My first blog and of course it has to be religious. I am definitely going to have to work on my blogging skills.
So I've been thinking lately. Philosophically. Here are a few of my thoughts. If you have questions, please let me know. I'm really very interested.
Recent thoughts that I would be interested in hearing others' thoughts on:
From what I can gather:
God is love.
You can not have one without the other.
Without God, you have no love.
Which would lead me to believe:
What you think is love, can not be, without God.
In a true faith*:
When you go against yourself, you go against your faith.
*a true faith being of God, for God, with a righteous purpose to do good in the world
Then, to sin would be to go against yourself.
Meaning that all sin is doing something you know to be bad for you and doing it anyway.
Also meaning that there is no accidental sin.
To actively go against yourself, is to actively sin against your faith.
Does someone who constantly makes choices to do things they know are bad for them mean they have a lack of faith?
Are they incapable of love?
Are all people incapable of love without God?
Question: Can one live a faithful life without making faith a part of every aspect of their everyday life? Who is a good example?
A faith makes a religion. A religion does not make a faith.
Many thoughts all at once I know. However, please give feed back. This, I believe, is how we learn. I am by no means trying to teach. I realize that there will be many interpretations of not only what I've written but also the usage of the terms God, faith, and religion.
Please know that I use these terms quite loosely especially in this piece. I am not saying... I don't believe I am saying... that if you do not believe in God, then you can not love. I'm merely asking the question.
I also am not limiting myself or anyone else to believe that God is "my God" but perhaps Alah, Brahman, Yahweh, etc.
If someone continuous to sin then they have a lack of faith?
That makes sense because sin is another word for rebel. When we rebel, it is because we don't agree with something. When we sin it is because we are compelled to do something. In other words to commit sin is to rebel against god or the beliefs of a religion.
But I don't think that those who rebel against god, don't have faith. Everyone has faith in something. Faith is just trust and belief, that is how we live faithfully. Well actually,it all depends on what you mean. Can we live constantly trusting each other? To live with ever lasting faith is to trust the liars to be liars and the truthful people to be honest. It means that if the weather man says it is going to be rain, to go out with a raincoat and umbrella even if it doesn't rain. Particularly, that type of faith couldn't exist, because to live so is to live obliviously.
Having a life of faith is the ability to believe that you can do whatever you need to do. No matter what your dreams will be fulfilled. That is a faithful life. Well actually, just part of it.
I think living a faithful life is all about how you where raised and where. I was forced into Christianity and I HATED it. Even when I was 7 I knew that I could not believe what was being said and that the only thing I put my faith in is love, respect, and knowledge. I am constantly critized for what I believe from those who do not have an open mind...and it's such a pity for this century.
(IMO)Faith is finding something you whole-heartedly believe in that you know fits your morals/standards and makes you happy. Regardless if there is a God or Goddess. Faith kind of stalks you. Faith is essential to live...many people give up on life becuase they've given up on faith(usually in themselves).
For now I'll stick to Bohemian beliefs("freedom, beauty, truth and love") and just enjoy my chai tea and the cheap smell of cigarettes the Safehouse offers. I have faith in happyness.
The phrase 'God is love' is true in the sense that God being the all encompassing truth includes love as well as everything else.
God is the God of beleivers, as well as non-beleivers. God loves us all. All of us are a part of God. By loving God you are able to perceive Gods love for you.
A fact is always better than an ideal
An atheist can love just as deeply as a person of faith. That I know from experience. Love is a natural phenomenon and almost everyone is capable of experiencing it in some way shape or form.
"Every man makes a god of his own desire."
-Virgil
We are not capable of loving anybody if we do not love God first, and the way
you love God is to follow the ten commandments, if you dont, you dont love
God, and since love comes from God, (everything is from him) you are not
able to experience love in the greatest form, i think you feel some semblence
of God, though it may be a number of things, but true love it is not.
I used to be religious, not very religious, but I believed in god. I loved then. I love now. There is no difference.
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
Douglas Adams
"That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die."
H. P. Lovecraft
I love my family and friends and myself. I am still not sure that i love God yet. but i am capable of love.
second, love is a chemical it does not require divine intervention.
