Religion - which one is "the best"?

Discuss. I'm listening.

For me...Taoism seems to make the most sense.

The whole plethora of Abrahamic religions seems really bizarre and hypocritical.

I think "man" is highly arrogant to presume or assume that they know what's "true" or not when it comes to such things.

Arrogant, and afraid. Mostly afraid I guess. I've always thought most people are scared of the unknown. Death is the ultimate unknown.

So to "think" there's an answer for the unknown is a way to combat fear.

What ya think....or should I be banned?

ha ha ha...nobody wants to touch this with a ten foot pole.

Tis the reason I created a forum many years ago...to try to get people to lighten up a bit over religious/political topics on the internet.

If you're interested in such topics, but don't want to foul this little slice of internet heaven send me a pm.

I'll direct you to a place you can join under a different name and stretch your religious/political imagination.

I don't have a problem with it. Others, OTOH, can take something way out of context and a shit fest ensues. Seen that happen more than once, and holy fuck can it get ugly. REAL FAST.
My take? Well, I was brought in under the Catholic faith. Never did follow it...found it boring whenever I was forced to go to Sunday School. As time went on I was seeing more and more crap that turned me right off of they typical following religion of 'one' god, so to speak. Jehovas Witnesses brainwashing their kids (I've got a few friends who were brought up JW and the horror stories...yikes ), the Catholics and their kiddie diddling pastors and turning the other cheek ignoring it ever happened (unless it was caught right outright but yeah... ), Mormons and their polygamy following...but I digress, or I'll keep right on going. You get my drift.
Don't get me wrong, I'm spiritual, just not in THEIR sense of the word (the belief of one almighty god to worship). I believe there are many gods out there, each have their own place in this universe we live in.
I agree with you on the fear factor and the unknown. It stands to reason that the majority of they stereotypical follower would take that stand. That being said, what I follow doesn't involve being abusive, or off color; I'm harmonic with the earth and the animals I share it with.

At my age... I just don't care anymore. In hindsight they are all similar and provide a service, especially to families with young children who always ask unanswerable questions. After that, take your choice or not. There are places where it's unhealthy and/or difficult to live if you don't line up with the dominant sect but, in most places, you are free to live and believe whatever you want. I'm thankful for that, so far. Kinda like oil selection and oil change intervals.

Oh boy...do you want some semi-synthetic or dino with that scripture?

I'm part American Indian and I was brought up under the Catholic faith. I find I'm more spiritual and to me life is more about what I do now not where I'm going to go later if I do or don't do something... That someone told us to do or not do cuz they read it in a book. I say if it works for you and you don't hit anyone over the head with it good for you. Become a better person cuz it feels good not cuz your told to..

Like anything if you take something too far it's going to get ugly and we really could use less of that...

I believe we all will come back as oil or gas one day but that's about it.

I love it... we are the oil/gas resovoir of the future! There's no shortage of humans right now.

Hey if your real good you may come back to fill the tank of a really sweet bike but if your bad your going to end up in a truck that pumps out poo tanks LOL...

SheWolf wrote:

Jehovas Witnesses brainwashing their kids (I've got a few friends who were brought up JW and the horror stories...yikes ), the Catholics and their kiddie diddling pastors and turning the other cheek ignoring it ever happened (unless it was caught right outright but yeah... ), Mormons and their polygamy following...

Hmmmm... my Mom was a Jehovah's Witness, and I don't seem to recall any brainwashing of either myself or of my friends from that church. And ultimately, I ended up as a baptized Mormon, although I'm a serious backslider as far as any religion goes.

I do know that the Mormon church abhors polygamy - the Blackmores live just a few miles from our place in the Kootenays, and while my wife was living in Utah for three years doing her graduate degree, I was CONSTANTLY asked by Mormons about that. They don't like Bountiful AT ALL. The Blackmores et al are breakaway sects - and a very small one at that - and equating the Mormon faith with a belief in polygamy is badly inaccurate.

