Colleen Thomas
Ultrafemme
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2002
- Posts
- 21,545
I'm a southern baptist, but according to belief omatic reformed Judahism is a 1100% match
go figguh
go figguh
Brave enough to share your beliefs? (Religious)
- Thread starter rikaaim
- Start date
Colleen Thomas
Ultrafemme
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2002
- Posts
- 21,545
SophiaY said:
Feeling 100% better. Went to the er last night. Dilautin is a good thing.
I believe you know where I worship and just how devout I am when there
G
Guest
Guest
Nirvanadragones said:I am absolutely there...
I have been practicing the Craft for over 15 year... So yes, there is my first open confession on Lit - i am a witch
As a family we celebrate all Jewish and Christian holidays from a traditional perspective, including some Muslem customs.
I take what works for me and leave the rest.
I'm married to a Wiccan priest, one of my better friends and soul twins is a Priestess and lesbian, and I've beloved friends of many directions and orientations -- and religion is only a problem when someone wants me to be like they are. One of the people I respect most works for the Salvation Army, and is my idea of a true Christian -- he lives his beliefs, and he does not judge others, but has his faith strong and true. He's also funny, occasionally irreverent, loving, and happy. I adore him and don't get to see him or his wife often enough. I find I like people who are comfortable with and in their beliefs, without a need to have anyone else agree with them to make them "right by majority". I have great respect for people of other beliefs, even when I disagree with them. Everyone has a right to find their own path.
I don't care much for groups of people. I prefer persons.
TheEarl
Occasional visitor
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2002
- Posts
- 9,808
From my blog:
Wiccapedia
Right, it's Morsday morning (where you start the working week on a Thursday after holiday, but it feels just like a Monday morning) and once again, this project has no work for me to do. The system's falling over, the deadline's looming, the shared files deeley is broken and the sky is falling. My boss looks slightly frazzled and has effectively told me to amuse myself. Again.
I'm getting slightly suspicious that, after my exceedingly high quality of work on this project so far, he's just pretending to look frazzled and have nothing for me to do just so I can't be given anything to fuck about with. I have to say that I wouldn't be entirely uncomfortable with this!
Anyhow, I now have nothing to do and so I thought I'd write a brief Wicca and Witchcraft 101, seeing as how I managed to confuse so many people with my post a couple of days ago. The confusion and general looks of 'eh?' are completely understandable. I tend to introduce my religion into conversations as being something that requires no explaining, because I don't see my Wiccaness as being a big deal. If someone asks, I'll explain anything they like, but I will not feel like I have to justify it, so I often veer to this side of too little information rather than too much
I remember when I first heard of Wicca as an actual religion, the sum total of my knowledge on the subject came from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Which, incidentally, despite being a fantastic television show, is a marvellous source of misinformation about Wicca. If you're starting from the same place I was, it's probably a good idea to assume you're starting from nothing.
Wicca is basically a big hippie religion. This is the sentence I always start with when I'm coming out of the broom closet to someone. It's good as a frame of reference. Wicca is very much about balance, about tolerance, about respect for the world around you and the people in it. The religion has no holy book or prophet and no central authority dictates what Wiccans should believe. A lot of emphasis is put on finding your own path through meditation, reading and deep thought. It's not a religion where you get it handed to you in a neat package; you have to think about it in-depth and find your interpretation.
This has the major advantage of allowing Wiccans to be flexible and to think about what they believe rather than be spoonfed. The disadvantage is, of course, that people can take a lot of wide and varied interpretations of the religion and it can be difficult to find two Wiccans with exactly mirrored beliefs. However, my view of it is that it is not what you believe, but how you believe. I don't think the divine force in the universe much cares how you see it, or even if you see it at all. If you're being a good person (which, let's face it, is the central tenet in pretty much every religion), then the rest is semantics. There is an oft-used analogy in Wiccan writings about paradise/god being a beautiful glade in the middle of a thick forest. There are dozens of different paths leading to the glade. Some of them may go straight there, while others may take a more circuitous route, but no path is inherently worse than the next, as they all lead to the glade. This viewpoint means that proselytising is looked down on. If asked, a Wiccan will generally be more than happy to talk, but you'll be hard pressed to find one who'll try and convert you.
