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My interesting philosophy...

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  • #1

    My interesting philosophy...

    So, primarily, a little background:

    My family raised me in Roman Catholicism, and eventually I became even a teacher, leader, and a bunch of other roles about it. However, after I hit 4th grade (so roughly 9 to 10 years old, I believe), it made no sense to me whatsoever. I was preaching without believing. By the time I hit high school, I learned about a variety of religions and almost even converted to Sikhism. In the end, I developed this interesting philosophy about religions and how they work together. *Please note: I use the word "philosophy," because it's not really a religion, as you'll soon see.

    As I learned about these various religions, and as Mos pointed out on my welcome thread, there are a lot of varieties and similarities, even between the same religion across different cultures (Mos specifically stated Armenian Christianity vs. Mexican Christianity, thank you!). What could the explanation be?

    I came up with this idea that every religion is like a realm (not your realms like you have in Lord of the Rings...). They are all situated like a Venn Diagram (if you don't remember, it was a compare and contrast exercise in which you had two circles that would overlap in the middle. You were to write their differences in their respective circles, and their similarities in the gap of overlap). This way, they are all distinct, yet it is the overlap that causes similarities. Further, the realms are opaque (or clear; like windows) so you can see into other religions and learn about them. The catch is, you have to have faith for that religion in order to enter its "realm."

    Bearing this in mind, this led me to believe that every religion is true (thus I became a very tolerant listener of disciples of various religions...), however, because I lacked faith I was not able to join that religion.

    How do you obtain this faith? It comes from within. I believe everyone has a soul. It is in that soul that holds the key to what faith you have, and it can be nurtured.

    What do you think about my philosophy? Does it make sense to you? If it doesn't, why? Can I clarify? Do you disagree?
    Last edited by Tali; 01-16-2011, 08:28 PM. Reason: typos
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  • #2
    Re: My interesting philosophy...

    Christianity as it was preached in church for me made much more sense after I realized that everything they say about God, Love and being good to one another, boils down to membership and support for the church. I have faith in things once I understand them properly for what they are, what they truly represent, and I understand Armenian Christianity to be faith in the Armenian nation and it's continual struggles, as it is brought together by our church leadership. Whether the priest's sermon relates to our individual personal troubles of loss, guilt and fear, or to the evils awaiting us outside the church's doorstep, the goal is to engage us in the community.

    One's own relationship with God in my opinion is very personal, it is not subject to the dictates of religious authorities. Whatever you take from scripture, sermon and your own life experience is what counts.
    Last edited by jgk3; 01-17-2011, 08:35 PM.

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    • #3
      Re: My interesting philosophy...

      do you study the scriptures and the sermons?

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      • #4
        Re: My interesting philosophy...

        Originally posted by Tali View Post
        do you study the scriptures and the sermons?
        I sing in the church's choir, and hear the priest's sermon on a weekly basis.

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        • #5
          Re: My interesting philosophy...

          Originally posted by Tali View Post
          I came up with this idea that every religion is like a realm (not your realms like you have in Lord of the Rings...). They are all situated like a Venn Diagram (if you don't remember, it was a compare and contrast exercise in which you had two circles that would overlap in the middle. You were to write their differences in their respective circles, and their similarities in the gap of overlap). This way, they are all distinct, yet it is the overlap that causes similarities. Further, the realms are opaque (or clear; like windows) so you can see into other religions and learn about them. The catch is, you have to have faith for that religion in order to enter its "realm."

          Bearing this in mind, this led me to believe that every religion is true (thus I became a very tolerant listener of disciples of various religions...), however, because I lacked faith I was not able to join that religion.
          Since religions were conceived from reflections of human values in our physical world, it only makes sense that there are similarities among them. However, each religion was created under different political circumstances during different time periods in history which is what gives each religion its own distinct world view. What disturbs me is when governments use these truths to their advantage (if you know how people are living their lives, you can manipulate and create policies which will take advantage of this). This is why there is a demand for separation of religion and the governing state. In other words... we shouldn't have Muslim, Christian, J3wish, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. nations since as JGK3 pointed out, religion is a personal philosophy that teaches about life and gives guidance to the individual. Not everyone should be leading the same life and making the same decisions (which is where Free Will comes into play).
          "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

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          • #6
            Re: My interesting philosophy...

