What would the world look like if religions became friends?

[loverofhumanity]

Yeah, that pesky thing about Truth, it is always Truth, and never Error, and Error is always Error and never Truth:

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.​

As for all being equal brothers and sisters, Jesus said:

Joh_8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.​

Jesus said:

Mat_12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
​

Jesus said:

Mat_7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.​

My understanding is that commandment Jesus gave to love one another in this day means to love all humanity. I believe we who believe in the Bible should love all people as all were created in the image of God and can eventually come to know and love Him. We were all once far from God so who’s to judge what a sinner will become one day? Maybe we will fall and the sinner will become the saint who’s to judge?

That’s why we should love all unconditionally as no one knows what his own end will be let alone others.

So I don’t believe we should pass any judgement on non believers as we were non believers once.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Beg to differ. Don't tell that to an atheist.
Furthermore, I do not believe in existence of heaven. Why are you steam-rolling views of people like me? That does not lead to peace.Your diversity will be respected if you respect the diversity of others. But you say Jesus is not son of God, Mohammad is not the final messenger, Krishna is not an avatara, and Buddha is a manifestation of Allah when he never said he said that such a divinity existed. Why are you slighting the diversity of others and saying that Bahaollah alone is the current manifestation of Allah? Why do you expect respect when you do not respect our views?

Diversity means we are allowed to believe differently. So we both have different viewpoints. That’s diversity of thought and is perfectly acceptable. You are free to believe as you will and that doesn’t bother me because you are entitled to your views. Respecting others views doesn’t mean one must agree with them.


So your diversity is free to disagree with mine and I yours.

 

[loverofhumanity]

I had to come back to this because it undermines the entire premise of your opening post on this "What would the world look like if religions became friends?" thread.


Because you admitted that you are not strictly of the "Baha'i Faith" as your profile claims, but a "Baha'i/Christian". So your opening post is bogus. You are not reaching out and becoming "friends" with people of ANOTHER religion, but just someone WITH YOUR OWN religious beliefs.

So why the deception?

Did you do it to make yourself look good to others?

Im a Baha’i. But although we believe in Jesus and the Bible as much as Christians we are not Christians.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Diversity means we are allowed to believe differently. So we both have different viewpoints.

It is OK to have different views. We never comment on views of other religions unless we are forced to do so. Say that Bahaollah, the 19th Century uneducated Iranian preacher was the latest mirror image of your Allah and I will have no problem with it. But you drag Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Krishna, Buddha, all in it. That is the reason why there are comments.

 

[loverofhumanity]

It is OK to have different views. We never comment on views of other religions unless we are forced to do so. Say that Bahaollah, the 19th Century uneducated Iranian preacher was the latest mirror image of your Allah and I will have no problem with it. But you drag Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Krishna, Buddha, all in it. That is the reason why there are comments.

It’s because we believe, and Baha’u’llah has claimed to be the Promised One foretold in the Holy Books of all these religions.

 

[Aupmanyav]

A claim does not mean anything, specially it is is just talk and talk, without any evidence. And predictions are just humbug unless there is a solid reason, like Einstein predicted the bending of light-rays around a heavy object. His prediction was verified 50 years after he made that prediction. Religious predictions are none better than those of Nostradamus. Believe them if that is your way.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

At this point in history we are much closer to what we term the Lesser Peace as opppsed to true brotherhood which we call the Most Great Peace. One is the political unification of humanity, the other is unity of hearts which will take a lot longer to realise.

The thread, I think, is talking about greater peace not lesser peace. People can gain lesser peace just not at the expense of another person's foundation. People have different definitions of peace.

Greater peace is more problematic. There was a thread somewhere probably literally a thousand posts back that said greater peace and/or bahai tenants etc are only applicable for bahai. I can understand if later all bahai realize the greater peace because they all believe in god, but people in general?

That's the problem.

 

[stvdv]

IMO:
There is only 1 problem in the world (of Religions):
Thinking their Religion/Scripture is superior and therefore thinking the other's Religion/Scripture is inferior

Without this mindset there will never even be an issue of mixing each other's Scriptures
People will naturally be interested in your Scripture, because they are genuinely interested in you

Proselytizing, which originates from superiority, means belittling the other. Naturally one is not genuinely interested in such a Scripture/Religion/person

I disagree.
The single biggest problem is religionists thinking that their beliefs are objectively true, as opposed to subjective truth.