The upshot of this is that anything I tell you is going to be tinged with my personal beliefs. This isn't so much a definitive guide to Wicca, rather a 'Wicca-as-I-see-it'. I'd thoroughly recommend reading other people's guides as well if the subject interests you.
The deities in Wicca are a God and a Goddess. There are a lot of people who see the Goddess as being supreme and the God as subordinate, but, to my mind, they're equal partners in the divine. Everything in balance. These two deities represent different facets of the divinity, the yin and yang, if you will. For example, the God is very much linked to fire and passion and creativity. The Goddess is linked to earth, growth and inner strength.
Many people take the world to be more polytheistic than that and believe in many Gods and many Goddesses, usually represented by a pantheon from an ancient belief system. This splits up the divinity into more parts; instead of just male and female, there'd be a fire god and a sea god and a god of creativity and Jeff, the god of biscuits. Some of these Wiccans patronise a particular pair of God and Goddess, whilst others call on each of them as they're needed.
See what I meant about divergence? I haven't even left the definition of god yet and already there's more schisms than the Anglican church. These differences aren't really destructive though. The attitude is taken that you believe in what feels right to you and that it's personal to you. 'The Goddess guides' is another popular phrase and tells you that you'll find what's right for you through divine inspiration, if you learn how to listen properly. If someone believes differently, then that's what fits right for him. Just because the person next to you is wearing a tuxedo with a 40" chest compared to your 36", it doesn't mean that you don't both look like James Bond. Trivialities should really be regarded as trivial.
My personal belief is for just two deities, the God and Goddess, occasionally referred to as Lord and Lady. There's no devil in Wicca and no source of evil. Wickedness is in everything, just as good is (everything in balance again, see?) and it's our choice as to how good or bad we are. Our reward for being good is having good return to us. This is the oft-Hollywooded 'Rule of Three'. If you're good to people, then people will generally be good to you. If you're going to be a qingwah cao de liumang, then the world will generally come back around and bite you in the pigu. It's very much like the Hindu concept of karma.
It's not commerce though. It's not a literal case of 'If you're good, then you get three times the goodness back again'. Bad things happen to good people and good things will happen to bad people. However, fortune does tend to favour the righteous and I do believe that the world balances, if not in this life, then afterwards.
Which brings us neatly onto the question of what happens after death and a big area of grey on the Wiccan landscape. A lot of Wiccans believe in reincarnation, but that doesn't quite sit right with me. I can't wrap my head around whether the soul would hold any memory of its previous incarnation, or how soon after death, or where the sould would go in between, or what happens to the souls of evildoers. It doesn't fit for me, so I went looking for other answers.
Quite a few Wiccans believe in a place called the Summerland, which is effectively heaven/nirvana, but that concept seems very binary to me. If you're good, you get in. If you're not then you don't. What happens to the people who were neither good not bad? What if you're just below average; do you get kicked out with the child-molesters? Who decides who's been naughty and who's been nice?
The conclusion I eventually came to draws inspiration from several places. I believe that, after death, the energy of the person goes back to the divine to become a part of it again. It may be reused to create a new soul, but it's not technically reincarnation, as the person has gone. The individuality of the person can carry on, if they choose, in the form of kami (spirits/ghosts/individualities - it's a Shinto concept). A kami can stay on this plane and watch over people, they can find their Summerland if they choose or they can go into the divinity. People who are truly wicked don't get to become kami and those who are very virtuous get more options. It's a sliding scale, rather than a binary system. However, these are just my thoughts on the matter and generally, most Wiccans believe in straight reincarnation.
The last major thing to touch on is magick. The k is not just pretentious frippery; it's there to distinguish a religious practise from magic, which is stage illusions and David Blaine.
The generally accepted term for a practitioner of magic is 'Witch'. I have heard male practitioners calling themselves 'Warlock' or 'Magician', but I'm comfortable being a witch. Not all Wiccans are witches as some choose not to practise, and not all witches are Wiccans, as they may belong to another religion.
Magick is our way of changing the world through our religion. You can't point your finger and suddenly: <whoomph> "Hey, a lambourghini!" It's not supernatural and it's not unnatural. Magick is the process of changing the world through natural processes and it's probably something you've done before without realising it.
Ever wished for something to happen, picturing it over and over and over in your head only for it to happen exactly as you pictured it? Ever been thinking about a song you really wanted to hear and then it came on the radio? Chances are, you were doing some magick.