On the other hand, I don't see a problem with polygamy in the first place, and the BC government has been going after these people for years and is once again giving it the good old college try. When it is okay for guys to marry guys, girls to marry girls, people to live in threesomes or whatever, what the hell is the moral problem with polygamy?

If you're talking about coerced relationships, child trafficking, etc then that is something else again - and something we already have many, many laws to deal with. One of the local members is a guy I used to work with back in my police days who was involved in one of the earlier investigations of the Blackmores. He said they looked high and low for evidence of coercion, underage, child trafficking, etc because that would be far easier to win in court and avoid Charter arguments, but they couldn't find a schmeg of evidence.

So I don't have a problem with the Blackmore's and their polygamy (Winston's business practices are something else again). In fact, I feel kind of sorry for those young guys who do have numerous wives. Most work in the local forest industry. They'd be the first trucker at the mill gate in the morning, and rushing to get one last load before the afternoon shift went home 18 hours later. I never could figure out how they ever found enough time to actually spend with their wives to end up with a family in the first place. As one of them told me "When you have a big family, you need to earn a big paycheque to look after them..."

Other than that... I dunno. I had faith of some sort once upon the time. After a tour in Yugo dealing with concentration camps, genocide, "ethnic cleansing", and then the loss of two of our dogs and my mom and dad in the last eight months... now I really dunno.

Maybe I'm low hanging fruit right now for the right preacher to come along. If I was to start going to church again this week, it would probably be a Mormon church. I like the focus on the family and community, and if there's some parts of the faith that I find a little hard to swallow, that's a secondary consideration.

Religions aren't bad, including the Muslim religion. I remember not too many years ago when I was in Yugo and it was the Christians slaughtering all the Muslims that we were trying to prevent - including at the Battle of Medak.

It's what evil men do while using religion as their excuse. Sounds much better to say "God wants me to do this" than say "Actually, I'm just a slimey dirt bag rapist and plunderer who is so psychotically sick that I get fulfilment from hurting other people".

I think there's a net good from religion, irrespective of what religion it is. A lot of evil is done under the guise of religion, but that actually pales in comparison to the benefit we all get from the good that comes out of religion, whether we're believers or not.

Best religion? MINE, I just started it, it is called the Church of WR , Just send me 10% of all your earning so that I can buy farkles for my WR

I was brought up as a child in a Pentacostal church in New Jersey. Went to a private Baptist school until 4th grade. Been to Catholic Mass with my Irish and Italian friends both as a child and adult in Jersey and California. Went to a Buddhist Temple in Okinawa and here in Georgia. I have had Jewish girlfriends and my current girlfriend is the daughter of a Baptist Preacher. I have attended Southern Baptist services as well as Fire and Brimstone Baptist Churches and I have had some serious crushes on some Mormon girls that used to come to my apartment for "prayer'. Not to forgot that some of our best friends are Mormon and I wouldnt trade them for the world as Marcie and David are great parents and people.
On my bookshelf is the Holy Bible that my Dad and I used in church-highlited and markers and all. Looks like a preachers book. Next to it is the Book of Mormon, then Mein Kampf, a few Shaolin books and a collection of Marine Corps of various stories and subjects and then my WRR service manual and my 69 Camaro service manual and on and on. Confuses the shit out of everyone who looks at it.
After all of it I am comfortable in this; I am open to the concept of religion as it give hope and strength and something for people to believe in, hold on to and answers in situations where no other answers could be possible. But yet I am not convinced by it. Does that make me Athiest? I dont know. Maybe a weak one. I do not knock anyones religion as people believe in what is right for them and who am I to say I know what is right for anyone else in their beliefs.
I know that many times in combat in Iraq and when I was deployed in the former Yugoslavia I must have prayed to God, Buddah, Allah, Ganesha, Ra, the Moai, Thor, Abraham and maybe even made up a few along the way to get my ass home, in the same or better shape than I got there.
Peace and spirituality I find when I go and sit at my favorite Koi pond and watch the fish glide and float effortlessly thru the water and feed from my hand, or when I ride my mountain bike or WRR to the mountains, get lost on fire roads and find clearings on the mountain sides and I am alone. Me. Empty head, no thoughts, no worries. Just peaceful and relaxed.

