Help us out. Small articles needed. 150 words or less

[Rex]

I need small articles of 150 words or less on these topics. These can be historical references or just your personal views. Anything goes.

Religious Music

Religious Tattoos

Religious Art


It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just Post them here if you can.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

I think I actually made it to under 150...

Religious Tattoos

Today, many people are turning to celebrating or reaffirming their religion through tattoos. For some, it might be a small symbol of their faith, like a Star of David, a cross or a pentagram. Others see it as a way of transforming themselves, and they might percieve as a ritual of their faith. For example, one of the most beautiful tattoos I have ever seen was when a woman was inspired to have an owl (her totem animal) adorn her back. She was able to work with the tattoo artist, and the result was a design whose wings 'flapped' whenever she flexed her arms. As with so many things in life, both the process and the result of the tattoo contributed to her spiritual growth.

 

[michel]

I was immediately drawn to the 'Religious music' topic; I wrote a few lines, which seemed boring, abandonned the topic, and was 'drawn' back again.
Music, to me, is an essential part of life; after all, music is merely (Huh?) a pleasant mixture of sounds so as to create harmonies. Religious music has an 'extra element' to it, and I find it hard to put words to it to describe the 'extra' bit. Religious music (Choral, Negro spiritual, whatever...) has the wonderful gift of being music that we can all share in; true, it can be sung when one is alone, but the invisible and yet obvious 'Joy' that comes out of a congregation singing praises to the Lord is one that I find irreplacable. Christmas, with carol singing is one of the most emotive beauties of the festive season; somehow Religious music is, to me, like Praying with real joy and love as an accompaniment. It warms the heart, it is irreplacable

 

[Rex]

We still need

Religious Art

 

[No*s]

IMO, art is an integral part of the religious life. For me, as a Christian, it forms a part of my worship services and private prayers. It has done so for Christians for nearly two millennia. We find icons in the catacombs, which grew into the ornate icons of the Church later. These aren't real-looking, but somewhat false to draw our minds heaven-ward. Now, they are beautiful and visible images depicting the faith. They affirm the Incarnation, and through it, the resurrection.

 

[Rex]

Ok we also need these:

religious pictures
religious icons
religious poems
religious jokes

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Rex]

Anybody bored and want to write a few short articles for us real quick?

look above ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Which one is the most pressing, Rex?

 

[Rex]

any of the last 4

 

[michel]

Anybody bored and want to write a few short articles for us real quick?

look above ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Icon do anything better than you, yes Icon............:woohoo:

 

[michel]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Four Catholic ladies are having coffee together. The first one tells her friends, "My son is a priest. When he walks into a room, everyone calls him 'Father'."
The second Catholic woman chirps, "My son is a Bishop. Whenever he walks into a room, people say, 'Your Grace'."
The third Catholic woman says smugly, "My son is a Cardinal. Whenever he walks into a room, people say, 'Your Eminence'."
The fourth Catholic woman sips her coffee in silence. The first three women give her this subtle "Well.....?"
She replies, "My son is a gorgeous, 6'2", hard bodied stripper. When he walks into a room, people say, 'Oh my God...'.":jiggy:[/font]

 

[Dr. Nosophoros]

150 or less is pretty tough, but I will give it a shot.

Religious art is a physical representation or symbolism that visibly puts a put a name, face, etc. on beliefs or powers internal, external or both believed in or an event within a belief system to provoke thought, invoke, focus (or both) emotions, or for inspiration. It can be a work of great art or a simple mark (rune, cross, pentagram etc.), or a stream of words, either way, it can be just as powerful to those who view it that hold strong beliefs for or against it. This symbolism is used as a way to physically bring into being a force or philosophy that otherwise can only be visualized, and visualization is the root of all "magic". Considering the power religious art can have over believers and non-believers in inspiring, focusing, invoking or provoking, it can be "magic" in itself.

 

[Rex]

Thanks for the help. We still need these if anyone gets a chance.

religious pictures
religious icons
religious poems
religious jokes

 

[michel]

The Wheel of Life; rather than write about it, I have ibcluded a URL that speaks volumes. Namaste.











http://www.buddhanet.net/wheel1.htm

 

[lilithu]

I need small articles of 150 words or less on these topics. These can be historical references or just your personal views. Anything goes.