Generally speaking, magick isn't difficult to get a hold of because it is completely natural. It's your brain causing something to happen that it couldn't possibly have any physical control over. The brain is huge and only a tiny section is used for rational thought. It's bigger and smarter and stronger than most people give it credit for and most of the stuff it does for you, you don't even notice.
If someone throws a cricket ball at you and you see it out of the corner of your eye, the chances are that you'll catch it. It's not thought and it's not even skill. Your brain works out where your hand should be and moves it for you. That's an immensely complicated calculation of speed of the ball, distance, spin, gravity, weight, windspeed, direction, speed of your hand, flexibility of your wrist, positioning of your fingers, etc. It's mindboggling, or at least it's rational-mind boggling.
The same happens with magick. If you need something that badly, then your brain will organise it for you, moving the world through manipulating energy, auras, probabilities, however you want to define it. If you think about it, then the rational mind takes over and requires you to do the hard work yourself. You think about where the ball's going, get one of the factors wrong and end up fumbling it.
Magick in Wicca is basically the art of harnessing your brain and getting it to do the hard work for you, whilst still knowing what you want out of it. It's the use of ritual and motion and tools to trick your brain into doing the donkey work.
An example is a pain spell I did for a friend a while back. I lit a white candle (which represents strength) and I focussed on a piece of citrine (a crystal which represents the sacral chakra, which is where her pain was). I visualised her pain leaving and her being left with strength.
What did that actually do? When you look at it logically, it's a load of New Age gumpf. A white candle means nothing more than something to make light. Citrine is nothing more than a pretty piece of rock. My visualisations don't mean squat when looked at coldly, calmly and logically. However, her pain, which had defied every painkiller she could take, dissipated soon after the spell. The candle and the stone did nothing in themselves; it was my brain tapping into the divinity and using that power to help her. The ritual, the words, the tools and the visualisation were nothing more than a method of focussing my brain on the task at hand. Because my rational mind took the candle as meaning strength, my subconscious made it so. I believed that the citrine would help her sacral chakra and lo and behold, it did.
It's the same logic that makes superstition work. If you don't believe walking under a ladder does a thing, then, generally speaking, it won't. If you believe it does, then your brain will happily comply and will tap into the divinity to make your day a tamade mess, simply because you believed it was going to be.
Magick depends on the religion, because 90% of serious magick has to use divine energy to get the job done. Not every spell will work, as it is something that takes a degree of talent to tap into. Some people are naturally skilled and some can get there through reading and practise. It's my belief that, the better a person you are, the more likely you will be to find success in tapping into the divine energy. It is technically possible to do magick without involving the gods, but I've done spells using only my own energy sources before (proper newbie Witch error!) and I can tell you I was absolutely wiped out for a complete day afterwards. Not worth the time and effort.
"So, what about 'black' magick?" I hear you cry. The simple answer is that it doesn't exist. Nothing is either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so. Magick is neutral, just a talent or an ability like any other and you can use it or not, as you wish. See, there's that thing about balance again. You can, if you want, choose to be an evil yaoguai, but remember the rule of three. Being bad leads to the universe being bad to you in return.
In summary, Wicca is all about balance and tolerance and thought. There's no devil who leads you down the path of wickedness and no saviour who'll deliver you from evil. No-one's infallible and it's entirely possible that no-one's even remotely right. I don't think it matters that much though. All that does matter is that you think, use your mind and your heart and live your life as best you can. That last sentence is pretty much my religion, wrapped up in a nutshell.
I hope that helped answer any questions. I can thoroughly recommend going and looking at _____'s space as well and, if you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them.
Blessed be,
The Earl
Wiccapedia
Right, it's Morsday morning (where you start the working week on a Thursday after holiday, but it feels just like a Monday morning) and once again, this project has no work for me to do. The system's falling over, the deadline's looming, the shared files deeley is broken and the sky is falling. My boss looks slightly frazzled and has effectively told me to amuse myself. Again.
I'm getting slightly suspicious that, after my exceedingly high quality of work on this project so far, he's just pretending to look frazzled and have nothing for me to do just so I can't be given anything to fuck about with. I have to say that I wouldn't be entirely uncomfortable with this!
