Milton Platt
Well-Known Member
Depends upon whom you ask, no?
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What do Religion has to do with Us?
- Thread starter Jiddanand
- Start date
Depends upon whom you ask, no?
Which Jesus? There is a literal myriad of conceptions of how Jesus was like and which values he held.
Personally, I do not believe there was ever a literal Jesus, so when we talk about him we end up having to accept either the (serious) ambiguity of who we are talking about or the practical need to qualify and comment our statements to clarify which conception of Jesus is being used at that moment.
For instance, there are times when people invoke the name of Jesus in order to bring ideas of fraternity. At other times, it is meant to be an authority figure to keep people scared of the fires of hell. Some even see him as a disapprover of homosexuality or a supporter of greed.
EtuMalku
Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
Our behavior, practices, world views, ethics, and usually social organization that relates humanity to an order of existence.
A Hero in the Carl Jung / Joseph Campbell sense . . . yes.
Jiddanand
Active Member
Jesus is a which? You don't know Jesus? Or you are on a role of *** on your own discretion?
No, I do not know Jesus.
I have heard a lot about various conceptions of Jesus, of course, but they are all foreign to me. That is one of the reason why I rarely if ever refer to him.
I do not know what you mean by the last phrase.
Milton Platt
Well-Known Member
Disagree. A religion is a set of dogma believed concerning a god (with a couple of exceptions on the god part) that is taken as literal unchanging truth and is supposed to frame your view of the world and guide your actions. There is no set of dogma that is inherent.
To be fair, that is one understanding of religion - and one of the most flawed of all at that.
I will not deny that it is popular, but it dangerous to assume that it is the one held by any random person.
Jiddanand, if you want to discuss either the rules or any staff actions, I must ask you to open a thread in the Site Feedback area.
Let me point out that Rule 2 applies here in the open threads.
As for knowing about religion, I would think that I am not particularly ignorant on the matter. Why would you think otherwise?
Jiddanand
Active Member
Who cares if you disagree? By the way that did not meant to you personally. I said to someone else for a specific reason. It was Never personal. Okay?
Jiddanand
Active Member
Can you define religion?
Sure, can't everyone? There are at least a few dozen competing understandings of religion running around, after all.
Some I find too flawed to lend prestige to. One of my favorites is "religion is the practice of defining and expressing moral values and a sense of the sacred".
Jiddanand
Active Member
I am taking note. I am happy to find out at least one who can define religion. Otherwise rest of the people just rest [emoji3]
It is actually an interesting and important exercise, that of defining religion. I would hope everyone made the attempt on his or her own at least once.
Jiddanand
Active Member
So that we can have infinite number of definitions and every definition is an individual definition and the religion defined is an individual religion? Right?
I do not know about infinite, but there are certainly a great number of definitions, many of them at odds with each other to some extent or another.
As I understand it, most anyone has a least a few (not necessarily mutually consistent) for personal use. Hopefully context will make the actual meaning clear at least some of the time.
Even so, clarity is a major challenge when talking about these matters. Most of the core concepts are very poorly defined, sometimes even on purpose.
It does not help that so often the ambiguity is if not intentional at least useful from a perspective of numerical growth of certain religions.
Religion must be at least somewhat informed by the individual person if it is to make any sense, yes.
Jiddanand
Active Member
Okay. So when we have something then we have the opportunity to make use of that. Agreed?
Like, if I have water then I can drink it. Similarly for you and everyone else. So many things for example.
Now the question is, what is the use of religion? What religion can do for you or someone else like you?
Water is to quench thirst. Religion is to? Food is to quench appetite. Religion is to?
Chair is to sit. Religion is to?
Many different purposes, not all of then constructive, and sometimes they are at odds with each other. It will definitely vary from a person to another and even from a community to another.
Some of the most common include:
- Nurturing various values, both good and bad, not always in a clear or meaningful way.
- Constructing a common language and environment to enable people to share values and experiences with each other.
- Social and even romantic support and bonding.
- Establishing hierarchies of obedience and control.
- Assigning blame to unbelievers, outsiders or foreigners.
- Creating and exploring mythologies.
- Sharing wisdom and encouraging insights.
Jiddanand
Active Member
So you know hierarchy? A king?
Hierarchy is not a word reserved only for monarchy and nobility ranks. Far from it really.
It is used in the military, in private enterprises and, yes, in churches as a description of how the relative authority of management and other people fits in relation to each other.
So yes, I do know of hierarchy, but that does not much connect to religion specifically.
Jiddanand
Active Member
In simple words the Religion is what the hierarchy says.