Religion forum: Keeping on
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Various authors
Published: August 8, 2008
Keeping on
I want to write you today, telling you that we are living in a world where people feel that they are overwhelmed with all kinds of problems, from wars to higher and higher prices.
I ran into a lady who told me she was suffering as a parent, knowing not what (to do) or where to turn. I suggested to her, as I will also suggest to your readers, (that you) use what you have. Don’t worry about what you don’t have. Trust Jesus, and He will not fail you. Walk by faith and not doubt.
When you stumble and fall, get up, dust yourself off and keep on going.
You can do all things through Christ. Follow your dreams and goals, read your Bible, and trust each word to be faithful and true. Love your neighbor, help in time of need, and please make sure that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Ever Living God, is in complete control.
PASTOR WAYNE GREENE
Clearview Baptist Church
Rustburg
Comparative religion
Asia has been the birthplace of every one of the world’s 11 great religions. None originated in the West. Six of these originated about the sixth century before Christ. Ten were founded between 1,500 BCE (Hinduism) and 570 CE (Islam).
The great religions were founded by people living on a small, flat Earth situated in the center of a teensy-weensy universe. They shared this little world with spirits, ghosts, demons, angels and monsters. What they knew about the world was limited and mostly wrong. We can say reverently, but confidently, that they knew little, not only about the natural world, but also about God, creation, the end of the world and the afterlife. As Will Durant said, “There is nothing like a course in comparative religion for making a person comparatively religious.”
The study of world religions shows the relativity of every religion. No religion is absolutely true or false. Every religion is only more or less in accord with reality. None contains the whole truth. Each turns out to be a mixture of truth and falsehood. No religion is the one and only way to salvation, because every religion is a human response to mystery and morality, and no human response can ever be the one and only standard by which to judge other human responses.
Christian fundamentalists are adamant about their religion. If they had been born in Turkey or India, they would be just as adamant about Islam or Hinduism. Criticizing other religions will not end terrorism as some seem to think. Nor will terrorism be subdued from the end of a gun; Iraq and Afghanistan prove that. The answer will be found in dialogue, understanding and jointly agreed action. It will take intelligent, committed people to chart the course.
On another front, science will continually provide the answers to the knowable mysteries of the universe. The goal of every religion should be to broaden and deepen itself by learning from other religions about life’s experiences and its morality. Can theologians, particularly the fundamentalists, put aside their blinders to see the commonalities? I doubt it.
As Richard Dawkins says, “Most of us are atheists in relation to all of the gods humanity has ever believed in; some just go one god further.”
DAVID MCLOUGHLIN
Forest
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on August 17, 2008 at 6:01 am
DAVID MCLOUGHLIN has offered us here a well thought out, rational, and in my mind, irrefutable snap shot of what religion really is. PASTOR WAYNE, on the other hand, reminds me of a monkey in a cage conditioned (trained) to ring a bell in the hope that a food pellet will drop into his cage. “Ring the bell—Ring the bell—Ring the Bell—Everything is great—Ring the bell—All is well”. Not a word about thinking about what it means to be a human being on planet Earth in 2008. “Memorize the Book—Ring the bell—Praise God!—Ring the bell.“ [DAVID MCLOUGHLIN writes].. “If they had been born in Turkey or India, they would be just as adamant about Islam or Hinduism.“.. and of course he is right. Human beings are social primates that learned a million years ago that ALWAYS staying close and agreeing with the group was the most efficient way of not getting eaten. It’s “hard wired” into us as a species. But, not all of “us”. Some of us see the threat of mindless “belief” in a world of nuclear weapons, rather than stones. Some of us even understand that if man does not learn to understand himself, any talk of understanding the universe, let alone who created it or controls it, are but the frightened wailing of natives afraid of the dark. Knowledge is fundamentalist religion’s biggest enemy. “Know thyself”, Adam took a big bite, but to this day he hasn’t swallowed. If he doesn’t, pritty soon he is going to choke.
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Posted by ( LynchburgRes ) on August 12, 2008 at 6:34 am
Bravo David!
Only when people quit trying to paint their religious book, Bible, Koran, etc… as a literal truth and start to realize the metaphor, the symbolism in their belief structure can we hope to end prejudice and fear and ultimately, terrorism.
Joesph Campbell offers a ray of hope in his book, “Myths to Live By”, “And the claims… have today been disqualified-historically, astronomically, biologically and every other way - AND EVERYBODY KNOWS IT. No wonder our clergymen look anxious and the congregations confused!“ (pg 98)
These myths serve mankind by telling us our function in society. Over the centuries our functions change as the sciences progress and the population grows. Shouldn’t also the myths by which we live? Isn’t it even dangerous to live in a world regulated by 2000 years old (and older) misconceptions?
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