Anyhow, I now have nothing to do and so I thought I'd write a brief Wicca and Witchcraft 101, seeing as how I managed to confuse so many people with my post a couple of days ago. The confusion and general looks of 'eh?' are completely understandable. I tend to introduce my religion into conversations as being something that requires no explaining, because I don't see my Wiccaness as being a big deal. If someone asks, I'll explain anything they like, but I will not feel like I have to justify it, so I often veer to this side of too little information rather than too much
I remember when I first heard of Wicca as an actual religion, the sum total of my knowledge on the subject came from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Which, incidentally, despite being a fantastic television show, is a marvellous source of misinformation about Wicca. If you're starting from the same place I was, it's probably a good idea to assume you're starting from nothing.
Wicca is basically a big hippie religion. This is the sentence I always start with when I'm coming out of the broom closet to someone. It's good as a frame of reference. Wicca is very much about balance, about tolerance, about respect for the world around you and the people in it. The religion has no holy book or prophet and no central authority dictates what Wiccans should believe. A lot of emphasis is put on finding your own path through meditation, reading and deep thought. It's not a religion where you get it handed to you in a neat package; you have to think about it in-depth and find your interpretation.
This has the major advantage of allowing Wiccans to be flexible and to think about what they believe rather than be spoonfed. The disadvantage is, of course, that people can take a lot of wide and varied interpretations of the religion and it can be difficult to find two Wiccans with exactly mirrored beliefs. However, my view of it is that it is not what you believe, but how you believe. I don't think the divine force in the universe much cares how you see it, or even if you see it at all. If you're being a good person (which, let's face it, is the central tenet in pretty much every religion), then the rest is semantics. There is an oft-used analogy in Wiccan writings about paradise/god being a beautiful glade in the middle of a thick forest. There are dozens of different paths leading to the glade. Some of them may go straight there, while others may take a more circuitous route, but no path is inherently worse than the next, as they all lead to the glade. This viewpoint means that proselytising is looked down on. If asked, a Wiccan will generally be more than happy to talk, but you'll be hard pressed to find one who'll try and convert you.
The upshot of this is that anything I tell you is going to be tinged with my personal beliefs. This isn't so much a definitive guide to Wicca, rather a 'Wicca-as-I-see-it'. I'd thoroughly recommend reading other people's guides as well if the subject interests you.
The deities in Wicca are a God and a Goddess. There are a lot of people who see the Goddess as being supreme and the God as subordinate, but, to my mind, they're equal partners in the divine. Everything in balance. These two deities represent different facets of the divinity, the yin and yang, if you will. For example, the God is very much linked to fire and passion and creativity. The Goddess is linked to earth, growth and inner strength.
Many people take the world to be more polytheistic than that and believe in many Gods and many Goddesses, usually represented by a pantheon from an ancient belief system. This splits up the divinity into more parts; instead of just male and female, there'd be a fire god and a sea god and a god of creativity and Jeff, the god of biscuits. Some of these Wiccans patronise a particular pair of God and Goddess, whilst others call on each of them as they're needed.
See what I meant about divergence? I haven't even left the definition of god yet and already there's more schisms than the Anglican church. These differences aren't really destructive though. The attitude is taken that you believe in what feels right to you and that it's personal to you. 'The Goddess guides' is another popular phrase and tells you that you'll find what's right for you through divine inspiration, if you learn how to listen properly. If someone believes differently, then that's what fits right for him. Just because the person next to you is wearing a tuxedo with a 40" chest compared to your 36", it doesn't mean that you don't both look like James Bond. Trivialities should really be regarded as trivial.
My personal belief is for just two deities, the God and Goddess, occasionally referred to as Lord and Lady. There's no devil in Wicca and no source of evil. Wickedness is in everything, just as good is (everything in balance again, see?) and it's our choice as to how good or bad we are. Our reward for being good is having good return to us. This is the oft-Hollywooded 'Rule of Three'. If you're good to people, then people will generally be good to you. If you're going to be a qingwah cao de liumang, then the world will generally come back around and bite you in the pigu. It's very much like the Hindu concept of karma.
It's not commerce though. It's not a literal case of 'If you're good, then you get three times the goodness back again'. Bad things happen to good people and good things will happen to bad people. However, fortune does tend to favour the righteous and I do believe that the world balances, if not in this life, then afterwards.
