26 Nov '07 20:13>
Originally posted by LivingForJesusAre you saved?
I personally am a born again beliver in Jesus Christ!
I am a Christian!!!!!!
Originally posted by NordlysNo. I don't practice religion.
And that's not a religious affiliation?
Originally posted by nmdavidbSo you wouldn't call Buddhism a religion, for example?
Sounded correct to me
Dave
Originally posted by NordlysI call Zen Buddhism a religion; on the other hand, I am just as happy to call it an existential philosophy.
So you wouldn't call Buddhism a religion, for example?
Edit: Just skimming the internet for definitions, this one probably comes closest to how I use and understand the term myself:
"Religion: Human beings' relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine."
—Encyclopædia Britannica (online, 2006)
Originally posted by vistesdI think you got a smal point thier.
I call Zen Buddhism a religion; on the other hand, I am just as happy to call it an existential philosophy.
What is “spiritual”? Again, I, like you, take a pretty broad view. Others do not. I once became annoyed with FreakyKBH for his view that the word only applied to theistic religions. He gave me a good Zen whack on the head by commenting that I s ...[text shortened]... aised—over and over again. In order to keep pressing one another to be clear what we’re saying.
Originally posted by vistesdYou are probably right that I should not get hung up on it. But besides clarity, I also wonder about the motives for defining religion in such a narrow way. I hadn't encountered this before I started reading this forum, and I was surprised to see that some Christians here use a narrow definition not to say that other religions aren't really religions, but rather to say that their own religion isn't. Maybe the purpose is the same - to set your own religion apart from other religions, portraying it as something fundamentally different. Or maybe it's an attempt to attract people who say they don't want to have anything to do with religion, in which case it sounds dishonest to me, like selling a product under a false name.
I call Zen Buddhism a religion; on the other hand, I am just as happy to call it an existential philosophy.
What is “spiritual”? Again, I, like you, take a pretty broad view. Others do not. I once became annoyed with FreakyKBH for his view that the word only applied to theistic religions. He gave me a good Zen whack on the head by commenting that I s ...[text shortened]... aised—over and over again. In order to keep pressing one another to be clear what we’re saying.