Religious rants

It is a fact because there has been evidence for ME that he exists whether that be speaking to me and showing me visions of things yet to come/have happened or things i know cannot be a coincidence happening instantaneously. If you dont wish to believe in god for yourself thats totally cool. Dont say i didnt at least try to reach a hand out to those who cast themselves in the fire. As much as i wanna argue why your points are wrong im just gonna leave it there. I will pray for you guys.

I do thank you for your time. Personally, it's not like I'm a scholar or even well versed, but I do like these types of topics. Believe it or not, despite how I come across, it still makes me think. Not believing does not mean I do not think or wonder on a personal level.

@hell_hound7 It was in Isaiah that referred to God as being above the circle of the Earth. Now there are two interpretations of this. First is circle as a shape, second is circle referring to the realm of Earth. As far as Job goes. It is interesting. There are two points that link together here. First was the removal of God's blessings from Job. It must be stated that God did not curse Job, but rather removed his protections. Why? Well it was how Job was treating God. He was treating God as if he were a god from other lands. Other gods such as Amon Ra, Baal, or Marduk could basically be bribed. Sacrifice something physical to them and they would grant you a blessing. Job would say his prayers and sacrifice things and assumed that God would grant him blessings. So Job was treating God like some sort of cosmic vending machine. Then we have when Job was suffering and it is stated, "He did not sin with his lips". This is important because it implies that Job would not speak evil, but would most certainly think it. Job would continue to pray and offer sacrifices hoping that God would return the blessings, but this time he was displeased with God for taking away the blessings. Still Job treated God as though he were the other gods of other lands. Then we have God speaking to Job to humble him when he asks the question "Who are you?" and then goes on to list things that Job could not have done. To me this story is that we have purpose, God will grant us blessings to complete these purposes, but we must not use these blessings to further our personal desires. Job did enjoy the blessings of God, but did not serve the purpose behind the blessings.

I am tolerant to Christianity and Islam mainly because of their contributions to the societies they spread. Christianity (Catholicism and Orthodoxy) was successful in maintaining the structure of the Romans and made much progress to science, law, politics and even aesthetics. Sure, Protestantism came, but even them had good contributions to the west as a whole. Unfortunately, the blight of puritanism proposes to destroy everything that makes Christianity an intellectually civilized religion and is very prominent in parts of the anglosphere and some african countries. Pity. Was Catholic some years ago, but decided to regress to mere Theism, as I am not sympathetic to Christendom (although I find it preferable than complete secularization). But mad respect to them, despite being an Abrahamic religion.

I never understood buddhism what is the purpose of buddhism isnt it like living in peace and tranquility or something and meditation and all that or am i just ignorant?

@secretagentboi Oh yes. It basically changes nation to nation. Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand generally have the same concepts. India is totally different from China since China basically turned Siddhartha into the classical happy fat man. Japanese Buddhism is where things get weird since they mixed a lot of Shinto into Buddhism. @hell_hound7 Generally the central binding concept of Buddhism is to break the cycle of reincarnation via enlightenment. The manner in which to do so varies a lot. Some it comes down to simply saying a prayer before death and Buddha will guide you to a metaphorical off-ramp away from the cycle of reincarnation. Others require that you must meditate and remove everything from your mind whilst avoiding the build up of bad karma. Karma basically being selfish acts a person can commit during life, kind of like sins. The big difference is that sins are judged while karma is more like a wound on the soul that must be healed in one of the horrifying Narakas afterlife. Once the karma is cleansed from your soul, you have to do life all over again.

Budai isn't the same as Siddhartha Gautama. He's more like a saint. He's a Bodhisattva who has achieved enlightenment but postpones Nirvana to help others. Also he's not fat. It's symbolism of him having immense energy. It's like Hindu deities with multiple arms. It's just represents how superhuman they are.

- Buddhism is basically the teachings of Siddharta Gautama, who was born in 623 B.C. He was born a prince but went on a long spiritual search for happiness and to end suffering. After many trials and different paths, he finally found enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. - The term ‘Buddhism’ was coined by Western scholars in the 1830s. Buddhists don’t actually refer to their religion as “Buddhism” - Buddhism originated from around 400BC with the historical individual known as the Buddha - Buddhists don’t kill animals, and they eat a vegetarian diet. - The first mention of the Buddha in Western writing is in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, 2 AD. - The Buddha founded an order of monks and nuns known as the Sangha who have preserved his teachings down to the present day. - Buddhism is an extensive and internally diverse tradition with three main branches (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.). - Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader for Tibetan Buddhism, which is part of the Vajrayana branch. - A Buddha is a person who’s achieved enlightenment, each person is responsible for their own enlightenment. - With 360+ million followers, Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world. - In Buddhism, there is no single holy book. Extensive scriptures have been preserved in many Asian languages. - Buddhists don’t believe in a supreme being or creator god. - Heaven and hell are not eternal places according to Buddhist teachings. - Buddha (Siddharta Gautama) never claimed to be a prophet or god. - Because of its emphasis on meditation and mindfulness, Buddhism is often considered to be a form of psychology rather than a religion. - Many traditional Buddhists believe in reincarnation and rebirth. Modern Buddhists believe this idea can be jettisoned without losing any central value. - The wheel of Dhamma represents the noble eightfold path, which consists of the following elements: Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. This is basically how a good Buddhist should act in order to avoid suffering as much as possible. This will also ensure that the full focus is set on reaching enlightenment. - Meditation is a big part of the teaching. - Buddhists believe in Karma. Karma is the belief that every act has a consequence later on in life. It’s not certain when, but every genuinely good intention will get good karma, and every evil act will get bad karma. (“What goes around, comes around”.) - Buddhism is not a religion, although the West often mentions it as a religion. It’s a way of life, and shouldn’t be confused as a religion as there is no god or supreme being to worship. The goal is to reach the state of Nirvana.