Which brings us neatly onto the question of what happens after death and a big area of grey on the Wiccan landscape. A lot of Wiccans believe in reincarnation, but that doesn't quite sit right with me. I can't wrap my head around whether the soul would hold any memory of its previous incarnation, or how soon after death, or where the sould would go in between, or what happens to the souls of evildoers. It doesn't fit for me, so I went looking for other answers.
Quite a few Wiccans believe in a place called the Summerland, which is effectively heaven/nirvana, but that concept seems very binary to me. If you're good, you get in. If you're not then you don't. What happens to the people who were neither good not bad? What if you're just below average; do you get kicked out with the child-molesters? Who decides who's been naughty and who's been nice?
The conclusion I eventually came to draws inspiration from several places. I believe that, after death, the energy of the person goes back to the divine to become a part of it again. It may be reused to create a new soul, but it's not technically reincarnation, as the person has gone. The individuality of the person can carry on, if they choose, in the form of kami (spirits/ghosts/individualities - it's a Shinto concept). A kami can stay on this plane and watch over people, they can find their Summerland if they choose or they can go into the divinity. People who are truly wicked don't get to become kami and those who are very virtuous get more options. It's a sliding scale, rather than a binary system. However, these are just my thoughts on the matter and generally, most Wiccans believe in straight reincarnation.
The last major thing to touch on is magick. The k is not just pretentious frippery; it's there to distinguish a religious practise from magic, which is stage illusions and David Blaine.
The generally accepted term for a practitioner of magic is 'Witch'. I have heard male practitioners calling themselves 'Warlock' or 'Magician', but I'm comfortable being a witch. Not all Wiccans are witches as some choose not to practise, and not all witches are Wiccans, as they may belong to another religion.
Magick is our way of changing the world through our religion. You can't point your finger and suddenly: <whoomph> "Hey, a lambourghini!" It's not supernatural and it's not unnatural. Magick is the process of changing the world through natural processes and it's probably something you've done before without realising it.
Ever wished for something to happen, picturing it over and over and over in your head only for it to happen exactly as you pictured it? Ever been thinking about a song you really wanted to hear and then it came on the radio? Chances are, you were doing some magick.
Generally speaking, magick isn't difficult to get a hold of because it is completely natural. It's your brain causing something to happen that it couldn't possibly have any physical control over. The brain is huge and only a tiny section is used for rational thought. It's bigger and smarter and stronger than most people give it credit for and most of the stuff it does for you, you don't even notice.
If someone throws a cricket ball at you and you see it out of the corner of your eye, the chances are that you'll catch it. It's not thought and it's not even skill. Your brain works out where your hand should be and moves it for you. That's an immensely complicated calculation of speed of the ball, distance, spin, gravity, weight, windspeed, direction, speed of your hand, flexibility of your wrist, positioning of your fingers, etc. It's mindboggling, or at least it's rational-mind boggling.
The same happens with magick. If you need something that badly, then your brain will organise it for you, moving the world through manipulating energy, auras, probabilities, however you want to define it. If you think about it, then the rational mind takes over and requires you to do the hard work yourself. You think about where the ball's going, get one of the factors wrong and end up fumbling it.
Magick in Wicca is basically the art of harnessing your brain and getting it to do the hard work for you, whilst still knowing what you want out of it. It's the use of ritual and motion and tools to trick your brain into doing the donkey work.
An example is a pain spell I did for a friend a while back. I lit a white candle (which represents strength) and I focussed on a piece of citrine (a crystal which represents the sacral chakra, which is where her pain was). I visualised her pain leaving and her being left with strength.
What did that actually do? When you look at it logically, it's a load of New Age gumpf. A white candle means nothing more than something to make light. Citrine is nothing more than a pretty piece of rock. My visualisations don't mean squat when looked at coldly, calmly and logically. However, her pain, which had defied every painkiller she could take, dissipated soon after the spell. The candle and the stone did nothing in themselves; it was my brain tapping into the divinity and using that power to help her. The ritual, the words, the tools and the visualisation were nothing more than a method of focussing my brain on the task at hand. Because my rational mind took the candle as meaning strength, my subconscious made it so. I believed that the citrine would help her sacral chakra and lo and behold, it did.
It's the same logic that makes superstition work. If you don't believe walking under a ladder does a thing, then, generally speaking, it won't. If you believe it does, then your brain will happily comply and will tap into the divinity to make your day a tamade mess, simply because you believed it was going to be.
