Went to Congregational Sunday school; dropped all church attendance until college, then for short periods attended Baptist and Anglican churches, then lost interest.
It's a great church - has lots of historical baggage but has tried to do better - but the 'one' true church - not! There is NO "one true church" or ONE true path - all paths have some answers none has all the answers. God is not so narrow as to exclude peoples of other faiths from His Kingdom. I know you won't agree but - that's a fact.
I know I said I wasn't going to reply but I like you and almost all the opinions you give on this forum so you're an exception. :D When I said One True Church I didn't mean it exactly as exclusive but more so in the vein of it's where it all started. I don't believe God would exclude those in other faiths but I think he would have a major problem with those in other faiths who try and destroy his church! You can't go back in history and find 33,000 off shoot protestant Churches,... you only find the Catholic/Orthodox, so for me it's always just a bit of a weird slap in the face when people of newer Churches try and degrade the first Church that Peter started (some will deny this and whether or not Peter did or not and whether or not he's the First Pope it still doesn't change the fact that the Catholic church is where it all started), I don't think protestant churches are bad if they stick to God and not trying to destroy where it all started by preaching catholic hate messages and mis-information/lies. :)
Sorry for this delay...I thought I replied further to your comment...I can see your point - I believe that the Church today has a great spiritual tradition to offer those seeking a more 'traditional' connection.
You're right when you say that it's unfair when newer groups reject the Church out of hand as the great whore of Babylon or otherwise spiritually void. Worse yet some people reject others as 'lost' if they're from other faith groups based on intangible biases.
As noted by another member on this thread - too many people in all faith groups have died over theological matters - disagreements on interpretations. All this disagreement is only fueling secularist atheism - people who are down on all things God and religion.
Do we want the greater population to view faith seekers and faith groups as something which needs to be eliminated? We need to have the foresight to see that secular humanism is already well on the way to eliminating this connection!
Sincere people will be drawn to focus on the points that connect all faiths together and not focus on those that draw them apart. Then we will see that points drawing faiths together are real and tangible and those drawing faiths apart are perceptive only and quite intangible.
Of course there is One true Church or Path - open to all and - applied on the individual level - that is - sincere faith in a good heart.
The measure of whether one is on the true path is done on an individual level - not the collective...
In the book of Micah God tells us:
"It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what the LORD doth require of thee: only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." [Micah 6.8]
So He asks three things - which are 'the test' of the individual's position with the one true path!
A formal gathering or a collective of worshipers comes as something secondary to this.
It's essentially determined by our own sincerity - where we're interacting with others either we are or we are not Just and Merciful and when interacting with God either we are or we're not Humble.
Thus there are people in every faith group who are on the true Path and - those in every group who are not on the true Path.
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 1520 votes: 5
Location: Ontario
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 9:18 pm Post subject:
I was raised in a Christian home and went to church until I was about 13 when I decided that that particular church was not for me. I was baptized in the Pentecostal church at age 12 by my own choice, although I’d list my ‘religion’ as Evangelical at this point rather than Pentecostal (but I think there is little difference, really). I don’t consider myself to be religious either. I have my faith in God, and his son Jesus Christ as my saviour. And I subscribe to other more traditional beliefs – Traditional marriage, pro-life, etc.
Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 244 votes: 1
Location: Too close to Quebec
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:29 am Post subject:
mrsocko wrote:
CPP wrote:
Quote:
Just words! And what is God?
You don't believe words are worth anything(just words) then you ask a question which requires more words to answer!!!
You sound confused. And not very bright.
Like most intelligent people, I believe in words that are based upon fact and not what someone wrote a long time ago and to this day, still cant be proven. Therefore, its just fiction butt will keep an open mind on the subject unlike some others.
Remember, as the great Francophone philosopher once said "The proof is the proof and when you have the proof its proven." :wink:
Don't you have to be Jewish to be a believer in Judaism? (are you Jewish?)
(btw I don't get anti-semitics, for crying out loud - Jesus was a Jew!)
I don't care for Judaism....I think its stubborn to deny that Jesus wasn't the Messiah.
And its a tad of an exclusive religion...
One can convert to the religion of Judaism without being ethnically Jewish. Also, a Muslim might call you or I stubborn for not recognizing Mohammed as God's prophet.
Difference is the Muslim might actually consider killing me.
I was raised in a Christian home and went to church until I was about 13 when I decided that that particular church was not for me. I was baptized in the Pentecostal church at age 12 by my own choice, although I’d list my ‘religion’ as Evangelical at this point rather than Pentecostal (but I think there is little difference, really). I don’t consider myself to be religious either. I have my faith in God, and his son Jesus Christ as my saviour. And I subscribe to other more traditional beliefs – Traditional marriage, pro-life, etc.
I grew up in the pentecostal church in India, my family immigrated to Canada after Hindu extremists threatened to kill my family.
