Does it matters what spiritual teaching we follow

[Clara Tea]

Streams from God and his sustenance cannot be compared to Satanic identity energy, no matter how many worldly benefits one gains from the latter, the latter is poison and harmful to the soul corrupting it and degrading it.

Satan offers fun (sex, gambling), wealth (greed, mammon, tax cuts for corporations that pollute). No wonder Satan is so popular. Yet, heaven isn't a popularity contest. It is a test of willpower and goodness.

Presumably good always triumphs. I haven't noticed that.

 

[Clara Tea]

What we think can effect how we behave. And how we behave matters to everyone.

Unfortunately, we cannot control what anyone thinks, or how they behave. We can only guard ourselves against the harmful behavior of others, and against harmful behaviors toward others, by us. How we do that is only relevant in relation to how effective our methodology is.

If we can't control what our children think, then parenthood doesn't work. Keeping kids from watching violent TV, or keeping them from playing with toy guns, or teaching them to share toys, is likely helpful.

If we can teach kids, we should also be able to teach adults.

Is it possible for an adult to accept God?

 

[Clara Tea]

No, there are some parts of the common everyday world, which are not individual down to the single individual . And you, I and everybody else can end up harming ourselves individually and/or others, if we don't look out.
Do your individual part as you, but also learn what is common to us all. That is my advice to you.

Lynch mobs are a good example. Street gangs are another example. The Mafia is another example.

I think that not stopping President W. Bush's war against Iraq was an example of a lynch mob. Some felt that W. Bush had greater intel than we had.

The voice of peace is like a tiny pebble in a pond. It makes a tiny ripple. Yet that ripple, can sometimes cause other pebbles to sound off, and eventually there is a wave that cannot be held back.

Some say "I'm only a housewife" so I have nothing to contriubute. Yet, no one is minor. We all have important things to say, and our voices can reach the top and motivate the masses.

 

[Link]

In the explanation of verse 2:60,

Imam Hassan Askari (a) tafsir says:

The Messenger of Allah (S) said: One who is firm on love for Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), is given by Allah such a cup of drink that he does not want to exchange it with anything else and he does not like that except for Allah he should have anyone as a helper and protector.

One who makes his self used to bear difficulties for the sake of our love, Allah gives him such a lofty status to him on Judgment Day that all become incapable to see his great status on Judgment Day. And each will be surrounded by their status on this day as they had kept their money and wealth in the earth before them.

Then Allah will say: You had accepted difficulties for the love of Muhammad and his family, so Allah has given you the right to save whoever you want from punishment. Then he will open his eyes and see everyone. After that he will separate all those who wished well for him, did a favor or spoke in a nice manner, just as real money is separated from counterfeit coins.

Then he will be told to take them to Paradise and make them stay wherever he likes. He will do the same. Then Allah will say: We give you authority to send whomsoever you like to Hell. Then he would look up see everywhere and select the hellish people as gold coins are separated from currency. Then he will hear a voice telling him to send them to any section of Hell he likes and will do so.

Thus Allah says to Bani Israel people (Jews) who were present during the time of the prophet: While your ancestors were called to the love of Muhammad and Aale Muhammad you have seen them and understood the lofty aim of their Wilayat, it is only proper that you gain nearness to the Almighty through the proximity of Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and you must not go near His wrath. If you do so, you will become remote from His mercy.


Regarding verse 2:61 which is about the Mana and Quails from heaven to followers of Musa (a) who couldn't stand it and wanted multiple food of the earth instead , thereby preferring a lower pleasure type over higher sustenance from God, Imam Hassan Alaskari (a) makes an analogy and quotes Mohammad (S):

The Messenger of Allah (S) said: My people! You must not behave as Bani Israel did. Do not consider Allah’s bounties minor. Don’t ask whimsical and naïve questions from Allah and when Allah takes trial of your sustenance which you do not like, you must not ask for anything. Perhaps it would become a cause of your death and destruction.

Rather you should pray: O Allah, I beseech you in the name of Muhammad and his purified family, please give me patience to bear these difficulties and make them easy for me if my well being lies in being subjected to them.

