What religion or belief systen fascinates you the most?

[Jayhawker Soule]

Zen Buddhism

 

[Breathe]

All of them.

But Sikhism, Hinduism, Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto, Islam (esp. Sufi and what some call "Progresssive Islam") Catholicism (liturgy and wotnot), Reform Judaism and Messianic Judaism are fascinating to me. I'm a big fan of mysticism as well.

 

[dawny0826]

Catholicism

 

[BruceDLimber]

Greetings.

Bahai Faith too, although I fear it is much too Abrahamic-influenced in the group that I met.

And what exactly qualifies as "much too Abrahamic?"

Bruce

 

[blackout]

Beyond the scope of Occultic "religions"......

I find Hinduism very fascinating.
If it had a slightly different "asthetic" quality,
I would most likely find myself dipping in there.

 

[sandandfoam]

I am fascinated by the Cathars. The fall of Montsegur and the massacre there are just fascinating. That people would take the consolamentum perfecti knowing they would die for it. The Crusades and the intrigues. Fascinating.

 

[LuisDantas]

Greetings.

Greetings, Bruce.

And what exactly qualifies as "much too Abrahamic?"

Bruce

There is nothing wrong with being or following an Abrahamic religion. But their current forms tend to demand a faith in a specific form of deity that is not for everyone, and is very much at odds with Dharmic faiths.

 

[kai]

All of them, but out of them all ?Islam, i find it fascinating

 

[Shahzad]

Hinduism because it's so diverse, ancient, mysterious and my ancestral religion. Also, other religions derived from the Hindu tradition.

 

[Mr Cheese]

discordianism, manichaism, ebionites, mandaeans, zoroastrians, orphites, neo platonists, pythagoreans, catholics, coptics, johannites, sufi, ...

and anything else that seeks to "transcend"

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Some days I've believed as many as six silly things before breakfast.

Does that mean you find me fascinating? :flirt:

You know I find you fascinating apart from any of the silly things you believe.

 

[Zephyr]

Orthodox Judaism earns my respect. We may disagree all over the place on theological issues, but it has remained mostly a folk religion and that gets my high five.

Also Islam, though in a really morbid sense...

 

[BruceDLimber]

Greetings!

There is nothing wrong with being or following an Abrahamic religion. But their current forms tend to demand a faith in a specific form of deity that is not for everyone, and is very much at odds with Dharmic faiths.

Not really.

The Baha'i Faith in particular posits that while God definitely exists (a tenet shared with all the other great religions as originally revealed), He is totally unknowable through any human initiative (though it does affirm various attributes (all positive) about Him which the Divine Messengers He has sent have explained to us).

So there is very little (if anything) about any "specific form" of deity present, at least in our teachings. And as I already pointed out, we are most assuredly Abrahamic!

Regards,

Bruce

 

[LuisDantas]

The Baha'i Faith in particular posits that while God definitely exists (a tenet shared with all the other great religions as originally revealed),

See, that is precisely where I must disagree. While you are certainly entitled to believe that it is so, there is no way for me to agree, for three good reasons.

1) God is much too ill-defined as a concept.

2) By most definitions of the word, to say that God definitely exists in counter-productive, for there is no way to deny the inherent atheism of a sizeable fraction of the population. Nor is such atheism wrong in any way, shape or form, of course.

3) Most of all, I wonder how can one propose that all great religions originally asserted that God definitely exists when so many of them don't even have much in the way of a concept of God. Unless, I suppose, you're making a fairly arbitrary selection of what those great religions would be. Your privilege, for sure - but misleading all the same.

He is totally unknowable through any human initiative (though it does affirm various attributes (all positive) about Him which the Divine Messengers He has sent have explained to us).

So there is very little (if anything) about any "specific form" of deity present, at least in our teachings. And as I already pointed out, we are most assuredly Abrahamic!

Regards,

Bruce

No argument about the Bahai Faith being Abrahamic.

And that is precisely because it (currently?) adopts the Abrahamic stance about belief in God to the exclusion of all the others - many of which, quite frankly, and definitely better and superior to the Abrahamic one. Agnosticism, for one.

I wonder how can you make explicit statements about how specific the Bahai stance on the matter is and then claim that they are not specific, really.

 

[AlsoAnima]

Also Islam, though in a really morbid sense...

What's so morbid about Islam? o.o

 

[BruceDLimber]

Greetings.

God is much too ill-defined as a concept.

In your opinion. Ours differs.

[T]here is no way to deny the inherent atheism of a sizeable fraction of the population.

So? Eminently irrelevant to what I was saying . . .

Sizeable fractions of the population are all sorts of things, none of which alters my points in the least.

Nor is such atheism wrong in any way, shape or form, of course.

Again, you're always welcome to your opinion. Many of the rest of us see it as a mistake.

I wonder how can one propose that all great religions originally asserted that God definitely exists when so many of them don't even have much in the way of a concept of God. Unless, I suppose, you're making a fairly arbitrary selection of what those great religions would be.

Not really. For starters, please try Hinduism, Judaism, Sabaeanism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. (There are others as well, BTW.)

And my point holds with these, although some of them are occasionally misconstrued by people not famliar with what their scriptures actually teach.

No argument about the Bahai Faith being Abrahamic.

And that is precisely because it (currently?) adopts the Abrahamic stance about belief in God to the exclusion of all the others.

No, incorrect on two counts:

• The Abrahamic God is the same as that worshipped by the other religions I mentioned. Only the name differs, which is no problem given that there are many names for God in the various languages and cultures!
• And the Baha'i Faith is Abrahamic because its Founders are lineal descendants of Abraham, as also were the Founders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Peace,

Bruce

 

[BucephalusBB]

Other that your own, of course. I am fascinated by a lot of religions, but most of all Judaism and Native American spirituality.

belief system.. Agnosticism. I try to be one as most as possible, but it tells you somehow that whatever your conclusion is, it means the same as having none. While I am all like:"but it makes too much sense!!!"

 

[Yes Man]

The occult right now. Specifically chaos magick.

 

[Mr Cheese]

The occult right now. Specifically chaos magick.

how do you deal with the sexual practises of AOS?

 

[wabisabi]

how do you deal with the sexual practises of AOS?

Can you translate for the ignorant(AKA me)?