Arpig
Posts: 9930
Joined: 1/3/2006 From: Increasingly further from reality Status: offline
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quote:
But do ya really have to put down everything about those who do to boost yourself up? I am not putting anything down. I have studied many religions in my day. Over the years I have read a lot of books on the subject (granted most of them on Christianity, that is the cultural idiom I was raised in). I have read most of the Bible (I skipped some of the duller OT books), I have read the New Testament, I have read Augustine and Aquinas, I have studied the various flavours of Protestantism and the differences of dogma that differentiate them. I have read a translation of The Gospel of Thomas, I have read an interpretation of the Quran (I have not read the original or a translation of it), I have read on the teachings of the Buddha, of Zoroaster,and a bit on the Ba'hai faith. I have read the Bhagvad Gita (that was a really really long time ago in my drugy days so please don't ask me to interpret it). As well I have read much of the pagan religions, particularly those of the near east. You were aware, were you not, that the various miraculous aspects of Jesus' life story as presented in the Gospels are mirrored quite precisely in the myths of Tammuz, Adonis, Horus,and Mithras, right? I am genuinely interested in questions of theology and cosmology, particularly the similarities between the various teachings (it is in the similarities that I believe we glimpse the truth). One result of all this reading is that I am aware of the discrepancies between what is professed, and what is practiced. I do not comment much on Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist dogma simply because I do not really feel qualified to do so. However, I do know a lot about the various sects of Christianity, their beliefs and their history, and I see discrepancies, and assertions of matters of faith made with no scriptural basis. So I question. I believe there is a passage in the Epistles somewhere that enjoins one to do just that, however in my case rather than strengthening my faith, the answers I have received to my questions has eroded it. I do not denigrate your beliefs, I question them from an honest desire to resolve the issues I see that detract from the lessons taught by the various Christian sects. Just as I have in the past questioned Jews, Muslims,and Buddhists on the apparent discrepancies between what is written and what is practised. (I don't understand Hinduism enough to even begin to ask intelligent questions).
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Big man! Pig Man! Ha Ha...Charade you are! Why do they leave out the letter b on "Garage Sale" signs? CM's #1 All-Time Also-Ran
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