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    the gnostics and social justice.

    zappaman oAnswers.blockUserEnabled = true; Member since: 16 July 2006 Total points: 479 (Level 2) Points earned this week: --% Best answer zappaman S According to the gnostics, the god of the Old Testament...
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    paul and the demiurge.

    I recently realised that St Paul's reference to 'the God of this World,' who has blinded many souls, is similar to the Gnostic concept of the demiurge. Some Gnostics believed that some of the Law was given by the Demiurge, a Secondary God, that of the Levitical Law; and Paul is known to have...
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    do mutazilite views exist anywhere in the islamic world nowadays?

    I think that the baha'is have similar views?
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    for female buddhists.

    Do you feel sad that the Theravada have not ordained any bhikkhuni over the past few centuries? Do you think this will ever change? Have you ever considered following the Mahayana or Vajrayana path instead? [I am not proselytising for either of the latter, I am just curious as to how...
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    relations between the three yanas.

    perhaps it is difficult to generalise, but are the three vehicles of Buddhism generally accepting of the others as fellow travellers of the Dharma, in your experience? I think his Holiness the Dalai Lama is very tolerant, but what about at the grassroots level? and how do most bhikkhu feel?
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    karma v. grace. [or not?]

    i used to think that karma and providence were the same thing. [you get rewarded and punished on account of your actions.] but if that's the case, where does grace [free gift regardless of righteousness] come in? I was reading the Catholic theologian Anselm of Canterbury, and he explained...
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    the early imams

    a Muslim friend informed me that the early Shia imams discouraged the conquest of other nations early in Islamic history, but that they were, to an extent, ignored. is this true? PS I apologise if any of you find this question offensive, but I am very curious about this point. Please respect...
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    LXX vs masoretic.

    I hope this is the debate section? sorry if it's not, but i wasn't sure where to find it. Which do you think is more accurate, Septuagint or Masoretic text, and why? And what about Vulgate vs. original Greek and Hebrew?
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    attitude to other religions

    Does the Orthodox church, like the Catholic Church, agree that other religions are legitimate, but that they themselves are party to the most complete form of religion? Or are they less accommodating to other faiths? Is there an official position or not?
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    reincarnation.

    Sorry if this question has been asked before. I was reading an article on the internet that says that although the Adi Granth appears to confirm the existence of reincarnation, this is only due to the evolution in the meaning of words from Sanskrit to Punjabi. The author claimed that Guru...
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    your attitude to abraham?

    Just curious as to your attitude to Abraham? Either as a historical figure, or [if you prefer] as a legendary archetype. I am not a Hindu, but have tried to imagine pluses and minuses from what I know of Hinduism. Minuses; rejected his family's traditions. destroyed the icons in Nimrod's...
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    hebrew archetypes

    can anyone give me some examples of characters in the bible that may have been derived from other religious traditions, like babylonian, greek or egyptian? I already know about Dionysius, Osiris, Mithras - Jesus.
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    'heresies' so-called

    anyone here subscribe to any christian 'heresies?' I am a proud 'Arian'. i.e. i believe that Jesus was the Son of God but neither consubstantial nor co-eternal. Have you faced opposition for your beliefs?
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    paul the 'heretic'?!

    Do you think the allegedly 'lawless' Apostle Paul is the same as Simon Magus? Several scholars think that his emphasis on the spirit rather than the letter of the law led to this nickname. see "Lost Christianities" by Bart D. Ehrman. He cites the Pseudo-Clementine homilies.
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    nor one nor t'other

    anyone else here in a similar situation? I sometimes agree more with catholic/orthodox theology than evangelical protestant, but find the infalliblity claims of the latter offensive, particularly their stances on heretics? It's not a problem for me, as i believe every religion is founded by...
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    islam apocalyticism.

    do you think that the muslims will go really overboard about the apocalyptic hadith, just like the christians? Or has it already happened? It's really frustrating to see christians abuse the Apocalypse of John/Revelation instead of looking at its first CE historical context, not undertanding...
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    sufism and intercession

    I find sufism fascinating and have attended zikr before. I was wondering, what are the traditional sufi defences for intercession from masters. A very controversial issue, of course... i would be interested to hear how you would understand this issue. How do you defend the Sufis from the...
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    question for hindus.

    In hinduism there is jnani yoga [path of knowledge] karma yoga [path of selfless duty] and bhakta yoga [path of devotion.] Which of these three do you focus on the most as an individual and why?
  19. A

    union of the soul

    as i understand it, hinduism teaches the gnosis of the atman's identity with the brahman [soul with god.] Yet Other traditons such as catholicism, orthodox christian and sufi say that the soul can attain union but is NOT fundamentally or eternally identical with God [if i have understood them...
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    learning sacred languages

    have any of you taught yourselves sanskrit or pali, and how long did it take? I am a student of chinese, which is of course an importantt buddhist language, but i would like to be an academic one day and would like to know if self-study of a key indic language would be useful.
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