Is there o link beteen religion an spirituality.

[Dalubaba]

After joining many  spirituality  community,  I found,   contradictory and eye opening views . floating around.Who can stem this downhill path? we cannot be in a denial stage saying that all is well when things are happening in unimginabe way. If this posting is  inappropriate, please delte this from the forum: This is published in yahoo forum.

Very Interesting facts!
>
>     Christianity ….One Christ, One Bible Religion…
>
>     You know the Latin Catholic will not enter Syrian Catholic Church.
>
>     These two will not enter Marthoma Church.
>
>     These three will not enter Pentecost Church.
>
>     These four will not enter Salvation Army Church.
>
>     These five will not enter Seventh Day Adventist Church.
>
>     These six will not enter Orthodox Church.
>
>     These seven will not enter Jacobite church.
>     Like this there are 146 castes in Kerala alone for Christianity,
>
>     each will never share their churches for fellow Christians..!
>
>     Wonderful..! One Christ, One Bible, One Jehova.....
>     What a unity!
>
>     Now Muslims..! One Allah, One Quran, One Nebi....! Great unity!
>     Among Muslims, Shia and Sunni kill each other in all the Muslim
>     countries.
>
>     The religious riot in most Muslim countries is always between
>     these two sects.
>
>     The Shia will not go to Sunni Mosque.
>
>     These two will not go to Ahamadiya Mosque.
>
>     These three will not go to Sufi Mosque.
>
>     These four will not go to Mujahiddin mosque...
>
>     Like this it appears there are 13 castes in Muslims.
>     Killing / bombing/conquering/ massacring/. .. each other !
>
>     The American attack to the Muslim land of Iraq is fully supported
>     by all the Muslim countries surrounding Iraq!
>
>     One Allah, One Quran, One Nebi....! Great unity !
>     All Muslims are not Terrorists, but all Terrorists are Muslims.
>     60% of all victims of Muslim terrorism are Muslims.
>
>     Hindus - 1,280 Religious Books, 10,000 Commentaries,
>     more than one lakh sub-commentaries for these foundation books,
>     330 million gods, variety of Aacharas, thousands of Rishies,
>     hundreds of languages...
>
>     still everyone goes to the SAME TEMPLE ...
>
>     whether unity is for Hindus or in others…?
>     Hindus never quarreled each other for the last ten thousand years
>     in the name of religion. Only Politicians had tried to divide and
>     rule… Keep Religion out of Politics and India will be the most
>     peaceful place on earth.
>
Statostocs dod sjpw tjat ,pre [ep[;e jave doed becaise pf re;ogopis war atjm [p;otoca; wars/

[Myown]

Jesus certainly wasn't limitless. He may look weak to some because He hung on a cross. But that was His mission on this earth - He chose to do the Fathers will. Many people say people were bad people to kill Him - but no, he chose to die. He said no one takes my life, I give it up for all men.  He experienced all things that we go thru in this life - temptation, pain, rejection, loss, disappointments and so on. And with that we can go to Him in prayer and He understands our pain and heartache, because He experienced it.

When He comes back, people will see Him for who He is - The King of Kings, The Lord of Lords.  No other god gave his life in place of of ours. He died for our sins, no one else did, not Buddah, Alah, no one.

But thats Okay, I know you have your beliefs, I have mine and my prayer is that everyone will at least look into what Jesus is about and see what they think.

But I am interested, very much so in learning more about your religion. I do like this type of discussion.

Have a good night,
MO

[Dalubaba]

If I consider God as a person, I put a limit on Him.
I feel connected when I perceive Him as Godliness (divine power), which is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.
So this is a question of perception and semantics. Important thing is feeling connected.

[Myown]

"Do you believe in God"?

Yes I do believe in God - and I have a personal relationship with Him as I have received Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour.
---------------------------------
"No, I do not believe in  God, I believe in Godliness"

I don't understand your answer. To me, that would be like someone saying they don't believe in Darwin, but they believe in "Darwinism."
Would you be so kind as to explain what you mean. I am confused by your answer.
Thanks.
PS. I don't have the time to spend here on forum as I used to, so if I don't get back that quickly to read and respond to your answer, please forgive me.

Take care,
MO

[Dalubaba]

Food for thought:
Do you believe in God?
No, I do not believe in  God, I believe in Godliness.

