Tell Me About Your Faith

[JustGeorge]

Tell me about your faith.

I don't mean teach me what your religion says, I want to know how your faith looks to you, personally, each day.

We're all unique, and even two people of the same religion may wear it a little differently. Don't quote out of scriptures here(unless you want to use it to explain why you do what you do). I'm not wanting to hear why your God/s do what they/he/she do/does. Just you.

Do you pray? (Why/when/how?) Does your faith influence your diet? Your clothing? Where you work or how you spend your money? Does it encourage you to work on certain aspects of your personality? Does it influence who you interact(or don't interact) with? (These are all sample questions; tell me whatever you wish!)

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I feel I sometimes look to the Goddess and Horned God for strength. I pray sometimes. However, I don't do so in any set time. I consider the Goddess and Horned God first when it comes to practices, the center, and anything else when it comes to practices, like witchcraft, I treat it like the epilogue found in a book. These days though, granted, epilogues are pretty short in books - shorter than some of the classics I've read that have an epilogue.

 

[JustGeorge]

I feel I sometimes look to the Goddess and Horned God for strength. I pray sometimes. However, I don't do so in any set time. I consider the Goddess and Horned God first when it comes to practices, the center, and anything else when it comes to practices, like witchcraft, I treat it like the epilogue found in a book. These days though, granted, epilogues are pretty short in books - shorter than some of the classics I've read that have an epilogue.

When you say you put them first when it comes to practices, are you meaning specifically witchcraft practices, or other avenues, too?

By epilogue, do you mean you read/say something in their honor?

 

[sun rise]

That's an interesting OP question.

I'd say it's like a gentle presence and (non-physical) voice reminding me what my goal is and how I should respond to the emotional "Sturm und Drang" I feel about current events. And that is to not get caught by how I feel but to let it go and instead see things from a more positive and longer term view. Birth is not a pain free process and I'm inclined to see what is going on as the birth of something better.

When I pass by a homeless person, someone bent by age or looking troubled I am inclined to think "God is in that person" - to see beyond the outward appearance to the innermost nature of all.

I give money to help some of the most downtrodden - seriously poor people often single mothers on welfare with kids - to "light a candle" rather than "curse the darkness"

We're encouraged to spend time every day to repeat God's name and meditate on the image of the Avatar (Meher Baba). I find that hard to do but I keep working at it.

Diet? No. Clothing? No.

I guess the biggest effect is to have in the back in my mind in every situation "how can I be more loving"

 

[Harel13]

Judaism is very much a 24/7 deal. It governs every aspect of our lives, even minute things most people would find highly irrelevant to a faith.

Edit: I could sum it up nicely thus: There is rest in Judaism, but there is not rest from Judaism.

 

[JustGeorge]

That's an interesting OP question.

I'd say it's like a gentle presence and (non-physical) voice reminding me what my goal is and how I should respond to the emotional "Sturm und Drang" I feel about current events. And that is to not get caught by how I feel but to let it go and instead see things from a more positive and longer term view. Birth is not a pain free process and I'm inclined to see what is going on as the birth of something better.

When I pass by a homeless person, someone bent by age or looking troubled I am inclined to think "God is in that person" - to see beyond the outward appearance to the innermost nature of all.

I give money to help some of the most downtrodden - seriously poor people often single mothers on welfare with kids - to "light a candle" rather than "curse the darkness"

We're encouraged to spend time every day to repeat God's name and meditate on the image of the Avatar (Meher Baba). I find that hard to do but I keep working at it.

Diet? No. Clothing? No.

I guess the biggest effect is to have in the back in my mind in every situation "how can I be more loving"

I love this. It seems your faith is both beautiful and practical.

 

[JustGeorge]

Judaism is very much a 24/7 deal. It governs every aspect of our lives, even minute things most people would find highly irrelevant to a faith.

Mind sharing what some of these things are?

What little things does your faith have you doing that might be notable to people outside of Judaism, but has become second nature for you?

 

[Harel13]

Mind sharing what some of these things are?

What little things does your faith have you doing that might be notable to people outside of Judaism, but has become second nature for you?

Sure. Some examples:
What to eat, what to say before eating, what to say after eating, how to pray, when to pray, what to wear, and so forth.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

When you say you put them first when it comes to practices, are you meaning specifically witchcraft practices, or other avenues, too?

By epilogue, do you mean you read/say something in their honor?

To the first question: Witchcraft practices and in regards to faith within the religion. Putting them as the center.

