What are Your Religious Ideas?

[_moksha]

What are Your Religious Ideas? I think even non-believers have some, such as there being some higher power than themselves.

For those who are believers, what do you believe? Do you have any religious beliefs that are not some correlated doxilogical recitation of your Church's beliefs? If so, what are they?

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[_Ceeboo]

Hi Moksha,

Cool thread idea (Surprised there were no takers)

For those who are believers, what do you believe? Do you have any religious beliefs that are not some correlated doxilogical recitation of your Church's beliefs? If so, what are they?

In the most simple sense, I believe we have all been created to learn how to love one another. Given how very little time that most of us truly have to live on this planet, it seems that we all have many, many opportunities to extend some level/form of love, a smile, help, or a moment of our time spent with/for a few of our fellow human beings that might run across our path.

I also believe that we human beings do not have a word in existence that would come close to describing, nor can we even begin to comprehend the magnitude of Grace or Love that our God/Creator has for all of his creations. For this reason (and many others that I will not share on the board), I believe that the Kingdom will be filled with people from all walks of life, who held various belief sets, who may have changed belief sets, who held no belief sets, and those who may have never even had an opportunity in life to have formed a belief at all.

Peace,
Ceeboo

[_UnicornMan]

And...here are my Personal Articles of Faith:

1. 'Truth', while a valuable concept, is completely subjective. Having said that, 'knowing' what our own truth is is vital.

2. We can only 'know' the 'truth' that works for us. Each person's experience is crucial in defining ultimate truth for them.

3. I believe in the existence of God. It's possible that one day I may not believe, but I feel a connection to something greater than myself, and that thing I call God. I briefly examined what it would be like to not believe in God, and though I know it works for some others, I didn't much like it.

4. I must not neglect my responsibility of regularly cultivating a relationship with God.

5. I believe that the ideas of the great commandments, loving God and loving my fellow man, are central to living a happy and productive life. We need to be kind.

6. I believe in Jesus Christ as a savior.

7. I should not be dismissive of or mock other's convictions. I should not become irreverent.

8. I think the Book of Mormon may have accurate historical roots, but frankly, I'm starting to doubt it. But it's still a good book, and may well be simply 19th century revelation rather than a historical record.

9. My relationship with God is almost completely unrelated to my relationship with any church. If it were not for spiritual experiences I had when I was a young man, I would not be a member of it at all.

10. I do not know anything, and all of my cherished opinions may some day be proven to me to be false.

...Implications of these beliefs...

1. I separate the formal Church structure and policies are from God. I don't believe the people at the top are necessarily inspired. And I believe that business interests tend to drive a lot of their decisions, talks, and policies.

2. I have revelation its "true" but at the same time, am comfortable with being selective about the extent to which I follow the leadership's directives.

3. I think the temple recommend requirements for priesthood ordinances, temple participation, and leadership are there to serve organizational interests rather than individual interests.

[_CaliforniaKid]

1. Cooperation and compassion are the best strategy for both one's own happiness and the happiness of others.

2. The world is regular and predictable, and approaching it scientifically will enhance the quality of life for all.

3. There is no need to fear death, for two reasons:

a. The flow of time is an illusion. All moments of one's life exist simultaneously. Thus death is merely a relative, not an absolute, end of life. It is merely a bookend, if you will, for the temporal space one inhabits.

b. The present self exists only in the present moment; in the next moment the present self will have died and a new self will have been born. (Think of the old saying that you can never step into the same river twice.) Viewed from this perspective, the death of the self after the final moment of life is not qualitatively different from the death of the self after any other moment of life.

4. The self is wholly contingent and its fate is wholly determined. This doesn't mean people who do bad things shouldn't be punished for them (since society has to protect itself from rule-breakers regardless of whether they have libertarian free will), but it does mean that such people should be pitied and reformed if possible. Punishment isn't about satisfying some abstract standard of "justice" or balancing the cosmic moral scales, but rather about creating incentives for cooperative behavior.

5. Most of the pleasures we feel are just temporary, and when they're gone, they leave us feeling empty and hungry for another emotional high. True and lasting happiness is not found in such temporary emotional highs, but rather by cultivating a positive attitude toward ordinary, everyday life, and being mindful of the simple pleasures and beauty that always surround us.

6. Life is incredibly funny, and we do ourselves a disservice if we take it (or ourselves) too seriously.

[_Ceeboo]

1. Cooperation and compassion are the best strategy for both one's own happiness and the happiness of others.

2. The world is regular and predictable, and approaching it scientifically will enhance the quality of life for all.

3. There is no need to fear death, for two reasons:

a. The flow of time is an illusion. All moments of one's life exist simultaneously. Thus death is merely a relative, not an absolute, end of life. It is merely a bookend, if you will, for the temporal space one inhabits.

b. The present self exists only in the present moment; in the next moment the present self will have died and a new self will have been born. (Think of the old saying that you can never step into the same river twice.) Viewed from this perspective, the death of the self after the final moment of life is not qualitatively different from the death of the self after any other moment of life.

4. The self is wholly contingent and its fate is wholly determined. This doesn't mean people who do bad things shouldn't be punished for them (since society has to protect itself from rule-breakers regardless of whether they have libertarian free will), but it does mean that such people should be pitied and reformed if possible. Punishment isn't about satisfying some abstract standard of "justice" or balancing the cosmic moral scales, but rather about creating incentives for cooperative behavior.

5. Most of the pleasures we feel are just temporary, and when they're gone, they leave us feeling empty and hungry for another emotional high. True and lasting happiness is not found in such temporary emotional highs, but rather by cultivating a positive attitude toward ordinary, everyday life, and being mindful of the simple pleasures and beauty that always surround us.

6. Life is incredibly funny, and we do ourselves a disservice if we take it (or ourselves) too seriously.

I think I have just fallen in love.

Chris, will you marry me?

Peace,
Ceeboo

[_marg]

I think I have just fallen in love.

Chris, will you marry me?

:)

Chris's thoughts/worldview remind me of Richard Carrier's which I was reading a few weeks back in Sense and Goodness without God, and at the time I was thinking I love that man's thinking. I also saw him on youtube and thought he was precious. Chris is precious too (I've seen him on youtube as well.) :)

[_CaliforniaKid]

lol, Ceboo! I'm afraid that isn't legal here in California, thanks in part to the political activism of the LDS Church! ;)

Marg, thanks for the tip. I'll have to give some of his videos a watch.

[_Morley]

Life is all about relationships. We need to be generous and nurture relationships with friends, family, ideas, significant others, words, nature, food, our own bodies and brains, hobbies, music, strangers, fly fishing, community, art, politics, our inner selves….

If there were a God, He'd be found in these relationships.