Magick depends on the religion, because 90% of serious magick has to use divine energy to get the job done. Not every spell will work, as it is something that takes a degree of talent to tap into. Some people are naturally skilled and some can get there through reading and practise. It's my belief that, the better a person you are, the more likely you will be to find success in tapping into the divine energy. It is technically possible to do magick without involving the gods, but I've done spells using only my own energy sources before (proper newbie Witch error!) and I can tell you I was absolutely wiped out for a complete day afterwards. Not worth the time and effort.
"So, what about 'black' magick?" I hear you cry. The simple answer is that it doesn't exist. Nothing is either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so. Magick is neutral, just a talent or an ability like any other and you can use it or not, as you wish. See, there's that thing about balance again. You can, if you want, choose to be an evil yaoguai, but remember the rule of three. Being bad leads to the universe being bad to you in return.
In summary, Wicca is all about balance and tolerance and thought. There's no devil who leads you down the path of wickedness and no saviour who'll deliver you from evil. No-one's infallible and it's entirely possible that no-one's even remotely right. I don't think it matters that much though. All that does matter is that you think, use your mind and your heart and live your life as best you can. That last sentence is pretty much my religion, wrapped up in a nutshell.
I hope that helped answer any questions. I can thoroughly recommend going and looking at _____'s space as well and, if you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them.
Blessed be,
The Earl
Last edited:
rgraham666
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2004
- Posts
- 43,695
The only religion I'd be a member of is fictional.
Its Holy Book is called 'The Book of Universal Truths and Other Humourous Anecdotes'.
This book contains such sprightly bits of wisdom such as the 16th Psalm of Indifferent Contentment: "Man is without a doubt the most conceited race in the universe. Who else believes God has nothing better to do except sit around and help him out of tight spots?"
It also contains Matthewson's 23rd Edict: "To be angered by evil is to partake of it, stupid."
Written on the floor of its main temple is: "If God had really intended Her creations to spend most of their time worshipping Her, She wouldn't have made the universe nearly so complicated."
Unfortunately, it is fictional. So I'm opting for agnostic in the meantime.
Its Holy Book is called 'The Book of Universal Truths and Other Humourous Anecdotes'.
This book contains such sprightly bits of wisdom such as the 16th Psalm of Indifferent Contentment: "Man is without a doubt the most conceited race in the universe. Who else believes God has nothing better to do except sit around and help him out of tight spots?"
It also contains Matthewson's 23rd Edict: "To be angered by evil is to partake of it, stupid."
Written on the floor of its main temple is: "If God had really intended Her creations to spend most of their time worshipping Her, She wouldn't have made the universe nearly so complicated."
Unfortunately, it is fictional. So I'm opting for agnostic in the meantime.
G
Guest
Guest
rgraham666 said:
I always thought the Discordians had pretty good propoganda. I need to replace or find where I hid my Principia Discordia -- was a reprint anyway -- but the bunless hotdog eating on Fridays seemed a wonderful thing to me. That, and the memos.
rgraham666
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2004
- Posts
- 43,695
malachiteink said:I always thought the Discordians had pretty good propoganda. I need to replace or find where I hid my Principia Discordia -- was a reprint anyway -- but the bunless hotdog eating on Fridays seemed a wonderful thing to me. That, and the memos.
I used to like playing the Discordians in Illuminati.
The UFOs were fun too. You never knew what they were up to.
The_old_man
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2001
- Posts
- 916
As I near 79 years of age, most "Organized Religions" begin to look more and more like Protection scams.
My belief is that GOD(nondenominational) created some ultra dence mass, and a set of physical laws governing that mass. This resulted in the observable universe which we still do not understand.
religion(uncapitalized) is a persons personal relationship with that GOD.
Religion( capitalized) is a comercial organization to keep their subjects from giving money to other organizations.
Please excuse the spelling, I lost my copy of "SpellCheck"
The_old_man
My belief is that GOD(nondenominational) created some ultra dence mass, and a set of physical laws governing that mass. This resulted in the observable universe which we still do not understand.
religion(uncapitalized) is a persons personal relationship with that GOD.
Religion( capitalized) is a comercial organization to keep their subjects from giving money to other organizations.