By objective truth, I mean beliefs that are true for everyone. By subjective truth I mean beliefs that are true for the believer.

Empirical evidence is how rational people distinguish between the two forms of truth.
Tom

Thanks for sharing your opinion too.
The part you mentioned I did cover also.

 

[Ancient Soul]

Im a Baha’i. But although we believe in Jesus and the Bible as much as Christians we are not Christians.

You are avoiding the whole point though.

Despite your trying to split hairs, this is not really being "friends" with someone of ANOTHER religion is you share similar beliefs. Now You would have something if you befriended someone of a religion you OPPOSE, well, THEN your opening post on this thread would have meaning. But since you cannot do that, the whole premise of this thread is a deception.

 

[loverofhumanity]

The thread, I think, is talking about greater peace not lesser peace. People can gain lesser peace just not at the expense of another person's foundation. People have different definitions of peace.

Greater peace is more problematic. There was a thread somewhere probably literally a thousand posts back that said greater peace and/or bahai tenants etc are only applicable for bahai. I can understand if later all bahai realize the greater peace because they all believe in god, but people in general?

That's the problem.

Here’s the thing. We Baha’is are a very tiny population with great ideas but we could never ever establish any peace small or great without the majority of humanity participating. Our ideas could act as a catalyst but it’s really up to the billions of people on this planet to establish peace. I think as different cultures, races, faiths and religions are coming into closer contact through travel and communication that in people’s minds the concept of the world as one neighbourhood is being automatically accepted thus hastening the day when it can become a more formal and binding unity with legislation and things like world human rights being a part of every nations constitution.

I think a lot of world peace is being established subconsciously. For instance here on the forum we are from different races, nations and religions but we all seem to ignore these differences and communicate as one people.

 

[loverofhumanity]

You are avoiding the whole point though.

Despite your trying to split hairs, this is not really being "friends" with someone of ANOTHER religion is you share similar beliefs. Now You would have something if you befriended someone of a religion you OPPOSE, well, THEN your opening post on this thread would have meaning. But since you cannot do that, the whole premise of this thread is a deception.

There are a lot of differences. For starters we don’t participate in any of the rituals, ceremonies or sacraments of others religions. And a very major difference is for instance we believe with Christianity that Christ’s Second Coming has already taken place so you can’t get much more opposite to current Christian belief than that.

And add to that we believe Two other Prophets of God appeared after Muhammad despite Muslims insisting Muhammad is the last Prophet.

Then there’s Buddha. We believe that Buddha taught the oneness of God but that His teachings have been lost. Today’s Buddhists strongly oppose that Buddha ever taught about God.

Then we believe in Krishna but believe the concept of reincarnation is a misinterpretation of the Gita and untrue so that pits some Hindus strongly against our stance.

So we tread very fine lines like walking a tightrope without a net in trying to establish good friendships with other faiths. It can be very challenging

 

[Ancient Soul]

There are a lot of differences. For starters we don’t participate in any of the rituals, ceremonies or sacraments of others religions. And a very major difference is for instance we believe with Christianity that Christ’s Second Coming has already taken place so you can’t get much more opposite to current Christian belief than that.

And add to that we believe Two other Prophets of God appeared after Muhammad despite Muslims insisting Muhammad is the last Prophet.

Then there’s Buddha. We believe that Buddha taught the oneness of God but that His teachings have been lost. Today’s Buddhists strongly oppose that Buddha ever taught about God.

Then we believe in Krishna but believe the concept of reincarnation is a misinterpretation of the Gita and untrue so that pits some Hindus strongly against our stance.

So we tread very fine lines like walking a tightrope without a net in trying to establish good friendships with other faiths. It can be very challenging

Which has nothing to do with the point I made.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I think a lot of world peace is being established subconsciously. For instance here on the forum we are from different races, nations and religions but we all seem to ignore these differences and communicate as one people.

From your point of view and perspective, yes. I'd agree. I know some bahai believe that having world peace is being part of a DIR that by technically he wouldn't be a part of. I'm sure not all bahai feel the same; that's the general consensus.

How would the structure of world peace be like?

Some religions say JW are very particular of who they "find peace" with. The vision is beautiful, and I don't see how it would happen. Do you have an idea of how it would be (given god isn't in the picture)?

 

[loverofhumanity]

From your point of view and perspective, yes. I'd agree. I know some bahai believe that having world peace is being part of a DIR that by technically he wouldn't be a part of. I'm sure not all bahai feel the same; that's the general consensus.

