Religion
As there is no sub section for any discussions on variouse religions , I guess dilemmas is as good as any .
Join in if you are interested or don't bother if you are sensitive to discussion on your particular faith.
Give it a break, silly little boy.
Why bring your nastiness or ill feeling ? or were you just being vexatious.?
The first touch of bitchiness on this thread and it comes from Micha.
Who'd have thunk??
Common guys .... Let the candle have its fun :)
Yes, the sound of Om is not off topic. It is the the most important sound in Hinduism and Buddhism. And also used by non religious meditators. Chanting a mantra has been scientifcally proven to be good for your health. One does not have to be religious though to meditate. Many non religious people meditate for the benefits in health, relaxtion etc.
I meditate all the time.
i find it quite easy to "empty the mind"
Buddha says...how can you empty something that is already empty? Buddhists have a wonderful philosophy about life and death.
No they have the silly idea of re incarnation .
Bookwyrm's post of10.21 is both thoughtful and correct IMO
buying fake passports is taking over - so bump
Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East. By Gerard Russell. Basic Books; 320 pages; $28.99. Simon & Schuster; £20. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
THE thrust of this wonderfully intriguing book is that virtually all the religions of the Middle East, not just the Abrahamic ones (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) but also a clutch of mysteriously esoteric ones, are marvellously entwined. This should draw people together, encouraging mutual respect for their common spirituality and lovingly shared heritage, not tear them lethally apart. If only.
For the most part the dominant religions of the region, in particular Islam, were fairly tolerant of the minority ones, more so than Christianity was towards its pagan precursors in western Europe. It is all the sadder, therefore, that the turmoil of the past few decades should be pulling the religions asunder, threatening to destroy the weakest and most obscure of them. The book is bitterly topical, especially regarding the fate of the Yazidis, a sect that is the subject of an entire fascinating chapter.
http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21636707-can-regions-smaller-sects-survive-not-just-faiths-abraham
from a review in the Economist . It looks interesting I think I will ask my library to get it in...
Pete,
That does sound a fascinating read. But the common elements religions share do not draw people together. The different interpretations, however small, are what renders people apart.
Early Christianity did tolerate pagan religions. In the great Gothic cathedrals, bosses are carved into the ceilings, columns often have leaf tracery, and then there are the gargoyles, many extremely obscene. These all speak of pagan religions, particularly the Green Man in England. Bosses are representative of his face. The artists who sculpted these motifs would have given religious due to both the Green Man and Christianity.
Chartres Cathedral was built on the site of a Roman temple. An ebony female figure found there, was immediately "translated" into the Black Madonna.
Early Christianity accommodated many pagan religions. Chrisitianity as practiced then would have been a mix. This can be seen now, where Voodoo lives alongside Christianity.
Islam is a comparatively new religion, but there are elements which indicate pre-Islamic influence. The burka predated Islam. Perhaps someone on YLC, would be able to identify pagan elements which have been adopted into Islam.
Jews too evolved from Bronze Age cults...
The ancient origins of Judaism lie in the Bronze Age polytheistic Ancient Semitic religions, specifically Canaanite religion, a syncretization with elements of Babylonian religion.
The United Monarchy of the 11th to 10th centuries BCE was one of the political entities of the Levant during the Early Iron Age. These states were organized as monarchies, with kings ruling city-states and each city claiming a patron deity to whom the city's main temple was dedicated . In Jerusalem, this was Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, constructed during the 10th century BCE.
According to the Hebrew Bible, Jerusalem was a Jebusite fortress, conquered by the Israelites and made into their capital around 1000 BCE As a result, the Jebusite cult exerted considerable influence on Israelite religion.
IThe Jebusites observed an astral cult involving Shalem, an astral deity identified with the Evening star in Ugaritic mythology, besides Tzedek "righteousness" and El Elyon, the "most high God". It is plausible, however, that the application of the epithet Elyon "most high" to Israelite Yahweh predates the conquest of Jerusalem; the epithet was applied with sufficient fluidity throughout the Northwest Semitic sphere that assuming a transition from its application to El to the Yahwistic cult presents no obstacle.[4]
This might interest you, Pete.
"When thousands of Yazidis fled ISIS militants to Mount Sinjar in northwestern Iraq this August, newspapers soon filled with horrific stories: young Yazidi women sold into slavery, tens of thousands of refugees escaping into Syria and Kurdistan in the summer heat, and thousands more trapped on the mountain without food and water. Vian Dakhil, the sole Yazidi member of the Iraqi Parliament, broke down in front of her colleagues in a speech that was viewed around the world: “My people are being slaughtered. . . . I speak in the name of humanity. Save us!”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-heirs-to-forgotten-kingdoms-by-gerard-russell-1414184350
Pete
the rightful heirs to the land now occupied by Israel is the People of the Book
More from the review
Gerard Russell is a British-American Catholic who speaks Arabic, Farsi and a bit of Dari. He studied classics and philosophy at Oxford and spent 14 years as a diplomat for the British Foreign Office and the United Nations, mainly in the Middle East. He has lived in Baghdad, Cairo, Jeddah, Jerusalem and Kabul. He empathises with a bewildering array of people, including minorities such as the Druze of Lebanon; the Alawites, mainly in Syria; the Mandaeans of the Iraqi marshes; the Kalasha of the Hindu Kush in the northernmost reaches of Pakistan; the Zoroastrians, once mostly in Iran; the Samaritans (adherents of an offshoot of Judaism) now hanging onto a patch of the West Bank of Palestine; the aforementioned Yazidis of northern Iraq; and finally the Copts of Egypt.