To the second question:

I might. But to clarify, in fantasy books especially, there's sometimes a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue occurs before the central plot. Then there's the central plot. At the end, there's the epilogue, which is what occurs after the central plot.

Replace the word "central plot" with "faith".

 

[JustGeorge]

Sure. Some examples:
What to eat, what to say before eating, what to say after eating, how to pray, when to pray, what to wear, and so forth.

Are there certain things to be eaten at certain times? How often must you pray?

To the first question: Witchcraft practices and in regards to faith within the religion. Putting them as the center.

To the second question:

I might. But to clarify, in fantasy books especially, there's sometimes a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue occurs before the central plot. Then there's the central plot. At the end, there's the epilogue, which is what occurs after the central plot.

Replace the word "central plot" with "faith".

Always admirable to keep one's deities as a center point, in my mind.

 

[Harel13]

Are there certain things to be eaten at certain times?

Except in certain circumstances, you can't eat before morning prayers and after saying the Shema before going to sleep. But other than that, there aren't eating restriction during the day. However, there are certain things to be eaten at festival during the year, such as Matzah on Passover.

How often must you pray?

On regular days - three times a day.
Most special days (first of the Hebrew month, Shabbat, most festivals) - four times a day.
Yom Kippur - five times a day.

 

[Rival]

Kemetic: We're Pagans.

Average person: Oh cool, so you work with crystals and worship nature and stuff?

Kemetic: Not really.

AP: Oh. But you are polytheists right.

Kemetic: Yes but also no.

AP: I... Okay so you... but you have Gods based on planets, right? And horoscopes?

Kemetic: No, those are Greek.

AP: Right. But you must have some cool myths about your Gods, yeah?

Kemetic: Er, kind of. They don't really work that way.

AP: Oh. So who's your Goddess of Love?

Kemetic: Well, we don't really have one, but I guess you could choose, Hat-Hor, or Bast, or Aset, although Bast and Ha-Hor are theoretically the same Goddess. You could join Aset to them as well. Bat could also be a love Goddess, and Hesat maybe. These are kind of all the same Goddess though, still.

AP: Alright then. So who's the head of your pantheon?

Kemetic: Erm... Ra? Atum? Ra-Atum? Amun? Neith? Ptah? Khnum? All of these as guises of Amun or Atum or some other Supreme Creator God.

AP: So... but what does your creation myth say though?

Kemetic: We have at least 4.

AP: But you are nature worshippers right?

Kemetic: I've already said no. We prefer stone and mudbrick.

AP: There's no dogma though, right, like in Christianity?

Kemetic: Well actually you will be judged at the end of your life based on a set of written principles generally, yes. These include not committing adultery, sometimes homosexual acts depending how you interpret it, failing to feed children and so on. Oh yeah, that's another thing, Kemet loves children and encourages you to have many of them and if you can't you should adopt.

AP: Oh. So... it can be quite... okay but it's not.... there's no hell right?

Kemetic: Your face and memories will be burned off in a hot lake if you are too attached to earthly things after death. Then you reincarnate and have to try again. Or you can just lie low in the Underworld for.... sometimes ever, I guess. It depends really.

AP: I see. And you worship Pharaoh, right?

Kemetic: There's no Pharaoh...

AP: Well no but he was a God, wasn't he?

Kemetic: That's also kind of complicated as theology changed.

AP: I heard that Akhenaton was--

Kemetic:

 

[JustGeorge]

Except in certain circumstances, you can't eat before morning prayers and after saying the Shema before going to sleep. But other than that, there aren't eating restriction during the day. However, there are certain things to be eaten at festival during the year, such as Matzah on Passover.

On regular days - three times a day.
Most special days (first of the Hebrew month, Shabbat, most festivals) - four times a day.
Yom Kippur - five times a day.

If the Shema is said upon waking and going to bed, is there a specific prayer to be said in between those?

Kemetic: We're Pagans.

Average person: Oh cool, so you work with crystals and worship nature and stuff?

Kemetic: Not really.

AP: Oh. But you are polytheists right.

Kemetic: Yes but also no.

AP: I... Okay so you... but you have Gods based on planets, right? And horoscopes?

Kemetic: No, those are Greek.

AP: Right. But you must have some cool myths about your Gods, yeah?

Kemetic: Er, kind of. They don't really work that way.

AP: Oh. So who's your Goddess of Love?

