Uhh... Ok. Anyways, I'm an American Catholic. My whole family has been for around 7-8 generations and it is sort of just part of my values and ideas. It's not that I'm pressured into by my family, but more of growing up around it, I've found more peace and understanding with the Church than with any other religion I've encountered. My mother is a baptist, so I have some experience in the Protestant religion, and on her side my grandmother is Jewish, so I have some experience there... Really strange at family gatherings or family baptisms and such. And we have other religions stop by our house quite often and I've read the third book of LDS, but I really wasn't moved by it.

For me, the trinity are important, as well as communion and regularly attending church. I believe Jesus to be the Son of God, sent by his father to save the world of it's sins, and that Satan tempts the heart of man to it's doom. As said in the finally words of the last book, Ahem.

Who do you mean when you say "Satan"? Lucifel? Baalphegor? Asmodeus? Satan is a rather generic title ascribed to any of the Dukes of Hell... Gods I need to lay off the esoteric literature.

Baptist=Evengalical... *innocent*

Totalitarian is not an economic policy, Socialist is. He was a socialist. You can argue wheather he was Facsist or Totalitarian, I'm reall not sure what the differece is.



I would argue that if you only know 1 family of Jews, you have not had exposure to Judaism. I bet if you asked every Jew on this forum a very basic Jewish question you would get a different answer from each of them. (assuming they answered what they were taught in school rather than thier own personal belief)

Despite all Jews being Jewish, you have your Refrom Jew, Conservative Jew, Chasidic Jew, Kabbalistic Jew, Reconstrcutionist Jew, Humanistisc Jew, Orthodox Jew, Modern Orthodox Jew, Yeshivish Jew, Black hatter.

Being brought up by my teachers more than my parents, I'm a mix of Kabbalistic/Yeshivish Jew. (Yeshivish and Kabbalistic are opposite sides of the orthodox spectrum. Chasisdic would be in somewhere in between of that spectrum but you need a specific Rebbe to follow to be a Chasid)


My question about Jesus was in responce to the Gnostism because it made me realize I might be mixing a few things up. Any christians able to answer for sects of Christianity they don't belong to? (as apposed to having 6 posts all saying one thing)

Satan (pronounces SAH TON) is the name of the angel in Judaism that procecutes you in your heavenly court. Generally translated as the Acuser. I like to call him my very own D.A.

Wow, I'm the only Buddhist.

Tibetan Buddhist of the Kagyu school, to be specific. The practices I lean towards are more Nyingma, however. I'm also looking into Theravada and Zen more, now, though...but I took refuge in the Tibetan tradition and that makes up the majority of my practice/life philosophy now.

Exactly the same amount of Atheists/Science people/Lusternians as Christians. I expected more of the Atheist side. Hrm.

And Lucifer (or whichever seplling you like) is the 'Bringer of Light'. Meh.

Not quite sure how to answer this. In Gnostic Christianity there are about as many opinions on the nature of Jesus as there are Gnostics. Some few still hold to the Pauline concept of the Trinity. I would say a larger percentage still believe Jesus to have been a prophet, may be even a Messiah, but disregard the concept of the Virgin Birth. Many still debate over whether his birth was divinely inspired, whether he was able to achieve a certain Divine status through his teachings, or if he was just a mortal man with Divine inspired ideas. Another common debate concerns whether or not Jesus survived the crucifixion. There are Gnostics who contend that Jesus was one of several true Messiahs at the time, various writers include James, John the Baptist, both, and some contend that Jesus himself was not the true messiah but one of two aforementioned was the rightful claimant. The problem is the highly political aspect of Jesus, do a search on Prince Michael of Albany and you'll see what I mean. It is all a very controversial and 'heretical' topic of discussion.

It is all pretty irrelevant to me. What matters are the teachings. The common theme in Gnosticism is that God is found within not without.

If you want to read some interesting thoughts on Lucifer do a search on St. Jerome.

Facism is a FORM of totalitarianism. Socialism, a derivative of Leninism is actually not even close. Socialism/Communism is an extreme leftist view, while Facism/Totalitarianism is an exreme right.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism

Excuse me one second....






Wonder who wrote that article.

I really don't feel like putting any positive spin whatsoever on anything Nazi related, but as they use to say "The trains ran on time." Thats my way of not saying what my point is suppose to be.

OK... who's the dingbat that voted for Jedi?

Me! use the force!

Key word: Angel.

Christianity took a good creature (how can your faith stand tall in the face of adversity if you aren't tested) and made it -evil-.

Exactly!

That has always been one of my biggest beafs with Christian theology. It makes god seem so weak! And god said "I wash my hands of any responciblity dealing with things you might percieve as evil. thank you very much, I will now go and have flowers thrown at me!"

My god is the source of all good and perceived evil. It even says that in the Bible!

Im not defending em, Dagnev... blame it on me being tired to not know what you ment. But that is actually writen using Hitler's own writings as a reference, and is actually historical fact. Ask a history professor, if you dont believe me.

And remember, those were the PUBLISHED goals. Hitler was a political genious, he was very good at propaganda, and rallying the people behind him.

Ah, what Daganev, didn't God create the angels in the first place? Didn't all evil and good spread from Him? To me, Satan is what sought to take away from the realm of God. Do I deny God the flood? Do I deny Him the plaques, the cities destoried, the misery He has inflicted upon an unbelieving population? No, I can not deny Him what is His due, for is mighty and terrible to behold. Satan pales in comparision to His wrath. But then, He is also of infinite mercy and hope. Read the last book Daganev, even if you want to laugh at it. I assure you, it isn't pretty or nice, or kind. It is brutal and vile, but it is as He wishes, and I for one tread lightly around what is His.

Oh, and Daganev, I would be happy to hear your views of your Faith. My grandmother is getting high in her years, and doesn't communicate much anymore, so maybe you can speak for her?

You seem to be missing a few religions there...

Try Wicca, Sikhism, Taoism, African Traditional & Diasporic, Juche, Spiritism, Baha'i, Jainism, Confucianism, Shinto, Cao Dai, Tenrikyo, Neo-Paganism, Unitarian-Universalism, Rastafarianism, Zoroastrianism, Mandeans, PL Kyodnas, Ch'ondogyro, Wonbulgyo, Bodoun, New Age, Seicho-No-Ie, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong and Roma (some of these are more belief systems than religions...)

These are all major religions, if not well-known.

I think the last piece of Esoteric Literature I read was the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum. Damned archaic English: Their first king (which is of the power of the east) is called Baëll who when he is conjured up, appeareth with three heads; the first, like a tode; the second, like a man; the third, like a cat. He speaketh with a hoarse voice, he maketh a man go invisible , he hath under his obedience and rule sixtie and six legions of divels.

I'm not quite sure what you mean about your grandmother. Why would I be able to speak for her?

If the movies tell me anything, its that somehow an Angel of God rebelled, refused to serve, and tried to take over Heavan and take God's throne. As a solution to this, god gave the devil a 50/50 deal over earth and humans.

As far as I'm concerned, an angel can not rebel against god. An angel has a purpose, god gave it a purpose and it can only do that one thing its made to do. Satan is an angel made to give people a challenge so that they can be rewarded for choosing the right path. Satan is the Distrcit Attorney of heavan. when you say or do something that requires judgment, he is the one to argue against you. another angel argues for you. At the end of the day, Satan is hoping you choose god's path and that your angel wins the case. Metaphorically speaking ofcourse. Satan does gods bidding just as any other piece of creation that doesn't have free will. i.e non humans.