5 Myths You Probably Believe About Major Religions

5 Myths You Probably Believe About Major Religions
An interesting article that kinda rings true. I myself did not really know #5 (listed first) and although I'd seen a couple threads on Saturnus (something something?) Satanic Star of David something...my eyes skipped over it, and I didn't really know #4 either.

While you should definitely read the article (has no naughty, ATS-unfriendly words, as Cracked sometimes does) The list of myths, in short, is:
#1. Buddhism Has No Heaven or Hell-
I didn't know they had hells, but I knew of being reincarnated as gods, although the article doesn't talk about how they try achieving nirvana, which is to escape the cycle altogether.

#2. Muslims Reject Jesus-
This one seems very common, even here on ATS.

#3. Creationists Have Been Dragging Down Scientific Progress for Millennia-
I guess we have modern-time nutbags to blame for this one.

#4. The Star of David Is the Official Ancient Symbol of Judaism- Like I said, I had no idea of this one. Apparently the closest they have to an official symbol is the Menorah, and I can't even draw that from memory .

#5. The Amish Do Not Use Technology-
I knew that the Amish used technology, especially when they had to, but I had no idea there wasn't some official rule not to do it.

So how knowledgeable were you all on this?

interesting but I would never go that far to say "creationists" and the Amish were "major religions"?

I would add number

#6 - Jesus Christ never claimed to be God and never asked to be worshiped - had worshiped "Our Father"; there is no trinity in the Bible

a reply to: demus
Yeah, they get the titling a bit wonky sometimes.

I wouldn't be sure about adding #6, though. I mean, in a literal sense, you are correct, Jesus never asked to be worshiped, and taught only worship of the Father, and that the Trinity isn't mentioned in the Bible.
However, you'll always get interpretations, and the thing I usually hear is "But this guy said that and Jesus didn't say anything" and derivations of ideas from the text.
The point is, it isn't really universally agreed on by the actual learned people of that religion (or even a significant percentage of them), which would not fit it with the other points.

a reply to: babloyi

there is nothing to be agreed on; the truth is that like I said:

#6 - Jesus Christ never claimed to be God and never asked to be worshiped - had worshiped "Our Father"; there is no trinity in the Bible


I am not talking about interpretations and religious traditions; those may differ.

I knew all of that, having researched these religions. It is true though, most people do not know these things, I didn't five years ago.

The Menorah is actually related to the Sin symbol or the W. Jesus also took on the Sin's of mankind

a reply to: babloyi

I knew these and number 4 is kinda funny. You can't find anything because they aren't supposed to believe in anything made with the hand.

The star of David is a symbol made with the hand. Personally I think it means they are still waiting for the star of David, Christ.

And number one, the biggest of them all: The majority still believe the Vatican represents true faith. So we have billions of people judging a religion based on false doctrine preached by the Vatican which is the seat of evil and representative of the opposite of Christ. Kills millions across the world, hoards money, knowledge. If you think that is what true faith is about don't go to church on Sunday, it's a falsehood too.

a reply to: babloyi

I didn't know they had hells, but I knew of being reincarnated as gods, although the article doesn't talk about how they try achieving nirvana, which is to escape the cycle altogether.

They don't believe we are reincarnated as gods. They believe we reincarnate on earth until we are WORTHY OF reunion with the Divine Source. Even then, we don't "become gods" - we are simply an accepted part of the Divine, with no further lessons to learn.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
According to the article (and the links it provides), enough denominations believe they do that it is standard enough so that it is mentioned in both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism (with key differences, including the number of realms):

The Six Realms of Existence
In the heavens (there are many) beings are is rewarded for past good deeds. Life in heaven is a continual round or pleasure and enjoyment, with no suffering, anxiety, or unfulfilled desires until the moment one is about to be reborn in another realm. And this is one of the problems—life in heaven is extremely long (e.g., 30,000 years), but is ultimately impermanent, and one must inevitably leave to take birth in another realm.

The Heaven Realms
Those realms whose denizens are more subtle, longer-lived and enjoy greater pleasure than us humans are collectively referred to as Heaven. Rebirth in heaven is the result of performing meritorious actions, as for instance acts of generosity or kindness, while on Earth. There are numerous levels and stations within levels in these realms.

