a friendly reminder Always Unabided: there are many religions, not all abrahamic or ruled by its issues, and pantheism is a lie. Zanjan: Those are called folk religions, which are poorly organized and have never had any impact in the world. Some have called them pseudo religions because they don't worship God, they merely recognize the existence of supernatural powers. I think it's fair to say that most of us aren't into sacrificing chickens, stabbing effigies with pins, or casting spells with eye of newt. There's always going to be the fringe element, which serve no one other than themselves - that doesn't mean we have to give them the same degree of recognition as other religions that have earned their place. (Edited by Zanjan) Always Unabided: you dont know many religions then if you think its all just new age wicca. abrahamic religion earned its place through war and destruction of any that stood in its way, not peaceful relations. i understand you might be nice but youre off if you think they earned their place lovingly. Always Unabided: militant christians mimicing crusaders isis buddhists slaughtering each other in the name of minor differences in teachings atheists vs theists of god or any other violent hateful ignorant and greedy forces, you're all shot out..you failed at spirituality if youre fighting. you failed at the best of humanity if youre fighting. the christian vs atheist nonsense here is a fine example of war run amok ad nasuem, both sides are equally ugly. Always Unabided: all the religion room does is nurture posions of hate in its own way. like any other place. people made their hells and deserve them, mental or physical. you want out? you want attonement? stop praying, stop saying sorry and do the opposite. love eachother, care about eachother, care about yourselves and your surroundings without resorting to constant violence. i dont speak often because i dont side with anyone here really that doesnt know that fighting isnt religion. but this has to be said sometimes. Zanjan: AU - I never mentioned any names but each of those "acts" were from a different folk religion. I could mention more practices from more folk religions but why? My point was made. Anyone can borrow a mish mash of cultural beliefs, cobbled together from various periods of history, a novel or board game, and give it an organizational name for the purpose of tax write offs. If you think all folk religions are positive, legal or benign, think again. As for war and destruction, you're confusing religion with national/international political governance, militant coups, and gangland escapades; directions for any of those aren't in scripture. The religions of God have earned their place by being non-profit organizations that educate, hands-on, in social graces, assists the poor, tends to the physically and mentally sick, takes care of orphans and abused kids, produces scholars, assists the grieving and afraid, ect and so forth. They've contributed to humanity what no national government or folk religion has because they love humanity. (Edited by Zanjan) Zanjan: Personally, I never visit the religious chat feature (rooms) - nobody's there most of the time and you can't dialogue with rolling one-liners. If you've found one that likes to throw hate around and criticize others, I wonder why you participate. On that note, I haven't seen anything positive on religion from you either. AU - there's nothing like pointing out the obvious, is there? Man has always warred and I sincerely doubt anything you say will change that fact, particularly since you're not the leader of any country. Occasionally, I see people marching with signs telling muggers not to mug them and gays not to be gays, and expectant moms not to abort - seriously, like that's a fix?? They're going to stop doing what they're doing just because you say so? (Edited by Zanjan) duncan124: Blaming the Occult on other Religions is a false move Zanjan! It seems to me that there are no religions that follow the Occult except Christianity. The Occult was what people were seeing and the Christians tried to include in their world view with shameful results. The Occult is a true scientific fact verified by many Police forces--but nothing to do with Christians. Zanjan: Blaming the occult??? I passed no blame to anything or anyone. What are you trying to say? Pick a definition: Occult: adjective 1. of or relating to magic, astrology, or any system claiming use or knowledge of secret or supernatural powers or agencies. 2. beyond the range of ordinary knowledge or understanding; mysterious. 3.secret; disclosed or communicated only to the initiated. 4.hidden from view. 5.not apparent on mere inspection but discoverable by experimentation. of a nature not understood, as physical qualities. dealing with such qualities; experimental: occult science. 