Love is an emotion with many faces, enabling yourself to feel or tap into this emotion is difficult for many amongst us.
Many people fear love because they can not handle the idea of deception and hurt that comes along with it!
Therefore most people stay in their little corner missing out every emotion that passes them by making them to become frustrated individuals.
Love has nothing to do with religion or god!
Love is nothing more than personal awareness of energy and the sensation that comes along with it when entering one’s live.
Sadly, not knowing how to handle love is one of the biggest weaknesses of human’s because some translate felt energies into religion in order to link their emotions with one or another god.
Does anyone remember that first kiss that filled your whole self with energy so strong making it a divine emotion?
If you do, think about that day and know this emotion is still around and will be so eternally…
Are you saying that Buddhist cannot love? Atheist? Agnostics? I assume you are refering to the diety of the Christian faith, so how about Hindu, they have multiple gods, can they love?
There are so many others in the world that it boggles the imagination how you can say that only people that believe in your god can love.
The only thing religious faith is good at teaching is how to discriminate against everybody that doesn't believe what you believe.
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“It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.” - Bertrand Russell
Actually I was not referring to a Christian diety at all. Both Hindus and Buddhists believe in a god or Brahman. (Also just a note Hindus do not have "many" gods they have many faces of the same god.) God can have many different names and I apologize if I did not clarify that enough for you. Agnostics also believe in a a higher being. The only group you have mentioned that I would suspect may fall into this category are the atheists. And as some comments have shown, the atheists seem to be the ones most up in arms about this blog.
One of the factors that brought me to write this blog was because of the behavior I observed of some of the atheists in my circle. Not all atheists mind you, just the ones in my circle. They did seem to have a tendency to hurt themselves or as mentioned in the blog "sin" against themselves. By sin I am not referring to a religious context either but simply put, they were harming their bodies which has been proved scientifically. I understand that people of all faiths often harm themselves. But I think the core of my questioning is would we hurt ourselves if we loved our self? Would we hurt others if we truely loved them?
I am a huge supporter of Buddhist theology and believe they are a prime example of how doing good for ourselves as well as others leads to a peaceful existance.
"The only thing religious faith is good at teaching is how to discriminate against everybody that doesn't believe what you believe."
I take personal offense to this statement. For if you knew anything about who I am or what I support, I believe you would realize I'm one of the least discriminatory people there are. Often times I speak in broader terms than others because I am not concerned with what you or I believe, I am concerned with finding an ultimate truth for all people. So when I use a term like "God" I am not so base to mean exclusively the God I believe in but perhaps the God that many believe in. Alah, Brahman, God, Yahweh, Jehovah, etc.
Doing what you love, is merely loving what you do.
"The only group you have mentioned that I would suspect may fall into this category are the atheists. And as some comments have shown, the atheists seem to be the ones most up in arms about this blog."
Obviously we're up in arms about this. You said that we are incapable of love. Not only is this highly offensive, it is pure nonsense. Seeing as love is a chemical reaction (which, among other things can be brought about by eating a lot of chocolate), then only people with brain defects are chemically unable to expirience love.
You also seem to have based this on the fact that you know some Atheists who behave in a dumb manner, like smoking or whatever. I would remind you that religious people also do dumb things. Atheists are people. And, like most people, we are capable of doing really stupid things. That has nothing to do with being atheistic.
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
Douglas Adams
"That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die."
H. P. Lovecraft
Both Hindus and Buddhists believe in a god or Brahman.
Some Buddhists are atheist. Buddhism is generally considered to be a path in which you can take to explore reality, rather than a religion or philosophy. So you could very well be talking about a large portion of Buddhists.
Agnostics also believe in a a higher being.
Not necessarily... Agnostics recognize that there's no way to know one way or the other if god exists. They don't necessarily believe in a god, though. From what I've seen, true agnostics are more of the people that say 'oh, I don't know if god exists or not, but why should I trouble myself over it?' So, again, you could very well be talking about agnostics as well.
Personally, I think that saying you are incapable of loving if you don't believe in God is just stupid. The range of human emotion is complex. People have low self-esteem... both those that believe in God and those that don't. I had low self-esteem for years, and it took a guy yelling at me practically every day for a few years for me to get over it. And even then, it's not complete. So people not loving themselves has nothing to do with loving God.
