I wasn't sure if I even wanted to comment on this topic as it is such a hot button. I plan on making two posts like it or not. One(this I will state my views) the second I rebutte what people want to say about them(in an hour or so, so those who want can get in there two cents worth)
This is my two cents or more and mine and my wifes personal beliefs and how they came about. I warn you ahead of time this is a deeply personal subject to me and therefore the longest post have ever written on this forum. @Sep: If you truely want others views and are searching for what you believe read my little
essay.
Don't open the code unless you really want too.
Well you've been warned:
Is god real? Yes and he pravades every aspect of the universe.
What is my religion? It's mine. (Although it matches a few other
people's fairly close, including my wife)
Do I believe in Christ? Yes. Sorta... He was real. He had extrordinary
gifts and he was a prophet and a good man.
Was he the son of god? Yes, but so is everyone a son or daughter of
god.
Who was Mohammed? Another man with extrordinary gifts, another good
man and another prophet... also a son of god.
The Koran mentions Christ as a prophet, but makes no mention as to
wether he was the son of god or not.
Who was Buddha? Slighty different. He was an ordinary man with no
"special gifts/miraculous powers", wasn't a prophet(meaning he could
predict the future). Finally he did have some extrordinary views and
was a good man. His view one trying to achieve perfect harmony of
mind, body and soul, zen. When a person is in harmony a person is
happy.
So who do I believe in? All three.
Next up the Bible and Koran. Both decent history books and we should
learn from history and take it at face value. All religious books of
the world were written with the point of teaching a lesson and the
ones that endured apparently taught the best lessons. Don't rob, don't
kill, etc... I've read the Bible and the Koran cover to cover as well
as several other "religous texts". I believe many of the stories are
at least based in fact. I can even prove several events in the Bible
if you questions that and without a single miracle. Does this disprove
the Bible. No it only renforces it to me.(Ranging from the story of
Moses to the burning bush to the parting of the Red Sea)
I'am monthiestic.(I only believe in one god technically)
Next, here goes my theory. "God" is energy pure and simple. He/it
pervades every aspect of the universe. We are all connected by this
force. That which gives us life is energy and without it we don't
exist, literally as matter is energy and vice versa. Therefore without
god we don't exist. The universe supposedly came about from the "Big
Bang". I think at one point the universe was a point singularity of
pure energy. A small piece of that energy formed the universe and
today is still expanding and forming. The many peoples of the world
may have many names for "God" but it is the same. I do pray to a
greater power. You may call him/her/it.. God, Allah or any one of
thousands of names but it's all one and the same.
Finally, how did my beliefs come about. I was raised Baptist and saw
things wrong in my religion and when I confronted my preacher he
couldn't answer me. My sister and older brother were Roman Catholic.
They taught me some things about their relgion, but I saw the same
essential flaws. My wife is 3/8 Apache 1/4 Cherokee and 1/8 Hispanic
and 1/4 White and got 3 different religions ranging from native Apache
to Catholic to Athiest(this is a religion, it is a belief, it is the
belief there is no god, Agnostic is no religion(Basically not caring
about religion at all)). Somehow the first time we every discussed
religion our diverse backgrounds lead us to the same conclusion and it
is still the same. We also believe if a few more people (ok, a few
billion more people) shared our views the world could live in peace.
Why? I don't believe a person should push their beliefs on others.(If
your religion is so much better than mine why do you have to try to
make me see your perspective.)
What don't I believe? I don't believe in organized religion. I believe
organization is the downfall of religion. Rules were literally made
to be broken. If they were never broken we wouldn't need them.
Organized religion doesn't reach to the core of a person. It doesn't
teach belief, it teaches a belief in a structure. Only their own
personal beliefs can reach their core and therefore religion is a
personal thing. True belief doesn't come from a sermon or book it
comes from your own beliefs... Yes, I know it's a bit of an paradox
but belief is simple, either you have it or your don't there isn't an
in between. A "bad" person doesn't find god, they find themself and
they don't like what they find so they make a conscious decision to
change it. Belief in "god" is just as simple, it just means you
believe in something greater than yourself.
Now the rest of the hot topics on this issue. (AKA, life, death, souls etc...)
What is abortion? Don't kid yourself. It is murder, but while this is
my belief. I still believe it is a woman's right to decide whether or
not to commit the act. On issues like this where the morals of one
forbid it and the morals of another say it's the lesser of two
evils(bringing a child into a bad world vs killing them before they
have to experience it). It should not be outlawed. I will no more
force my morals on someone than my beliefs. Society as a whole should
be left as the judge on these issues not a court of law.
Death and souls. Do we have souls? We have souls. Our soul is our
energy and consiousness. When enough of this has left us to prevent us
from continuing is when we are dead. What happens to our "soul" then
it becomes part of the energy of the universe and what we leave behind
is the measure of our life. Therefore, when I mentioned the comment
about souls on the Zombie dog topic, what I was going to point out is
that they were never truely dead. To truely be dead and truely be
resurrected all traces of life must have left your body and you must
cease to exist in any traceable form. 100 years ago those dogs would
have been "Dead", but that experiment it didn't reverse death it only
redefined it. Humankind will continue to redefine it in the years to
come.
Family. This one is easy. What do I think a father's role in a family
is? To take care of his family. The wife's role? 100% exactly the
same. Whether your way (male or female) of taking care of your family
is working, doing the dishes, or going to the movies with them it
doesn't matter as long as you put your family before yourself. Your
spouse, your chilren, and your friends should all be part of your
family. Also while someone may be physiologically related to you it
doesn't mean they are necessarily family. I have friends whom I would
put before some of my blood relatives. There is one thing I took from
my wife, but believed beforehand. If you are my friend then you are
part of my tribe. If you are part of my tribe you are part of my
family. If you are part of my family then if it means dying to save
you so be it.
The are many people who can't stand me because I'm am extremely
brutally honest. I truely believe(hmmm... there's that word again)
honesty is the best policy. A person can ask me any question and I
will do my best to give an honest answer. If you don't want an honest
answer don't ask.
Myself and my wife let fate/god(whatever you want to call it) decide
many things in our life. If we have a decision to make and can't
decide between two options, we flip a coin. You might think this is
crazy but there is a second rule to it. If you can't follow the
answer, then you already knew the answer you wanted and should follow
it.So far half the time fate was right :), a good balance or maybe it
was always right.
In the end I am a combination Christian/Muslim/Buddhist/Apache and
eventually more as I in my search for my beliefs have found nothing
that forbids it that I agree with.
Finally, I personally have a better rule than the golden rule and a lot more fun. "Do whatever you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else."
P.S. It's late and I have coding to do. So now I am logging off. If any you of wish to respond to me personally on this issue, you can email me here:
keaz@kashkreations.com (Just put
DBForum in the topic.) Else just respond here. Well goodnight all.
Breaking Stuff=Fun!,Bug Testing<>Fun!, Bug Testing=Breaking Stuff, so...
Bug Testing=Fun! Hmmmm....
DOES NOT COMPUTE! SYSTEM MALFUNTION!