How would the structure of world peace be like?

Some religions say JW are very particular of who they "find peace" with. The vision is beautiful, and I don't see how it would happen. Do you have an idea of how it would be (given god isn't in the picture)?

Any form of peace on earth would either directly or indirectly include God because the majority of the world’s population believes in God. Hindus are well over a billion, Christians about 2.5 billion and Muslims close to 2 billion. For world peace to work the Godly would have to be included and although it might be a political peace religionists may see it spiritually and a sign of God. The Chinese are spiritual people and have spiritual aspirations also.

It might be a world federation of some sort. War would be abolished. Free education and Medicare would be universal as a result of the burden of the expenditures of war being removed. A home, food, clothing and work would be provided for all and a scientific solution would be found for the world over population. Working together we could achieve any goal we set. The worlds oceans and environments would be clearned of pollution and things like that. There would be enough work for everyone to earn a living.

A world capitol, maybe the highly contested Jerusalem. A world court. We already have an international tribunal. A world currency, Auxilliary or extra language and script so people can communicate more easily. We already have world travel and world communication so it’s just a matter of a world culture evolving where all are accepted as citizens of one common homeland planet earth. It’s on the horizon no doubt at all and is emerging. I believe we are witnessing the emergence of a world civilisation the like of which has never been witnessed and in time will include world peace and world brotherhood.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Any form of peace on earth would either directly or indirectly include God because the majority of the world’s population believes in God. Hindus are well over a billion, Christians about 2.5 billion and Muslims close to 2 billion. For world peace to work the Godly would have to be included and although it might be a political peace religionists may see it spiritually and a sign of God. The Chinese are spiritual people and have spiritual aspirations also.

It might be a world federation of some sort. War would be abolished. Free education and Medicare would be universal as a result of the burden of the expenditures of war being removed. A home, food, clothing and work would be provided for all and a scientific solution would be found for the world over population. Working together we could achieve any goal we set. The worlds oceans and environments would be clearned of pollution and things like that. There would be enough work for everyone to earn a living.

A world capitol, maybe the highly contested Jerusalem. A world court. We already have an international tribunal. A world currency, Auxilliary or extra language and script so people can communicate more easily. We already have world travel and world communication so it’s just a matter of a world culture evolving where all are accepted as citizens of one common homeland planet earth. It’s on the horizon no doubt at all and is emerging. I believe we are witnessing the emergence of a world civilisation the like of which has never been witnessed and in time will include world peace and world brotherhood.

I'm not getting the difference between both world peaces. If the majority believes in god and god needs to be involved, then wouldn't it just be one world peace?

 

[Ancient Soul]

It’s because we believe, and Baha’u’llah has claimed to be the Promised One foretold in the Holy Books of all these religions.

I find it funny how ALL these man made mythologies have some built in exclusiveness to them, that ONLY THEIR mythologies are the "right" one, from "god", and so all others are "false".

 

[Ancient Soul]

From your point of view and perspective, yes. I'd agree. I know some bahai believe that having world peace is being part of a DIR that by technically he wouldn't be a part of. I'm sure not all bahai feel the same; that's the general consensus.

How would the structure of world peace be like?

Some religions say JW are very particular of who they "find peace" with. The vision is beautiful, and I don't see how it would happen. Do you have an idea of how it would be (given god isn't in the picture)?

Well, although I doubt there would ever be total world peace, but you could get rid of at least 75-80% of the hate, division, and violence if ALL of the man made religions were wiped from the face of the earth.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I don't care what religion people follow as long as they don't use their beliefs to harm others. I'll attend worship services of other religions. That's interesting and doesn't bother me. But that doesn't mean I view all religions as equal or valid or that I even respect all religions. I certainly don't. That viewpoint would only lead to cognitive dissonance.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Yes, the Unitarians are an example for tolerance, spirituality and reason. When all other religions could adopt their core principles the titular friendship between religions would automatically arise. But the UU aren't as charismatic as less reasonable and tolerant sects. Reason simply hasn't the same appeal as fanaticism.

UU doesn't really believe in anything in particular, though. When you stand for nothing, it's easy to embrace everything.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Well, although I doubt there would ever be total world peace, but you could get rid of at least 75-80% of the hate, division, and violence if ALL of the man made religions were wiped from the face of the earth.

Wow. People too? What would you replace god, dharma, etc with?