What is the status of people outside your belief?
- Thread starter Truthseeker9
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Truthseeker9
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Yes, it is about the pure in heart. The pure in heart will see God in all religions.
Truthseeker9
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There are degrees of distance from God. It's also true that some people are closer to the truth than others. God will be the judge of that, not me.
Degrees of understanding, then?
A Muslim should "not become angry" ..
..but in practise we are all human and sin.
All human beings can be arrogant, but denying G-d's law and committing MAJOR sins
without feeling of remorse, is the path to hell.
..in this life .. and the next.
Major sins can only be forgiven with sincere repentance. That is because without
it, we are very likely to keep repeating our serious mistake.
Naturally, a disbeliever might not agree what constitutes a major sin.
...
...
..but then, who knows what we all will believe tomorrow?
Life is a series of experiences and events.
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Ahanu
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"The good deeds of the righteous are the sins of the Near Ones."
-Abdu'l-Baha
For me it starts with your own self. Being a human being is a process. Let's say George, a toddler, lacks the ability to see from the perspective of another. As an adolescent he is able to see from the perspective of others, so now his previous state of lacking this ability is hell. Hell is when one is unable to connect and experience the old saying: "He who knows himself, knows his Lord." One experiences an incessant arising from hells as one passes from phase to phase.-Abdu'l-Baha
KnowSelf
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No it is not my place.
I don't try to convert others to my belief. People have their ways and beliefs sometimes contradictory to mine, but I am not the person to deny the path of another. Unless asked by the individual to do so.
Religions have one thing in common, to recruit new members for the growth and survival of the religion. Members support the church and provide little churches to serve the community. Money creates exposure in the community and abroad to gain more members and make more money.
I'm an older guy, in my lifetime and I cannot church has changed much in 60 years, it sad some preachers continue to manipulate people by God's misplaced authority. Wolf in sheep's clothing reminds me lemmings jumping from the cliff into the dark deep ocean below.
Hitler had Charisma
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Ahanu
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I don't believe that for a minute. That's a rather bleak view of things. It mistakes the misuse of a tool with a tool's proper use. A wrench can be used to fix a bike or to hit somebody in the back of the head. Religions have many things in common. Love. It can be expressed in service to the poor or a concern for the environment. Are the actions of adherents all a facade to maximize growth, profit, and the survival of one's religious viewpoint?
Judaism accepts converts, but it does not seek converts. It does not proselytize. A couple of thousand years ago Judaism did proselytize, but the Romans made conversion to Judaism a capital crime for both the convert and those overseeing the conversion. The Roman Empire fell, but Jews did not go back to seeking converts.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
Yeah, I was wondering as to why Bahais are very enthusiastically welcoming Corona virus. In Bahai speak (they use 'Olde English'), Corona to them beareth gladness, bringeth the cup of life. It conferreth the gift of everlasting life. Congrats, Bahais.
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Ahanu
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Did this orientation take place gradually over time or in one fell swoop?
Roman laws against aspects of Jewish life started being passed after the Bar Kochba rebellion, around 135 CE, I think. The Roman Empire badically stopped recognizing Judaism as a legitimate religion.
The ban on converting to Judaism came in 200 CE.
On this site we all rise and fall as if an ocean of thought waves...
I like how this discussion gently raises the tide.
I like how this discussion gently raises the tide.
Hadrian did, in fact, ban circumcision in 135 CE.
While it remains, to the best of my knowledge, the general consensus of scholars that the Roman clampdown on conversion to Judaism ended Jewish proselytizing efforts, over the past 30 years or so there have been respected scholars who have reached different conclusions. Some have concluded that Jews never engaged in any meaningful conversion activities, others have concluded that Jews continued to proselytize into medieval times.
I have always liked the following, written by a friend of mine who is a Conservative rabbi.
"Judaism is more than just a religion of faith, it is a socioreligious ethnicity: the religion and the culture/ethnicity are inextricably linked. So to be Jewish, one must essentially be adopted into the culture, taking on the way of life that Judaism offers. Judaism does have certain fundamental beliefs one must agree with, but it is not a heavily dogmatic religion. Much more than extensive dogma or catechism, it demands a commitment to be involved with learning and wrestling with difficult questions-- since it is, ultimately, a religion of questions and not answers."
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
But that is what TruthSeeker said.
Hi RabbiO —
In Judaism's case I'm thinking Hassidism, as living in N London, if I walk up the road I'm in multi-ethnic Finchley with a variety of established and incoming ethic groups. Drive down the road and turn right, I'm off to 'typical' Jewish Golders Green, and if I turn left, I'm off to Hassidic Stamford Hill, stomping ground of the 'Stamford Hill Cowboys' as they're known locally, where you'd once find more Volvo estates per capita than anywhere else in the country.
Socioreligious ethnicity has its plusses and minuses — with parents from rural Ireland I know about that! — but I suppose the 'worst case' examples in recent times is typified by the Taliban of Afghanistan.
In my own experience, there was a time when I might possibly have 'converted' to Greek Orthodoxy, but two of the churches I visited were very ... well ... Greek!
It didn't gel. Having said that, my sister's married to a Greek guy/family. His mum grew up in a street in the middle of Soho, a very, very seedy part of London in her day. Boy, has she got some stories!
Every religion has its examples, to a greater or lesser degree, but the totality of your friend's comment, and essentially the above, locates the questions I always have when the 'face' of a religion/denomination takes on particular cultural ethnicities.
In Judaism's case I'm thinking Hassidism, as living in N London, if I walk up the road I'm in multi-ethnic Finchley with a variety of established and incoming ethic groups. Drive down the road and turn right, I'm off to 'typical' Jewish Golders Green, and if I turn left, I'm off to Hassidic Stamford Hill, stomping ground of the 'Stamford Hill Cowboys' as they're known locally, where you'd once find more Volvo estates per capita than anywhere else in the country.
Socioreligious ethnicity has its plusses and minuses — with parents from rural Ireland I know about that! — but I suppose the 'worst case' examples in recent times is typified by the Taliban of Afghanistan.
In my own experience, there was a time when I might possibly have 'converted' to Greek Orthodoxy, but two of the churches I visited were very ... well ... Greek!
It didn't gel. Having said that, my sister's married to a Greek guy/family. His mum grew up in a street in the middle of Soho, a very, very seedy part of London in her day. Boy, has she got some stories!