I believe that they happened to me because something out there chose to give me information that we all need to know for our own good. When I did just that by writing what I knew, in part, and passing it around, I was banished from the realm, and my second marriage was destroyed.

I had led an upright life, been faithful to my two wives, but was excluded from their lives simply for what I chose to believe about outmoded forms of belief. I'm not angry at anyone except those who judged me, but who also refused to even question what I wrote and did not even have the courage to face me in discussions about it. I guess you could call this faceless, cowardly, judgemental persecutor the enemy, at least mine.

Ruby:

I hear what you're saying, but I do not look upon my experiences as out of the ordinary, since I'm not an out of the ordinary person. Others have had similar spiritual moments as Dondi's post and my experiences demonstrate. I just happened to know a little more than most people in the 80's did about the future that's already here in many ways today 20 years later. That's why I was judged and pushed around, like you were, but for different reasons.

Whether you're in Canada or the USA, we are simply not prepared to understand or deal with the dynamics of such changes. Most of our moral codes which stem from religious beliefs that are hundreds or thousands of years old, still serve us well in simple and straightforward ways. But the changes I'm talking about are those that technologically interact with what we are as human beings on very intimate levels. It is my humble opinion, and has been for twenty years that we need an update of some kind to help as many people as possible deal with the transformations that are already beginning.

Inhumility:

You are absolutely correct of course, And you too Ruby. This is a set of problems that directly affects the foundations of western civilizations since they are normatively addressed by the Abrahamic religions. But the schisms that are developing within each of the religions are due, IMHO, to the willingness of some to face an uncertain future with faith and hope, and an unwillingness of fundamentalist believers to do so, and to inherently and exclusively turn to the past for guidance. The answers will involve applying the knowledge and promises of life in the present and future with the wisdom of the past in creative and synergistic ways so all may move forward together. Fighting wars about it all certainly won't solve any of it, as we are still seeing every day now.

flow....

[livingintheraw]

I agree w/ Ahmadi. I was raised a Christian and still believe that Jesus was here w/a very important mission. I have problems with what the "Church" has done to cloud his mission to surve their purpose. I guess you can say that I am a mixture of Christian and Hindu. I believe the Jesus reached true enlightenment which is how he was able to rise from the dead in 3 days. There are many great Yogi's that can do the same thing and have. It is said that Jesus was in India during the "Lost Years". If you look you will see his message is similar. But all of this is mute, because his true word has been garbled by the political aspirations of "Man" to control the world. We may never know what Jesus truly meant, but the underlying truth of his message is for us to LOVE each other regardless of our differences. How far from the beaten path have we fallen... Namaste! Pamela

[inhumility]

Originally Posted by livingintheraw

I agree w/ Ahmadi. I was raised a Christian and still believe that Jesus was here w/a very important mission. I have problems with what the "Church" has done to cloud his mission to surve their purpose.
It is said that Jesus was in India during the "Lost Years".

Thanks for appreciation.
Jesus had not to rise from the dead but he got cured from the near death position on the Cross.
In my opinion those who believe Jesus died on Cross, do not correctly understand what Jesus said and prophesized, in fact on Jesus was revealed Word of God and he spoke with authority and inspiration from God also; the writers of Bible were not inspired by God since they were not revealed word of God by God. I prefer to believe in Jesus rather than the story writers of Bible who have internal contradictions and ambiguities in their writings, as they were human beings like us. They forsake Jesus in the hour of need that amply justifies that they were not the inspired people and that their writings are to be taken with extra caution not to be believed blindly. Jesus is the basis, he prophesized he will show sign of Jonah to the Jews, and Jonah remained alive in the belly of fish for three days and three nights, so Jesus had to be alive on the Cross and also in the grave for three days and three nights; otherwise the prophecy and sign become meaningless.
With Mary his mother Jesus went to India secretly lest his enemies follow him and persecute him after the incident of Crucifixion in search of the lost tribes of Israel who lived in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet and the nearing areas. It is for this reason there is no mention of account of Mary’s life in the Gospels and so of Jesus.
Thanks

[arthra]

Originally Posted by shinyhope

every one choose his relegion
perhaps from his parents
or because he believe in it
so what you say about your religion

Hello Shiny hope!

Welcome to the Forum. I'm Baha'i and declared my belief in Baha'u'llah as the Manifestation of God for this day when I was twenty five years old... I was sort of a covert Baha'i before that time having read Baha'i Writings and been impressed by them.

I was raised a Baptist (American Baptist Convention) and explored various branches of Christianity... and religions, enjoyed Swami Prabhavananda of the Vedanta Society and Theravadin Buddhism from some Thai monks. Later I taught Yoga in a Hindu Temple.

