Re: Purpose of Religion
LOL. Tell you what why dont you re-write the whole post, instead of editing and adding bits by bits. Hard to keep up with changing responses.
Re: Purpose of Religion
[QUOTE]
I believe in God (Allah for the weak hearted), but I could give two siths for the Ummah and the organized religion be it judaism,shiites, ahamdis, oh and muslims them too.
[/QUOTE]
Likewise, I doubt they could give two sh!ts about your 2 cents either. it seems youve discovered your own religion and busy selling to everyone else these days.
anyways, seminole, are you saying organised religions everywhere lack the spiritual aspect of life? if you are then you're way wrong.
Re: Purpose of Religion
Verizon, I have told you this before and I will say it again, come on you dont need to spread rumors about 72 virgins. No where in Quran this is stated and the more you link this kind of jargon to Islam, the more respect I loose for you.
Re: Purpose of Religion
No, nothing is that black and white. Spirituality can be achieved with or without belonging to organized religion. Some religions (or the way they are practiced) put more emphasis on spirituality than others.
Re: Purpose of Religion
i think organized religion offers much more than just plain spirituality.....the idea of God and stuff may be enough for some, but by and large its a great feeling to identify with and belong to fellows of yr own religion....Islam specially, is much more of a communal religion than a personal spiritual one...the emphasis on living in dar-ul-iman (is that the right word?) and not dar-ul-harb (country where rule of law is not Islamic) is just one of the many examples which goes to show that.....another important one is the bajamaat prayer for men.....The social aspect is a very important feature of Islam......refer to the "rassi" that momineen are meant to be, in one of very frequently quoted Quranic ayats.
i am quite disappointed in seeing some very learned people say that they think "religion is a personal matter", yes most multi-culturalists love to say that, but Islam is not "just another religion" for a momin at least....if u have problems with Islam, have them by all means, but it can be disappointing to hear people so well-versed with Islam imply that for it as well.......khair
just making a clarfication, i am no way saying you have to abide by other's interpretation of Islam which is often what is taken to mean by oranized religion, but at least admit the highly-social and totally impersonal and individualistic aspects of Islam. Islam's got no nirvana,no 'higher states' of being, no celibacy vows, no nothing....its a very down to earth religion whose entire beauty and power lies in being practised in unision.
Re: Purpose of Religion
is much more of a communal religion than a personal spiritual one
I dont think so - I think there is a balance between the two that Islam puts forth. Your personal spiritual health is very important as shown by the fact that there is no "pope" in Islam, that prayers are done on an individual basis, etc. But at the same time, one must not forget that they are part of a society, and one has moral obligations to other people in the society.
Verizon: I dont mind you being a part of this discussion but, please control your language. You're deliberately being inflammatory, and I really dont appreciate that especially since it took like 10 posts to get the topic on focus!
And again, to clarify, this 72 virgins nonsense is a myth. Don't bring in falsified information into the discussion please.
Re: Purpose of Religion
relevance in Miami?
Re: Purpose of Religion
Just believing in God doesn't give you a ticket to heaven. You have to earn it by following organised religion.
Re: Purpose of Religion
Some people believe that there is no heaven...yet they live in peace and harmony and generaly spriritual lives. It depends on the person. For some people, a rigid path is what you need..for some simple guidance..for others..they need to be scared into doing things while others just acknowledge there is something greater than humans and are content with that feeling. all paths are wrong...all might be valid. It is what makes an individual happy.
Re: Purpose of Religion
^ Oh my God, I agree with matsui.
Re: Purpose of Religion
But here is where you will disagree. That means that religions are not a one size fits all model.
Re: Purpose of Religion
What you earn by following an organized religion is the peace of mind that comes with belonging to a group of 1 billion others and the security that you must be on the right path if so many others adhere to it. It allows you to follow the interpretation of others on what will get you into heaven. It in and of itself isn’t a sure ticket to heaven. It is as Matsui is saying, different paths for different people.
Re: Purpose of Religion
You know I added the whole unorganized religion as a side note so that anyone who is not a flat out muslim would not feel left out.
And this becomes an organized vs. unorganized religion debate.
Focus, people, focus.
Re: Purpose of Religion
I beg to differ.
I for one do not care that somebody else is following the same faith , so I must be right. Thats a very silly way of thinking anyhow.
The fact that we have an organized religion - for those who follow it - assures that we know how to live our life. Everyone needs an outline, even basics as to what to actually do or how to actually live a life.
Without some sort of organization , people would be lost.
PCG – Because basically there are some things that can only be answered by religion. So if people dont follow it because they feel close to Allah, they follow it because they want an explanation to the questions that cant be answered - religion seems to be it. Or one of them anyway.
Re: Purpose of Religion
Not necessarily, you have people who do not follow organized relgion but also know how to live a life through conventional human wisdom, cultural traditions and man made laws. In fact, I would say more of humanity falls in this paradigm than those that follow a relgiion as a lifestyle...gets one into trouble when charging panties at Banana Republic. :(
Re: Purpose of Religion
Actually religion is not just the praying part. Its a "complete" way of life.
Re: Purpose of Religion
^ do you own a credit card?
Re: Purpose of Religion
Why, you get paid to side track threads?
Re: Purpose of Religion
I assume that is a yes..so even you can't stay on the lifestyle part of your religion. You should think about converting because the "way of life" manual/religion you have chosen is directly contradictory to the realities of your life.
Re: Purpose of Religion
Many people that belong to organized religions come from countries where that faith is dominant in every facet of society. It is inconceivable and maybe blasphemous for them to have independent thought in religious matters. It may not be a conscious decision to follow the faith of everyone else, but a programmed one.