~C
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Doing what you love, is merely loving what you do.
I would also like to remind everyone that I asked many questions in this blog. More questions than answers for a reason. A question that hasn't been touched that I am interested in exploring is this:
Does someone who constantly makes choices to do things they know are bad for them mean they have a lack of faith?
For even atheists have faith in something, right?
Doing what you love, is merely loving what you do.
I believe people carry a strange nature with them along the course of their lives.
Strange in the way that it is easy to take away their self-confidence only by putting guild upon their shoulders. Strangely most guild is self-inflicted because of personal lack of faith.
Many amongst us can not handle guild and therefore become addicted to whatever element that brings them relief or offers them an escape route in order to try and forget.
People that suffer of guild often affect their surroundings in manipulating ways in order to find relief, they find this relief when venturing around other people that carry or suffer from the same guild.
For instance, if a person is surrounded by friends that are doing drugs, these friends will try to affect the non user friend with their habit by making it sound like it’s all ok to do the same.
The same applies with alcohol and tobacco being the most important to be found in our social lives.
Same applies into many different aspects of our social lives together as a humanity.
We carry an urge to inflict what we have done wrong upon people that surround us for the sole reason to find relief in knowing were not the only one that have done wrong.
One that can enable himself to accept that there is no right or wrong in this world, will not dwell into that grey zone between the boundaries of their “own” right and wrong standpoints that bring confusion while troubling their minds, vision and beliefs in whatever way imaginable.
It is our self-esteem that plays dirty tricks when it is been tackled by our surroundings, mostly our relatives or friends whom we mistakenly often trust without questioning their motives.
Media channels are very effective (advertising) in undermining our self-confidence or even become an important tool in twisting reality in order to affect our believes.
What the eyes see, the mind believes…
The leading role and reason for all this to occur is the fact that we live in a system that is based around the concept of “money”.
Many think money makes the world go round while money in fact is the biggest cancer within our lives because there is not enough for everyone!
Therefore some people start acting funny with all the results we know!
Money sucks, lol….
Money is God or Satan depending on how much you want, waist, need, have, share or steel!!!
There will never be enough, unless we start and learn to live without this cancer!
Yes, atheists believe in many things. Just, not god. I think that people who do bad things to themselves probably have bad self-esteem, or have done something that they consider bad or they have, actually and literally, lost hope in EVERYTHING.
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
Douglas Adams
"That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die."
H. P. Lovecraft
I believe humanity is facing a serious challenge in order to go back from that invisible line that has been crossed.
Many amongst us live in some sort of fear entangled state of desperation while silently awaiting the next situation that will shock them, a lingering situation were many loose their last hope for the better.
The outside world reality is been pushed right in our face true all types of media making us realize everyone is in a hurry to get a piece of that money related “pie”.
Humans arrogance is displayed in such fashion that it leaves no wonders on were priorities are focussed upon by the so called rulers of this planet! All upon our planet which is starting to show it’s burden and suffering while loosing it’s natural beauty and energy.
I wonder if human reason will surface in order to deal with this dreadful situation that we are causing and leaving behind for future generations.
It is a shame to see all these people who are leading (our) countries worldwide failing in sustaining peace only because of economical and religious purposes that dwell in vicious circles of lies, abuse and corruption.
For many love sadly becomes a romantic memory of what once was a free joy that surrounded our lives!
We all want to see this change but we have no means in doing so, therefore we can not reach out to bring a change if we don’t speak out!
People need to speak out LOUD, organise themselves around ONE quest in order to create a platform that will allow to deal with the right priorities, in the proper manner that excludes the use of violence, that violence which is the main cause of trauma and lack of love that invades our hearts.
We could created jobs around this quest, bring peace and knowledge that would eradicate all the misfortunes that are present in our daily lives just by shifting our heads and focus upon this reality that we can mould into a positive vibe that carries no shame making us to look the other way!
Humanity, needs to demand for a (vibe) structure like this to be put in place in order for our children to understand the meaning of love in it’s full effect!
Since we are all God’s children, why not take a step in creating an environment that is wordy for us all to be referred to as human beings that carry a heart,
for all God’s children!