Anyone Interested in an Interfaith Interview?

[DaChew]

I am a student taking a world religions course, and my assignment is to ask someone of a different religion from me some questions. I am not here to argue, fight or convert anyone, I simply want to learn. I am and a Christian and would love to speak with the Muslim community.
Here are the questions if you are interested in answering some or all of them.

How did you come to practice your religion?

What aspect of your religion gives you the greatest comfort? Why?

What aspects of your religion are the most important to you? Why?

What element in your religion do you find to be troubling? What if anything brings you doubt? Why?

How does your religion better the world we live in?

How do you live out your religious beliefs each day?

How do you share your religion to unbelievers?

Why should I become a follower of your religion?

Thank you in advance!

 

[sun rise]

Welcome to RF. I don't follow a formal religion but someone will hopefully answer your questions.

 

[mangalavara]

Welcome! I took Religions of the World as a free elective in my last year of college. Are your questions only for Muslims or for individuals of any religious identity?

 

[TransmutingSoul]

How did you come to practice your religion?

In 1984 my wife read a prayer from the writings of the Baha'i Faith and accepted the Faith immediately. She told me a out it, I read a book and accepted the Faith a few weeks later.

What aspect of your religion gives you the greatest comfort? Why?

The knowledge and Love of God and being capable of practicing the Laws.

What aspects of your religion are the most important to you? Why?

As above, as that dictates the way we live.

What element in your religion do you find to be troubling? What if anything brings you doubt? Why?

Only my own self.

How does your religion better the world we live in?

It is working towards One people on One planet who will establish a lastingg peace. This involves the abolishing of all predudices.

How do you live out your religious beliefs each day?

Prayer, reflection and working to the best of my ability, as work is worship.

How do you share your religion to unbelievers?

Conversations and practice of the morals and virtues.

Why should I become a follower of your religion?

That would be entirely up to you, I can influence you in no way, you will need to undertake your own investigation for truth.

I would recommend that no one follows a faith that they have not investigated.

Thank you in advance!

Thank you, all the best, if you need more clarity, please ask.

Edit, sorry missed the Muslim mention. just disregard this, though the Baha'i Faith was born out of Islam.

Regards Tony

 

[Viker]

Welcome to the RF! If you're interested in interviewing members other than Muslims I'm cool with that.

 

[DaChew]

Welcome! I took Religions of the World as a free elective in my last year of college. Are your questions only for Muslims or for individuals of any religious identity?

I had submitted plans to interview Muslims but if someone from another religion would like to respond i can develop my assignment in a way that would work. So I am open to everyone.

 

[DaChew]

Welcome to the RF! If you're interested in interviewing members other than Muslims I'm cool with that.

I am open to it. Thank you for the response.

 

[DaChew]

In 1984 my wife read a prayer from the writings of the Baha'i Faith and accepted the Faith immediately. She told me a out it, I read a book and accepted the Faith a few weeks later.



The knowledge and Love of God and being capable of practicing the Laws.



As above, as that dictates the way we live.



Only my own self.



It is working towards One people on One planet who will establish a lastingg peace. This involves the abolishing of all predudices.



Prayer, reflection and working to the best of my ability, as work is worship.



Conversations and practice of the morals and virtues.



That would be entirely up to you, I can influence you in no way, you will need to undertake your own investigation for truth.

I would recommend that no one follows a faith that they have not investigated.



Thank you, all the best, if you need more clarity, please ask.

Edit, sorry missed the Muslim mention. just disregard this, though the Baha'i Faith was born out of Islam.

Regards Tony

Thank you so much tony this is awesome. If you don't mind elaborating and giving more detail it would be crazy helpful. I would love to hear more about your story, your feelings, and what fulfills you in regard to your religion.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I had submitted plans to interview Muslims but if someone from another religion would like to respond i can develop my assignment in a way that would work. So I am open to everyone.

For the record, I identify as Hindu...

How did you come to practice your religion?

Through personal experiences and research into into them.

What aspect of your religion gives you the greatest comfort? Why?

Knowledge of my true nature as Brahman. As pure consciousness, am immortal in my true nature. I do not suffer, and I do not die.

What aspects of your religion are the most important to you? Why?

Self-realization. It liberates one from the cycle of rebirth (samsara).

What element in your religion do you find to be troubling? What if anything brings you doubt? Why?

