We are in a religious war. You don't know it until you travel.

We are in a religious war. You don't know it.

Think about it. How many Buddhist are there in the world and how many actually have Temples built like the Chinese, Tibet style? One has to wonder why Myanmayar decided to kick out all the Muslims. Why you think China banned the rest that are not even Hindu/Buddhist?

Now look at ME. Why is it constantly at war? Then you have to wonder why ME is head chopping Christians.

Look at your own cities and figure out how many Churches there is compare to Buddhists. When push comes to shove one has to wonder why the other religions are despising Christians the most. Not even God can save your butts when you go too far.

I've seen a lot of new churches recently, they don't look nothing like real churches.

a reply to: makemap

OMG!

Radical Buddhist Extremists!

originally posted by: makemap
Now look at ME. Why is it constantly at war? Then you have to wonder why ME is head chopping Christians.

Because the Israelis are the most belligerent people on the planet. The problem with the promised land is it was already occupied by a large population when the chosen people showed up. It's been nothing but war and conflict since.

originally posted by: dfnj2015

originally posted by: makemap
Now look at ME. Why is it constantly at war? Then you have to wonder why ME is head chopping Christians.

Because the Israelis are the most belligerent people on the planet. The problem with the promised land is it was already occupied by a large population when the chosen people showed up. It's been nothing but war and conflict since.

So the Israelis are chopping off Christian's heads now?

Care to share a link or two about that?

a reply to: makemap

I've seen a lot of new churches recently, they don't look nothing like real churches.

What is a "real" church supposed to look like?

****

(PS: *doesn't look anything like)

a reply to: makemap

Your concept of the word church needs a little polishing
A church is not a building

originally posted by: Raggedyman
a reply to: makemap

Your concept of the word church needs a little polishing
A church is not a building

Exactly.

Flagg dad.....

Won't vacation in Bagdad

everywhere islam goes, blood flows.

pretty bad when even Buddhists take up arms against you

bdnews24.com...

In Sri Lanka and Myanmar, two countries that are on the forefront of a radical religious-nationalist movement, Buddhists constitute overwhelming majorities of the population. Yet some Buddhists, especially those who subscribe to the purist Theravada strain of the faith, are increasingly convinced that they are under existential threat, particularly from an Islam struggling with its own violent fringe.

reminds me of a Bible verse Gen 16:12 "And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." in re Hagar, one of the ancestors of the Arab peoples

originally posted by: ElGoobero
everywhere islam goes, blood flows. pretty bad when even Buddhists take up arms against you

Belief systems are dangerous as they breed a dualistic thought pattern (my system is correct, yours is misguided and now [for some reason] I must kill you). All belief systems ARE FALSE as they blatently attempt to manipulate for personal gain; everyone is to blame for this idiosyncrasy that creates violence, fear and persecution. Gnostic awareness WINS against all belief system comers.

So who is at war? I know the muslims (especially the hardcore ones) have been pushing to make tgeir own society within society. Which happeneds in other regions (conservative jews, mormons, ect..). However i think poverty and radicalism has been weaving it towards violence in some areas regarding islam.

However, there is also cruel reactions to this trend such as the chinese shoving all myslims into reeducation camps.

I don't think it's a problem of religion cs religion. But povery and education. More education and well-being will lead to less radicalism and reliance on these ancient religions.

Hopefully , this will happen soon.

originally posted by: vethumanbeing

originally posted by: ElGoobero
everywhere islam goes, blood flows. pretty bad when even Buddhists take up arms against you

Belief systems are dangerous as they breed a dualistic thought pattern (my system is correct, yours is misguided and now [for some reason] I must kill you). All belief systems ARE FALSE as they blatently attempt to manipulate for personal gain; everyone is to blame for this idiosyncrasy that creates violence, fear and persecution. Gnostic awareness WINS against all belief system comers.

And so, kill anyone not a gnostic
You don’t have an idea, the idea has you

No better

a reply to: makemap

Our own minds, by some sort of nature, can get in the way of the original significance of events that shaped much of history. The 'religion' question plays games in our minds because in a sense, it can get personal with everyone; unfortunately, churches of trust can become pulled in with politics because everyone in there is a 'dumbass' like you and me. We're all still just people...but, we must not give up.

