Originally posted by SuzianneI have started a thread about the topic.
Please. Isn't all this just yet another form of the "same old, same old" from you guys?
And oh yeah, I almost didn't notice this as it was buried so far under the 'shinola'. What exactly is a "retail religion"? Is your religion a "wholesale religion"?
My point was that yes, it's easy for people to believe in UFOs because they get to look outward ...[text shortened]... sort of misdirection and to keep from having to look inward at their own heart and motivations.
Originally posted by SuzianneI don't see why a religious person cannot look at BOTH the issue of UFOs AND "look inward at their own heart and motivations". Nobody needs to feel "misdirected". And nobody needs to feel "kept from" something.
My point was that yes, it's easy for people to believe in UFOs because they get to look outward and say "look at that!" as some sort of misdirection and to keep from having to look inward at their own heart and motivations.
Originally posted by SuzianneI don't have a religion. To me a "retail religion" is an organized package of literature, folklore, beliefs, notions and aspirations where the tenets, events, figures, and supposed meanings of things are all codified and laid out, and they get adopted and subscribed to by groups of people who then oppose or disagree with the other religious packages that they chose not to subscribe to. There are countless examples such as Islam and Judaism and Catholicism and Hinduism and Protestantism and they include all manner of denominations and offshoots.
What exactly is a "retail religion"? Is your religion a "wholesale religion"?
Originally posted by galveston75Are you saying conclusion, as in "this is the End, period" . Or are you saying, "this is the conclusion of this episode" ?
Jesus predicted that at “the conclusion of the system of things” a climate of fear would cover the earth. He said that there would be “fearful sights” and that men would “become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.” (Lu 21:11, 26)
Originally posted by menace71Just think, in the timing of all this. You have earthquakes, floods, signs in the heavens. Everything seems to be a bit crazy, and then a man comes, claming to be God. He seems to bring peace with him everywhere he goes. Will you think that he is God?
Luke 21:11-26 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
11 and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and ...[text shortened]... things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Manny
Originally posted by FMFIt may be a stretch of the term "religion", but only due to the quantity of dogma associated with the practice of deism.
The word may apply to me although I think it's stretching the meaning of the term "religion" beyond its usefulness to apply it to "deism".
I believe in reason, but I find no reason to believe that God created man and then just left him alone without a guide.
Originally posted by josephwIf you can believe in an omnipotent being who created Man then surely
I believe in reason, but I find no reason to believe that God created man and then just left him alone without a guide.
you can believe he was free to do whatever he wanted next ... and in fact
if it created the whole Universe there probably more interesting things to do!
Originally posted by FMF"What "quantity of dogma" are you talking about?"
What "quantity of dogma" are you talking about? And what is "the practice of deism"?
From Marriam-Webster: "a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe." Simply put deism has only one major tenet; God created man and left him to his own. It's a religious idea even though it doesn't come from the mind of God.
"And what is "the practice of deism"?"
Believing that God doesn't involve Himself in the affairs of men and nature.
Originally posted by josephwWhat "practice" are you talking about? And can you give a few examples of the "quantity of dogma" you mentooned?
[b]"What "quantity of dogma" are you talking about?"
From Marriam-Webster: "a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe." Simply put deism has only one major tenet; God created man and left him to his own. It's a religi ...[text shortened]... of deism"?"[/b]
Believing that God doesn't involve Himself in the affairs of men and nature.[/b]