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Sorry, Q- I should have been more clear. I wasn't weighing in on the Hebrew/Aramaic debate, but just giving my 2 cents on the original post. I don't pretend to know which preceded the other (Hebrew or Aramaic). So far as I understood it, Hebrew was the original language of the OT, and...

I don't think such a translation is heresy (personally), but I'm not overly interested in any Bible version that sacrifices accuracy or poetry for wider readership. There are other versions out there that also attempt to make the Bible more amenable to the modern English-speaker's average...

Ditto. Also, by two years old, much of our programming has already occurred. We have virtually no way to understand a human being, at any age, without social programming. We are fundamentally social animals. There's a lot in this treatise I find to be without any substantial evidence...

The way I see my own path... I start with experience- not belief or knowledge. I begin with an openness to experience of whatever-is-out-there (and, incidentally, within). As I experience, I form beliefs (ideas) that organize the experiences into something that makes sense to me at the...

The Divine is... Mystery.

From my perspective, I can't totally speak to this as it is written. First, I don't believe in "sin" in the conventional Christian sense. I don't see most things as black and white, right and wrong. Rather, I ask- what is the best possible choice? There are situations in which none of the...

You sound like another open-minded person to me. :) I agreed with most of what you said. If you mean, what kind of religious/spiritual identity is closest to your list of beliefs, I'd guess Unitarian Universalist. You might try the Belief-O-Matic for fun (and profit- J/K). Just Google it...

The inquisition again... God(s) forbid. I'm horrible at these sorts of thought experiments, because I always take the road not offered. I'm Pagan. I believe my spiritual path is a life-affirming one. We value life, and we value quality of life. We also value justice and liberation. I'd...

I think the best approach is not to think anything ought to be killed or thrown away. One of my teachers pointed out that when we treat parts of ourselves as something that ought to be killed or thrown away, we have a tendency to treat other beings like this also. Instead, we have to focus on...

The whole idea is the sacred is the mundane, and the mundane the sacred. If we approach everything as if it were holy and sacred, then we have respect, care, and mindfulness for everything. Yes, toilet water included. A teacher of mine once held up an empty plastic water bottle and said...

As FYI for those interested, a friend of mine started a mini-movement to donate money to Doctors Without Borders tomorrow, earmarked for Pakistan, in Terry Jones' name. You can schedule a donation through DWB and send Terry a nice card with your personalized message. So far, he's getting a bit...

It is not only OK to question, but imperative for growth and development. In Paganism, we don't have authoritative scripture. In other religions, scripture is such because (generally speaking) an authoritative body says so because the text is considered to be quintessential or foundational...

I haven't so much left prior religious faiths as embraced what it was in them that fashioned me into a better, more loving human being and then moved on. I'm not much of a joiner, I suppose, though I've unsuccessfully tried it out. I did eventually quit attempting to take Christian as a label...

Again, it is your own perception that art, whether God's or a human's, is without purpose. You seem to assume that the only way you (or anything) can have a purpose is through necessity. I am arguing that one can have purpose and meaning, and yet not be necessary. I do not believe I am...

I would not agree. Art is arguably not necessary, but that doesn't mean it has no purpose. Life would be pretty boring if meaning were only found in what is necessary. Or perhaps everything is necessary. My own conceptualization of God as panentheistic, really- rather monistic- doesn't really...

I'm not Wil, but I had to ask... Why is necessity the only reason for creativity? Intercessory prayer isn't for God. It's for people. It makes people feel better. It's like speaking to a therapist without paying $100. Voicing our concerns brings them to consciousness, which allows us...

Some recent ones I saw: "What would Jesus buy?" "Give me that old-time religion" (with picture of Stonehenge) "Well behaved women rarely make history" On a magnet: "Sorry I missed church. I was too busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian."

Chris, I'm with you. You stated my own thoughts more or less perfectly. Prayer, along with meditation, is my opening up to whatever-it-is that causes an expansion beyond ego. God, my higher self, the flow of the universe. It doesn't much matter to me what people call it. I never really...

I wouldn't say I study any of these sources, but I've read a variety of them, including ACIM and Conversations with God. I don't know that my take on it is exactly like Wil's, though I find such materials interesting and often useful. My difference in opinion is grounded primarily in thinking...

I tend to think of awen as divine inspiration. The tao is similar to what I would call the harmonious flow of the universe. In speaking to Pagans that believe in Wyrd, it seems like a very similar concept. I just don't have a single word for it. But essentially, there is a flow of things...