Find the original intents.

Forget Who conquered who.
Forget Who attacked who.

Any organized movement always has weakness for Trojan horses.
Always some assholes come along and want to dictate our world view.
Don't hate them, hate the game...our own game.

PS, with tinfoil hat firmly snug, I would say I just laid out the legal arguments of defense as more and more high profiles get exposed. Neat stuff!

a reply to: makemap

If you think about it, or rather, if you read the Koran and Old Testament, you will see a lot of the writings are fueled by political sentiment. Hey it might have even originated partly due to political conditions/motivations. Wasn't Muhammad a soldier or a 'military' man?

Military career of Muhammad


On another topic - I like to view Buddhism not so much of a religion but a practice. A practice that leads to well being.

There exist views in its writings that believe in an unconventional ultimate reality, and proclaims the existence of 'Gods' or super-natural beings, however I do not think that qualifies it to be called a 'religion' in the conventional Western sense in the way we call Abrahamic religions 'religion'.

I am only referring to the original Buddhist teachings actually taught by the Buddha and not any of its manifold permutations.

a reply to: makemap

To understand the world it is helpful not to overlook the influences and tactics of the one the Bible refers to as "the ruler of the world" (John 14:30) and "the god of this system of things" (2 Cor 4:4), Satan the Devil. One of his main tools to keep people from finding out the truth about God and then doing what God wants or instructs Christians to do, is false religion. False religion is referred to in the book of Revelation as "Babylon the Great". (Re 14:8; 16:19; chaps 17, 18)

Now because Satan also likes to use the well-known tactic of 'divide and conquer', it is more effective for him not to have just 1 global false religion, but many different religions that are at odds with one another. On top of that, that way, he also has something phony to offer to anyone who is spiritually inclined or thirsting for spiritual knowledge, trapping as many people as possible into some false religion that the one ensnared feels comfortable with (something for everyone, it's a bit like marketing a product with many different flavors, like you can buy a sportscar, but someone else might prefer a family car or a jeep, as long as you offer many choices, you can appeal to the biggest market as possible).

Now all this still doesn't prevent everyone from waking up to the scam, which still can happen by means of God's word, the Bible; so enter: Christendom. The collective name for all counterfeit versions of Christianity. Especially intended for those who are only partially waking up and beginning to take an interest in what the Bible has to say. So you (Satan) twist the actual teachings in the Bible to something else, preferrably something that will also reflect badly on the Bible and true Christianity (kill 2 birds with 1 stone), so that a portion of the global population begins to develop a more and more averse reaction to true Christianity and the truth as found in the Bible. And the rest gets ensnared into Christendom, which is just another part of Babylon the Great. Those who are not ensnared by Christendom, constantly come face to face with the hypocrisy of those who profess to be Christians, especially the hypocrisy of their religious leaders. This puts them off the track to true Christianity, unwilling to hear out anything about the Bible that is actually true, throwing out the baby with the bathwater, unable to see the forest for the trees, etc. This also affects those ensnared by Christendom, who could also give up on true Christianity and the truth as taught in the Bible, favoring things like atheism, agnosticism or other religions not based on the Bible because they are just tired of all the hypocrisy in Christendom, not realizing there is a distinction with true Christianity or no longer even believing that true Christianity exists in this current world (i.e. thinking no 'Christian' denomination has the right answers or knows the truth of the matter, lumping them all together cause their experience with all Churches has been the same; hence giving up their search for spiritual truth, favoring philosophies such as 'everyone makes their own truth').

Which brings us to the following historical example of hypocrisy from self-professed 'Christians' concerning China ("Her" is referring to Babylon the Great, her main component being Christendom):

“The Kings . . . Committed Fornication With Her”

In the early 1800’s European merchants were smuggling large quantities of opium into China. In March 1839 Chinese officials tried to stop the illegal trade by seizing 20,000 chests of the drug from British merchants. This led to tension between Britain and China. As relations between the two countries deteriorated, some Protestant missionaries urged Britain to go to war, with statements such as the following:

“How these difficulties do rejoice my heart because I think the English government may be enraged, and God, in His power may break down the barriers which prevent the gospel of Christ from entering China.”​—Henrietta Shuck, Southern Baptist missionary.

