Pitch your religion! (ritual, Earth, reincarnation, beliefs, experience)

[Master Vigil]

Your path has just been made stronger, for now you know of others who think the same. Just with different words, that idea helps immensely with a spiritual or philosophical search. Good luck, and if you have any questions about taoism, don't hesitate to ask.

[Brian Arbor]

The ancient Greek philosophers believed that the highest form of living was in what was greatest in each of us.


If you are interested in starting this path, please visit:

The Society of Kindred (www.societyofkindred.org/welcome)

- Brian Arbor,
Spiritual Consulting

[Crystal Red]

I'm an Episkopos of Discordianism, so I am labelled a Discordian, I have slightly different ideas about it, but Discordianism is the basis.

It's a religion inside a joke inside a religion etc (& a very funny joke if I do say so myself). Very hard to explain, but it makes sense once you get into, like reading shakespeare, you have to read between the lines to get the message.

It embraces disorder as much as order, it doesn't value one over the other.

'If organised religion if the opium of the masses, then disorganised religion [more specically Discordianism] is the marujuana of the lunatic fringe' - Kerry Thornley, co-founder of Discordian Society.

It's a very hard religion to comprehend, not necessarily the idea of it, but the way it is represented. I apologise for my rather weak explaination, go here.

You can always rest assured that if you're not laughing with us, then we're laughing at you.

[mr.guy]

Rene Decarte was a drunken fart "i drink therefore i am"..

[The Black Whirlwind]

There is a lot of it that would take much too long to explain. The Basics of it are the Jedi Code, the 21 Maxims, and the belief in the Force. There are three types of the Force, the Unifying Force (our soul is derived from the Unifying Force), the Personal Force (a chunk of the Unifying Force which the self comes from), and the Living Force (the Force that is the matter of the universe, everything, but not the soul). The only ones you pretty much have to believe in are the unifying and living Force's. The Jedi Code:

There is no emotion. there is peace.
there is no ignorance. there is knowledge.
there is no hatred. there is compassion.
there is no death. there is the Force.

I have not yet memorized the 21 Maxims, but they are all explained in the Jedi Book I have compiled, which is found here: www.freewebs.com/thejedibook. That explains much more than this, and it has a bunch of extra stuff you might enjoy.

May the Force be with you.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Taegun

For all that my title is slightly silly, I really would like representatives of each and every religion on the boards to please pitch me the general idea, the rules, the law and any helpful websites that'll give me info which is easy to understand of their chosen religion. I better explain.

Hi, Taegun!

I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka, though, inaccurately, as "the Mormon Church). We are first and foremost a Christian denomination. There are roughly a half dozen Latter-day Saints who regularly participate on this forum, any one of whom would be happy to share our beliefs with you at any time.

The basic idea behind the establishment of our church is the belief that a general, universal apostasy took place within less than a century after Christ's Apostles died, and that consequently, the priesthood (i.e. power given by God to man to act in His name) was taken from the earth. Without the priesthood, and without continued revelation, we believe that the pure and simple doctrines that Jesus had taught evolved over the years and became corrupted by the philosophies of men. The great reformers (i.e. Luther, Calvin, etc.) recognized that the Church had drifted off track and attempted to reform it, to the best of their abilities. Unfortunately, more was needed than just good intentions.

As Latter-day Saints, we believe that in 1830, the time was right, not for a reformation but for a restoration -- from the ground up. We believe that Jesus Christ personally called a latter-day prophet and, through him, restored the ancient church, along with the priesthood powers and keys. In addition to the Holy Bible, we consider three other books to be God's word. The Book of Mormon, of course, is the most well-known of these. It is a religious and secular history of some of the people of the ancient Americas, the same people whom Jesus Christ referred to in the New Testament as His "other sheep not of this fold" who would hear His voice.

We are led today by a living Prophet and twelve Apostles -- whose roles are exactly as they were in ancient times. We worship Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, and as the only means by which we may be reconciled to our Father in Heaven. As Christians, we strive to live our lives in accordance with the example Jesus set for us.

If you would care to browse through the Church's official website, it is www.mormon.org. Or, as I said up front, please don't hesitate to direct any questions you may have about our beliefs, history or culture to those of us on this forum. To find us, go to Discuss Individual Religions to Abrahamic Beliefs to Christian to Christian Denominations to Restorationists to Latter-day Saints.