            The reason I asked if he went reads the scriptures and sermons is because i wanted to lead up to this question:

            parents tend to be the guidance towards what faith you are. then as you get older, you either agree or disagree. so, your ideas are not really your own. they're reactions to what others think and preach to you. thus my question becomes: if religion is based more on interpretation/reaction to a given explanation, then isn't faith simply one's own conviction?

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            • #7
              Re: My interesting philosophy...

              Originally posted by Tali View Post
              The reason I asked if he went reads the scriptures and sermons is because i wanted to lead up to this question:

              parents tend to be the guidance towards what faith you are. then as you get older, you either agree or disagree. so, your ideas are not really your own. they're reactions to what others think and preach to you. thus my question becomes: if religion is based more on interpretation/reaction to a given explanation, then isn't faith simply one's own conviction?
              Which ideas are your own? Everything we learn is from interaction with our surroundings. If you never left your own city or community, how much knowledge of the world would you have?
              "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

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              • #8
                Re: My interesting philosophy...

                You can also "travel a lot staying in Concord" - sure, that doesn't replace first-hand experience, but it can be a good starter nonetheless.

                As for faith, I was grown up without any kind of religious education. I guess my parents were pretty disillusioned with Church (Catholic) and the exploitation of religion for political purpose so they decided to leave it totally up to me whether to embrace a whatever cult or not. As a result, I'm an agnostic. I've been reading and reflecting a lot about the subject but not enough to persuade me to have faith in any god. Maybe because I can't help but think of the abuses committed in "his" name.

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                • #9
                  Re: My interesting philosophy...

                  All people really want is to be happy. Religions promise happiness if you follow along in the requirements they attribute to God. But the fact that Christianity resorts to making a fantastic realm of happiness out of the afterlife, that far exceeds what can be found here on Earth, polarizes man's love of the natural world, and the ideal of true happiness. Rather than trying to understand happiness through earthly pleasures and pursuits, now man is told to look upon them with guilt, because they are sins, and in essence, do exactly what their authority says will keep them pure if they hope to get into heaven.

                  Comically or tragically enough (depending on how you see it), this is not limited to organized religion. This fear of not following the requirements or ideals of a group exists in families and gangs too, it can happen whenever a few individuals gather up the themes of their culture or sub-culture and start expressing their sense of what's good and bad in a way that doesn't tolerate opposing views. Once their view gains acceptance by the group, a "religion"-like culture starts to form. Those who fundamentally disagree will naturally want to rebel, and if they stick to their guns, they'll manage to flee and do their own thing. But all who choose to remain will have to hear a nice narrative about how those rebels fell to some "sin-like" kind of affair, unless the whole group has a change of heart, and is affected deeply by the actions of the rebels.

                  This is a very human affair indeed, and doesn't require discussion of God to exist, though it tends to reach a great social scale by doing so. Many of us do care about spiritual and existential matters which can make us initially draw towards people who talk about those themes.
                  Last edited by jgk3; 01-19-2011, 08:42 AM.

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                  • #10
                    Re: My interesting philosophy...

                    Originally posted by KanadaHye View Post
                    Which ideas are your own? Everything we learn is from interaction with our surroundings. If you never left your own city or community, how much knowledge of the world would you have?
                    Ideas that are your own are venturing out to subject yourself as unbiasedly as you can to ther religious beliefs and see if you have the capacity for faith in that religion or not. Most people tend to just decide if they believe in their parents' religion or not, and base their decision as such.



                    Aside from that, I was amused to see that this thread sparked yet another common behavior: the comparison of God vs "everything else."
                    Last edited by Tali; 01-19-2011, 06:52 PM.

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