Talking about religion - Round 2!

[junescrater716]

Dude Poser and EMO is not a religion! lol

[Cubby'sMom]

Lol yeah I know. I actually sometimes laugh at the posers, because it's such a ridiculous trend nowadays. Ah well. Punks and emos are kinda alike in their clothing.... sorry random though there

[wolf_Q]

I am from a LDS (mormon) family (I didn't know there were others on this board), but I haven't been to church in at least 10 years. So if anyone has questions, I am not really the one to ask. Before anyone assumes, no we do NOT practice polygamy, and it is not a cult.

Organized religion just has never worked that well for me. I do believe in God, and that there is "life" after death, I cannot dismiss the existence of the other side, if that makes sense. But I don't believe that being a member of any certain religion is an automatic ticket to heaven, I think being a good person is the most important thing. Those are my beliefs, I'm not speaking for a specific religion, just myself.

[Cubby'sMom]

Organized religion just has never worked that well for me. I do believe in God, and that there is "life" after death, I cannot dismiss the existence of the other side, if that makes sense. But I don't believe that being a member of any certain religion is an automatic ticket to heaven, I think being a good person is the most important thing. Those are my beliefs, I'm not speaking for a specific religion, just myself.

I agree with you on the ticket to Heaven thing. A friend of mine is a Baptist and is comvinced that I'm going to hell because I'm Catholic.... I honestly don't find that very reassuring. He also thinks that Mother Theresa went to hell. Anyways, I believe that good people who have good morals and lead just lives will go to heaven, even if they do not believe in God.

[NicoleLJ]

I am from a LDS (mormon) family (I didn't know there were others on this board), but I haven't been to church in at least 10 years. So if anyone has questions, I am not really the one to ask. Before anyone assumes, no we do NOT practice polygamy, and it is not a cult.

Organized religion just has never worked that well for me. I do believe in God, and that there is "life" after death, I cannot dismiss the existence of the other side, if that makes sense. But I don't believe that being a member of any certain religion is an automatic ticket to heaven, I think being a good person is the most important thing. Those are my beliefs, I'm not speaking for a specific religion, just myself.

LOL I now live in a mainly mormon comunity so I don't hear the polygamy question that often anymore. But before we moved to Alberta I did. When I lived in Newbrunswick I was the only Mormon in my school and I was regualry beat up because of it. I go to church still but not that often. My disbility makes it hard to leave my home. I am very lucky to have a very kind Bishop in that he allows service dogs to come to church. It is up to teh bishop on whether they can or not.

I defiantley agree with you on your last paragragh.
Nicole

[Giselle]

Organized religion just has never worked that well for me. I do believe in God, and that there is "life" after death, I cannot dismiss the existence of the other side, if that makes sense. But I don't believe that being a member of any certain religion is an automatic ticket to heaven, I think being a good person is the most important thing.

Yes yes and yes! My words exactly. I do believe that the higher power is up there somewhere and that this power is in our lives/afterlives but I don't believe you must be in an organized religion to live a good life and to help those around you.

Brody's Mum, you must have read my mind. I've always been surrounded by those who have a religion, and each time I hear a person profess their love for God and Jesus, I can't help but envy them. I wish I could feel the same, but I don't and I don't understand why. It's frustrating.

[cyber-sibes]

I was raised Catholic, then spent many years attending fundamentalist non-denominational churches. Studied energy and healing techniques, alternative medicine & explored a lot of New Age ideas. Studied A Course in Miracles, which really helped me rethink "religion" and Jesus Christ. Then I found the Unity Church and felt "at home" at last. It grew out of the New Thought movement of the late 19th century, and focuses on a metaphysical interpretation of the Bible. It's not so much a church as a school of thought. (and not to be confused with the Unitarian Church - that's not us) People come to Unity from all kinds of backgrounds and with a wide range of spiritual beliefs... "Unitics" are an interesting bunch!

[CathyBogart]

CathyBogart: Do you practice mainly on your own, or do you meet with a group of some sort? If you have a group, do you ever meet except for celebrations/holidays?

... are you irritated a lot by all the goth and wanna-be rebellious kids/college students who claim to be Pagan/Wiccan with no real idea of what they are just to sound edgy and dark?

I am totally solitary. My experience with covens/circles has involved a lot of bickering and politics, and it really soured me to it, though I would be willing to work with a partner if I met someone who I felt very comfortable with. I have invited my boyfriend to participate in rituals before, he hasn't yet.

Yes, it annoys me when people claim to be wiccan/pagan with no real knowledge of what it involves or desire to be wican/pagan. I discovered Wicca and paganism when I was about 11, and I researched until I was 18 before I felt comfortable calling myself Pagan. It's something that takes a certain level of commitment.

