Are you religious?

That's very interestingly said of you, Grinder, because I also see that very same problem about how most religions interpret the bible and how some even remove some parts of it.
If the bible really is the book of God, everything that should there, is there. And everything that shouldn't be there, is not there.
Jehovah's Witnesses have interpreted the Bible in a way that makes it not contradict itself in a very logical way. To me, that interpretetion seems more logical than the interpretetions that makes the bible contradict itself.

A short and simple example is how we, Jehovah's witnesses, have interpreted the "hell"-part of the bible as non-existance, and not as an eternal life in flames. We have interpreted this by thoroughly digging deep into the modern and ancient Greek and Hebrew language, and understanding that Hades and Sheol is not hell, but death.

 

He has show some good signs:
http://translate.google.com/transla...50-mil-para-los-damnificados-de-La-Plata.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/us-pope-idUSBRE92R0B020130328
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/16/pope-francis-church-poverty
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/03/us-pope-women-idUSBRE9320KZ20130403
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22043312

To the left: Pope Benedict at 2007 Easter ceremony - to the right: Pope Francis at ditto in 2013

 

Somewhere in the bible it says something about women being inferior to men, I believe. It is nice to see Pope Francis being a good Pope and including women in some of the ceremonies.

 

+1
Glad to see another person so open-minded about this subject.

 

He washed feet what more do you want?

 

I'm not a big fan of Pope Francis.
Because I'm Brazilian and he's Argentinian and the Brazilian guy should have won. But really, Pope Francis had a sordid past. He allowed some Leftist Priests to be arrested by the Argentinian Military Dictatorship, known as the Junta. My own father was nearly arrested by the Brazilian Dictatorship for campaigning for democracy, so Pope Francis' actions strike a chord with me. As well, he is a conservative, anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. Just the same as the previous popes.

 

I'm anti-gay so vote TotalAaron for pope 2045

 

Lets see, I was born a Muslim but at the age of 13. I started questioning my beliefs and the existence of god. Since than, I been a Agnostic. Oh and hi everyone, im new here .

 

I believe that you have a right to your religion, and I respect people like priests. But I myself am Atheist.

 

I Don't believe in anything.

 

I'm not really religious but I'm definitely not an atheist. I try to help as many people as I can whenever I get the chance, and try to do what feels right. I once quit a well paying job because it was conflicting with my moral code. It makes me feel good and if there is a God I'm hopefully getting some bonus points for the afterlife. I do believe in some sort of afterlife, not really heaven and hell but I can't imagine death is the final step. I sometimes think that when we die that is when we truly wake up if that makes any sense.

 

One could argue that reason people do nice things to each other, on a very basic and primate level, is so their body will be rewarded with "feel-good chemicals". Basically our body and brain is telling us "You did a good job, you helped your species in a time of need, keep doing that and I'll reward you some more".

I don't help people out for the sole purpose of me feeling good, I help them out because they need help, it so just happens that it makes me feel nice about myself. Being aware of the reward I'm getting for helping others should not make my actions less worthy than those of a man who is ignorant of this. On a subconscious level he knows his body will reward him. I'm just aware of these things.

Words like "virtue" and "honor" etc. were used to describe these feelings we felt when we knew very little of how our body functions.

These are just my opinions of course, feel free to disagree. If you think what I'm doing is egoistic then so be it, more power to you. I won't try to change your way of thinking because I can't, though hopefully I gave you some perspective on things. Food for thought If you'd like.

 

I don't identify as any religion, but I do like a lot of the ways and beliefs of Buddhism. I tend to keep an open mind overall, towards all religion, but get pissed off if they try to deny people their human rights.

 

I regretted posting this. Please remove.
EDIT: Just found a use for this post. I just found out I am an agnostic theist. I don't claim to have knowledge that god exists. Maybe I'm even a deist, but I think my idea of a God has some sort of interference.
On a side-note, I am pro-choice and support gay rights. I am not your radical christian at all.

 

Very good thinking, I love it!

But again, you said you do something for someone because they need it. But that's not a whole reason, is it?
They need it, and so you do it because you feel compassion with them. And that is not the whole reason either.
You feel compassion with them, and so you do it to get rid of that awful compassion-feeling; You do it to feel better.

But you are absolutely right about the main thing: One does it conciously out of humbleness and friendliness and care, one does it for the greater good. It is not an egosentrical act.
But one subconciously does it to satisfy one's need for better self-esteem

 

Salami is a strong white man who don't need no religion.