Please excuse the spelling, I lost my copy of "SpellCheck"
The_old_man
SEVERUSMAX
Benevolent Master
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2004
- Posts
- 28,995
The link that Selena showed gave 3 religious groups as being closest to my thinking....
Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
Unitarian Universalists (100%)
Neo-Pagans (100%)
Liberal Quakers were not far behind, with 95%, oddly enough.
Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
Unitarian Universalists (100%)
Neo-Pagans (100%)
Liberal Quakers were not far behind, with 95%, oddly enough.
English Lady
Erotic English Rose
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Posts
- 48,011
I am NOT religious. Closest I get to religion is supporting Manchester United, A pastor friend of mine always used to say that football was my religion.
But, I am spiritual and I do have a faith, and you all know it, so excuse me whilst I repeat myself,again.
I am a Christian, I won't label it further than that, I've been christened Cof E, Baptised as a baptist, attended Roman Catholic retreats and churches, gone to the Salvation Army and am now back in a Cof E church. I don't hold much imprtance in denomination, it's just how different people feel comfrotable worshipping,and it gets my goat how so many people get riled up about it.
I believe in the trinity set up, God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. I believe the God Created everything, Man (and woman, lets be fair) buggered up and Jesus came, died on the cross once and for all, for all sin, for every single person on Earth then,now and in the future and everywhere in between.
I believe this is amazing good news, it fills my heart with joy and I cannot contain it. I won't preach, I won't bang anyone over the head with a bible, but when asked I will happily and joyfuly share my faith -cos it excites me.
I'm an individual, though. So don't tar me, nor any other Christian come to that, wth the same brush. I know alot of people are down on Christians right now because of certain famous Christians and how they are, and what they do. But I think theres a verse of some kind that says "Judgne not, least ye be judged" and I'm in on that. I try not to judge people, That's God's job. I will never, ever say who i believe will be in Heaven and who won't be, because I know I'm going to be in for a hell (excuse the Pun) of a surprise once I get there. I Think my Lord will be letting in alot more people than we'd think and keeping out some that profess their faith the very loudest. (and make lots of mony for themselves in the process)
I believe it's possible to believe in Christ, follow Christ and not be a Christian. I believe all the religious posturing around the Faith is a pile of dung, and really should be ignored. I believe Jesus encouraged (and encourages) us to question everything, to inspect of faith regularly and to test what we blieve with our hearts. I believe that this means alot of different takes on the same faith are valid, and Jesus accepts that people are individuals and that this should be celebrated, not frowned upon.
I believe Jesus is my best friend. I believe I feel his arms round me, comforting me, when I need them. I believe I see signs of God with me when I look up and see birds flying in the sky, I believe I am full of the Holy Spirit and I know I have been filled to over-flowing before now and shed tears and laughed with the sheer vastness of joy filling my being.
And I believe I should probably shut up now *chuckles*I could go on forever.
But, I am spiritual and I do have a faith, and you all know it, so excuse me whilst I repeat myself,again.
I am a Christian, I won't label it further than that, I've been christened Cof E, Baptised as a baptist, attended Roman Catholic retreats and churches, gone to the Salvation Army and am now back in a Cof E church. I don't hold much imprtance in denomination, it's just how different people feel comfrotable worshipping,and it gets my goat how so many people get riled up about it.
I believe in the trinity set up, God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. I believe the God Created everything, Man (and woman, lets be fair) buggered up and Jesus came, died on the cross once and for all, for all sin, for every single person on Earth then,now and in the future and everywhere in between.
I believe this is amazing good news, it fills my heart with joy and I cannot contain it. I won't preach, I won't bang anyone over the head with a bible, but when asked I will happily and joyfuly share my faith -cos it excites me.
I'm an individual, though. So don't tar me, nor any other Christian come to that, wth the same brush. I know alot of people are down on Christians right now because of certain famous Christians and how they are, and what they do. But I think theres a verse of some kind that says "Judgne not, least ye be judged" and I'm in on that. I try not to judge people, That's God's job. I will never, ever say who i believe will be in Heaven and who won't be, because I know I'm going to be in for a hell (excuse the Pun) of a surprise once I get there. I Think my Lord will be letting in alot more people than we'd think and keeping out some that profess their faith the very loudest. (and make lots of mony for themselves in the process)
I believe it's possible to believe in Christ, follow Christ and not be a Christian. I believe all the religious posturing around the Faith is a pile of dung, and really should be ignored. I believe Jesus encouraged (and encourages) us to question everything, to inspect of faith regularly and to test what we blieve with our hearts. I believe that this means alot of different takes on the same faith are valid, and Jesus accepts that people are individuals and that this should be celebrated, not frowned upon.
