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Do you understand Religion, or do you think you understand Religion

Well, if we only could agree on what it means to pray and worship God in the really correct manner, you might have a point. But to me that is not that simple and straightforward as you seem to think it is.
I don't know about what might be the correct manner, but what I do know is that in times now past, the Muslim looking method was much more popular among many cultures across the world than today when it is mainly just Muslims (even though the population is so big now that it may really be like the same amount that have always been doing it anyway). So from China to the Americas, from Ireland to Africa, the popular method included gestures like standing, bowing, kneeling, performing a kowtow (the prostration while on the knees), all while reciting or stating different things in the form of prayers or mantras or statements of a religious nature or pleas or praises to some sort of greater and more powerful influential intelligence and power. I don't know if that is more correct than something else, its just what seemingly so many humans across the globe seemed to have ultimately settled upon, groveling on their knees and putting their foreheads on the ground in surrender and submission while saying that whatever God they are talking to is mighty and please to help them, so a combination of praise and begging, like you might do if you're a destitute person towards a King or an intelligent Dragon or Monster or something. Please Master Dragon, Please spare me, you are so mighty, you have all the gold, please give me some gold, thank you so much Master Dragon, whatever you give me I will use for good Master Dragon, you are the Greatest, Thank You. Groveling, Pleading, Praising. It seemed to be something almost built into a lot of humanity to gravitate towards this behavior.
 
A name was originally always something you would be known by, it always had a meaning and was a word, it was basically "Your fame", something you are known for or by, and people could have many names, these were often descriptive, or otherwise something people wanted or what their parents wanted for them, or to protect them somehow from harm in some way, but they all had meanings, and you were generally given or took on names that you were notorious for, meaning it was of note and something to do with your personal super power or remarkable attribute. God invented such a thing as names, as well as everything else that humans and whatever come up with, and God is not a human (according to me), and so I never imagined or thought God has any name originally, as there was no one to name God, and God has every name which is appropriate or true and accurate, and can select or demand any name and then make people resistant to it or say or whatever, as I take us all as just God's empty puppets.

There are a lot of names I use or find appropriate and acceptable as names of God which I refer to God by and mean God by, but one that I don't really like or use much is YHWH, which I feel doesn't really seem to have a very clear meaning and may have been used to cover up some other term as people were prone to mask things sometimes, like how they on top of pronouncing YHWH as Adonai, might be concealing a word that was originally in that place. It doesn't seem to have a clear or easy type of name quality or meaning like most all names, plus barely anyone can confirm how it should even be pronounced if it is to be pronounced. It also doesn't seem very Universal, as it spent most of its time being particularly exclusively in the writings of mainly the Jewish ethnic group which were adopted by the Christians.

I don't think YHWH was God's name before the creation of names, or the name God took but concealed from Abraham when speaking as El Shaddai?

The amazing name YHWH: meaning and etymology

"
After all this it should be clear that the name YHWH can't be readily interpreted.

If we're dealing with an expression of the verb הוה (hawa II), and we maintain that this verb means to fall, then YHWH would mean Falling, or He Will Fall or He Will Cause To Fall. This line of reasoning may seem to lack any trace of sound theology, but the divine name Shaddai reflects a similar negative, and may mean My Destroyer. The prophet Isaiah writes, "Wail, for the day of YHWH is near. It will come as destruction (shad) from Shaddai" (Isaiah 13:6).

But perhaps we have the verb הוה (hawa II) all figured wrong, and הוה (hawa II) is the same as הוה (hawa I), meaning to be or to happen. Then YHWH would comfortably mean Being or He Is or He Will Cause To Be."

YHWH is probably among my least preferred names or epithets applied to God, though I'm not fond of the term Baal much either, and both are at times given similar descriptions and attributes, which academics suppose is YHWH taking on and absorbing or appropriating terminology typically popular among Baal Hadad Storm God Cultists.

Some people (in my view, stupidly) argue that the term "God" is "for a pagan God" and other inane things paranoids and control freaks tend to say, when that is not the intention of most people at all when they are simply saying "God", and most people are meaning to refer to "The All-Powerful God that can answer prayers and perform miracles" and usually aren't (I would hope) even thinking of Jesus (man-form) when they say this.

God, the word, supposedly comes from a word meaning Invoked, and so God is truly and undeniably "The Invoked".
 