6.Medicine/Medical. present in amounts too small to be visible: a chemical test to detect occult blood in the stool. noun 7.the supernatural or supernatural agencies and affairs considered as a whole (usually preceded by the). 8 occult studies or sciences (usually preceded by the). verb (used with object) 9.to block or shut off (an object) from view; hide. 10. Astronomy. to hide (a celestial body) by occultation. verb (used without object) 11. to become hidden or shut off from view. The *supernatural* is not an occult practice - the word means "above nature", describing whatever doesn't belong to the physical world......you know, like love, foresight, the soul, God's Will etc - things most people recognize as a reality but don't understand well, or at all. Those who claim esoteric knowledge keep their methods hidden from view and they tend to meet secretly. An example would be the Free Masons, now called the Masons. Looks like it was dreamed up by a bunch of frat boys. Today, it's a club, mostly known for their generous donations to public works. On the other hand, *cults* are breakaway religious groups lead by a wicked leader, who dangerously uses religion to secretly exploit his vulnerable followers, preventing them from being involved in society. New religions are negatively tagged as cults until people understand what they're doing. (Edited by Zanjan) duncan124: Zanjan: "Those are called folk religions, which are poorly organized and have never had any impact in the world. Some have called them pseudo religions because they don't worship God, they merely recognize the existence of supernatural powers. " Supernatural=All extra ordinary natural things. Occult=Evil Supernatural things. Always Unabided: If you think all folk religions are positive, legal or benign, think again." loaded defense and preaumption of what im even getting at vs discussion. if you havent moved past logical fallacies then im done. Zanjan: AU, you could list a bunch of non-Abrahamic religions you know so everyone could look into them and make their own conclusions. Sound fair? I highly recommend it. So far, you've only mentioned Wicca, probably because they have their own web page; and you've mentioned nothing about their beliefs. What you're conveying, from your posts, is that you despise all religions so you're an agnostic. I wouldn't bother to try to change your mind because agnostics haven't come to terms with who they are yet. Duncan, you speak as though you have no supernatural powers. Pity, we could have had a longer discussion on that. Zanjan: Thank you for the friendly reminder. My own friendly reminder is that the Abha Kingdom trumps that of all volcano gods. BERNY xP: Aba is the English spelling of the Hebrew word: אבא It is a personal, affectionate way to adress ones father. (think of it as similar to Dad or Daddy) The Hebrew word for Father is: אב Clearly in Hebrew "Aba" is not Father. Technically "Aba" when written using those letters is not a Hebrew word at all. As Hebrew does not use that alphabet. The Quran is written in Arabic and thus nothing in the book is spelled "Abba" or with the Engish alphabet at all. Just to clarify. If using the English alphabet and spelling words of other languages "Abba, Aba" or a variation of it appears in many Abrahamic religious texts. A very personal and affectionate way to adress ones father. "Abba" is aramiac spelled in English. I am not sure of the Arabic spelling in English. In Hebrew it is Aba (spelled in English). (Edited by BERNY xP) Zanjan: "Clearly in Hebrew "Abba" is not Father. To clarify your clarification: Indeed, ancient Hebrew is not Aramaic; neither are they, including Latin, living languages; as such they have zero meaning in modern terms. Considering the absence of common script, and differences in the evolution of scripts, *transliteration* requires a professional in Linguistics to sort conversational and literary forms. With dead languages, ancient usage is always a bit of guess work. Whereas, translation from the official transliteration, requires expert command in at least two modern languages. Furthermore, translation of religious text requires a team of religious scholars since that deals with a specific usage of language. Whereas, interpretation of said translation requires only a single individual who doesn't have to be a professional of any kind. What does this mean to the average person? Well, an old word that survives today on the tongues of men will usually be wearing a different dress - gay does not mean happy and dad does not mean God. However, God's Word is the root of all Words; therefore, it's in a class of it's own and covers all meanings in eternity. A such, when the Holy Word is maintained in use throughout all scriptures to modern times, ALL of it's meanings remain the same to this very day, regardless of spelling. Abba & Abha mean "Father", not a physical father but the Origin. | Religion Chat Room 29 People Chatting Similar Conversations |