Finally, war broke out​—the war that is today known as the Opium War. Missionaries wholeheartedly encouraged Britain with comments such as these:

“I am constrained to look back upon the present state of things not so much as an opium or an English affair, as the great design of Providence to make the wickedness of man subserve His purposes of mercy toward China in breaking through her wall of exclusion.”​—Peter Parker, Congregationalist missionary.

Another Congregationalist missionary, Samuel W. Williams, added: “The hand of God is apparent in all that has transpired in a remarkable manner, and we doubt not that He who said He came to bring a sword upon the earth has come here and that for the speedy destruction of His enemies and the establishment of His own kingdom. He will overturn and overturn until He has established the Prince of Peace.”

Regarding the horrendous slaughter of Chinese nationals, missionary J. Lewis Shuck wrote: “I regard such scenes . . . as the direct instruments of the Lord in clearing away the rubbish which impedes the advancement of Divine Truth.”

Congregationalist missionary Elijah C. Bridgman added: “God has often made use of the strong arm of civil power to prepare the way for His kingdom . . . The agency in these great moments is human; the directing power divine. The high governor of all the nations has employed England to chastize and humble China.”​—Quotations taken from “Ends and Means,” 1974, an essay by Stuart Creighton Miller published in The Missionary Enterprise in China and America (a Harvard Study edited by John K. Fairbank).

Source: The Great City Devastated (Revelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!)

You can see the effect this sort of behaviour and "political sentiment" is intended to have on people in the commentary in this thread, such as nOraKat in the comment above, attributing this "political sentiment" to the "Old Testament" rather than Babylon the Great, and lumping the Old Testament together with the Koran as 'more of the same'. Hence, feeling reluctant to take any truthful information from the Bible, or at least half of the Bible, seriously, therefore being prevented from waking up to what's really going on. And seeing through the false religion of Buddhism and the hypocrisy of Buddhist priests in Myanmar, who were directly responsible for fueling the hatred that led to the persecution of a minority group there. Even arguing that Buddhism is not a religion because of the bad stigma that the term "religion" carries with it, not wanting to be seen as someone who is religious, probably preferring to be seen as someone who is spiritually inclined or spiritual. But true spirituality will continue to elude anyone who ignores the Bible, they will continue to be misled by Satan and end up being his pawns, his toys.

There's quite a bit more that can be said about it, but I hope this helps a bit. More details below.

He is a liar! (part 1 of 2)

[continued from last comment]

The part Christendom played in both world wars led to a severe loss of prestige. As the Concise Dictionary of the Christian World Mission explains: “Non-Christians had before their eyes . . . the evident fact that nations with a thousand years of Christian teaching behind them had failed to control their passions and had set the whole world ablaze for the satisfaction of less than admirable ambitions.”

Of course, religiously motivated wars are nothing new. But in contrast with the past when nations of different religions warred with one another, the 20th century has increasingly found nations of the same religion locked in bitter conflict. The god of nationalism has clearly been able to manipulate the gods of religion. Thus, during World War II, while Catholics and Protestants in Great Britain and the United States were killing Catholics and Protestants in Italy and Germany, Buddhists in Japan were doing the same to their Buddhist brothers in southeast Asia.

Nevertheless, in view of its own bloodstained clothing, Christendom cannot self-righteously shake its finger at others. By advocating, supporting, and at times electing imperfect human governments, professed Christians and non-Christians alike must share responsibility for the blood these governments have shed.

But what kind of religion would put government above God and offer its own members as political sacrifices on the altar of the god of war?

If a tree is judged by its fruits (Matthew 7:15-17), then religion has to answer for the fruitage of hatred, intolerance, and war within its own ranks. It seems that with most people religion is like beauty​—only skin deep. It is a veneer that quickly peels off under the pressure of racism, nationalism, and economic insecurity.

Since Christianity is the religion of ‘love your neighbor and love your enemy,’ what has happened to the Catholics and the Orthodox of the former Yugoslavia? Will their priests absolve them of all their killing and hatred? Did centuries of “Christian” teaching produce only hatred and murders in Northern Ireland? And what of the non-Christian religions? Have they produced any better fruitage? Can Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Islam, and Shintoism point to a peaceful record of mutual tolerance?