[Dazon50]

LOL...just saw I had 2 for the price of one.  It wasn't intentional to post 2x.
_______________

If you look up the definitions of both spirituality and and religion) you see how they relate to each other.....I am copying/pasting a section relating to a christian that I thought interesting (wiki ...spirituality  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality)

*For a Christian, to refer to him or herself as "more spiritual than religious"[citation needed] may (but not always) imply relative deprecation of rules, rituals, and tradition while preferring an intimate relationship with God. The basis for this belief is that Jesus Christ came to free humankind from those rules, rituals, and traditions, giving humankind the ability to "walk in the spirit" thus maintaining a "Christian" lifestyle through that one-to-one relationship with God.
__________

Another interesting part includes the following:

Spirituality and religion

*Whilst the terms spirituality and religion can both refer to the search for the Absolute or God (or whatever name you want to use), and increasing number of people have come to see the two as separate entities; religion being just one way in which humans can experience spirituality. As cultural historian and yogi, William Irwin Thompson put it, "Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes in civilization."
_____________

I would suggest if anyone wants to read the whole thing....can open it to further discussion if you would like.  It is a good subject.  I think a good majority of us dislike the ways in which "force" or "oppression" is used as well as violent quarreling techniques in trying to drive home one's way of believing/living.

Some lose their perspective when it gets "heated".  I have no opposition to being passionate in one's belief.  I like to hear/read/try understand other views.

[jimi1822]

In my most humble opinion =0) Spirituality should compliment Religion, and Religion should compliment Spirituality were "GOD's Team United." All for One, and One for All! Believe with all your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul, and Love and Respect one another as Thyself. Its that simple....


                                                        Faith, <3, Respect, and light....

                                                                          jimi (little wing =0)

[Dazon50]

Very good post.  Life is discovery and some don't want others to discover it any other way than the way they see it...

Political goals/aspirations, etc. get in the way of allowing time for one to make the journey or seen as infringement on thing belonging to someone else.

It shows us how "imperfect" man's system is with those needs/wants you refer to Jagrut.  Our deep questions that we reach down inside to draw up/out reflect our heart's contents.

:-)))

[Dazon50]

Very good post.  Life is discovery and some don't want others to discover it any other way than the way they see it...

Political goals/aspirations, etc. get in the way of allowing time for one to make the journey or seen as infringement on thing belonging to someone else.

It shows us how "imperfect" man's system is with those needs/wants you refer to Jagrut.  Our deep questions that we reach down inside to draw up/out reflect our heart's contents.

:-)))

[jagrutbadani]

Each life on Earth is jointly and severally liable/responsible for the actions of all lives on Earth.

Hindus quarrel too, Buddhists quarrel too, everyone quarrels, we all have to quarrel to fulfill our wants. When the wants go unfulfilled or basics like food/water/land are in short supply, quarreling/maligning God/religion is possible too. In fact, India is most diverse or divided in terms of religion.

There are more than a thousand Gods and Goddesses in Hindu religion. Searching Google might throw up information where Hindus fought with each other without political influence.

Religion and spirituality differ. Spirituality, I think, is more personal, more of a discovery within.

Religion is more of what is said and than following it.

Till the presence or absence of God/Supernatural Force is confirmed, arguments will always continue regarding the nature, presence/absence of God.

Some facts stressed by all religions is - peace, love, care, respect for all lives - irrespective of all tags - type of animal/religion/caste/colour/creed/family/status/name/fame/position/title/thoughts/actions/speech.

As life is closely inter-twined with non-living substances too. So we have to care for using non-living substances effectively too.

Each one of us is responsible for the safety, security of the entire Universe. However, there is a physical limit. So wherever we go, we have to make sure that we keep the situation harmonious and peaceful, love all living beings around us especially humans, and care for all lives too to the extent we can.

Life is too short. There is just enough time to bridge differences and come close to other lives and make them better and happier, as many as we can.

:))

[teko]

You can be religious or you can be spiritual. God says have no other gods before me. Now you must remember that a building or a church is simply a group of people who have come together that believe the same way and practice their religion in that place with those people. In the protestant faith we have several different types of churches, all based on something in the bible. For example, Baptists go out and get people and bring them into the church and their effort is to get them saved and baptised. Now the pentecostal church does that too but they believe in praying in tongues, healing etc and center their teachings around this as well as getting someone saved. The different churches concentrate on different things in the bible. I look at it as levels kind of like school. Grades if you will. I started going to a baptist church, got saved and later hungry for something more. So I attended a full gospel church where I learned more, however the baptist church did not agree with the teachings of the full gospel church, simply because it was not what they were based on. This is a common division among all religions I think. Everyone thinks there beliefs are the right ones and the only ones and exclude anyone or anything different from them. Even tho it may be in the bible. Like the protestant religion all believe in Christ dying on the cross for our sins and all that but get stuck on the verses of the bible and their meaning. lol  I think people can be religious without being christian. To me these two things are different. I say read the book, pray to god to allow you to see the meaning of his words  for your life, walk the walk with him and you cannot go wrong. Otherwise, all the human madness will simply cause you to turn your back on God and that is exactly what his adversary is trying to do. I hope this makes sense to someone besides me?

[Dazon50]

You have given us something to think about.  

I know we can discuss peacefully and still be passionate in our beliefs.  The realization that one should choose what to believe isn't a reality for many.  I wonder sometimes if the hatred isn't a reflection of the lack of freedom in following/developing one's own belief in living.