Correct, now what about the rest as not a lot.
The rest of humanity? The minority that didn't believe in God and/or didn't practice the worship of God? The ones who have now become more populous than ever before? What is their fate? I don't know, but according to the theists, by doing (or rather not doing) what they are doing (by not doing what the theists think they should be doing), they are risking any number of bad fates laying in wait ahead of them. So, theists are typically of the opinion or attitude (at least for themselves, and usually those they care about as well) better safe than sorry! So they recommend, as do I, habitual, regular, ritual groveling, and investing in a possible afterlife of some sort through deeds one finds might be approved of by the mysterious administrative power they believe in, and see if it pays off, and if it doesn't, hopefully no major harm done.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
The rest of humanity? The minority that didn't believe in God and/or didn't practice the worship of God? The ones who have now become more populous than ever before? What is their fate? I don't know, but according to the theists, by doing (or rather not doing) what they are doing (by not doing what the theists think they should be doing), they are risking any number of bad fates laying in wait ahead of them. So, theists are typically of the opinion or attitude (at least for themselves, and usually those they care about as well) better safe than sorry! So they recommend, as do I, habitual, regular, ritual groveling, and investing in a possible afterlife of some sort through deeds one finds might be approved of by the mysterious administrative power they believe in, and see if it pays off, and if it doesn't, hopefully no major harm done.

No all religious humans are theists.
 
No all religious humans are theists.
Did you find something unclear in what I wrote? I can try to clarify. I said that Theists, those who believe in God/Gods (that is what the word is thought to mean), typically believe that Non-Theists/Atheists are not investing in their spirituality or development enough or putting forth enough good or are not in line with the right thinking, so that their future is at stake and may lead them to some negative outcome. If the individual did not believe that they would get better for what they do, they would not sensibly waste any of their time doing whatever practices.

Simply put, people do things in order to gain usually, they are doing things with an expectation for good to come of it in some way or what they think is or will be good for them now or later (even if its very twisted or seems bad, they are typically still seeking some distorted form of pleasure or "good" for themselves).

So the reason Theists for the most part grovel and rub their faces in the dirt is in the hope of achieving good, and they wouldn't do it if they were more convinced that no good can come of whatever practices they are doing, then they would stop doing them and do something else which they think will give them good or which gives them good as far as they can perceive it or believe in it and hope for it.

Atheists do not believe that such practices will earn them anything ever, so they would not be expected to perform practices they think will not give them anything beneficial for themselves, they would be thinking that such is a waste of time.

There are people who are pressured or forced to pretend to be part of religious communities, and they follow the practices or trends and norms only to benefit from being seen as normal and acceptable, but in their hearts they think its a worthless waste of time and that there is likely no hope that it will achieve anything or go anywhere for them, and these are known as hypocrites, people who put on a false face of belief but are really disbelievers, practicing for immediate acceptance but not doing it out of their own sincere devotion or beliefs or hopes that it goes to God or will earn them anything, and if God knows them, then maybe they aren't so wrong and it won't go anywhere for them.
 
Yes. I don't kill the ''disbeliever''.

Do any of us? I don't think anyone on this website (hopefully) are killers. I think most people have not killed anyone nor intend to kill anyone, and spend their entire lives never having been very violent or killing anyone, even getting into physical altercations and fist fights is pretty rare overall these days. All of us on this website, I suspect, are almost extremely non-violent and peaceful people.
 

night912

Well-Known Member
Many people in RF holds a belief in one Religion or an other.
Many people in RF do not hold a belief in Religion.

1: Are you sure you understand what Religion really is, and what is needed to be done to gain full effect of the practice ?

2: Or do you think you know what Religion really is about, but do not see the need to practice any of it to know and understand?
To me, question #1, shouldn't and/or does not need to ask others. I think it's suited to ask yourself that question.

Question #2, is "yes."

I don't think that anyone should automatically assume that others who don't have the same religion as yourself, don't understand and/or know the experience of religion. Nor should one assume that other people's experiences are the same as yours. So, when in doubt , just ask.

From my experience, the who made those assumptions, when engaged in a discussion, are the ones who usually gets upset and/or frustrated first whenever there's a disagreement or misunderstanding. A lot of times, but not always the case,it's their fault for the discussion to come to a halt and not going any further. And their attempts at providing their explanations in order to have an understanding from both parties, ends up prolonging the delay. This is due to then repeating the same argument, and just rewording it, because of not realizing that he other person is actually disagreeing with you and not just misunderstanding.
because of those people
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
To me, question #1, shouldn't and/or does not need to ask others. I think it's suited to ask yourself that question.

Question #2, is "yes."

I don't think that anyone should automatically assume that others who don't have the same religion as yourself, don't understand and/or know the experience of religion. Nor should one assume that other people's experiences are the same as yours. So, when in doubt , just ask.