I don't follow any religion, yes I believe that there is something out there that created it all, god/gods or god/gods-like entity(s). I believe there is an afterlife/heaven and a hell, or hell like location, possibly different levels of consciousness that your consciousness is thrown into after you die, based on a judgment from the universal consciousness based solely on the kind of person you were.

But really, to me, every religion is just the same shit-based lettuce substitute, served
up in a bowl made of shit, they just use slightly different shit-based
salad dressing when serving it to you. Considering that the basis for pretty much every organized religion is control through fear and the acquisition of wealth and power, it doesn't really surprise me.

No religion works for me; "When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad"; I live by "treat others as you want to be treated", and I'm a intelligent, active, successful, compassionate and happy person. I'll also throw this out there, I'm an atheist :) ...happily!

Interesting, yet not totally surprising collection of thoughts here.

1. I am the motorcycle, your WRR/X
2. You shall ride nothing but WRR/X and shall ride hard and have fun
3. You shall not make wrongful use of your equipment
4. Remember the mileage and keep the tank full
5. Honor your factory Blue and White
6. You shall not ride with improper air pressure
7. You shall not commit double backflips
8. You shall not steal others equipment
9. You shall not let your adventures end where the asphalt ends
10. You shall share any kick ass waypoints or GPS coordinates that are of interest to other WRR/X riders you know

For me religion equals spirituality. Spirituality is a way or a path to follow to discover what we are and from there how to get to what we would like to be. It's easier to do when guided by a person that has been through the process herself.

Unfortunately many think that they are able to guide before even be able to behave themselves. That's what's killing religions these days. People trying to convinced others instead of finding and following their own personnal path. The religions leaders are using followers to influence others and they don't want to be influenced by others. Many know the truth about others and they refuse to face their own truth.

Take it like the Prodigal Son from catholic education. Do you think this parable speaks of father and son or does it talk of recovering from a wandering mind that went away from it's path.

Eternal life is a free gift from God, follow Jesus.

*is following Rob* Did you change your name to Jesus without telling me?

Captain Midnight wrote:

Eternal life is a free gift from God, follow Jesus.

If that were true my father would still be here...

Shewolf wrote:

*is following Rob* Did you change your name to Jesus without telling me?

Possibly... I have been described as "all powerful"

Captain Midnight wrote:

Eternal life is a free gift from God, follow Jesus.

Do you think you'd feel the same way if you were born and raised in Iran?
Or, would you more likely be praising Allah if that were the case?

And does it matter?

What if you were born in India and raised as a Hindu? Would Jesus still be the path to take?

What about "Native American Indians" born long before the "white man" came to this continent? Do those who never heard of Jesus, or a Christian God have eternal life?

No pressure to answer, just hoping to create discussion.

Just as long as it stays a 'discussion' and not becomes a shitfest.

I think with a bunch of us answering here that opinions are welcome, but to call someone out with a direct question is pushing the limit and should not be done.

Hence my reply. Discussing is one thing; as long as everyone sees it as a discussion and not an invitation to pick stuff apart and get hackles raised, which can happen fast. Maturity is a huge factor when discussing religion or politics, both sensitive issues.

It's all related to one's target. If you intend to get along with people around you, you don't do anything to bother what belongs to them. There is a contradiction between the objective of getting along with someone and trying to convince this person that she doesn't manage her own businesses the way it should.

There is at least one point that is common to all the gods hence to all religions. They don't talk and they don't write.

I read that the dynosaures have been on the earth for millions of years. People have been on the earth for less than a hundred thousand of years. What was happening from a religious point of view before humanity ?

And to answer Motokid's question. We are on a motorcycle's forum. Most of the people that come on this kind of forum want to read and write about it.