Broadly speaking, the Realms of Heaven may be divided into three levels. There are the Sensual Heavens, the Fine-Material Heavens and the Immaterial Heavens.

The Sensual Heavens are part of the kama-loka, the Plane of Sensuality which includes the human realm and the lower realms as well. The gods of the sensual heavens, known as devas, enjoy refined versions of the sense pleasures known to humans; food, sex, music, dancing and so forth. These gods live very long life spans, but they are not immortal. Also included in the sense-desire sphere are lesser deities that dwell bound to this earth, in big trees and other wild places.

And from wikipedia:

The God Realm
The Deva realm is the realm of bliss. The disadvantage of this realm is that things are so very comfortable there, that these beings completely neglect to work towards enlightenment. Instead they gradually use up the good karma they had previously accumulated, and so they subsequently fall to a lower rebirth.

The Deva realm is sometimes also referred to as the gods' realm, because its inhabitants are so powerful within their own realm, that compared to humans, they resemble the gods of Greek or Roman mythology. However, while the Devas may be referred to as gods, they are not immortal, omniscient, nor omnipotent, and they do not act as creators or judges at death, so they are notably very distinct from the monotheistic Western concept of a god.

While I don't know anything about a Divine Source in Buddhism, I think what you are talking about is the same thing I was referring to as "escaping the cycle": the "Sphere of neither perception nor non-perception" of the Formless Realm, what I would understand to be "Nirvana".


No offense to Buddhism, and I don't think it is enough of a point that it should be a "myth" (nor am I making a point against anyone in this thread), but there is a tendency, especially in Western circles where Buddhism was carefully groomed and introduced from the outside, to see Buddhism as a sort of "Thinking Person's Religious Philosophy" rather than a religion. Now there are strands of Buddhism that fit that bill (the same with Hinduism, even. The terms encompass a fairly large set of beliefs), but in general, it does refer to a religion. They have their mythical aspects, their heavens, their demons, their "god-creatures" (if you don't like the term "god"). Heck, even some Theravada Buddhism can even be understood to involve worship of Buddha.

a reply to: babloyi

The Amish are not allowed to do anything that connects them to the world, including building their houses alongside a major lane of travel. They don't use phones or electricity because the wires connect them to the world, and they don't use cars because of the way that fast travel enables people to be more interconnected more easily. As far as zippers, it is because they concluded that a fly made for easier disrobing which led to too much pleasure among people. Mirrors lead to vanity. Etc. Most of what they do is cultural, not religious. I knew an Amish man who was excommunicated for building a barn with a steep pitch and nylon roofing material. I guess they thought the poor bastard was too English. Unfortunately, the Amish community, being orthodox, owns most of the land its people live on, so upon excommunication that man was rendered homeless and totally impoverished. In reality, they are Dutch bigots.

a reply to: Nechash
But the article says that since the public grid connects them to the world, many amish homes just use home-generators and solar panels instead. So they still use electricity, even for stuff like tools to build their homes.

a reply to: babloyi

Amish people have cell phones. Some of them even have hardwired phones installed in distant barns for emergency situations, plus they will drive/ride in vehicles if necessary. It all really boils down to what is permissible to that community. The Amish in Lancaster PA are much different from those in Wooster, OH which are different from those in Jefferson County, OH. It is kind of odd.

a reply to: babloyi

Fair enough.

Have you read the Tibetan Book of the Dead?
Granted, it only discusses Tibetan Buddhism, but it might give you some further info.
(Bardo Thodol).

Yep.. lots of hells in buddhism depending upon what wrongs a person did they spend time in them between incarnations ..

In islam jesus is a prophet .

only since darwin - a few centuries though it will continue for millenia or until they destroy the world with their idiocy...

Star of david was used by the nazi's to identify jews .. becoming a recognized symbol since the seconr war

Not being familiar with the amish no comment ...

originally posted by: demus
a reply to: babloyi

there is nothing to be agreed on; the truth is that like I said:

#6 - Jesus Christ never claimed to be God and never asked to be worshiped - had worshiped "Our Father"; there is no trinity in the Bible


I am not talking about interpretations and religious traditions; those may differ.

So, I seem to be confused. Are you listing this as Myth #6? Or Truth #6 in a list of myths? Or maybe you meant to start a whole new list or something? Whats going on here??