God bless,
Kathryn

[andyjamal]

The Baha'i Faith is an independent world religion based on the teachings of Baha'u'llah (a title which means Glory of God). The followers of the Baha'i Faith are known as Baha'is. They believe Baha'u'llah to be a Manifestation of God and the Promised One of all previous major world religions. Some basic principles of the Baha'i Faith are as follows:

Oneness of God
Oneness of religion
Oneness of mankind
Harmony of science and religion
Independent investigation of truth
Equality of men and women
Elimination of all forms of prejudice
Universal peace
Universal education
Establishment of a universal auxiliary language
Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty

Baha'is are obligated to:

Pray and read from the Holy Writings every morning and evening
Recite one of three obligatory prayers every day
Fast during the last Baha'i month of the year (March 2 - 20)
Teach the Cause of God
Contribute to the Baha'i Fund
Observe Baha'i Holy Days
Attend the Nineteen Day Feast (held on the first day of every Baha'i Month)
Consider work as worship
Avoid alcoholic drinks and non-medicinal use of drugs
Observe Baha'i marriage laws
Respect and obey the government and avoid participation in partisan politics
Avoid backbiting and gossip

I hope you find this information helpful. Unfortunately, I am not very familiar with Baha'i websites (I spend most of my online time here). However, the Baha'i Faith forum on this site is informative and can lead you to other sites.

Best of luck!

[Freedomelf]

I'm a Calyr Elf, and a web site explaining the entire religion is at http://www.calyr.org

Our beliefs are simple.....we believe in God, Goodness and Eternal life, in one way or another. Nothing else is sure, or real, or absolute. No stories put forth by any religion are totally accurate; all are a combination of truth, myth, and parable. Anyway, I spent a lot of years studying many traditional religions, and I never found one that suited me until now.

[9harmony]

Originally Posted by *Jamal*

The Baha'i Faith is an independent world religion based on the teachings of Baha'u'llah (a title which means Glory of God). The followers of the Baha'i Faith are known as Baha'is. They believe Baha'u'llah to be a Manifestation of God and the Promised One of all previous major world religions. Some basic principles of the Baha'i Faith are as follows:

Oneness of God
Oneness of religion
Oneness of mankind
Harmony of science and religion
Independent investigation of truth
Equality of men and women
Elimination of all forms of prejudice
Universal peace
Universal education
Establishment of a universal auxiliary language
Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty

Baha'is are obligated to:

Pray and read from the Holy Writings every morning and evening
Recite one of three obligatory prayers every day
Fast during the last Baha'i month of the year (March 2 - 20)
Teach the Cause of God
Contribute to the Baha'i Fund
Observe Baha'i Holy Days
Attend the Nineteen Day Feast (held on the first day of every Baha'i Month)
Consider work as worship
Avoid alcoholic drinks and non-medicinal use of drugs
Observe Baha'i marriage laws
Respect and obey the government and avoid participation in partisan politics
Avoid backbiting and gossip

I hope you find this information helpful. Unfortunately, I am not very familiar with Baha'i websites (I spend most of my online time here). However, the Baha'i Faith forum on this site is informative and can lead you to other sites.

Best of luck!

Here's a couple Baha'i websites...

www.bahai.org (official website of the Baha'i World Community)
www.us.bahai.org (official website of the US Baha'i Community)

[eudaimonia]

Hi!

My philosophical path is called Eudaimonism. We do not believe in any gods, supernatural realm, or an afterlife, but we find life wonderful and meaningful all the same. We believe that our naturally appropriate purpose in life is to flourish (to achieve eudaimonia) as the unique individuals we are, and the ultimate means for flourishing is the excellent use of the faculty of conceptual awareness (i.e. reason).

Eudaimonism is (or contains) a virtue ethics. We seek to develop a good character that is consistent with, and expressive of, reason and personal integrity.

Like Socrates, we seek to live the examined life, and so we rationally reflect on our worldviews, pursuits, and psychologies -- by ourselves and (e.g. at messageboards, and with such groups as the Fellowship of Reason) through constructive and civil dialog with others.

We seek to self-actualize, and so we identify our talents and develop them in productive and creative pursuits.

We seek self-esteem, and so we self-actualize and remind ourselves of the human potential for what is heroic and morally noble.

We seek to actualize our best potentials as human beings and as unique individuals, and live fulfilling, self-respecting, and happy lives.


eudaimonia,

Mark