Posted on 08/12/2010 1:19:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Her parents were Baptist and Catholic and she was born in Georgia, part of the US Bible Belt. But Hollywood superstar Julia Roberts says she is now a practising Hindu. Speaking to the September issue of Elle magazine, Roberts said she goes to the temple to "chant, pray and celebrate."
The 42-year-old actress, who won a million hearts with Pretty Woman and an Oscar with Erin Brockowich, took to Hinduism during the shooting of her upcoming film, `Eat, Pray and Love' last year. In the movie, she plays a divorced woman who travels to Italy for food, India for spirituality and Bali, where she finds love. In the interview, Robert also spoke of reincarnation. "I've been so spoiled with my friends and family in this life. Next time I want to be just something quiet and supporting," she said.
Swami Dharamdev of Hari Mandir, Pataudi, where `Eat, Pray and Love' was shot for three weeks in September-October last year, said it is good news if someone accepts Hinduism from the heart. During the film's shooting, he said, a makeshift temple had been constructed nearby where unit members would light lamps and burn incense sticks. "Julia too would pray there, run her hands over the lamp and her hair as we all do," he recalled. "She also got her three kids here. I tied the sacred red thread on their wrists and applied the tilak on their foreheads," he said.
Swami Dharamdev recalled the actress also requested him, through her private assistant, to pray for her mother who was ill. "Before she left I told her, `you may choose not to eat or love. But don't forget to pray. Make that a part of your life, not just acting in this film'. She smiled and nodded affirmatively," he said.
In a statement, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism in the US, also said he and his fellow practitioners welcome Roberts into the fold.
Julia's move to Hinduism has sparked off a torrent of online response. Some are highly critical of her; others the opposite. "Another confused celebrity trying on the religion "flavour" of the month. Hindu? Does she even know what that means? How can you convert to another religion after making a film? Next thing you know she'll be wearing a Kabbalah bracelet after going to a Madonna concert!," was a comment posted on The Daily Mail's website. However, Anne, Leicester, wrote, "I like Julie Roberts, admire her work on screen and her commitment to her beliefs. If she's living her life to the ideals of Hinduism, that's all to the good. I look forward to seeing her latest film.
This case shows it’s not infallible.
What could possibly be wrong with being God’s robot?
I do not use the term blame, because to me it’s denotes negativity. I prefer to say God is ultimately responsible for everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen.
First, you explain what "yes" and "no" signify in your preferred context, and we'll see what the answer would be.
Yes - this core is something one is born with
No - this core is not something one is born with
#173, 175
Not hard. You do realize saying that binary stuff is a really lame excuse for not answering?
Do you believe that God knows what is in a persons heart when they die, even before He creates them?
And now it's:
Yes - this core is something one is born with
No - this core is not something one is born with
#173, 175
Actually, your own answer to this latter question is implied in the other post above. The word was different, but the concept was the same. I made an oblique reply to it, just to see if you were paying any more attention to your own words than you were to mine.
Apparently, not much, in either case.
Call my reticence a lame excuse if you want, but I'm not a trick poodle itching to jump through the flaming hoop every time somebody holds one up.
You explained about the persons heart, etc. I’m asking about the core you talked about.
Apparently not. I didn’t want my own answer, I asked you...binarily, not obliquely. If you just can’t answer with a yes or no, just say so, and I will understand.
“He must know the last choice a person makes on any one decision, right?”
“So is it correct to say that you agree that God knows what choices a man will make, whether it is before or after that man is created/born? By definition, right? Yes or No”
Yes. Right. I answered the question in a previous post, perhaps you overlooked it:
“If God is all-knowing then there are no limits to his knowledge.”
“So I mixed 2 issues, is it that hard to address each one?”
It can create what is called in logic a ‘complex question’ which introduces problems.
Since we agree that God knows the last choice a man will make even before he is born, why do you think He creates people that He knows will blow themselves up in a crowded marketplace?
It’s called free will, and those are lesson for all of us to see what happens when you believe the wrong things, or make bad decisions. Some clay pots are made for glory, some aren’t ...
Of course it’s free will. It was the man’s choice, but God knew the choice that man was going to make before he was even born, right? All that, as a lesson?
Pretty harsh lesson at the expense of those blown up and there loved ones, isn’t it?
What a happy coincidence! It ties right in with the new movie she’s trying to promote!
He grants them free will. They aren’t programmed.
“why do you think He creates people that He knows will blow themselves up in a crowded marketplace?”
Your question sneaks its conclusion into its premise. A logical fallacy. He creates people. They decide what to do with their lives. Killing others is their decision. They aren’t created for the purpose of murder.
But He does know what their free-will choice will be, before they are even born, right? So essentially, He knows who will go to hell even before they are born, right?
But why create people, when He knows they will make the decision to kill?
So, if you were in charge what would you create?
I’ve never given that any thought, as it could never happen.
Why do you evade answering, why not just answer the actual question? What is wrong with my question, that no one will even attempt to answer? I just get bible passages or told to ask God or other evasive answers and questions that aren’t really germane. I just want to know what other people think. I’m sure someone must have thought about it.
How come you never answer questions with anything but another question?
I don’t, unless it’s to clarify something, or if the answering required it.
“But why create people, when He knows they will make the decision to kill?”
Is your question “why create people?” Or “why create people who will choose to kill?”
One reason that people may not answer your posts is that you often employ the logical fallacy of the complex question, asserting a conclusion into your premise. In the case of this question it’s not even clear what you are asking. Adhering to a logical structure would do you some good.
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