From my experience, the who made those assumptions, when engaged in a discussion, are the ones who usually gets upset and/or frustrated first whenever there's a disagreement or misunderstanding. A lot of times, but not always the case,it's their fault for the discussion to come to a halt and not going any further. And their attempts at providing their explanations in order to have an understanding from both parties, ends up prolonging the delay. This is due to then repeating the same argument, and just rewording it, because of not realizing that he other person is actually disagreeing with you and not just misunderstanding.
because of those people
I think i said it before, this OP is not about me Amanaki its about other members and their understanding of religion.
My understanding does not matter to others
 

syo

Well-Known Member
Do any of us? I don't think anyone on this website (hopefully) are killers. I think most people have not killed anyone nor intend to kill anyone, and spend their entire lives never having been very violent or killing anyone, even getting into physical altercations and fist fights is pretty rare overall these days. All of us on this website, I suspect, are almost extremely non-violent and peaceful people.
I agree.

But there is also social killing. ''I don't want filthy pagans for neighbours, or my kids speaking to pagans'' for example. o_O
 
I agree.

But there is also social killing. ''I don't want filthy pagans for neighbours, or my kids speaking to pagans'' for example. o_O

I guess in most cultures, the human adult put in charge has the ability to decide certain things about the conditions of those they are caretakers of or dependents until a certain point. It would be considered "killing" perhaps in only the very loosest of ways, since usually killing seems to involve the ending of someone or something's life functions and ability to function or live any further, whereas in your example a youth is being restricted from speaking with certain people or involving themselves with certain communities that are allowed to live and function and no violent cessation of their lives or livelihoods is occurring. A process could occur where a person, community, or group or caste is boycotted and the stigma around them leads them to be unable to rely on them for help or assistance with survival, and if they restrict the person somehow from hunting or planting food or in some way more directly contribute to inhibiting them from surviving, this might be considered a more extended version of killing them through cutting off their means of living or ability to survive. Generally though, when the term killing is used, I usually think of the more direct and immediate harming of a person in order to make their life completely stop, and then they are dead and their body is typically destroyed through a process of decaying.
 
To me, question #1, shouldn't and/or does not need to ask others. I think it's suited to ask yourself that question.

Question #2, is "yes."

I don't think that anyone should automatically assume that others who don't have the same religion as yourself, don't understand and/or know the experience of religion. Nor should one assume that other people's experiences are the same as yours. So, when in doubt , just ask.

From my experience, the who made those assumptions, when engaged in a discussion, are the ones who usually gets upset and/or frustrated first whenever there's a disagreement or misunderstanding. A lot of times, but not always the case,it's their fault for the discussion to come to a halt and not going any further. And their attempts at providing their explanations in order to have an understanding from both parties, ends up prolonging the delay. This is due to then repeating the same argument, and just rewording it, because of not realizing that he other person is actually disagreeing with you and not just misunderstanding.
because of those people
I think it might be misleading to assume people do have the same or similar experience as me, when I can't even confirm that when they say "The sky is blue" that "blue" is showing up to their eyes consistently as anything like what I experience as "blue", for all I know, the same thing being reacted to as "blue" could be (if I were looking through their eyes) what I would have otherwise called "green", but their eyes consistently show the blue things with that color, so when people pointed at the sky and said "that is blue" they were like ok, but there is no way to confirm that what they are experiencing is the same at all, ever. We are existentially always utterly alone when we understand the logic behind extreme skeptical criticism or analysis, such as in the little thought experiment above. Even asking people can't really establish much certainty about what in the world they are really experiencing or talking about, but for the sake of convenience, we assume that things are the same as us, that words refer to the things we think they refer to as we see them, and all that.

So, what exactly is your experience with religion? My experience with religion is that most people I've spoken to, don't seem to have one really, and they don't seem to really have any relationship or interaction with God or miracles for the vast majority of their lifespans, if ever, and they also don't really seem to think about it very much or do anything in relation to their religions. I view most people as completely cut off from magic and spirituality these days, so that they appear practically blind to all the odd and unusual things, surrealistically and symbolically seeming to occur around them, and explaining it to them or getting them to see may also seem next to impossible. So, even if people say they believe in God, it means almost nothing to me, what does that even mean? All I think it tends to mean, or how I interpret it, is that they believe that there is something which created things in general and is perhaps overseeing things and will resolve matters eventually, possibly, or give most normal innocent people some sort of heavenly experience after they are dead maybe, and they might talk to this thing, but not really very frequently feel any major response.
 
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