Changing faiths

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

I have plenty of stones, i wash them in the close by spring i decharge them with magnetite and recharge them with sun exept some that prefer moonlight...
I like stones alot, they work rather well, but still I use them more as a side note.

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Wait.....
what???
that wasn't a compliment?

Does my English sucks so much.... whats going on?

Strange I did not see this reply yesterday.

I am confused now lol. No your English isn't sucking I don't know what's going on 😅

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

After much contemplation, could it be that you read profanity, instead of profundity?

a reply to: Terpene
No, look at the answer you replied to, it was originally towards olaru12. There was no harm intended writing it, just saying that faith is personal and that if it works for someone, why judge.

originally posted by: ThatDamnDuckAgain
...
So what is my faith?
The idea of an omnipresent energy that is not only made of male and/or female energies but is the spirit of life itself. Without knowing the faith of my mother (presumably very old Pagan and newer Wicca) I naturally found this way. ...
... I worship nature.

“We smile today at Pueblo Indian rain dances. . . . But what do we do when we are desperate? . . . On the two occasions when my life was shattered by the anguish of personal crisis, I did as those Indians did​—I prayed for help.” Thus wrote philosophy professor Huston Smith in the introduction of the book Great Religions of the World.

Man’s need to reach out to something higher and mightier when he is under stress appears to be both basic and universal. Anthropologists and historians tell us that from the beginning, man felt this need when mystified by the forces of nature, threatened by ferocious wild beasts and perplexed by death and the hereafter. This, they say, coupled with fear of the unknown, brought about the birth of religion.

For example, commenting on the beginning of the Shinto religion, the book Religions in Japan says: “Anything which evoked a feeling of awe was revered as being particularly imbued with divine or mysterious power; therefore, the forces of nature, especially awe-inspiring trees, rocks or mountains, and other inexplicable natural phenomena became objects of worship. These were given the name kami (god).” In time, legends, rites, rituals and shrines developed. These were passed on from generation to generation. And thus was born the Shinto religion.

According to this idea, the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Hindus, the Chinese and all the other ancient civilizations devised their own forms of worship, their own religions, independently. These were then influenced by the people’s way of life​—their foods, their customs, even the climate and the geography of their land. The result is the diversity of religion we see today.

Independent or From One Source?

Such an explanation is satisfactory only to a degree, however. Though accounting for the great diversity seen among religions, it leaves some basic questions unanswered. For example, if all the different religions developed independently of one another, then how are we to account for the many fundamental similarities among them that cannot simply be attributed to natural human response?

What Was the Source?

The Bible outlines the way the many religions came into being in a manner that accounts for both their diversity and their similarity.

In his book The Outline of History, H. G. Wells wrote: “Wherever primitive civilization set its foot in Africa, Europe, or western Asia, a temple arose, and where the civilization is most ancient, in Egypt and in Sumer, there the temple is most in evidence. . . . The beginnings of civilization and the appearance of temples is simultaneous in history. The two things belong together.”

This is what the Bible book of Genesis tells us: “Now all the earth continued to be of one language and of one set of words. And it came about that in their journeying eastward they eventually discovered a valley plain in the land of Shinar, and they took up dwelling there.” (Genesis 11:1, 2) Shinar is in Mesopotamia, the so-called cradle of civilization. (“in the biblical Book of Genesis, Sumer is known as Shinar” says World History Encyclopedia)

The account goes on to tell us that as the people settled in the plains of Shinar they rallied together for a building project: “Come on! Let us build ourselves a city and also a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves, for fear we may be scattered over all the surface of the earth.”​—Genesis 11:4.

What kind of city and tower were they building? The city, called Babel, or Babylon, was primarily a religious city. No fewer than 53 temples have been found in its ruins. Its worship featured triads of gods, belief in the immortality of the human soul, belief in the underworld, or hell, and astrology. Idolatry, nature worship, magic, sorcery, divination and the occult all played a major role. The infamous Tower of Babel was not merely a monument or a landmark; other similar structures unearthed in the area indicate that it probably was a ziggurat with several stages, as well as a temple at the top. It would rise above and dominate the city.

What happened to the building project? The Bible record says: “That is why its name was called Babel, because there Jehovah had confused the language of all the earth, and Jehovah had scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth.”​—Genesis 11:9.

No longer able to communicate with one another, the builders left off their project and began to move out in different directions. Wherever they went, they brought with them their religious beliefs, ideas, legends and myths. Millennia of local development have resulted in the great diversities seen on the surface of the world’s religions. But underneath there are the unmistakable similarities, evidence that they came from the same source​—Babel, or Babylon.

Referring to this common source of false religion, Colonel J. Garnier observed in his book The Worship of the Dead: “Not merely Egyptians, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, but also the Hindus, the Buddhists of China and of Thibet, the Goths, Anglo-Saxons, Druids, Mexicans and Peruvians, the Aborigines of Australia, and even the savages of the South Sea Islands, must have all derived their religious ideas from a common source and a common centre. Everywhere we find the most startling coincidences in rites, ceremonies, customs, traditions, and in the names and relations of their respective gods and goddesses.”

Corroborating the above is this comment by Joseph Campbell in his book The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology: “The archaeology and ethnography of the past half-century have made it clear that the ancient civilizations of the Old World​—those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete and Greece, India and China—​derived from a single base, and that this community of origin suffices to explain the homologous forms of their mythological and ritual structures.”

