Birth of Jesus - Sept. 11, 3 B.C. (Page 4 of 7)

Strip away the details and you have a mystical union between a virgin and God which brings forth Christ.
What we need to find is meaning, not embellishments to a metaphorical story that will only hinder us.

This is coming from the New Testament, what it debunks, if anything, is a literal interpretation.

People are responsible for their actions and what they choose to believe, books and philosophies aren't to blame for peoples' lower natures.

And your attitude and coarse language benefit the world how? I would suggest you are the one engendering separation and displaying intolerance.

The purpose of true religion is to help us to find our way back to the divine. It has nothing to do with the ritualistic dogmas that control the masses or the murderous ideologies of the fundamentalists.

Hey Kid mongo,

The "divine" does exist outside of man BUT it also exists inside of man.

The "divine" has laid dormant for so long in man that it is like the last ember of a dying fire, it takes work to find it, work to get back into flame and then less work to keep it going.

The problem is most don't recognize the divne is already within us, they tend not to look for it and are even less likely to do the work to get it aflame and sustained.

I dread the term religion(I also can't say I use the term faith as a substitute either), religion does engender separation/elitism and intolerances. That is what the mainstream and fanatics have made it and you are 100% correct!

Religion is based on some truth(s) that are intended to make a person feel good (yeah it can easily be made into a controlling and manipulating vehicle) show them things they can do to feel good about themselves - with a little harshness "to keep it real and honest". However there tend to be added all these manmade rules that box in and limit the truth and makes it easy for the individual to abdicate all sorts of responsibilities.

I suck at analogies so bare with me. Everybody knows the saying "catch a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime". So here goes.

3 people are walking in a woods, (their guiding principle is a vague notion of doing loving acts, you'll feel good and go to heaven) and find a person starving, One stops gathers up the essentials shows the person how to put together the fishing pole and line, baits the hook throughs the line in waits and catches a fish. The 3 people walk on feeling good as a group because of their good deed done out of love....aaahhhh that's nice.

But thats religion it ascribes a group feeling to a singular act.

Now another story.

Those same 3 people come across the same guy however their guiding principle is loving acts done personally. What we didn't know is that one can identify great limbs and vines to make a pole out of and how to widdle hooks. Another of the people is an expert fly fisher and can tie flys for 8 different local fish. Another knows how to identify what spots are "hot spots" for the different fish at different times of the day. They decide to take their time spend a few weeks teaching this person what they know so that rather than catching a fish here and there, he can consistently catch enough to feed his family too. With the added time spent teaching this guy, he is now able to teach others.

That is a difference between religion and whatever it's opposite is - ?noigiler?.

You can't group the fanatics and mainstream with those same that "get it" because if they stand up and argue and fight they void their message. Those that are contrary to the fanatics and mainstream will quietly go about living on an individual basis and discuss in private settings(whether they are Christian or not) because they don't have anything to prove to the masses.

Just my take

The only path to freedom is to give freedom up.
That which we are taught is freedom is not.
This is the fundamental argument of truth.
To find the truth we must disregard all that we have been told is truth in order to allow the truth to come to the fore.
The play is so complete that it has an ingrain within us, it is this ingrain that must be released in order to allow the truth to revel itself.
You must think outside the box in order to create anything new and fundamental.
Fundamental is a new which cannot be altered because it is truth.
All that you know must be exorcised for it is all demon speak.
We hold on to our beliefs for all that is dear because it is herein we feel comfortable.
Once you begin to feel uncomfortable it is here you begin to discover what is truth.
Therefore all within your concept must be released and this includes the goodness presented to you.
Beyond this a greater awakening awaits were all and you exists.
All else is folly.