Which religion is the one true religion?

[The Hammer]

There is no one true religion.

Only the one true religion for each individual.

 

[YoursTrue]

Don't you think this may be missing the boat here? If our criterion is "what it does for me" then I'd be going for the highest bidder. My thinking is religious views involve a connection w/ the universe and a chance to do what's right. I certainly wouldn't go for a religion that said screw the universe and do what I say no matter what and here's $17.50 to join.

There are ways of looking at this question in terms what's right and what's wrong.

It depends a lot on emotions too I think. And where a person's alignment is.

 

[YoursTrue]

I do believe many religions are true enough for those that believe in them. The Baha'i Faith is great for people that want to be part of a new religion that is working towards uniting all people, no matter what race or religion that they came from. It's a great religion for those that believe God has always been guiding people and has always been sending new messengers with new teachings. And that God's latest message through his latest prophet has the teachings that will eventually bring peace to the world. That's a great religion to believe in.

However, who was the God of Noah? He cursed Adam and Eve and the whole Earth, because Adam disobeyed him. A few centuries later, there were giants in the land and most everybody was doing evil. This God was sorry he had created man and decided to kill all of them except Noah and his family.

After a fresh start, people were still doing evil and worshipping false gods. But he liked Abraham. So, what does God ask of Abraham? He tells him to go sacrifice his son? What kind of God would do that? And why would anybody listen to a God like that? But Abraham did. And fortunately, it was only a test. God stopped him just before Abraham was going to plunge a knife into his son's chest.

Then there's Moses. Were still within the teachings of the Hebrew Bible. It is their beliefs about their God. This God sends curses and plagues on the Egyptians and hates all people that worship other gods. He drowns the whole Egyptian army. This God gives a bunch of laws to Moses to give to the people. Later, after Moses dies, this God leads his people into the "promised" land. In that land this God helps his people kill and destroy every city along the way. In some cities this God orders them to kill all the men, woman and children in the city.

These are the ancient stories and myths of a people. I'm not surprised that the "supreme" God is on their side, and that all the other people were evil and deserved to die. Could people get away with stories of their God doing things like that today? No. For ancient times? Yeah. But do people these days really think that the "good" and "holy" God that they believe in today, actually did those things? Yeah, some do.

But now let's leave the God of the Children of Israel and go to India. Who is the God of Krishna? Vishnu? Who is Vishnu? One of many Gods? And, for some, Krishna is a God. This isn't the same God that Moses was following.

Buddha? I don't know what God he talked about., that is, they all become true to those that believe and follow them. But are any of them really true?

Ok let me go back to Adam for a moment. God let Adam do what he wanted and evidently did not give him instruction any more as to how to handle things once he ate the fruit God told him not to. So in many ways Adam became like us...we became like him as his offspring, trying to figure right from wrong by ourselves. Didn't work too well for the human race.

 

[Pete in Panama]

It depends a lot on emotions too I think. And where a person's alignment is.

Emotions shouldn't decide which alignment, that's a choice for thoughtfulness. Emotions are what determine if action is taken. A person who believes one thing intellectually, and feels something else emotionally, he will act on emotion. It's our job to keep our intellect and emotions on the same page.

 

[Pete in Panama]

Ok let me go back to Adam for a moment. God let Adam do what he wanted and evidently did not give him instruction any more as to how to handle things once he ate the fruit God told him not to. So in many ways Adam became like us...we became like him as his offspring, trying to figure right from wrong by ourselves. Didn't work too well for the human race.

A lot of folks have that view but I can't see it. My take is God told the childlike Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The reason being that if he did then he would end his childhood. He ate from it and became an adult in a world where he was responsible for his actions.

I think being a grownup is better, but I do understand we got some folks around is acting like children. Fortunately they're in the minority.

 

[YoursTrue]

Emotions shouldn't decide which alignment, that's a choice for thoughtfulness. Emotions are what determine if action is taken. A person who believes one thing intellectually, and feels something else emotionally, he will act on emotion. It's our job to keep our intellect and emotions on the same page.

Ok. Look at what's going on in the middle east. People's long held emotional bonds are playing a big part in this.

 

[flowerpower]

A more effective way to pitch this OP would be to ask:

If someone held a gun to your head and told you to pick the one true religion, what would it be?

I suppose it depends on my present mood.

Right now, I'm feeling pretty good about things.

I'd probably chose some form of Nordic or Celtic Paganism because of my ancestry and because they seem really cool.

I guess, for people who aren't really down with organized religion, it boils down to taste - like soup or salad.

The problem with Paganism though is that it isn't really commonplace. Neo-Paganism isn't exactly widely practiced.

So, that considered, I'd probably default to Roman Catholicism or Protestantism.

 

[Viker]

If someone held a gun to your head and told you to pick the one true religion, what would it be?

Life. The greatest religion of them all.

 

[flowerpower]

Life. The greatest religion of them all.

Okay so that's a pretty awesome answer. Elegant too.

The Pagans were pretty into running fearlessly into everything life had to offer weren't they? Spring festivals and stuff. Lot of unrestrained sex.

A couple of spiritual angles were/are like that I think.

The Semitic religions are so buttoned-down and prudish - probably why they were so successful; drop the hammer on people and they'll get in line? It was the puritans - the most disciplined and prudish of them all who managed to travel across the Atlantic and then explode in population.

I could imagine the more rapturous forms of religion and spirituality had a tendency to lead to a lot of trial and error - lots of death and discord; probably why they were so easy to conquer and colonize by the more disciplined and organized peoples.

 

[Pete in Panama]

My statement was...

... It's our job to keep our intellect and emotions on the same page.

--and your response was...

Ok. Look at what's going on in the middle east. People's long held emotional bonds are playing a big part in this.

My guess is you're talking about the Israel/Jamas conflict where some 30,000 have died. In Yemen 400,000 have died. Let's say a million people every year die from conflicts. This is out of over 8 billion people in the world. Out of every 10,000 people in the world one dies in a conflict in a year. Off hand that sounds peaceful for the 9,999 out of 10,000.

None of that has anything to do w/ the fact that it's our job to keep our intellect and emotions on the same page.