The Outcome

The Bible not only provides the background of the great dispersion but also foretells the outcome​—the establishment of a world empire of Babylonish false religion. In strong and vivid language she was described as “the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication . . . Upon her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ‘Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.’” (Revelation 17:1, 2, 5) She wields a tremendous influence over not only the masses but also the political, military and commercial systems of the earth.

What has been the result of Babylon the Great’s long domination over the nations and peoples? Under the influence of her many forms of religion, what kind of fruitage has been produced? Consider the historical facts in the following article:

Many Religions—What Are Their Fruits? (Awake!—1984)

From Babylon religious ideas and myths spread to all parts of the world.

originally posted by: whereislogic

What kind of city and tower were they building? The city, called Babel, or Babylon, was primarily a religious city. No fewer than 53 temples have been found in its ruins. Its worship featured triads of gods, belief in the immortality of the human soul, belief in the underworld, or hell, and astrology. Idolatry, nature worship, magic, sorcery, divination and the occult all played a major role. ...

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.

Their gods: There were triads of gods, and among their divinities were those representing various forces of nature and ones that exercised special influence in certain activities of mankind. (Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, Norman, Okla.; 1963, S. H. Hooke, pp. 14-40)

Belief regarding death: “Neither the people nor the leaders of religious thought [in Babylon] ever faced the possibility of the total annihilation of what once was called into existence. Death was a passage to another kind of life.”—The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 556. See also Myth 1: The Soul Is Immortal (One Myth Leads to Another).

Practice of astrology, divination, magic, and sorcery: Historian A. H. Sayce writes: “[In] the religion of ancient Babylonia . . . every object and force of nature was supposed to have its zi or spirit, who could be controlled by the magical exorcisms of the Shaman, or sorcerer-priest.” (The History of Nations, New York, 1928, Vol. I, p. 96) “The Chaldeans [Babylonians] made great progress in the study of astronomy through an effort to discover the future in the stars. This art we call ‘astrology.’”—The Dawn of Civilization and Life in the Ancient East (Chicago, 1938), R. M. Engberg, p. 230.

And these beliefs also trace back to Babylon (and are tied in with nature worship, pantheism and philosophical naturalism):

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Do you know what we have in common and why we have a symbiotic relationship with nature, animals, plants, etc.? We all share some of the same living organisms that reside in soil. Why? Because we were all created from the dust of the earth, just like the Bible told us thousands of years ago. That relationship, pattern of life, seasons, and all that exist was Created by God, so why limit yourself to examining only nature? Reach higher.

a reply to: Deetermined

so why limit yourself to examining only nature? Reach higher.

I do not, even wrote that I believe in a higher energy or being. I just don't adhere to the bible as is. Just because the soil comment is there doesn't prove that god said that to a human. Or that the god in this case wasn't a normal living being with advanced knowledge about science.

The notion that we are all made from soil can be reached without any god. We eat plants, fruit and animals, that in turn feast from the plants that grow from the earth.

So yes we're in a sense made out of earth and that's not a conclusion hard to arrive at. For all we know the bible is a collection of many different books and stories, changed by intent over the centuries, translated into different languages. For all we know, it could be a recollection of knowledge not handed down from god but science.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

For all we know the bible is a collection of many different books and stories, changed by intent over the centuries, translated into different languages.

We do know that from the Art/Science of Archeology, Linguistics, Comparative Mythology, and etc.

But what I'd like to read is the personal experiences of some of these posters who choose to preach rather than tell their own stories. I know, I'm a voyeur at heart.

Okay, not a total voyeur. I have done the "I'll show you if you show me" back in the day. I'm too lazy to look up the technical term for that.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

LOL! Sure, because science was so advanced back in the days of the Old Testament. Such denial.

While our bodies were made from the dust of the earth, science can never explain why we have the ability to think, reason, and feel emotion. Think deeper.

a reply to: Deetermined

I do not know what's so funny with my comment.

Such denial? Do you know how small of a timescale even 2000 years is on the universal scale of things? It's tiny. We know about plenty of earth like planets where life could have evolved the same way it did on Earth.

There's the transpermia theory among other things. You're the one in denial here. It's not me who should think deeper, look beyond the edge of your bible. I am not challenging your faith I won't let you ridicule mine.

Think deeper.

a reply to: pthena
Hey pthena, yes indeed that's the same. I didn't want to go as deep like that in my response though. I know that you know that I know that I would have written a huge response. Latest response and ridicule from that member showed me that was a good decision to not invest the time.

About the voyeurism, isn't everyone one when we just lurk in threads? I think voyeurism is tight related to learning by seeing, just that we want to learn about others, or watching behavior, movements to learn from it.

Handyman skills, social skills, etc

I have done the "I'll show you if you show me" back in the day. I'm too lazy to look up the technical term for that.

Haha but I was not!
Is it "pulling off a Kristofferson"?

If not, I now coined that term. And when I am old and some holo-tv crew shows up to interview me about the moment, I will bake them cookies and be nostalgic about stuff.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

You're clueless to my whole comment, which doesn't surprise me since you are such a shallow thinker. Just admit that you refuse to ponder where our ability to think, reason, figure mathematical calculations, or even experience emotions really comes from. Instead, you'll settle for some lame words like it might be energy or higher power without asking yourself who or what controls this power.