Has anyone here looked into the total Historical Origins of your Religion ?

[Rex E.]

Originally Posted by Big_Bill

I'm gonna be BAD here,

How many God's are there ? ONE, TWO or THREE ?

You know; The Father, Son and Holy Ghost

Bill

Always been my question....one cannot be the same. They are either three separate things or......so for me, three different things and only one is "God" the right hand is "the son of God" which by definition is not God and the "Holy Spirit" is just that not man and not God but rather something you feel.

There is one good way to make sure everyone believes in "your" God. Kill, rape, torture.....that's what those wonderful early church founders did (with a sprinkling of Pagan holidays mixed in so they could still have a bit of fun)

[painter]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Organized religion, like politics, is a team sport. It's all about identifying with one's team while denigrating the others.

I did not find any denegrading of other religions in the Catholic Church I attended. Nor any in the others I attended.
I was told that the Baptist Churches do practice hell and damnation to those not in league with their sect.
Sports and politics are other animals.

[Big_Bill]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Are you sure you're not a Unitarian?

How could I be a Unitarian, I' not a Vampire, and I don't even own a Unicorn !

I am a believer in GOD ! and not MAN.

Bill

Originally Posted by d-ray657

Not so much of the denigrating where I come from. Maybe that's why I have hung around. We have a pretty much "come as you are" attitude, and frankly, a pretty progressive social conscience. I found it interesting reading some of the early Social Principles of the Methodist Church. The church came out in favor of collective bargaining, against sweat shops and against child labor - and this was around the turn of the century. It's one of those churches Glenn Beck warned people off from.

Regards,

D-Ray

Thank you d-ray657,

If you had not responded, I would have looked it up myself. These things interest me as it shows the evolution of the Christian Religion. But with 38,000 different Christian offshoots, it is impossible to check them all. So I only bother to look up those that I am exposed to.

I went to a Methodist Church as a child, and my mother had to remove me due to the questions I asked in Sunday school was disturbing the other children.. So I was taught nothing of their actual beliefs. Just Sunday School stories.

Bill

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Are you sure you're not a Unitarian?

I've attended quite a few Unitarian services, and several of the Unity church as well. I believe in an afterlife, but I think that there are all sorts of ways to get there. I certainly don't think that folks who don't believe as I do are on the highway to Hell.

Regards,

D-Ray

[Twodogs]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

I've attended quite a few Unitarian services, and several of the Unity church as well. I believe in an afterlife, but I think that there are all sorts of ways to get there. I certainly don't think that folks who don't believe as I do are on the highway to Hell.

Regards,

D-Ray

Any thoughts or ideas on what the other side will be like?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by painter

I did not find any denegrading of other religions in the Catholic Church I attended. Nor any in the others I attended.
I was told that the Baptist Churches do practice hell and damnation to those not in league with their sect.
Sports and politics are other animals.

I too was raised Catholic, but I got over it. I do remember, however, that it was considered a mortal sin to attend a service of another faith.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Charles

Maybe we're an interplanetary prison colony our masters no longer want anything to do with.

Chas

I've had that thought myself. Or mebbe the earth is a holding pen for livestock?

Dave

[BlueStreak]

Personally, I think that with all of the different religions, sects and cults there must be a forest behind them thar trees.

And it expects it's collection plate to be filled to the brim every Sunday, or your ass will burn.

Dave

[Big_Bill]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

I've attended quite a few Unitarian services, and several of the Unity church as well. I believe in an afterlife, but I think that there are all sorts of ways to get there. I certainly don't think that folks who don't believe as I do are on the highway to Hell.

Regards,

D-Ray

D-Ray,

I believe that God always existed somewhere, and due to the fact that he is God, everything that he says or does is good.

I believe that Nature is the only perfect creation of life, and that man has to go through life making decisions between right and wrong.

Along the way we should do our best for our fellow man.

It's all more complicated than that, and even the best deeds go astray, but we should try !

I have also come to the conclusion that man has created religion to serve the leader of the religion's purposes, to control people for Rulers, Kings, Popes and Governments, as well as to provide a comfortable life for the leaders of the religions.

My beliefs are simple because I do not believe God intended believing in him should be clouded in superstition, rituals or mumbojumbo. And I know that he never intended for us to worship men, or place them on an pedestal.

Bill

[neophyte]

Originally Posted by finnbow

I too was raised Catholic, but I got over it. I do remember, however, that it was considered a mortal sin to attend a service of another faith.

my parents also subjected me to roman catholic brainwashing techniques, but, it didn't stick. even as a child, the ritualistic, forced drama of it all seemed quite hokey to me. i remember sitting in a catholic church at around eight or nine years of age, and wondering wtf was up. My father, being a lifer/mustang Marine, we were living on base at Camp LeJeune, NC, and I just couldn't reconcile the fact that I was sitting in a church built by, and full of, the self professed best killers of men in history. By the time I discovered the writings of Kurt Vonnegut at 11 or 12, I was already well down the road to reason, and reading his works galvanized my thinking.

YMMV, of course