What's the Best Way to Understand the Nature or Character of a Religion?

[Cooky]

How's about judging the nature of a religion by their interpretation of how their main prophet acted or acts or will act.

A prophet like Jesus for example acted very good, but when he comes again, he's gonna judge... So you see certain sects of Chriatians acting judgy. But then other Christian sects focus more heavily on how Jesus was when he was here already. I don't know how Ballalulah was... Mohammed was a conqueror who talked about Jihad, so that adds up.

 

[loverofhumanity]

A while back, a friend of mine mentioned to me that he had reexamined how he approached religions. He said he had for ages been trying to come to grips with them by reading their holy books, scriptures, and commentaries. But that has changed now. Now, he primarily seeks to understand a religion by observing how it inspires, motivates, influences, or determines the behavior of its adherents.

What would you consider to be the strengths and weaknesses of such an approach?

Hello.

For a true gleaning of any religion I would study the Founder, His Life and Teachings.

What attracts people to any major Faith has always been the Founder. Whether Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, or Moses it was Their own Person and Life which was the nucleus.

You see how thousands of years later These Great Beings still influence the daily lives of billions upon billions of people. And if They left a Holy Book then people use that Book as a life guide.

If any person asked me to prove the validity of my religion I would point them to Baha’u’llah, His Life and Writings and Abdul-Baha His eldest son Who is His appointed Exemplar of a true Baha’i. Abdul-Baha was the perfect example of how a Baha’i should act and behave so I would refer people to Him also.

 

[Cooky]

@Amanaki, you just liked @loverofhumanity's better because he included Buddha.

 

[Spirit of Light]

@Amanaki, you just liked @loverofhumanity's better because he included Buddha.

Wrong I like @loverofhumanity Comment because it contain truth Not because of Buddha.

 

[Vinayaka]

For a true gleaning of any religion I would study the Founder, His Life and Teachings.

Some faiths, like mine and many indigenous faiths, have no founders. Pretty hard to study these on that basis. Earlier I claimed that one should study the adherents of a faith. Unless the faith is now long gone to the sands of time, there is always something to study.

 

[Link]

Depends what you are looking for.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Some faiths, like mine and many indigenous faiths, have no founders. Pretty hard to study these on that basis. Earlier I claimed that one should study the adherents of a faith. Unless the faith is now long gone to the sands of time, there is always something to study.

Where there is no Founder or He is unknown then the teachings.

 

[Vinayaka]

Where there is no Founder or He is unknown then the teachings.

The teachings? What if no adherent actually follows the teachings? You are partly right, but I'd still prefer to observe people and what they do, and not look at their teachings at all. After all, wisdom is the timely application of knowledge. Of what point are teachings if the individual can't apply them personally?

 

[loverofhumanity]

Wrong I like @loverofhumanity Comment because it contain truth Not because of Buddha.

We shoul

The teachings? What if no adherent actually follows the teachings? You are partly right, but I'd still prefer to observe people and what they do, and not look at their teachings at all. After all, wisdom is the timely application of knowledge. Of what point are teachings if the individual can't apply them personally?

True but how do we know if they are living up to their standards or not if we don’t know what the standards are?

Once we know what the teachings are then we can ascertain whether or not the followers live up to them or not.

 

[Vinayaka]

We shoul


True but how do we know if they are living up to their standards or not if we don’t know what the standards are?

Once we know what the teachings are then we can ascertain whether or not the followers live up to them or not.

It's pretty easy to tell whether or not someone is a decent guy, or not, if you hang about for awhile. Lots of people have no scriptures at all to go by, and are excellent stewards and citizens of this planet.