And if the opposite is better for me, please grant me that. Keep me happy and obedient to Your command. All praise is for You only. When you pray like this, Allah will give you that which is better for you and make it easy for you to get it.

Then His Eminence (S) said: O servants of Allah! Do not be careless about sins, because due to this you shall be involved in laziness and careless attitude which is more dreadful than sin itself. So man continues to commit the sin and does not regard it serious and is involved in troubles more serious than sins.

Slowly he denies the Wilayat of the Prophet’s successor and prophethood of the Prophet. Finally he begins to deny the Oneness of Allah, deviates from the religion of Allah and becomes an apostate.

@Clara Tea I shared the hadiths here, because I feel you will benefit.

 

[Clara Tea]

Of course it matters. What's the point to holding to particular tenets or a belief system if they have no truth or merit behind them. Try telling an novice out in the world that all men are inherently good, and watch him get devoured within a minute. In other words, no matter what he believes, he cannot escape the intrinsic facts about his environment. Or, one as an ascetic, who spent his life practicing self-mortification, isolation and meditation, to the point of possibly injuring his health. What an absurd existence if everything that he believed that lead him to such a lifestyle, were not true. The same goes with missionaries, Church goers, jihadists, those who have sacrificial systems, and so on. What an absolute inconvenience and detriment to the world if neither one, or only some, or one, was correct.

In this world there exists objective facts. If you try to either ignore, change or not comply with these absolute truths, there will be inevitable consequences.
In other words, all roads do not lead to Rome - all belief systems do not attain to peace, joy or salvation.

Do your best to find the one and only truth, and abide by what principles are truly revealed by this awareness, no matter how you received them.

If everyone abandoned a religion just because it had no merit or was harmful, the Christian religion would have vanished long ago. Even in modern times, we see the Christians waging wars, making torture camps, ignoring the homeless, etc.

I am not sure that we can judge without being judged (as Jesus pointed out on his Sermon on the Mount).

The war in Iraq started the endtimes (destruction of the whole world, including us). Yet, until we are wiped off of the world entirely, we can still do as much good as possible.

While it is true that just a few al Qaeda made horrible terrorism, the vast majority of Muslims didn't.

 

[Viker]

If we can't get along with each other, what hope is in the world? We can't even get along with others in this forum, or others who have different denominations of our own religion.

Most people tend to work things out. We'll be alright.

 

[EtuMalku]

Satan offers fun (sex, gambling), wealth (greed, mammon, tax cuts for corporations that pollute). No wonder Satan is so popular. Yet, heaven isn't a popularity contest. It is a test of willpower and goodness.

Presumably good always triumphs. I haven't noticed that.

Where is it stated that Satan offers any of that? As a Satanist, I would have to disagree with your statement.

 

[Link]

Where is it stated that Satan offers any of that? As a Satanist, I would have to disagree with your statement.

Dude... dude..

alright have fun.

 

[PureX]

If we can't control what our children think, then parenthood doesn't work. Keeping kids from watching violent TV, or keeping them from playing with toy guns, or teaching them to share toys, is likely helpful.

If we can teach kids, we should also be able to teach adults.

Is it possible for an adult to accept God?

You are not controlling your children's thinking. You are only controlling what information they have available to them to think about. And even that, only in a limited way, and only for a short time. Once they are adults, you will no longer have even that little control.

 

[osgart]

Sad.
Soldier: It's Christmas time. Let's eat and drink. A few days later... Okay. Let's get back to killing each other, now.

Well, if it only comes one time a year. Why not.

Well compassion anyway.

 

[loverofhumanity]

My view, it's being lead by misguiding leaders that leads to all war and bloodshed. But those misguiding leaders and oppressors and their followers unfortunately think they are doing good for people and bringing good on earth.

The solution to me is to distance oneself from oppressors while clinging to leaders appointed by God, to stop this corrupting deceptive oppressive ways of the oppressing people.

At the end, it may take, destruction of a lot of cities like Noah's people and others were destroyed, when the Mahdi comes.