No, they most definitely cannot. As the recent events in predominantly Buddhistic Myanmar further demonstrate regarding Buddhism for example. To go through all demonstrations and evidence for this reality/truth/fact would take too long. Rather than serving as a positive influence toward the civilizing of mankind, religion has played its own fanatical role in fanning the flames of rabid patriotism and in blessing the armies in two world wars as well as in many other conflicts. Nationalism and religious hatred continue to generate bloodshed.

A little more about Buddha and Buddhism:

The Hindu gods Indra and Brahma are said to have begged the Buddha to tell his newly found truths to others. He set out to do so. Although retaining Hinduism’s tolerant attitude that all religions have merit, the Buddha disagreed with its caste system and its emphasis on animal sacrifices. He rejected its claim that the Hindu Vedas were scriptures of divine origin. And while not denying that God might possibly exist, he did rule out God as being a Creator. The law of causation, he argued, had no beginning. And he went further than Hinduism, allegedly promising in his first sermon: “This, monks, is the middle path the knowledge of which . . . leads to insight, which leads to wisdom, which conduces to calm, to knowledge, to perfect enlightenment, to Nirvana.”

‘What is Nirvana?’ you ask. “It is difficult to find an erroneous answer to this question,” says historian Will Durant, “for the Master left the point obscure, and his followers have given the word every meaning under the sun.” “There is no single Buddhist view,” agrees The Encyclopedia of Religion, for it “varies with the culture, the historical period, the language, the school, and even the individual.”

From its beginning, Buddhism found ready response. A group of materialists of the time, called the Charvakas, had already prepared the way. They rejected Hindu sacred writings, scoffed at the idea of belief in God, and renounced religion in general. Their influence was substantial and helped create what Durant calls “a vacuum which almost compelled the growth of a new religion.” This vacuum, together with “the intellectual decay of the old religion,” contributed to the rise of the two major reform movements of the day, Buddhism and Jainism.

In the middle of the third century B.C.E., King Aśoka, whose empire embraced most of the Indian subcontinent, did much to popularize Buddhism. He strengthened its missionary aspects by sending missionaries to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and possibly to other countries also. Today, there are over 300 million Buddhists worldwide.

Even prior to King Aśoka’s day, Buddhism had been on the move. “By the end of the fourth century B.C., Buddhist missionaries were found in Athens,” writes E. M. Layman. And he adds that after Christianity was founded, its early missionaries were confronted with Buddhist doctrine everywhere they went. In fact, when Catholic missionaries first went to Japan, they were mistaken for a new Buddhist sect. How could this be?

Apparently the two religions had much in common. According to historian Durant, things like “the veneration of relics, the use of holy water, candles, incense, the rosary, clerical vestments, a liturgical dead language, monks and nuns, monastic tonsure and celibacy, confession, fast days, the canonization of saints, purgatory and masses for the dead.” He adds that these things “seem to have appeared in Buddhism first.” In fact, Buddhism was said to be “five centuries in advance of the Roman Church in the invention and use of all the ceremonies and forms common to both religions.”

Explaining how these similarities developed, author Layman hints at a common origin. He writes: “By the time of the Christian era . . . pagan influences had become apparent in Buddhist forms of worship. . . . Pagan influences probably were [also] responsible for some of the worship practices which developed in the Christian church.”

Ancient Babylonian religious concepts and practices are found in religions worldwide. “Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion . . . The strong admixture of Semitic elements both in early Greek mythology and in Grecian cults is now so generally admitted by scholars as to require no further comment. These Semitic elements are to a large extent more specifically Babylonian.”—The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898), M. Jastrow, Jr., pp. 699, 700.

Use of images: “[In Mesopotamian religion] the role of the image was central in the cult as well as in private worship, as the wide distribution of cheap replicas of such images shows. Fundamentally, the deity was considered present in its image if it showed certain specific features and paraphernalia and was cared for in the appropriate manner.”—Ancient Mesopotamia—Portrait of a Dead Civilization (Chicago, 1964), A. L. Oppenheim, p. 184.

