A Religious Thread

[JustGeorge]

Hey, @JustGeorge! What's going on in your religious life?

I'm probably slacking...

Examining any scriptures, or reading any religious texts?

Yes! The Mahabharata. I went and bought the complete translation awhile back. I'd read a couple abridged versions, but always came up disappointed because something was always left out. This should take care of that!

Before that, I finished a book on spirit possessions. Fascinating stuff(to me).

Find a new bhajan?

Nope, same old, same old.

Have an upcoming ritual?

Yeah. My best friend is a Pagan, and she celebrates my Hindu stuff with me, and I celebrate her Pagan stuff with her(we both lack friends that share our religious views). Helping her put together a New Moon ritual.

Taking part in your church's community?

The last time we tried a church, it was the UUs. That didn't go well. We stopped attending at probably 8ish years ago. I think we're technically on their member book, though they stopped sending us their magazine a few years ago due to lack of activity.

Content with your beliefs, or re-examining?

Always content, always re-examining(to some, that will make perfect sense, and to others, none at all).

How are things, religiously speaking?

Meh, I'm slacking...

 

[mangalavara]

I know, I was being overly optimistic...

Sorry to resurrect this dead thread, but I just wanted to say that @Secret Chief was right—the thread never caught on.

 

[JustGeorge]

Sorry to resurrect this dead thread, but I just wanted to say that @Secret Chief was right—the thread never caught on.

It didn't. A shame!

 

[mangalavara]

Yeah. My best friend is a Pagan, and she celebrates my Hindu stuff with me, and I celebrate her Pagan stuff with her(we both lack friends that share our religious views). Helping her put together a New Moon ritual.

I am glad that you have such a best friend.

 

[JustGeorge]

I am glad that you have such a best friend.

Me too! We both genuinely enjoy each other's religious activities, so its fun as well!

 

[Secret Chief]

Always content, always re-examining(to some, that will make perfect sense, and to others, none at all).

You make perfect sense to me. There's a sentence I never thought I'd say.

Bhajan... anything to post?

 

[Secret Chief]

Me too! We both genuinely enjoy each other's religious activities, so its fun as well!

The best weddings I've been to were Sikh.

 

[JustGeorge]

You may perfect sense to me. There's a sentence I never thought I'd say.

Me either. Are you alright?

Bhajan... anything to post?

An old favorite(and my very favorite bhajan):

I let this set play in the background frequently:

Found this group awhile back. I really like them:

The best weddings I've been to were Sikh.

I've never had that privilege.

 

[Vinidra]

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things after slacking for awhile. It's not easy, but I'm working on it.

 

[syo]

Now they are smooth!

 

[Secret Chief]

Are you alright?

I think I must be running a temperature.

 

[JustGeorge]

I think I must be running a temperature.

You better lay down.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

You have no reason to be sorry. A look back at the post that started this thread indicates that your post was actually well within its parameters.

If you want to share further that would be great. If you don’t want to, that’s fine as well.

It is what I would expect from you.

Please take this as a sincere compliment.​

 

[Jimmy]

I’ve always been a Christian but 15 years ago I applied it to reality, so I view it that way now. Haven’t really learned anything new in a while but I’m always paying attention.

 

[Jimmy]

I’ve always been a Christian but 15 years ago I applied it to reality, so I view it that way now. Haven’t really learned anything new in a while but I’m always paying attention.

What’s sad about that @Hammer

 

[Trailblazer]

Just to even things out around here, I thought I'd create a thread about... well, religion. And how its affecting you currently in your daily life. (And I mean you, not the guy next to you, or your country, or your dog's squirrel friend.)

What's going on in your religious life? Examining any scriptures, or reading any religious texts? Find a new bhajan? Have an upcoming ritual? Taking part in your church's community? Content with your beliefs, or re-examining? How are things, religiously speaking?

I do not do a lot of reading of scriptures aside from reading what I have to for posting here.

I have not been engaging in any religious activities for a long time, but recently I decided to start taking part in some of the activities in my religious community, the Baha'i Faith. So far I have attended one 19-Day Feast and one Unity picnic, and I plan to keep attending the Feasts every 19 days.

I am content with my beliefs and I have been a Baha'i for over 52 years.

 

[Secret Chief]

You better lay down.

I am.

 

[Ella S.]