As part of any faith pursuit, everyone needs a 'space' where they can focus their spiritual practices - here is my 'restored' space, it's pretty much complete and I do like it!
A good space for devotional meditations & Bhakti-Yoga...just in time to celebrate 'Diwali' 'The Festival of Lights' on October 26th!
As cheesy as it looks I sure hope no one looks down on my faith and this expression of it... I should note that the camera flash totally ruins the colored lighting effects i have going on. My camera doesn't have an ISO low enough to capture a clear picture in that low of light.
Last edited by don muntean on Sun Oct 23, 2011 10:33 pm; edited 2 times in total
Joined: 05 Jan 2009
Posts: 207
Location: Saskatoon, SK.
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 3:04 am Post subject:
Baptised and confirmed at Sacred Heart Catholic Church where I grew up. I don't know what can be said about Catholicism that wasn't already said. I have the Catechism of the Catholic Church bookmarked on my web browser, so I guess I could quote from that.
31 Created in God's image and called to know and love him, the person who seeks God discovers certain ways of coming to know him. These are also called proofs for the existence of God, not in the sense of proofs in the natural sciences, but rather in the sense of "converging and convincing arguments", which allow us to attain certainty about the truth. These "ways" of approaching God from creation have a twofold point of departure: the physical world, and the human person.
32 The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the universe.
As St. Paul says of the Gentiles: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.7
And St. Augustine issues this challenge: Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." Their beauty is a profession [confessio]. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One [Pulcher] who is not subject to change?8
33 The human person: with his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. the soul, the "seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material",9 can have its origin only in God.
34 The world, and man, attest that they contain within themselves neither their first principle nor their final end, but rather that they participate in Being itself, which alone is without origin or end. Thus, in different ways, man can come to know that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end of all things, a reality "that everyone calls God".10
35 Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith.(so) the proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason.
Thought I would post this passage because this is a conversation about religion and being either theist, atheist or agnostic.
"Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and the sages. He who knows Me as the unborn, as the beginningless, as the Supreme Lord of all the worlds-he, undeluded... among men, is freed from all sins. Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, self-control and calmness, pleasure and pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, nonviolence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy are created by Me alone." [BG 10.2-5]
Here is a short description of the Supersoul [Vishnu]:
Others conceive of the Personality of Godhead residing within the body in the region of the heart and measuring only eight inches, with four hands carrying a lotus, a wheel of a chariot, a conchshell and a club respectively.
His mouth expresses His happiness. His eyes spread like the petals of a lotus, and His garments, yellowish like the saffron of a kadamba flower, are bedecked with valuable jewels. His ornaments are all made of gold, set with jewels, and He wears a glowing head dress and earrings.
His lotus feet are placed over the whorls of the lotuslike hearts of great mystics. On His chest is the Kaustubha jewel...and there are other jewels on His shoulders. His complete torso is garlanded with fresh flowers.
He is well decorated with an ornamental wreath about His waist and rings studded with valuable jewels on His fingers. His leglets, His bangles, His oiled hair, curling with a bluish tint, and His beautiful smiling face are all very pleasing.
The Lord's magnanimous pastimes and the glowing glancing of His smiling face are all indications of His extensive benedictions. One must therefore concentrate on this transcendental form of the Lord, as long as the mind can be fixed on Him by meditation.
The process of meditation should begin from the lotus feet of the Lord and progress to His smiling face. The meditation should be concentrated upon the lotus feet, then the calves, then the thighs, and in this way higher and higher. The more the mind becomes fixed upon the different parts of the limbs, one after another, the more the intelligence becomes purified.
[...]
The transcendentalists desire to avoid everything godless, for they know that supreme situation in which everything is related with the Supreme Lord Vishnu. Therefore a pure devotee who is in absolute harmony with the Lord does not create perplexities, but worships the lotus feet of the Lord at every moment, taking them into his heart. [SB 2.2.8-18]
As part of any faith pursuit, everyone needs a 'space' where they can focus their spiritual practices - here is my 'restored' space, it's pretty much complete and I do like it!
A good space for devotional meditations & Bhakti-Yoga...just in time to celebrate 'Diwali' 'The Festival of Lights' on October 26th!
As cheesy as it looks I sure hope no one looks down on my faith and this expression of it... I should note that the camera flash totally ruins the colored lighting effects i have going on. My camera doesn't have an ISO low enough to capture a clear picture in that low of light.
A cool contemporary 'bollywood' style movie about Vishnu - it's subtitled but still 'very' enjoyable! It follows the philosophy and the ancient narrations almost perfectly. The setting for the story is about two kids on a trip to India who are kidnapped and then in their experiences come to learn of the primary 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu [and some of His others too]! The characters are all from the narrations - except the kids and the kidnappers. The music is great too! :-)
UPDATE: Sadly this video has been removed from youtube for copyright issues!
Here is macro photo i did of one of my statues - there is too much blue light in this one though, so i shall try again! The spots are powdered glitter - that is how close a picture it is!
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