He shows how false it is to draw a line between Europe and the Middle East. Ancient Greece morphs into the eastern Mediterranean, its religious ideas and customs trickling over to Mesopotamia, Persia and beyond. The early Druze looked to Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle. The Alawites, who are often categorised as an offshoot of Shia Islam, share the belief of the Druze and the Yazidis in reincarnation, while also being influenced by Christianity. “We have intellectual cousins in unexpected places,” Mr Russell writes.
I think re-incarnation is a real possibility. Perhaps each of us will experience every aspect of living in everyone elses shoes so to speak.
If reincarnation is real where do all the new people come from.
I dont know if there is a God and I don't know if there isn't.
I think first you have define what you mean by God...
I agree with Radish. I certainly do not know.
Radi how would you define this God you are not sure of?
I do not believe anyone knows anymore than I do about what's what after we die and I only have my own thoughts on it - but hopefull it will all be good. :-
One does not have to be religiouse or believe in a God to speculate what happens after we die .
We can speculate about most things, but I am sure we all know the result of state atheism.
Yes socialism is a terrible thing...
There is no connection between socialism which does have certain benefits, and State dominated Atheism which did not.
Oh I thought that state atheism was a requirement of socialists .
Thinking is only for adults.with a little more training and the developing of a half brain, you should do well with Tony and his band.
Seth when you get congratulated by Micha . You know you are on the wrong track . What has a discussion on religion got to do with politics . You are only showing your rusted on .
Religion and politics go together like a 
according to our dingbat PM. Right Seth?
Don't crawl to Seth he is far to smart . And your insults to him are unforgivable..
What are "the certain benefits " of socialism Seth . In my lifetime I have only seen it cause misery and poverty..
i lived under it in the UK .. It was awful ...
Australia's domination with the bat carried into day two of the fourth Test at the SCG, with India ending the day a whopping 501 runs behind.
A fourth century of the series by Steve Smith (117) as well as half-tons by Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh and Joe Burns allowed Australia to declare its first innings at 7 for 572
auntie
Is cricket your religion Gerry .
Poor Gerry, he always gets mixed up between the two
Prefer baseball myself.
Gerry has decided to invade every thread with nonsensence as we replied to his . Tips for the oldies with some home truths . Gerry threw a wobbly and changed the heading .
Then of course some of us indulged with humour . Not allowed in the PC world .
Gerry throws a tanty when things don't go his way.
Very effeminate
Some culture worship bats
Myths about bats are found in many human cultures. The ancient Egyptians believed that bats could prevent or cure poor eyesight, toothache, fever, and baldness, and a bat hung over the doorway of a home was thought to prevent the entry of demons that carried these “diseases.” Bat gods were important to many pre-Colombian civilizations in central America, and bats have been used in voodoo worship in parts of Africa as well as in many parts of the Caribbean even today. The association of bats with the legend of human vampires has an uncertain origin, but since the time of Cortez and his Conquistadors, peoples of western civilization have linked vampire bats with the legendary “human” vampires of Transylvania. The writings of William Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson, and others have contributed to legends that cast a veil of fear on people, as they associate bats with graveyards, death, ghosts, and goblins.
Twils thought you may have missed this so brought it forward ...
Jews too evolved from Bronze Age cults...
The ancient origins of Judaism lie in the Bronze Age polytheistic Ancient Semitic religions, specifically Canaanite religion, a syncretization with elements of Babylonian religion.
The United Monarchy of the 11th to 10th centuries BCE was one of the political entities of the Levant during the Early Iron Age. These states were organized as monarchies, with kings ruling city-states and each city claiming a patron deity to whom the city's main temple was dedicated . In Jerusalem, this was Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, constructed during the 10th century BCE.
According to the Hebrew Bible, Jerusalem was a Jebusite fortress, conquered by the Israelites and made into their capital around 1000 BCE As a result, the Jebusite cult exerted considerable influence on Israelite religion.
IThe Jebusites observed an astral cult involving Shalem, an astral deity identified with the Evening star in Ugaritic mythology, besides Tzedek "righteousness" and El Elyon, the "most high God". It is plausible, however, that the application of the epithet Elyon "most high" to Israelite Yahweh predates the conquest of Jerusalem; the epithet was applied with sufficient fluidity throughout the Northwest Semitic sphere that assuming a transition from its application to El to the Yahwistic cult presents no obstacle.[4]
Phyl:
Can you tell abbey where to buy a pyramid. Her yoga and namaste sessions are not working. Still nasty. She badly needs some help. Although I think even the pyramids at Giza would have a hard time turning her into a nice person.