[lady_zana]

I also belive god was not born on Christmas becase there's no snow in jerusalem and almost all the photo's I see of the manger have snow and baby lambs which does not make sence because lambs are born in the spring.

I think the snow in the scenes is mostly so that pictures look like what what we would expect. We have the idea of a "white Christmas" so they put snow in the pictures to make it more "Christmas-y". I have also seen pictures of the Virgin Mary where she is very pale skinned with blue eyes.....while no one knows what she looked like, she probably didn't look like a little white girl

On that note, a few years ago, scientists and historians were working together to find an astrological signs that might have been the Star of Bethleham and I think they decided it would have been in April/May based on the location and descriptions of the star in the Bible.

Christmas is about the time of the Pagan Yule holiday and many of the traditions, such as Christmas Trees and spreading holly around come from the Pagan traditions because when many of the pagans at the time converted, they began a new religion but took parts of their old religion with them.

[lady_zana]

Yes, it annoys me when people claim to be wiccan/pagan with no real knowledge of what it involves or desire to be wican/pagan. I discovered Wicca and paganism when I was about 11, and I researched until I was 18 before I felt comfortable calling myself Pagan. It's something that takes a certain level of commitment.

When I was younger, I began looking at Wicca and studied it for a long before deciding while it was a beautiful religion, it simply wasn't for me. When I came to college, I was invited by some of my friends to join the Pagan group on campus. Even though I'm not Pagan, I agreed but once I got there, I found out I knew more about Wicca from studying for a while than some of these people did!

I don't understand why someone would want to join a religion they know nothing about, whether it be Wicca, Christianity, Muslim, or any other religion. It's sad that religions are nothing more than fads to some people. Anyone else remember Britney Spears getting a tattoo to celebrate becoming Jewish....even though that's a no-no in the religion?

[Argranade]

Lol yeah I know. I actually sometimes laugh at the posers, because it's such a ridiculous trend nowadays. Ah well. Punks and emos are kinda alike in their clothing.... sorry random though there

Trust me there's a BIG difference, and beside's punk is not about the clothes it's about the music and how you react to it and good drum solos lol (For me anyway) ... punk music is like Billy Talent or Greenday .. Emo music is like My Chemical Romance or Good Charolette.

Yes in a way punks and emo's kinda dress the same but there's a pretty good differnce between them.

[JenBKR]

Ok I have to ask...I think I may already know, but what exactly is an emo?

[Zippy]

I believe Satan is a Christian god, because most of what they do in daily or weekly ritual is centered around avoiding his wrath.

I am a Christian and Satan is not god.I am not scared of Satan because God will protect me form Satan.I am scared of God's wrath.
Jesus died on the cross for my sins.

[Argranade]

Ok I have to ask...I think I may already know, but what exactly is an emo?

I personaly don't know cause I'm not one lol, I'm more of a punk.

What I see on the internet is that it's usualy teens who may have a bad life, want to cut there wrists over angry things, wear lots of black, have there hair to the side, they all look the same lol usualy towards other emo's ... some of them stay in groups, I'm pretty sure some of them belive in stuff but I don't want to say what it might be cause I'm realy not sure, I mean in a crowd you can just pick out an emo with ease ... I would say there trying to stand out from people to get attention or act like there bad kids in a way.

Not all emo's are depressed like, some of them just dress like emo's but realy are NOT there just posers wanting to be a wannabe emo lol I dunno why anyone would want to do that .... why not just make up your own style (That's what I do sometimes just for fun lol).

[columbine]

Punks are usually gregarious and like to meet new people, but being nice to an emo will often confuse them into sheer immobility! Not always, though. I'm really talky and friendly with everybody, so I do meet the occasional emo kid (for me it's all one word, "emo kid," since it's a trend that wears off as people grow up) who appreciates being told that her earrings are gorgeous or his boots are really cool.

I'm with Cathy - totally solitary. We did have a leaderless group here in Boston for a while (New Moon - it's still thriving in New York, last I heard) but after a few years we just got people who wanted to show up once a month and get handed an emotional rush and nobody who wanted to present the next month's workshop & ritual, so we folded. Or "set," I guess, that being what the moon does!

I'm "eclectic" - my special Mother and Father are Brighid and Herne, but I'll appeal to just about anyone for help - there's even an angel (Azrael) who helps me with situations where I need to learn to let go. The way I see it, I don't have to understand how the Universe works or explain it to anybody else - I just need to act like the kind of Goddess I'd like to have in charge of my world. (But I should be gracious about lending books. )

Love, Columbine