Absolute Truth

juantoo3 said:
Do you believe it is right to treat others the way you wish to be treated?

If so, you are already in agreement with the major world faiths.

All the rest is commentary.
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I disagree. I get what you're saying, but I don't really concur. What we believe matters. Religion is way more than the golden rule. I don't think the golden rule is the most important part of religion imo.
 
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Modesty said:
I disagree. I get what you're saying, but I don't really concur. What we believe matters. Religion is way more than the golden rule. I don't think the golden rule is the most important part of religion imo.
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Does what we believe matter because it impacts what we do?
Or does it matter even if we do not do a thing?
 
juantoo3 said:
For those who delve into the teachings - those who absorb, contemplate and practice the message as opposed to arguing endlessly about which "i's" are dotted and which "t's" crossed.

"My god is bigger than your god" is the same old schoolyard nonsense carried into adulthood and utilized to foment wars. Growing older has no bearing on growing up.
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My God is the same as yours.

(just a bit bigger;-)
 
TheLightWithin said:
Not sure I see it exactly -- that would be right next door to saying that Muslims actually reject Mohammed and Jesus as prophets because they do not accept others, that Christians actually reject Jesus by accepting him, and that Jews somehow actually reject either Moses or other prophets in the Jewish tradition by not accepting Jesus or the others -- this makes my head spin.

Question though-- Do Bahai accept Joseph Smith and William Miller, or Charles Taze Russell? What about David Koresh or Marshall Applewhite? Does Bahai, in its many writings, discuss criteria for discerning prophets, true from false?

Or in reference to the above names, are they ruled out because like someone else said, there is something in Bahai writings that prevent accepting any new prophets for 800 years? Is that what was meant?
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Another name to add to this list -- Emmanuel Swedenborg?
How does Bahai address the various mystics/prophets etc...
Classical Christianity would reject most or all of the names I mentioned.
Judaism would see most such prophets as unapplicable to them and not sure whether they would see the various prophets I mentioned as compatible or incompatible with a Noahide path.
 
TheLightWithin said:
Does what we believe matter because it impacts what we do?
Or does it matter even if we do not do a thing?
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Personally, I think both. The truth is good because it compels us to act, but the truth is good for its own sake too.
 
juantoo3 said:
Yes.

However, the reverse is far more common. I've met many knowledgeable people who were not wise.

Many are the educated idiots who've crossed my path over the years.

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This kind of reminds me of my uncle with his beer and cigarette being snarky and snarly about my formal education when he didn't have one.
He was a truck driver and I didn't drive.
 
TheLightWithin said:
I love to explore the possibilities.
Perhaps though the possibilities and realities are not in alignment with any organized religion.
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Perhaps.

I like to think religions are an effort to explore the possibilities and realities, but always the limitations of language and culture. There's no substitute for experience. I can describe the Grand Canyon, but no words or images can possibly do justice to such a monumental work of nature, it requires experience to fully appreciate.

The same with religion.
 
TheLightWithin said:
Is it not best to have both?
They are not mutually exclusive
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<shrug>

This is another instance where I have to be cautious of words. I've lost count of the times I've found folks who think wisdom is how much trivial knowledge they cram into their minds.

Wisdom is applied knowledge. I've known folks with little book knowledge that were exceptionally wise, who were capable of applying the little they "knew" in exceptional ways. I've known folks who had encyclopedic knowledge who couldn't tie their shoes or find their way out of a wet paper bag. Unfortunately in my experience there are a lot more of the latter in my part of the world.
 
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