I believe Jesus is my best friend. I believe I feel his arms round me, comforting me, when I need them. I believe I see signs of God with me when I look up and see birds flying in the sky, I believe I am full of the Holy Spirit and I know I have been filled to over-flowing before now and shed tears and laughed with the sheer vastness of joy filling my being.
And I believe I should probably shut up now *chuckles*I could go on forever.
impressive
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2003
- Posts
- 27,372
I believe in love ... and loving. *shrug* Simple, really.
Innocuous1
Loves Spam
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
- Posts
- 13
I found this thread to be quite illuminating, who is in favour of moving over to a religious board and talking about what kind of porn they are into? I'm not being totally flippant, my broad point is that by having this interest many of ou are directly at odds with the moral codes espoused by the religions that you claim to have some affiliation to.
I have a favorite oneliner from a sitcom (some 80's one best forgotten) it goes like this:
FORNICATORS!!!!!
I have a favorite oneliner from a sitcom (some 80's one best forgotten) it goes like this:
FORNICATORS!!!!!
cloudy
Alabama Slammer
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2004
- Posts
- 37,997
Innocuous1 said:
I'm really trying not to be a total bitch, but you obviously don't have a clue. Most religions, in and of themselves, say nothing against sexual activity, per se. It's the current spin put on things, not the religion itself.
Educate yourself, and then get back to us.
Last edited:
FallingToFly
Political Stance: Porn
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2006
- Posts
- 7,677
Innocuous1 said:I found this thread to be quite illuminating, who is in favour of moving over to a religious board and talking about what kind of porn they are into? I'm not being totally flippant, my broad point is that by having this interest many of ou are directly at odds with the moral codes espoused by the religions that you claim to have some affiliation to.
I have a favorite oneliner from a sitcom (some 80's one best forgotten) it goes like this:
FORNICATORS!!!!!
Wait.... because we're in any way "religious" we aren't allowed to like sex?
Fuck this, I'm becoming a Satanists... Daddy's been trying to get me to support his cause anyway....
Please someone tell me that I wasn't that stupid, opinionated and flat out offensive as a Virgin?
Lady Reiha
Rating: S̴̟͔͇̩̳͉
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2006
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- 34,882
I am a Satanist
(no..not a stereotypical one..bleh)
(no..not a stereotypical one..bleh)
English Lady
Erotic English Rose
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Posts
- 48,011
Liar said:
Yes -sorry for the headache -have a
for it. And Thanks Cloudy for explaining things for me in my abscence
Hi Innocuous - I see what you're driving at BUT as cloudy says, sex is good in the eyes of most of the holy books I've heard about. Silly controlling people have made it seem like it's a bad bad bad sin, I, for one, am pretty sure God's all for sex. Hell, nigh on every time I have sex I give him praise-I think he's happy'bout that
And we talk everything here -it's a community thing. We mgiht be on a pron board but it's not all sex, sex,sex. 
SEVERUSMAX
Benevolent Master
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2004
- Posts
- 28,995
SEVERUSMAX said:
I'm surprised at those results a little, by the way. Guess that I don't know much about the MLCP community like I thought. I thought they were a little further away from my thinking than that.
Incidentally, there is a group called "Liberated Christians". They would make Inn 1 very confused indeed. Much of their thinking is similar to what EL thinks, I am guessing. It's not wise to paint all Christians or other religious people with the same brush. Not all Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc. think alike.
There was a Gnostic sect that advocated sexual freedom, for instance. I pointed this out to amicus recently, on a thread in which he seemed to lump more mainline and liberal sects like Church of England and Unitarians with the religious right. Inn 1 might want to look up the history of Christianity and other faiths, such as Judaism, before attacking people for being "fornicators". There have always been different factions and sects in every religion. Ebionite, Gnostic, and Pauline for instance, in Christianity, before the reign of Constantine.
Of course, I am a pagan, but that is my outsiders' take on it.
And, by the way, the Epistle of James agrees with Pure. It defines "good religion and undefiled is this, to comfort the widows and the fatherless..." Just a thought.
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