Sorry to answer your question with a question, but doubt about what?

Also, if I found something troubling about my religion, I wouldn't identify with that religion.

How does your religion better the world we live in?

Each Hindu, in my understanding, does their best to live their life in accordance with dharma. I'm not speaking for all Hindus, but on my understanding of Hinduism's purpose. I'm sure there are those that through attachment and desire lead an adharmic life.

How do you live out your religious beliefs each day?

By performing virtuous action (karma yoga) in the knowledge that in their true nature, there is no dichotomy between myself and another living creature.

How do you share your religion to unbelievers?

I don't unless asked.

Why should I become a follower of your religion?

If you don't share my worldview, you shouldn't. Hinduism isn't a proselytizing religion.

 

[DaChew]

For the record, I identify as Hindu...



Through personal experiences and research into into them.



Knowledge of my true nature as Brahman. As pure consciousness, am immortal in my true nature. I do not suffer, and I do not die.



Self-realization. It liberates one from the cycle of rebirth (samsara).



Sorry to answer your question with a question, but doubt about what?

Also, if I found something troubling about my religion, I wouldn't identify with that religion.



Each Hindu, in my understanding, does their best to live their life in accordance with dharma. I'm not speaking for all Hindus, but on my understanding of Hinduism's purpose. I'm sure there are those that through attachment and desire lead an adharmic life.



By performing virtuous action (karma yoga) in the knowledge that in their true nature, there is no dichotomy between myself and another living creature.



I don't unless asked.



If you don't share my worldview, you shouldn't. Hinduism isn't a proselytizing religion.

This is so good! For clarity, in the Christian perspective one of the major issues that create doubt is the question; if God is both all-loving and all-powerful how come we experience pain? are there any teaching topics or concepts of Hinduism that you find difficult to comprehend or difficult to reconcile with your worldview?

 

[SalixIncendium]

This is so good! For clarity, in the Christian perspective one of the major issues that create doubt is the question; if God is both all-loving and all-powerful how come we experience pain?

From this Hindu's perspective: It is the person, not any god, that is responsible for pain. Pain is a product of causality brought about by one's own actions (karma).

are there any teaching topics or concepts of Hinduism that you find difficult to comprehend or difficult to reconcile with your worldview?

None that I can think of. Teaching topic and concepts are quite diverse in Hinduism, as there are many schools of philosophy within the religion.

For me, the teachings offered in Hinduism aligned with and verified my existing worldview.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Thank you so much tony this is awesome. If you don't mind elaborating and giving more detail it would be crazy helpful. I would love to hear more about your story, your feelings, and what fulfills you in regard to your religion.

Thanks for the follow up, always happy to chat about Faith, as that to me is life.

Our journey into faith is always an individual experience, that many, when they look back, see it as being rather miraculous. My journey started even when I was not even looking, it was because my wife's heart found faith, at a time when I had none to speak of, except maybe only a few silent opinions.

So I will offer Faith is a gift to the heart, and our heart has to be open to receive that gift. The diversity of faith then makes that a very interesting subject to discuss, as why do hearts find different faiths?

That is maybe a question you could explore, I have found my answer for such a quandary.

I see Faith enables us to expand our feelings to all humanity, if there is one person suffering in this life, who is not being helped, then to me we all suffer from that neglect, even if we are unaware.

Fulfillment in Faith is a tricky one, I am not sure in an age of such turmoil, if we could honestly say we have found true fulfillment, even though one has 100% optimism for a most wonderful future for humanity. There is a constant longing for all people to find peace within themselves and to bond and unite as one human family, but it is obvious that a disfunctional family will take some time and much pain to heal.

Personal peace with God to me is found in the practice of Faith, as in the end, no matter how we interact with family friends, our community and the world, I see we are as an individual, single alone and lonely with God, as each of us are responsible for our actions.

Regards Tony

 

[DaChew]

From this Hindu's perspective: It is the person, not any god, that is responsible for pain. Pain is a product of causality brought about by one's own actions (karma).



None that I can think of. Teaching topic and concepts are quite diverse in Hinduism, as there are many schools of philosophy within the religion.

For me, the teachings offered in Hinduism aligned with and verified my existing worldview.

In the many different branches of your religion how is that you have set or decided on a particular branch? How did you find the one that best suited you? In Christianity, as people emphasize portions of scripture the churches built on those interpretations are called denominations.