“The first images of the Buddha were made by the Greeks,” writes E. M. Layman. Buddhists claim that these statues are not worshiped but are only aids to devotion, designed to show respect for the great Teacher.

[continued in next comment]

At times the Buddha is shown standing, but most often he sits cross-legged, the soles of his feet facing upward. When his hands are atop one another, he is meditating; when his right hand is lifted to the chin, he is blessing; and when the thumb of the right hand is touching the forefinger or when both hands are joined in front of the breast, he is teaching. The reclining pose depicts him at the moment of passage into Nirvana.

Just as there are differences in his various postures, so there are varieties of his doctrine. It is said that within 200 years after his death, 18 different versions of Buddhism already existed. Today, 25 centuries removed from Gautama’s “enlightenment,” Buddhist interpretations of how to achieve Nirvana are many.

Erik Zürcher of the University of Leiden in the Netherlands explains that there are “three basic orientations within Buddhism, each with its own doctrinal ideas, cultic practices, sacred scriptures, and iconographic traditions.”

These three movements are divided into many schools, each differing in the interpretation of certain basic elements, oftentimes because of placing special emphasis on certain sections of Buddhist scriptures. And since, according to Zürcher, wherever it went, “Buddhism was in varying degrees influenced by local beliefs and practices,” these schools soon fathered any number of local sects. Not unlike Christendom with its thousands of confusing sects and subdivisions, the Buddha, figuratively speaking, wears many faces.

Buddhism and politics:

Like Judaism and professed Christianity, Buddhism has not limited itself to religious activities but has helped mold political thought and behavior as well. “The first fusion of Buddhism and political action came during the reign of [King] Asoka,” says author Jerrold Schecter. The political activism of Buddhism continues to our day. In the latter part of 1987, 27 Tibetan Buddhist monks were arrested in Lhasa for taking part in anti-Chinese demonstrations. And the involvement of Buddhism in the Vietnam war of the 1960’s caused Schecter to conclude: “The peaceful path of the Middle Way has been twisted into the new violence of street demonstrations. . . . Buddhism in Asia is a faith in flames.”

Dissatisfied with the deplorable political, economic, social, and moral conditions of the Western world, some people turn to Eastern religions, including Buddhism, for explanations. But can “a faith in flames” provide the answers? Would some of the other Asiatic religions “In Search of the Right Way” do better? For an answer, try this article:

Part 9—551 B.C.E. onward—The Oriental Search for the Right Way (Awake!—1989)

Does any of this begin to daunt on people here regarding what I meant when I mentioned some people no longer being able to see the forest for the trees?

originally posted by: vethumanbeing

originally posted by: ElGoobero
everywhere islam goes, blood flows. pretty bad when even Buddhists take up arms against you

Belief systems are dangerous as they breed a dualistic thought pattern (my system is correct, yours is misguided and now [for some reason] I must kill you). All belief systems ARE FALSE as they blatently attempt to manipulate for personal gain; everyone is to blame for this idiosyncrasy that creates violence, fear and persecution. Gnostic awareness WINS against all belief system comers.

QFT.

We’re a tribal species by nature - it’s how we survived for thousands of years. Numbers meant safety against rival tribes seeking your resources - which is a byproduct of scarcity...

Until we eliminate scarcity - meaning everyone has the basics of what they need plus a few wants - this will keep happening (which would still take a while to play out) we’ll continue to have tribalism and conflict on that basis. Proof this works is the fact that the major developed countries of the world today haven’t gone to full scale war for what is nearly The longest amount of time in the last 2000 years.

After you solve scarcity, you need to eliminate religions as it’s the only form of tribalism that crosses national borders - and becomes the number one basis for deadly conflict. today, we largely get into military conflicts between countries of different religious ideology or entirely on the basis of differing ideology. But, if we’re all the same/accepting of views and diminish it as a basis for behavior or judgement then we can stop killing each other on that basis. This kind of makes the removal of “god” from government in many ways a not-so-sinister thing - if serves a longer term purpose aimed at stabilization.

So, if you’re actively supporting the mission of a major world religion and attempting to grow it’s membership and indoctrinate your children into it you’re basically complicit in ensuring future generations will keep killing each other en mass for the next generation.