Posted on 02/18/2006 6:35:43 PM PST by SadeghSaleh
Gods and Religions
I) The Need to Worship:
It is funny, no matter how rich or how powerfull we are we do still feel some kind of emptiness. If we have everything, we tend not to show this void inside because of pride, but it is there. We might be able to cover it up for others but the feeling of being incomplete botters us from time to time. Yes, this is the sad side of the funny story of human race. Sometimes we do not even realize that there is something missing in our lifes until a tragedy hits. Then we go to our worship places, where we hope there is a divine and caring power that would help us. (worship was originally spelled worthship) Tsunamy in south Asia, earthquicks in the middleeast and huricans at home in the US makes us think there better is a God, since we are not made to resist these kind of forces. Now the question is:
II) Is there a God, or is the feeling of emptiness in us the result of our imperfection of the Nature?
a) Let us ask first this question: If god did not make us, where are we from? If you countiniously watched Star Treck you would know we are just the result of some biological reactions. So there is no god and luckily the universe made us just like it made other living beings throughout the universe. Scientists through genetic tests are coming to the conclusion that Darwin’s evolutionary theory is not correct and that we are not from apes eventhough similar to them. There were people living in ancient Persia about 2500 years ago (539 BC) called Zoroastrians who believed in “Mazda” meaning “Great Knowledge” which created everything and said that the “Ashae” meaning the “Harmony” keeps everything from falling apart. So the nature is the creator and this void is a defect of malfunction. Q: But where did the nature come from? A: It was there. Q: But by definition the nature, eventhough containing life, is a thing, so not alive but dead, right? A: Because we do not comprehent something it dose not mean it is impossible.
b) It is being argued: Where there is a design, there must be a designer, who made all things to his purpose and therefore cares for it. And it is God. From our point of view it is likely that there is only 1 god since otherwise there might be a disagreement between them and they would tear apart everything. But everything is possible.
III) How many different Religions are there?
These are samples of different religions:
a) We already talked about Zoroastians. b) There are people who worship carved statues, moon and stars, fire and wind and water, animals etc. c) Witches and witchcraft d) For some people Money and Power is the idols. I bet you can thing of some of them. e) People who believe in the force of Star Wars. f) For some people Star Treck is a religion. g) Beliving in Myself (I can do anything I put my mind into) h) Hindus i) Budists j) Jews k) Christians l) Moslems
In my opinion people who like the darkness mostly tend to b), c) and sometimes d). People who rely on their intelligent go towards a),e),f) and g) And people of faith tend to h) through l).
IV) Problems of having a Religion
Religions are like brakes. You want to move forward, but it keeps you back. One might get exausted of getting to hear: You are not permitted to do this; You must to do that…. Ever wondered what would happen, if we did not have to hold on to major rules and laws? For example: “YOU SHALL NOT KILL” which is probably in each one of god given books. Without this one the human race would probably not exist now or the few still alive would be living like in stoneage. There are different religions of different degrees of hardship you must bear in order to be accepted by it. One of the popular ones is Budism. You get to empty your mind (thinking about nothing) and do not have to do a lot, but being plain good. Budism is easier in compare to Islam, where you have to fast for a moth and pray 3 to 5 times a day. So if you want to be free to do anything you want and go wherever your lust is taking you, believe in yourself as the center of the universe and enjoy your life as long as you still have it. Otherwise look for a religion and do it not just a little but all the way through. If you are driving you have to obey the driving rules at all times, but the different is there is not always a law enforment officer to watch over you, but god by definition is always watching you, that is if he dose exist.
V) Shopping around for a Religion:
If you recognize that you need something to believe in, which one is the right one to choose? To choose the right religion you have to study all of them. Because if you do that and and choose the wrong one and on judgment day god wants to give you a hard time you have a very good excuse. You just tell him: “Look man, I went through all the religions known to me and with the intelligence you gave me I choose the one I thought is the right one. If I was stupid and chose the wrong one it is your fault, you gave me this brane, but I did my job. So give me a break.” But problem is we do not have the time to research all of them. There are to many books to read and I have to work and take care of my family. WRONG There is always time you make it.
Difference of the religions:
I do not know much about everyone of them, but what I know is:
Hindus find cows holy and therefore do not eat them. I saw on TV, that is if you can believe everything you see on the TV, that some even take the urine of a cow which is known to heal people at a point of time and use it. I just hope they do not drink it. I also saw on TV a baby boy who had a tail on the back hanging approx. 4” long just like one of the Hindu gods. He is believed to be an incarnation??!!!
In an interview with Dalilama the budist reincarnated god, he told Brbara Walters henis not yet fully god, but he is working on it.
The god of jews YHWH (Yahweh) explains in the book of Torah the creation and a lot of scientific stuff (like rain and the ozon layer) which were not known at the time. It also foretells the coming of Christ. Although the jews deny that Jesus was the Christ, so there are still waiting for him to appear.
Now the Christians say that Christ already came as Jesus and offer a lot of proofs from the old testament for example Isaiah who was a respected prophet of the jews. They say everything that suppose to be fulfilled through Christ was done by Jesus of Nazareth. Either the jews are embaressed of what they did to their own Christ or too thick headed to recognize the proofs, or the Christians are so hopefull that their hope overclouded their judgment.