 

[DaChew]

Thanks for the follow up, always happy to chat about Faith, as that to me is life.

Our journey into faith is always an individual experience, that many, when they look back, see it as being rather miraculous. My journey started even when I was not even looking, it was because my wife's heart found faith, at a time when I had none to speak of, except maybe only a few silent opinions.

So I will offer Faith is a gift to the heart, and our heart has to be open to receive that gift. The diversity of faith then makes that a very interesting subject to discuss, as why do hearts find different faiths?

That is maybe a question you could explore, I have found my answer for such a quandary.

I see Faith enables us to expand our feelings to all humanity, if there is one person suffering in this life, who is not being helped, then to me we all suffer from that neglect, even if we are unaware.

Fulfillment in Faith is a tricky one, I am not sure in an age of such turmoil, if we could honestly say we have found true fulfillment, even though one has 100% optimism for a most wonderful future for humanity. There is a constant longing for all people to find peace within themselves and to bond and unite as one human family, but it is obvious that a disfunctional family will take some time and much pain to heal.

Personal peace with God to me is found in the practice of Faith, as in the end, no matter how we interact with family friends, our community and the world, I see we are as an individual, single alone and lonely with God, as each of us are responsible for our actions.

Regards Tony

tony this is great! If i could possible beg more detail out you... How then do you specifically practice your faith? what does that look like?

 

[TransmutingSoul]

tony this is great! If i could possible beg more detail out you... How then do you specifically practice your faith? what does that look like?

OK will give that a go.

My Faith is founded on fewness of words and Abundance of deeds, funnily that is not possible on a chat forum, which is mainly words, apart from the way I choose to speak and interact with others in a chat.

So practice of Faith in life is each of us finding ways to serve family and community. In our busy lives work can play a big part of this service and in the Baha'i Faith, work done in the spirit of service, to do the best we can, has been elevated to the level of worship.

There are laws we try to implement in our lives such as a yearly 19 day fast sunset to sunrise, daily obligatory prayer and laws on Virtues and morality.

So our daily life tries to reflect those laws in our practice of faith. We practice truthfulness, trustworthiness, moral conduct, no drugs or alcohol, no backbiting etc.

So faith is a personal challenge in change and trying to become a world citizen.

From a Christain perspective, I see we practice what Jesus the Christ asked us to be, sorry off to work soon, day has started in Australia and I start at 6am.

Regards Tony

 

[Spirit of Light]

I am a student taking a world religions course, and my assignment is to ask someone of a different religion from me some questions. I am not here to argue, fight or convert anyone, I simply want to learn. I am and a Christian and would love to speak with the Muslim community.
Here are the questions if you are interested in answering some or all of them.
Thank you in advance!

How did you come to practice your religion?
My journey into Sufism come through many years as a Buddhist, but when I could not learn more in Buddhism I looked around for a path that could lead to deeper wisdom. and my choice ended up as Sufi

What aspect of your religion gives you the greatest comfort? Why?
Every aspect of the teaching gives me comfort that I am on the right path. I learn and understand something new every day.

What aspects of your religion are the most important to you? Why?
To seek wisdom from within my heart and sharing my love for all humanity, because unconditional love leads to a better society and a better life for all people.

What element in your religion do you find to be troubling? What if anything brings you doubt? Why?
Misrepresentation of Islam in our word is most troubling to me, If I have a doubt I read more in the teaching to clear my doubt

How does your religion better the world we live in?
Sufism is all about giving unconditional love to every living being, hopefully, it brings peace and love to the world.

How do you live out your religious beliefs each day?
Practicing the teaching, speaking about it in RF, speaking with friends.

How do you share your religion with unbelievers?
I try to have a dialog and to not judge them for not being a believer, and to do my best to understand them and why they have no faith in a God.

Why should I become a follower of your religion?
That is fully up to you to decide if you want, there is no force from Sufis that others should become Sufi, but if you find comfort in the teaching you could study before taking the leap to be a part of Sufism it would help you understand more about yourself, and what Sufism is about (realizing God from within)

 

[SalixIncendium]

In the many different branches of your religion how is that you have set or decided on a particular branch? How did you find the one that best suited you? In Christianity, as people emphasize portions of scripture the churches built on those interpretations are called denominations.