Kemetic: Well, we don't really have one, but I guess you could choose, Hat-Hor, or Bast, or Aset, although Bast and Ha-Hor are theoretically the same Goddess. You could join Aset to them as well. Bat could also be a love Goddess, and Hesat maybe. These are kind of all the same Goddess though, still.

AP: Alright then. So who's the head of your pantheon?

Kemetic: Erm... Ra? Atum? Ra-Atum? Amun? Neith? Ptah? Khnum? All of these as guises of Amun or Atum or some other Supreme Creator God.

AP: So... but what does your creation myth say though?

Kemetic: We have at least 4.

AP: But you are nature worshippers right?

Kemetic: I've already said no. We prefer stone and mudbrick.

AP: There's no dogma though, right, like in Christianity?

Kemetic: Well actually you will be judged at the end of your life based on a set of written principles generally, yes. These include not committing adultery, sometimes homosexual acts depending how you interpret it, failing to feed children and so on. Oh yeah, that's another thing, Kemet loved children and encourages you to have many of them and if you can't you should adopt.

AP: Oh. So... it can be quite... okay but it's not.... there's no hell right?

Kemetic: Your face and memories will be burned off in a hot lake if you are too attached to earthly things after death. Then you reincarnate and have to try again. Or you can just lie low in the Underworld for.... sometimes ever, I guess. It depends really.

AP: I see. And you worship Pharaoh, right?

Kemetic: There's no Pharaoh...

AP: Well no but he was a God, wasn't he?

Kemetic: That's also kind of complicated as theology changed.

AP: I heard that Akhenaton was--

Kemetic:

I get it... in my Pagan days, I was greatly influenced by Baltic tradition, which is more conservative than the more known branches. I would get wrongly pegged by both those on the inside and outside.

What does your Kemetic practice look like on an average day? How has it influenced how you interact with the world?

 

[Rival]

If the Shema is said upon waking and going to bed, is there a specific prayer to be said in between those?





I get it... in my Pagan days, I was greatly influenced by Baltic tradition, which is more conservative than the more known branches. I would get wrongly pegged by both those on the inside and outside.

What does your Kemetic practice look like on an average day? How has it influenced how you interact with the world?

I just tend to pray the same way I always did but with a different focus. It's quite hard to capture. You probably know the feeling quite well going from monotheism to Dharmic faith. It's just different. I burn incense, sometimes make offerings etc.

 

[Wildswanderer]

Faith is assurance that no matter how messed up I am at any given moment, Jesus still would have, in that moment, died for me. If my wife were to leave, and if my kids were to disown me for some reason, God never would. It's the truth that underlies every other truth. I said before that the gospel is first of all, bad news, before it's good news, because it means we are all messed up. Everyone. But that's a relief, too. We don't have to pretend with God.
How does it affect everyday life? Hope changes everything. It means the lousy parts of my story don't get to define me. It means I can love that unlovable person in the mirror and all the other unlovable people too. Do I always live up to that? No way. But I'm never completely broken as long as I have faith. I can get back up and go on.

 

[JustGeorge]

I just tend to pray the same way I always did but with a different focus. It's quite hard to capture. You probably know the feeling quite well going from monotheism to Dharmic faith. It's just different. I burn incense, sometimes make offerings etc.

I think I was polytheist pretty early on... my Christian beliefs in early life were more something Dad tried to saddle me with... "or else". They dropped away fast in my teens. Going from Pagan to Hindu wasn't so much of a jump. I think I'd held a lot of Hindu beliefs as a Pagan, but weren't aware that was where they fell. I had more of an Eastern mindset as a kid, but it was discouraged(I remember talking about the importance of non attachment, and having Mom send me to the therapist).

I'm a 'sometimes' person, too. There are some things I do at regular intervals, but I often do other things when that moment strikes me.

Faith is assurance that no matter how messed up I am at any given moment, Jesus still would have, in that moment, died for me. If my wife were to leave, and if my kids were to disown me for some reason, God never would. It's the truth that underlies every other truth. I said before that the gospel is first of all, bad news, before it's good news, because it means we are all messed up. Everyone. But that's a relief, too. We don't have to pretend with God.
How does it affect everyday life? Hope changes everything. It means the lousy parts of my story don't get to define me. It means I can love that unlovable person in the mirror and all the other unlovable people too. Do I always live up to that? No way. But I'm never completely broken as long as I have faith. I can get back up and go on.

I totally get this. I often feel this way about my Gods as well(especially Krishna, Shiva, and Ares). No matter what I do, they will still be there.

A strong and loving relationship with divinity can definitely give one the courage to keep going.