Religious Music

Religious Tattoos

Religious Art


It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just Post them here if you can.

With only 150 words, I'm afraid that I'll cause more confusion than clarity, but here goes:

Unlike Christian religious art, which usually depicts “historical” scenes from the bible, Islamic religious art is characteristically lacking in figural representation. Instead, Islamic religious art is most often characterized by stylized calligraphy and geometrical motifs. This difference demonstrates a difference in theology. In Christianity, the message is the messenger. The Word was made flesh and sent by God to live and die to redeem mankind. Thus, Christian art tends to focus on the life and death events of Jesus Christ. In Islam, the message is their holy scripture. The Qur’an is the Word of God incarnate. Any focus on the humans who delivered this message is seen as detracting from the message; hence Islamic art scrupulously avoids it. Instead, Islamic art focuses on the Qur’an itself in the form of calligraphy, and on the central tenet that “God is one,” as depicted in the elaborate geometric symbols seen decorating mosques.

 

[Rex]

Thanks lilithu. We are still looking for


religious pictures
religious icons
religious poems
religious jokes

 

[michel]

I Wish that I Could Bring You to the Lord

Music: The Willow Tree
Sequenced by Barry Taylor I wish that I could bring you to the Lord
Before you die, for I have faith that you
And I could be together if you knew
The truth that shines like laughter in His word.

I wish I had the hope that I could be
The instrument through which you'd understand
The love that waits upon your silent hand
To rush into your anguish like a sea. I wish that you could feel the joy that I
Am filled with now I'm open to His love,
The miracles that daily in me move
So deep there is no need to question why. I wish, I wish, I wish I could do more
To reach into the raptures of your heart.
But I can only do my humble part
While you and He meet naked at your door.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Actually I recently wrote a paper comparing two religious poems...but unfortunately it's rather long, Rex. Maybe I could just post the introduction or something?

Then again, I'm not sure the poems can be considered "religious" so much as philosophical...

 

[Rex]

Actually I recently wrote a paper comparing two religious poems...but unfortunately it's rather long, Rex. Maybe I could just post the introduction or something?

Then again, I'm not sure the poems can be considered "religious" so much as philosophical...

Everything helps.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Okay, I'll just submit the introduction then. What is this all for, Rex?

The first poem is called "Desideratum" by John G. Parks.

Desideratum

Wanting only to know where,
I turned to geography--
It gave vivid and intricate maps,
Multi-colored and exactly scaled,
Verified from above by satellite.

Later, the question of how arose,
And there was geology
With its molten cores, layers of sediment
And rock, drifting continents,
Shifty and solid at once.

To learn about who and you--
Well, zoology will do
To give the low down
On how we all came to be
Selected so very naturally.

But do not--ever--ask why.
We never ask it any more.
There is no why--
Religion, literature, philosophy
Last seen drowning at sea.

The second poem is Robert Frost's "Design".

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth--
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth--
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.

Little kids often ask, "Why is the sky blue?" An adult might respond that the sky appears blue because the molecules in Earth's atmosphere scatter light at wavelengths which human eyes perceive as the color blue. In fact, this response answers the question how, but not why: the adult who gives such an answer posits a mechanism which explains how the sky appears blue, but does not explain why the mechanism must act in the manner that it does, or why it exists in the first place. For this reason, to answer the question "why?" one must first assume teleology--some kind of divine Purpose inherent in nature. If there is no Purpose in the universe, then things simply are, and there is no "why"--such a denial of the undergirding assumption makes the question "why?" cognitively meaningless.

Asking oneself why things are the way they are is mentally challenging, but Dr. Parks and Robert Frost, authors of the poems "Desideratum" and "Design", respectively, compel their readers to do precisely that. While the speakers in both poems highlight intricacies of reality, the speaker in Parks' poem uses the grand scale of the world to illustrate the necessity of the question of Purpose, while the speaker in Frost's poem describes a small and seemingly arbitrary horror of nature which leads him to question the existence of Purpose. The former suggests that the question "why?" is a desideratum, while the latter renders the question cognitively meaningless.