Posted by CarolAnn (iittt'ssss baaaack!) on November 18, 1999, at 14:22:24
I've moved down in the posts...told you I would!
I think alot of the disagreement up there(in the thread that wouldn't die)is caused by equating "Religion" with "Faith". There's a huge difference:
All "Religion" is *based* on writings which(inspired by God or not)were set down by human beings who are all too capable of making mistakes, misinterpreting, mistranslating, ect., consequently, most Religions in existence, are pretty much derived from conjecture. This doesn't invalidate them though, anything which brings comfort and fosters morality has validity. But, the fact remains that any "Religion" is a morass of dogma, commands, rules, ideas, ect.,which have been claimed, by mere humans, to be the "absolute truth" of their particular deity.
"Faith", on the other hand, is *based* on spirituality, which evolves from each person's knowledge and experiences of all that being alive entails -- love, hate, success, failure, life, death,ect., we are constantly gaining the information needed to form our own beliefs. So, Faith is the result of what our "being", finds with mind, body, heart, and soul, to be our very own "Absolute truth".
To sum up:
Some people have no Faith and practice no Religion, some people have Faith 'in' their Religion, some people practice Religion without Faith, and some people(like me) have Faith but do not practice Religion.
Now a quote(not sure where it's from)..."Faith is the 'belief' in all things seen...
The 'hope' of all things unseen."
Well, thanx for your time!CarolAnn
poster:CarolAnn (iittt'ssss baaaack!)
thread:15480
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991108/msgs/15480.html