How do you foster your relationship with Jesus and God?

 

[Fool]

Tell me about your faith.

I don't mean teach me what your religion says, I want to know how your faith looks to you, personally, each day.

We're all unique, and even two people of the same religion may wear it a little differently. Don't quote out of scriptures here(unless you want to use it to explain why you do what you do). I'm not wanting to hear why your God/s do what they/he/she do/does. Just you.

Do you pray? (Why/when/how?) Does your faith influence your diet? Your clothing? Where you work or how you spend your money? Does it encourage you to work on certain aspects of your personality? Does it influence who you interact(or don't interact) with? (These are all sample questions; tell me whatever you wish!)

love, with hope love.

giving love one more chance.

such an old fashion thing, that is like an eternal spring, springing up again and again with each new encounter.

it is a horrible feeling to think the whole world is against you.. some of us would commit suicide, some of us would drag others down with us, some us would crawl from the bottom back up into the light with the helping hand of a friend.

oh to see one smiling face at our coming into the light, like we have commited some great conspiracy, some crime in secret but actually only in friendship.

[

 

[osgart]

I'm a minimalist, with a minimalist faith. I don't believe in supernatural events. I have no God. I do have an eternal source, and source reality. The spirit realm reflects nature because there is no rules to govern how one is to live their life. The intellect of nature is an autonomous program that is not conscious. Nature is forever bound to the physical, and the spiritual realm is wild and free when not bound by the physical. My eternal source intellect is unknown. There may be an infinite many source beings out there; I don't know.

The other part of my religion is values and virtues, the qualities of being that are positive. There's about 100 virtues I recognize. The purpose of life is love, joy, peace with all creatures able to it. I believe that the cause and effect of life is most favorable to virtues, and relationships. I believe that wickedness and criminality only leads to a self created hell within. Life without trustworthiness and good qualities is unstable at best, self destructive at most.

I belief there are good self motivated reasons for morality. Yet true morality is being moral out of love for what is good, it's both selfless and self motivated without being selfish.

 

[JustGeorge]

love, with hope love.

giving love one more chance.

such an old fashion thing, that is like an eternal spring, springing up again and again with each new encounter.

it is a horrible feeling to think the whole world is against you.. some of us would commit suicide, some of us would drag others down with us, some us would crawl from the bottom back up into the light with the helping hand of a friend.

oh to see one smiling face at our coming into the light, like we have commited some great conspiracy in secret but actually only in friendship.

[

What are some ways you express that love in your daily life?

I'm a minimalist, with a minimalist faith. I don't believe in supernatural events. I have no God. I do have an eternal source, and source reality. The spirit realm reflects nature because there is no rules to govern how one is to live their life. The intellect of nature is an autonomous program that is not conscious. Nature is forever bound to the physical, and the spiritual realm is wild and free when not bound by the physical. My eternal source intellect is unknown. There may be an infinite many source beings out there; I don't know.

The other part of my religion is values and virtues, the qualities of being that are positive. There's about 100 virtues I recognize. The purpose of life is love, joy, peace with all creatures able to it. I believe that the cause and effect of life is most favorable to virtues, and relationships. I believe that wickedness and criminality only leads to a self created hell within. Life without trustworthiness and good qualities is unstable at best, self destructive at most.

I belief there are good self motivated reasons for morality. Yet true morality is being moral out of love for what is good, it's both selfless and self motivated without being selfish.

You have a beautiful faith.

 

[Psalm23]

Tell me about your faith.

I don't mean teach me what your religion says, I want to know how your faith looks to you, personally, each day.

We're all unique, and even two people of the same religion may wear it a little differently. Don't quote out of scriptures here(unless you want to use it to explain why you do what you do). I'm not wanting to hear why your God/s do what they/he/she do/does. Just you.

Do you pray? (Why/when/how?) Does your faith influence your diet? Your clothing? Where you work or how you spend your money? Does it encourage you to work on certain aspects of your personality? Does it influence who you interact(or don't interact) with? (These are all sample questions; tell me whatever you wish!)

My faith encourages me to work on being patient and forgiving. My experience with loss teaches me as well. In the face of loss, certain conflict doesn't seem so worth it.

I interact with a variety of people. I can be quiet or talkative. I don't believe people should be treated differently because of skin color, economic status, religion, sex or sexual orientation. To do so is just wrong.

There are some companies I don't support currently.

I like to dress in a modest fashion. I think however that modesty/purity culture often has taken things too far.