• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

What Is the Best Way to Learn about your Religion

The Sum of Awe

Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.
Do you think reading a certain book will help? A few books? Or maybe a lot of online research? Going to your organization's temple/church/etc?

What would you say, if a person is looking to join your religion, is the best way to learn about it?
 

joea

Oshoyoi
Do you think reading a certain book will help? A few books? Or maybe a lot of online research? Going to your organization's temple/church/etc?

What would you say, if a person is looking to join your religion, is the best way to learn about it?
Lean to love then everything you seek in a path follows on it's own accord.
 

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
Just sitting.
:yes:

Everyone knows it but Bodhidharma supposedly coined:

A special transmission outside the scriptures; No dependence on words and letters; Direct pointing to the mind of man; Seeing into one's nature and attaining Buddhahood.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

joea

Oshoyoi
Just sitting.
:yes:

Everyone knows it but Bodhidharma supposedly coined:

A special transmission outside the scriptures; No dependence on words and letters; Direct pointing to the mind of man; Seeing into one's nature and attaining Buddhahood.
That is true. to be in harmony with one's own life and with existence, one understands the nature of things thus he follows his own true nature without being told what is truth. All the mystics have all pointed to the moon to convey the truth, all that we needed to do is look at the moon, but because of words and scriptures, we miss the real moon and only see it's reflection in the water as the truth. :)
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
Do you think reading a certain book will help? A few books? Or maybe a lot of online research? Going to your organization's temple/church/etc?

What would you say, if a person is looking to join your religion, is the best way to learn about it?

We offer a free home bible course, a one on one study where you can learn about our beliefs and organization on a personal level. It gives students an opportunity to ask all the questions they like and get an insiders perspective.


thats all free btw ;)
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Do you think reading a certain book will help? A few books? Or maybe a lot of online research? Going to your organization's temple/church/etc?

What would you say, if a person is looking to join your religion, is the best way to learn about it?
My approach to religion is somewhat three-fold: spirituality, science, and philosophy. For spirituality it is the contemplative path. For science, it's just science (minus philosophical materialism). For philosophy I explore Integral philosophies, which covers many philosophical approaches.

Though it doesn't directly explain all that, for a good high-level overview in this general area I'd recommend this book: Amazon.com: A Sociable God: Toward a New Understanding of Religion (9781590302248): Ken Wilber, Roger Walsh: Books
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Either practice for yourself or visit / talk to adherents directly. As they say, Direct from the horses mouth.
 

dyanaprajna2011

Dharmapala
Just sitting.
:yes:

Everyone knows it but Bodhidharma supposedly coined:

A special transmission outside the scriptures; No dependence on words and letters; Direct pointing to the mind of man; Seeing into one's nature and attaining Buddhahood.

I was going to say something along these lines. Reading helps, but it can never replace practice. So much about Buddhism depends on practicing it, that one can never really get to the heart of the Buddha-dharma without actual practice.
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
One on one with a great adherent of your faith. It's about the best student-teacher ratio going. Be able to watch what they do, how they think, be able to discuss. This is the classic Guru-sishya relationship in SD.
 

ChristineES

Tiggerism
Premium Member
The best way to learn any religion is to follow it. By following, I mean studying about the faith, doing some (or all) of the practices, going to any kind of ceremonies the religion might have. Since we can't follow a bunch of different faiths, we could probably still study and if you have friends that go to different ceremonies (if they have ceremonies) or a worship service (if they have one) that he or she can invite you to, that would help to learn more about it. In Christianity, my faith, you'd have to go to many different Church services to learn about it and you'd have to study our writings and the New Testament and maybe the OT, if you want. :)

Going to one service would help a little, but you'd have to go to a lot more than one and at more than one place. In Christianity, different denominations may have different kinds of services.
 

underthesun

Terrible with Titles
For my religion/spirituality?

I suppose in order to first grasp the concept of it, reading a decent book about the philosophy would be beneficial, but so would simply looking at reliable internet sources on the matter. But both of those are really only beneficial for originally understanding the philosophy.

Beyond that, to better understand one's own personal path with the religion, I think that a combination of self-searching and discussion with others would probably be best. It's not like Panentheism is a set of strict rules one has to follow or anything; plenty of those who identify as panentheists have very different views of how to live and connect, spiritually speaking. So, speaking with others to learn all of the different ideas and beliefs would be good, as exposure to different ideas might trigger something within, but the best way to learn more about one's specific path would certainly be some personal soul-searching. What feels right to the individual, when he or she is being open and honest with his/herself, is the best advice. At least in my honest opinion.

...I hope that made sense. I feel like I got overwhelmingly wordy for no reason.​
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
The only way to learn about my religion - as in my specific path within Neopaganism - is a mentor-student relationship. You might get something close to it by browsing the Neopagan literature, academic studies of Paganism, and various works of science, but... probably not.
 

NoraSariah

Active Member
There are many ways to learn about my religion. We have a website with answers to many questions and it also shares our beliefs. We also have missionaries that go door to door asking people if they'd like to know more about us. You can request missionaries to come to your house from that website.

You could also read the Bible and the Book of Mormon, as both are essential to our beliefs. The Bible testifies of Christ in the Middle East, as the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ in the Americas. Both share the same message: that Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
 

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
Do you think reading a certain book will help? A few books? Or maybe a lot of online research? Going to your organization's temple/church/etc?

What would you say, if a person is looking to join your religion, is the best way to learn about it?
Well, I'll tell you how one prominent LDS scholar, Daniel C. Peterson, answered that question. He said, "Ask adherents, not enemies."
 

NoraSariah

Active Member
Well, I'll tell you how one prominent LDS scholar, Daniel C. Peterson, answered that question. He said, "Ask adherents, not enemies."

That reminds me of something a friend once told me. If you want to learn about a Ford truck and go to a Chevy dealer, you're going to be told about everything that's wrong with Ford vehicles and that they can't compare to a Chevy vehicle. So why go to a Chevy dealer to learn about a Ford model? Thought this would help anyone looking to learn about a particular religion.
 
Top