I've been seriously asking myself if I'm living in a way that is right with God, in a pantheistic sense, and I've even been engaging in introspective prayer.

Mostly, I've been trying to find order within myself so that I might better pursue the greater good. I've been asking myself questions like, if I die tomorrow, have I done more good than bad with my life? Am I living virtuously enough that, if God were a woman who judged me after death, she would find me acceptable?

Have I been laughing and smiling too much? Am I serious enough? Am I pursuing pleasure for its own sake, or am I simply enjoying the pleasures that arise from living in accordance with virtue? Am I working hard enough, even if I've been struggling with the physical symptoms of overwork?

Am I being uncharitable to dismiss certain people or ideas so quickly? Am I aroused by other women? Are there activities that I engage in that I should give up for the sake of temperance, or would that be a passionate aversion to pleasure?

 

[Solskinn Jente]

Hello, and welcome to RF. I'm also a former Christian, but it's been nearly three years since I left Christianity. I was a devout Christian for thirty years, and I genuinely believed in God for ten years prior to my conversion to Christianity when I was seventeen years old. I steered clear of spirituality or anything else even remotely religious for several weeks after my deconversion because of all the negativity I experienced while I was still a Christian. But not long after joining RF, I became interested in paganism after reading posts from fellow pagan members, and that eventually led me to Wicca. My interest in multiple deities led me to polytheism, and in the meantime, I became involved in Spiritualism. And now I am studying Druidry and have begun integrating it with practicing Wicca. Personally speaking, I find both Wicca and Druidry to be quite liberating after spending the majority of my life being constrained by the many rules and restrictions of Christianity. I decided to respond to you after reading your post and thinking about how I could relate to what you said.

Thank you. It sounds like we have have had a similar journey. I was a strong Lutheran for many years, especially after my mother died. I think it was a response to the grief and the thought that this life was all we had. If I believed in god and the trinity, etc, there was an afterlife and I could possibly see her again. I felt the same after my sister and sister in law died. I am an immigrant in the US and don't have much family here , so those deaths rocked my world pretty hard. So I jumped in head and heart first and became a devotee for many years. In the end, though, I couldn't square away the teachings and the injustices I saw not only in my church, but in the christian church as a whole because it all felt so hypocritical. I became disillusioned and I left. My children and friends have been quite supportive and at the same time are very intrigued. Many of them had felt spirituality outside of christianity was taboo, so me branching out has given them courage to also question their beliefs. I have an utmost respect for other people's beliefs and I am not challenging those beliefs. Religion and spirituality is a very personal journey, and unless it hurts others, I am okay with what other people believe and want to be respected in kind. My spirituality is my own, and there are no restrictions except those that I create. I am free to believe, explore, and dabble in whatever I want. I am also interested in Wicca and it is what led me to druidry. I recently discovered I am almost half Sami, so I am intrigued by what my ancestors believed and how similar, in many ways, it is to modern day druidry. And I am also exploring my viking heritage and what they believed, as well as exploring an interest in ancient instruments that were played back then, and how it can all fit in to my spirituality. I love that it is everchanging. And all of that is very liberating indeed.

 

[Truthseeker]

Just to even things out around here, I thought I'd create a thread about... well, religion. And how its affecting you currently in your daily life. (And I mean you, not the guy next to you, or your country, or your dog's squirrel friend.)

What's going on in your religious life? Examining any scriptures, or reading any religious texts? Find a new bhajan? Have an upcoming ritual? Taking part in your church's community? Content with your beliefs, or re-examining? How are things, religiously speaking?

Yesterday evening I hosted a discussion about the Most Holy Tablet (also known as the Tablet to the Christians) by Baha'u'llah. Tonight with some friends we will be discussing God's Plan for Planet Earth by John Hatcher. Both on Zoom. I love the era of Zoom. With Zoom I can interact with Baha'is from every corner of the USA, and even from Panama. Specifically @Pete in Panama. He occasionally with others attends my Saturday afternoon Zoom meetings where we for a long period discussed the Hidden Words by Baha'u'llah, then we moved more recently on with my Sermon on the Mount series where I put side by side the Sermon on the Mount and Baha'i Writings. I was doing interfaith devotions every week, but due to overload and fear that I'll run out out of material in two years, I'm now starting to do that every other week. That way, when when I may run out of material in four years nobody will notice the difference.