The Moslems recognize almost every story from the bible, which includes the books of the jews, and say that as prophesied in the bible Mohammad came to finish the work of god on earth, or if you will, to complete an incomplete religion. I am currently studding the old and the new testament and Koran, but so far I did not see anything in the bible that supports Mahammad coming after Jesus. So I asked a few people who already read the bible a lot of times and they did not know anything about it or did not want to admit that. Eventhough Koran is very similar to bible in regards to the stories and most commandments, there are uniqe differences. For examples a Christian say Jesus is son of god, but a Moslem has to pray everyday saying in his prayers 10 times a day: “GOD IS ONE, GOD DID NOT GIVE BIRTH TO ANYONE AND IS NOT BORN OF ANYONE”. So either the Christians did not interpritate it right or Islam is denying one of the important aspects of Christianity. Another difference is that Jesus said that all people are sinners and they could not revered their sin therefore through the sacrifice of his life he will reconciliate god with man, so that man’s sins are forgiven. But in Islam your work is important which means that on judgment day your sins will be put on one side of the scale and your good deeds on the other side and you better hope that the good side is heavier. OK it dose make sence to me but what about a person who killed 10 innocent people. Let us say a bank robber tries to flee and on his way he kills the 3 security in the bank, 2 hostages and 5 police officers outside. Let us now say he makes it out and lives 40 years free. I wonder what he could do to evenout his 10 murders? The Christian has it easier he will have to repent and really mean it from his heart. Then he is forgiven. By the way the comparison is not between Jesus and Mohammad, but between Jesus, son of god and Koran, book of god. Otherwise my next question would be why one messanger gives up his life while the other kills so many in the name of god. Christian are so peacefull, are they not? Sometimes I wonder how they pay their bills if all they care about is to: “LOVE YOUR ENEMY AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PRESECUTE YOU.” It is a merrical that their race is not yet wiped out. I once asked a fanatic Christian: Why do you not convert into Islam, after all it came 600 years after Christianity and therefore must be completing your religion as your religion completed Judiesm? He said: “It was not angel Gabriel who gave Mohamad the book of Koran , but…” Sorry guys, I cannot write the rest of it. But my advise for this person is to shut his mouth and keep low, because if a fanatic Moslem hears that this guy would be dead very soon. My advise for people who have a different opinions about other religion is: “No matter how sure you are that what you say is the truth, you have to realize that as a man you are not inerrant and might have misunderstood god’s word and you have to have respect for other people’s religion otherwise you will end up to be like Hitler and starting to kill people of other religions.” I know that Hitler had also other agendas but the results are the same. Can we not just live in harmony having respect for other religions and different skin colors? Are we not all on the same boat, namely planet earth? However as I said alredy he was a fanatic Christian, since a real Christian who belives in Jesus, would obey what he said: “TREAT OTHERS THE SAME WAY YOU WANT THEM TO TREAT YOU”. I do not think you want to be insulted, do you?
Now which one to choose?
Well I am not through all the religions yet, but by luck I met a person who seemed to be very educated and not very judgmental. He told me that he read the book of Zorotustra, the bible, Koran and studied Budism and, I am not sure, but probably Hinduism and came to the conclusion that Islam and Christianity and judism make more sence to be the work of god. Since he believed that Jesus was the Christ he narrow it down to Islam and Christianity. The reason why he was not sure at first about these two was that they seem to be very similar, like somebody took the bible and copied it with some small but fatal changes. He said it is like taking a chunk of poison and cover it up with chokolade so that it looks temting but eating it would be life threatening.
I do not know. I cannot trust somebody’s opinion because that person looks nice on the first impression. I guess in order to make sure I have to read them myself and rely on my judgment, which is not always perfect. So I will also pray to the real god that I could be directed to him. Do you believe in the power of prayers? I do, just try it.
One other thing that differs Christianity from Judism and Islam is that the Christian do not believe just in the angeles to help them but also in the “Holy Spirit” which or who will indwell you if you are righteous and help you to resist your sinful temptations. So while the angels taking care of you outside, the spirit dose its or his work inside. Sounds a little creapy but it also gives hope, since it is very hard to be really a good person. I tried and I failed as a lot of you also did.
I will not be fanatic about anything but I know if I have to start something I have to go all the way, if it is god’s way. You cannot compromise with god but only obey him, IF HE EXISTS. If not, then I have to live with the inner void and die to go to nowhere, in which case my main goal would be to live a full life, that is to take advantage of what- and whoever I get with no remorse. What about you? When will you start to search? Do you know how long you have to live? Or do you not care? Well if there is no god, there is no heaven and hell and we all are going to be fine in the land of nowhere. But if there is a god, some of us including me will be in deep trouble.
Thank you for patiently reading my thoughts. I hope this was helpful for your life. This report dose not reflect any political or religious ideas of any organization. It was merely from me personally. I did not mean to insult nor disgrace any religion or believe, but if you feel insulted I do apologize and ask for forgiveness.
May the Force, Lord, Allah or Buda be with you.
"The great god Ra, whose shrine once covered acres,
is filler now for crossword puzzle makers."
-Keith Preston
I am a Christian....and found your piece interesting....no insult felt on my part....
Do you have any knowledge of the words Atash and Adar?
I am not sure of the spelling. Those words came to me in a dream within a month of my becoming a Christian....I always wondered....
"which one to choose?"
Depends on what you want. You could "shop" and find one that suits you, but I wouldn't recommend that course.
Many are just the same in different clothing. I only found one to be true upon inspection.
Seek and you will find.
Peace,
jw
Bump to read later
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