Religion is dying; does it need replacing?

a reply to: glend

I understand your point but it depend on what you mean about messiah? Messiah means anointed and with in vitro fertalisation it is easy to make a baby without the girl/woman stop being a virgin.

What level of energetic body state/level of body synchronization do a person need to achieve to be classified as anointed to you? (Christos/Messiah).

a reply to: LittleByLittle

If you are asking if I believe Jesus, Krishna and Buddha were all spiritually enlightened the answer is yes. That belief is based on the quality of their teachings. But when I read of immaculate births all I see is an effort by over zealous followers to elevate their messiah to the status of God. To compete with other Gods of that time.

originally posted by: glend
a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Today's people are less likely to believe mythology that was accepted 2000 years ago. If it was announced on the news that a messiah was born in india from a virgin would you believe it today?

It isn't mythology... There are accounts from PAGAN Roman historians, and Jewish historians to the fact that Jesus was born from the virgin Mary. The Romans, who were still pagan then, claimed that Mary had been raped by a Roman soldier. A sick joke that even today many pagans would make.

in the "historical accounts," even of the Romans, they state Jesus was able to make miracles. They called him a magician for it, and not like today's magicians btw.

originally posted by: glend
...
But when I read of immaculate births all I see is an effort by over zealous followers to elevate their messiah to the status of God. To compete with other Gods of that time.

Ahhh... I see, so it has to be what "you" believe about another religion?... That shows that it is people like you who are over zealous trying to proclaim that what is believed in another religion must be how "you" see it...

What with the state, that has repeatedly caused mass suffering? Know what has caused more war than religion, people in government.

a reply to: neutronflux

Bankers......
If no one could borrow money to make weapons then wars would still be fought with sticks and stones.... not many people would die.
Wars are started by the people who have much to gain.... The bankers and the corpurations that make weapons.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Ahhh... I see, so it has to be what "you" believe about another religion?... That shows that it is people like you who are over zealous trying to proclaim that what is believed in another religion must be how "you" see it...

We all have our own internal belief systems. Its how we define those beliefs which makes us different.

If you examine Mark 12.28-29, Jesus was asked by passerby which of all the commandments is the most important? Jesus answered "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one....". Which is what the Jews call Shema and Jesus being a Jew believed it to being the most important of all beliefs.

Yet Shema was banned from being recited in Roman Churches by the 4th century. Instead Christians were told to believe in the trinity, a God that exists externally as three persons and in one substance. So you have a situation in which Jesus would not have been allowed to preach the shema in a christian church had he been alive in the 4th century. So the dogma was even over-ruling Jesus.

Christianity started out as a picasso but over the centuries the paints have faded so badly we can barely recognise the beauty of the original.

Dogma infiltrates all religions over time. Jesus in his time was trying to clean up the dogma that infiltrated Judaism.

a reply to: glend

The three are... seer seeing seen.
However... there is no seer (a thing) and no seen (a thing)..... the One is seeing (nothing).
Every apparent thing appears within the
all seeing I.

Get rid of religion and people will kill each other over football.

Because the death of any religion is never going to be the death of the human personality.

a reply to: Murgatroid

When was the last time you saw someone attack the Muslim's Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Hindu Vedas, or the Buddhist writings?

The Quran is regularly attacked as being written by a false prophet, as is the Book or Mormon (are you kidding about that one?)

Any book that claims to be the word of God is subject to ridicule.

And I don’t know that many objective scholars would agree that it has accurately predicted much. Edit to add that the scholars that I refer to aren’t “nonbelievers” in general. They are those who have had to transistion their faith based on their studies. Many Biblical scholars retain a belief in God and/or Jesus regardless of their findings. However, they don’t feel the need to be intellectually dishonest in presenting what they find. If one’s faith is strong, one should not be afraid of digging deeper and confronting the ugly parts. I have found that my faith grows stronger with each day I study. It has grown from a simple wildflower into a field close to full bloom.

Is there value to the Bible if it’s not the word of God? I absolutely believe so. I think to dismiss it as archaic and out of touch is incredibly foolish. I believe it is certainly inspired writing, much as many written works are inspired and contain universal truths.

However, I can’t square myself with the idea that it, solely and completely represents the God I worship. That thought makes me supremely uncomfortable and it doesn’t fit with the love preached by Jesus.

originally posted by: InTheLight
Why is Islamic religion the "go to" moral religious pathway?

It’s not. It’s a vote against Christianity and Western society - sticking it to “the man” if you will.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

hello

I’ll argue that the rate of decline has to do with general acceptance of free thinking, sharing of ideas and society at large not wanting to be controlled or weighed down by a narrow train of thought.

Two points to that end - personally, older generations of my family were quite religious and they were super sour/conservative/dreary/stick in the mud people. I don’t mean that in the sense that they weren’t right about having some guiding principles but man they were narrow in their thinking and their lives lacked color, experience and enlightenment. A life I would never want.

Second point - my wife grew up in the church and when I met her still went on occasion. I do believe that there’s more going on (spirituality/spirit energy) than we can explain and thus I have a sense there is a “higher power” but not in the form that organized religion would tell you. As the years went on and my wife and I had many conversations about science/space/ET phenomenon/government projects/etc. she (on her own as her religion is her choice) started asking more questions, thinking critically about religion and now still holds her belief in “god” but it’s a very different take now.