This might become unavoidable as people seem set on misguidance like in the past.

Believing a superior religion simply means you believe guidance of God is better then misguidance. This is not the cause of wars, but opposite, equating guidance of misleading leaders with guidance of God is the cause of the chaos and oppression on earth.

Yes, so very true. Guidance which comes from God is always best for us.

That which the leaders teach is not always the same as what God teaches.

 

[Bree]

Honestly, does it matter what religious beliefs or spiritual teaching we follow?
Isn't the "goal" the same or very similar? So should we care if someone is a buddhist, Hindu, Christian, muslim or any other religious believer?
Maybe it is more important to spiritually just look at our own being?

Should it matter if someone does not believe or even refuse to hold any belief in spiritual teaching?

Yes it does matter what we believe because we tend to live our life based on what we believe.

 

[DNB]

If everyone abandoned a religion just because it had no merit or was harmful, the Christian religion would have vanished long ago. Even in modern times, we see the Christians waging wars, making torture camps, ignoring the homeless, etc.

I am not sure that we can judge without being judged (as Jesus pointed out on his Sermon on the Mount).

The war in Iraq started the endtimes (destruction of the whole world, including us). Yet, until we are wiped off of the world entirely, we can still do as much good as possible.

While it is true that just a few al Qaeda made horrible terrorism, the vast majority of Muslims didn't.

How many assertions did you just make from various religions, claiming them all to be true?
Or, was that your point? If so, it's not valid, for if you continue down each religion they will invariably contradict each other. All cannot be true!

 

[Samael_Khan]

My understanding is a bit different
I believe spiritual practice started as a personal quest for awakening but when powerful men saw what spiritual practice can do, they incorporated in to everyday life and even politics ( then spiritual awakening cant happen)

I think so too, from what I read. But I also think that at the beginning people discussed these things and the ideas became more of a cultural thing. For instance, if you look at the spirituality of the Khoi-san in South Africa, they have a standard view of spirituality, but it is treated just as a fact and never used in politics because with them politics doesn't exist.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Honestly, does it matter what religious beliefs or spiritual teaching we follow?
Isn't the "goal" the same or very similar? So should we care if someone is a buddhist, Hindu, Christian, muslim or any other religious believer?
Maybe it is more important to spiritually just look at our own being?

Should it matter if someone does not believe or even refuse to hold any belief in spiritual teaching?

I think that what is the outcome is more important than what one believes, such that if some beliefs tend to cause divisions when none might be possible, then these are not really helpful ones - if one has notions of peace and happiness for all rather than for some select group which might include oneself. As mentioned earlier, would we want a world governed by Taliban beliefs - or perhaps some others?

 

[Spirit of Light]

I think that what is the outcome is more important than what one believes, such that if some beliefs tend to cause divisions when none might be possible, then these are not really helpful ones - if one has notions of peace and happiness for all rather than for some select group which might include oneself. As mentioned earlier, would we want a world governed by Taliban beliefs - or perhaps some others?

I would not want Taliban government no

 

[muhammad_isa]

would we want a world governed by Taliban beliefs.. ?

What are "Taliban beliefs" ?

 

[Mock Turtle]

What are "Taliban beliefs" ?

Ask them. Like the result?

 

[muhammad_isa]

Ask them..

I'm asking you. You are the one who brought it up.

Are you referring to their religious beliefs, or their political beliefs?
..or maybe you think that there is no separation between the two.

What specifically are you referring to?

 

[Mock Turtle]

I'm asking you. You are the one who brought it up.

Are you referring to their religious beliefs, or their political beliefs?
..or maybe you think that there is no separation between the two.

What specifically are you referring to?

They appear to be oppressing females (and children as to education), as to their rights - which the more liberal of the world would see as inherent rights - and they appear to be getting such notions from their interpretation of the Qur'an. There might be some cultural and or political element but they seem to excuse their behaviour by resorting to religious dogma. Just as Iran and Saudi Arabia do so in their beliefs about and lowering of freedoms towards females.