I was wonering if Shiny hope you could share what life is like in Syria these days?

- Art

[mee]

what is your relegion? the one that is in unity of purpose . unity of purpose works wonders.

[Operacast]

Not sure if I haven't already answered a similar question on another thread? But this question is always worthwhile, since it compels anyone responding to reflect honestly on what seems especially important to the writer. Having grown up an agnostic, I later arrived at my chosen belief in middle age through a process of sifting through various traditions and uncanny historical patterns "on the ground". There were thus relatively few cultural influences from my youth (well, few that I am viscerally aware of) involved in my ultimate choice.

I start with an assumption that may simply be viewed as a sort of faith and no more by others reading this, but anyway: I believe that the patterns uncovered by evolution researchers like Stephen Jay Gould and others inheriting from Darwin's and Wallace's discoveries are entirely valid and that evolution can now be accepted as a fact. Tied to that, the number of cases in which a pride of a certain species will (usually) flourish better when there is a visible habit of getting along peacefully as a group and moreover looking after each other tenderly, including the weaker and more vulnerable, seems telling.

So, by analogy, the successful evolution of humanity seems similarly tied, to me, to the incremental steps that different human cultures have taken through the eons toward "inclusiveness" for the "outsider", the vulnerable, the erstwhile abused. These steps aren't merely advances in "civilization", to me, but clear instances in which "nature" is working well.

Now, whether one is looking at the earliest Sumerian formulations mandating care for the "widow and orphan" -- a phrase first introduced by Urukagina ca. 2300 B.C.E. -- or the Declaration of Independence from a bare 200+ years ago, the most significant such breakthroughs always seem tied to similarly pathbreaking "spins" on worship/the metaphysical. This double pattern involving ethical altruism and the metaphysical together seems so consistent through so many millennia that it's hard for me to view it as coincidence. From that, I (provisionally) conclude that there may be a symbiotic connection between increased sensitivity to the "outsider"/vulnerable/erstwhile abused on the one hand and progressive insights into deity on the other.

In choosing which tradition(s) to follow, I tend to go with those pathbreakers who give the impression of being the most independent of all. That is -- although nothing in history emerges from a total vacuum, of course -- I gravitate to those figures who seem to buck most the general trends of those around them in the process of arriving at their conclusions concerning altruism and the divine. This is because, in their virtual counter-culturalism, they seem the ones most likely to reflect first-hand insights into the nature of things rather than assimilation through a second-hand peer-pressure process.

With due acknowledgement for the wisdom and generosity of many a religious founder through the ages (every religion is worthwhile to an extent, IMO), the figures I ultimately find myself trusting most are those who seem to combine overt counter-culturalism with overt inclusiveness and overt peacefulness. The ones who seem to encompass these three attributes the most staunchly -- IMHO, of course -- are Buddha and Christ. This is not to discount the evident wisdom of other figures like Krishna, Moses, Confucius and Mohammed. It's just that Buddha and Christ give (to me, anyway) a particularly overwhelming impression of blamelessness and "apartness".

So my "religion" is now a synthesis of those insights that both Buddha and Christ are in harmony on: unconditional love for all, the obligation to care for all and act with charity, a yearning for peace, and the idea that deity represents above all the highest possible standard for ethical action. No, I don't pretend to follow this with any perfection at all, but it's what I strive for.

Cheers,

Operacast

[Operacast]

Originally Posted by Operacast

So my "religion" is now a synthesis of those insights that both Buddha and Christ are in harmony on: unconditional love for all, the obligation to care for all and act with charity, a yearning for peace, and the idea that deity represents above all the highest possible standard for ethical action. No, I don't pretend to follow this with any perfection at all, but it's what I strive for.

Yeah, sure...........

[samabudhi]

No?

[Operacast]

Originally Posted by samabudhi

No?

No, since I always get hot under the collar, as witness the ultimate comparative study? thread at

http://www.comparative-religion.com/...dy-5496-3.html

and

http://www.comparative-religion.com/...dy-5496-4.html

[Ddraig44goch]

Hail and Greetings

The Northern Way is my religion.

I'm one of those conservative, outspoken, Nature-loving, mead-drinking,
panentheistic, henotheistic, mystical Heathens your grandmother
warned you about!

Hail the Aesir; Hail the Vanir

[Eudaimonist]

Originally Posted by mee

what is your relegion? the one that is in unity of purpose . unity of purpose works wonders.

What is "unity of purpose"?

Whose purpose(s)? How are they unified? Etc.


eudaimonia,

Mark