Using her as an example, I’m will to bet that more and more people are coming to that kind of conclusion by virtue of the availability of information (I.e. the interwebs).

What does “religion” get replaced with? Science, freedom of thought, freedom to exchange ideas without bias (if one chooses), questioning and refraining of deeply held beliefs and (more simply) stuff that makes life more colorful and experiential.

In regards to societal “control” via religion or “morality” I believe that’s largely donezo anyway. Think about how many examples of “sins” we learn of by men of “the cloth”. Are they all that way? No. But, it lets the air out of the jollier than thow tires.

Lastly, people just DGAF. They’d rather focus on things that make them feel good, accepted And entertained that are EASY. So, if the choice is to watch an NFL game and drink beers or go to church and be told a bunch of stuff about morality and how you should live your life - most people proverbial say “bring on the Bud Lights ‘cause I already have enough to worry about and one more engagement/commitment/stressor isn’t really my jam”.

a reply to: TerraLiga

All of this, all we experience, perceive and are is an expression of the Divine. Its truly stunningly beautiful. Yet most people nowadays I see as being in the worse state of poverty one can be in. With no spirituality...

Humans have had their spiritual connection to the Divine severed (particularly within 'western cultures and societies) - to the point that most people laugh at you or call it 'woo woo' when you speak of it.. Its incredibly sad, and indeed we are in dark times...

Technology is replacing this...

It makes a little more sense if we think of the Great Year. The 25,920 year cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes. Which is the Earth's 'wobble'...

In many ancient religions and scriptures they somehow knew about this cycle and that we are in a binary sun system with Sirius, and they broken it into 4 parts. The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

Interestingly enough this looks like it may fit it with the Sirius - Sun Binary star system.. When the above is brought together and connected it makes sense. At this point in time we are leaving Pisces and going into Aquarius, which means we are now just on the turn of now going back up (or ascending) through the ages towards the Golden age... The further we are from Sirius the lower or darker the planetary consciousness becomes... The closer to Sirius we are the lighter or higher planetary consciousness becomes... The ancients knew this. And they left many many clues... We just need to put the pieces together..!

I think this may all be happening for immensely important Divine reasons, that we won't fully understand within our human condition.. I think it part of a greater Divine cycle, what they may be I'm not so sure..!

All I know is that to me and what I can see of many religions, cultures etc the primary goal of being human consciousness is Self-Realization...







We need to remember what we really are...

a reply to: TerraLiga

A recent cross-demographic and cross-faith study by the Pew Research Centre has highlighted that, especially in well-developed ‘Westernised’ nations, religions of all types - except Islam - are becoming less popular, less well attended and are being replaced by no faith-based affiliation at all.

I could not find your source but did find this from 2016 that is quite the opposite of what your OP states.

Demographic Study
December 13, 2016
Religion and Education Around the World
Large gaps in education levels persist, but all faiths are making gains – particularly among women

www.pewforum.org...

Religious affiliations are one the wane for sure, spirituality and the need for some form of it remains for many.
Funerals are an example of that.
Many are agnostic now saying I don't know so why invest time and energy in something I don't know for sure.

The bible is viewed as archaic nonsense by many.
It will be up to God to change their minds in the future...my understanding of biblical prophesy tells me he will do just that, but by the time he does, most people will be so hardened in their ways it will be too late.

I believe this is part of the natural course of evolution. It's simple. People learn more about the world and reality around them and have less need to rely on some made up anthropomorphic being that supposedly made all the rules and all the butterflies. It's not to say that these old books don't attempt to describe something that is really there, but what other people see as an anthropomorphic 'god', I simply see as consciousness, and I feel that science will effectively describe it and explain it much better at some point. Old religions will die or morph as new and more logical information is made available.

a reply to: glend

First of all, the Lord our "God" is Elohim. Jesus is stating in that prayer that Elohim, the Hebrew word from which the word God was translated from, is one. But the word Elohim, is plural, not singular. Even in "Genesis 1:26" you find the plurality in God/Elohim.

And God (Elohim) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

www.kingjamesbibleonline.org...

Second of all, Jesus himself throughout the bible says he is God.

For example:

John 10:30

“I and my Father are one.”

www.kingjamesbibleonline.org...

But Jesus also mentions himself 88 times in the bible as being the son of man. This further emphasizes the "plurality" of God/Elohim, because Jesus himself is God and the son of man.

The trinity, which btw is a Catholic belief, does not suggest that there are three Gods, but rather that the trinity is one God.

So you see, you are making a claim which is wrong because you simply don't understand it. Not to mention that you make claims about a religion you obviously know nothing about.

a reply to: InTheLight

Well said.

There are many paths, some call the path science, some call it Islam, or Judaism, or all of the other myriad numbers of belief systems out there. Even atheism can be called a path to enlightenment.

Again, well said.

Religion is dying; does it need replacing?

If it's dying, it's being replaced with Politics.

"Religion" does not need replacing. Or, perhaps replaced with the essence that is behind religion of which many people are ignorant: true spirituality. So maybe it *does* need to be replaced with something more pure, since it's caused so much damaged and gone astray.

Then again, "religion" has helped many people, but has also harmed many people, such as most things.