I had a mystical experience when I was young, and subsequent experiences built upon that experience, thereby forming my worldview. I met a theosophist when I identified as a Neo-Pagan, and he told me my worldview was quite congruent to that of Hinduism. At the time, I took what he said with a grain of salt and didn't think much of it, and upon leaving Neo-Paganism, I identified as a non-dual pantheist until I came across Advaita Vedanta when learning more about SAND (Science and Non-Duality). I researched this school of philosophy and found nothing that didn't already align with my personal experiences and worldview.

As far as scripture was concerned, my worldview wasn't built upon them or any of their interpretations. Study of these scriptures merely validated my understandings that resulted from my experiences.

 

[DaChew]

OK will give that a go.

My Faith is founded on fewness of words and Abundance of deeds, funnily that is not possible on a chat forum, which is mainly words, apart from the way I choose to speak and interact with others in a chat.

So practice of Faith in life is each of us finding ways to serve family and community. In our busy lives work can play a big part of this service and in the Baha'i Faith, work done in the spirit of service, to do the best we can, has been elevated to the level of worship.

There are laws we try to implement in our lives such as a yearly 19 day fast sunset to sunrise, daily obligatory prayer and laws on Virtues and morality.

So our daily life tries to reflect those laws in our practice of faith. We practice truthfulness, trustworthiness, moral conduct, no drugs or alcohol, no backbiting etc.

So faith is a personal challenge in change and trying to become a world citizen.

From a Christain perspective, I see we practice what Jesus the Christ asked us to be, sorry off to work soon, day has started in Australia and I start at 6am.

Regards Tony

thank you again tony this is awesome for the development of my assignment. You mentioned earlier that your religion was a sort of branch of Islam but I'm not seeing the correlation. Do you have a main source of scripture or text that you study or adhere to? the Bahai faith sounds a little like how i understand unitarianism, in short, "all paths lead to god." Am I misunderstanding it?

 

[DaChew]

How did you come to practice your religion?
My journey into Sufism come through many years as a Buddhist, but when I could not learn more in Buddhism I looked around for a path that could lead to deeper wisdom. and my choice ended up as Sufi

What aspect of your religion gives you the greatest comfort? Why?
Every aspect of the teaching gives me comfort that I am on the right path. I learn and understand something new every day.

What aspects of your religion are the most important to you? Why?
To seek wisdom from within my heart and sharing my love for all humanity, because unconditional love leads to a better society and a better life for all people.

What element in your religion do you find to be troubling? What if anything brings you doubt? Why?
Misrepresentation of Islam in our word is most troubling to me, If I have a doubt I read more in the teaching to clear my doubt

How does your religion better the world we live in?
Sufism is all about giving unconditional love to every living being, hopefully, it brings peace and love to the world.

How do you live out your religious beliefs each day?
Practicing the teaching, speaking about it in RF, speaking with friends.

How do you share your religion with unbelievers?
I try to have a dialog and to not judge them for not being a believer, and to do my best to understand them and why they have no faith in a God.

Why should I become a follower of your religion?
That is fully up to you to decide if you want, there is no force from Sufis that others should become Sufi, but if you find comfort in the teaching you could study before taking the leap to be a part of Sufism it would help you understand more about yourself, and what Sufism is about (realizing God from within)

Thank you for joining the discussion! I obviously, don't have a complete understanding of Islam, would mind elaborating how Sufi's differ from other branches of Islam and why you were drawn towards sufi'ism?

 

[DaChew]

I had a mystical experience when I was young, and subsequent experiences built upon that experience, thereby forming my worldview. I met a theosophist when I identified as a Neo-Pagan, and he told me my worldview was quite congruent to that of Hinduism. At the time, I took what he said with a grain of salt and didn't think much of it, and upon leaving Neo-Paganism, I identified as a non-dual pantheist until I came across Advaita Vedanta when learning more about SAND (Science and Non-Duality). I researched this school of philosophy and found nothing that didn't already align with my personal experiences and worldview.

As far as scripture was concerned, my worldview wasn't built upon them or any of their interpretations. Study of these scriptures merely validated my understandings that resulted from my experiences.

I would love to hear a little more about these "mystical experiences." if they shaped your current worldview and set you on your path they must be pretty central to how you constructed your faith. If you could also elaborate on Sand that would be awesome, I've never heard of that.