Questions?

RusticMusic

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Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?

What makes something scripture?

What makes something 'holy'?

If this is not the proper place to ask these questions, kindest apologies.

Thank you for taking the time to read and think.

RM.
 
Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?

The word "religion" doesn't mean the same to me as it does to most people. I question "traditional Christianity" which to me is more of an ideology than a "religion" (according to my definition), but not the general abstraction that I call "Christianity." There is nothing to question in the general abstraction (which is more of a hollow shell).

I don't consider anything mandatory in Christianity. This will probably put me in a different position than most Christians, who believe in "fundamentals" (making them fundamentalists to a certain degree). I don't believe in fundamentals. I believe in "important matters" and dealing with them in an appropriate manner. There are problems to be solved and solutions and answers that must be found, but no concept is eternal and timeless.

That is not to say that God isn't eternal.:) I believe that God is very likely to be eternal and to live forever. But if God continues to exist, than we must consider God and factor Him into our decision-making because God is very important.

In the Old Testament/Tanakh people often say things like, "as surely as the Lord lives . . . I will do this or that, etc. etc. etc." The ancient Israelites were not blind followers of ideology. They stated the intention to engage in certain actions and behaviour based on the idea that their God would continue to exist.

It's relative.

What makes something scripture?

It's anything that has sentimental, social, political and communal value that is also considered to be spiritual and to have a divine and heavenly source. It is also deemed important enough to share with others and with future generations. Scripture has a mission and purpose and there is an implicit command that people try their best to fulfill it. What makes something scripture is a matter of opinion.

What makes something 'holy'?

It doesn't affect me. I am not anywhere close to anything that is likely to be regarded as "holy." The only thing I could be "close to" is God. God is holy, but what does that mean to me and the way that I live? God is invisible and takes no form in this world. God wants us to be kind and nice to others so there's little point in my obsessing over what is or isn't "holy." I can't relate to a reality that requires concern over holiness, but I can relate to a reality that requires me to be nice to other people.
 
Not questioning religion is a loss of humanity. If a religion has any degree of truth why wouldn't it stand up to honest inquiry?
Sometimes the question is more valuable than any answer could be.
 
Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?

The light of enquiry is essential to life.

What makes something scripture?
A religious institution taking a text as being crucial.

What makes something 'holy'?
I do not think there is anything holy.

s.
 
From a Buddhist perspective:
Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?
Definitely. In Buddhism questioning is encouraged.

What makes something scripture?
If it is effective in leading to the goal of liberation and enlightenment.

What makes something 'holy'?
No such concept in Buddhism.
 
Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?

It is not only OK to question, but imperative for growth and development.

What makes something scripture?

In Paganism, we don't have authoritative scripture. In other religions, scripture is such because (generally speaking) an authoritative body says so because the text is considered to be quintessential or foundational to the religion's doctrine.

What makes something 'holy'?

Everything is holy. If the Divine is immanent (the presupposition I have), then everything around me is filled with the Divine. I have only to remember it.
 
Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?
imo, any group, any group that says you can't question...go running for the door. (hence my reason for not joining the military)
What makes something scripture?
essentially you do, others may have before you, but when you agree with them you make it your scripture...I think that is what you are asking...what makes it scripture to you....because others scriptures are not scripture to you until you make it so.
What makes something 'holy'?
the answer to that is the same as number two eh?
If this is not the proper place to ask these questions, kindest apologies.
the response to that is the same as number one, eh?
Thank you for taking the time to read and think.

RM.
hee hee, I tend to read and think a lot in reference to number one and number two...

gad my minds sense of humor is warped, and I love accidentally leading straight lines...leading me right back to elementary school...


Good questions...

without asking them and realizing the answers we end up with crusades, inquisitions, dark ages, suicide bombers, racism, bigotry, genocide...all 'justified'
 
Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?

What makes something scripture?

What makes something 'holy'?

If this is not the proper place to ask these questions, kindest apologies.

Thank you for taking the time to read and think.

RM.
Inspired writing, by the wise people of old, dealing with a particular faith, pertaining to God, is what is called scripture.

To be set apart, for a particular purpose, pertaining to God, makes something "holy".

Faith without knowledge is blind, knowledge without faith is lame.

Morality is what is written on one's heart, and what condemns or consoles us when we lay our heads down for the night, before we sleep.
 
Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?

What makes something scripture?

What makes something 'holy'?

If this is not the proper place to ask these questions, kindest apologies.

Thank you for taking the time to read and think.

RM.
I think you should question anything that has'nt been proven.
 
I think you should question anything that has'nt been proven.

In religion, most things can't actually be proven because of the assumptions (premises) that people make to prove that their views/opinions are true. Practially, nothing can be proven because these premises and assumptions are based on conditions that are dependent on one's upbringing, education, socio-economic background and prejudices. Too much of what we use to prove something is driven by our own life experience.

The best we can do is speak for ourselves, to talk about our own thoughts, feelings and experiences, for our beliefs and values to be driven by our own humanity, not that of others. We must discover first what it means to be human and then to explore the implications.

For most of us, religion is a brand that makes us feel conveniently content that there is a philosophy, ideology or theology to rationalise our thoughts, actions, behaviour and existence and to guide our decision-making.
 
Namaste RusticMusic,

thank you for the interesting post.

Do you feel it is OK to question your respective religion? By religion I mean doctrine, belief structure, morals (as defined by your religion)?

my tradition, the Buddhadharma, basically says that one cannot even consider becoming a Buddhist unless one questions the teachings for themselves and determines if what the Buddha teaches is correct or not.

What makes something scripture?

if it comports with the Dharma it is included within the Tipitaka. with the notable exception of some schools of Vajrayana Buddhism the "scripture" or Suttas, are a closed deal, i.e. the Buddha said what he said and he's not saying anything more :)

What makes something 'holy'?

trickier. it is my view that this is, by and large, a cultural phenomena i.e. Buddhists in the United States, for instance, generally don't view traditional Buddhist pilgrimage sites as having any sort of mystical/otherworldly quality. a rather famous Ch'an mondo says "Nothing holy, nothing sacred." which hints at the ultimate view which Buddhism advocates... a teaching which advocates a conceptionless state of pristine awareness is difficult to reconcile with the conception of holy or anything at all for that matter :)

metta,

~v
 
The word "religion" doesn't mean the same to me as it does to most people. I question "traditional Christianity" which to me is more of an ideology than a "religion" (according to my definition)

The problem with that woodchuck is that cockatoos can defenestrate, and there is purple chicken to television thyme maroon a shot glass catch seven.

This is, of course according to my definition of "woodchuck", "cockatoo", "defenestrate", "purple", "chicken", "television", "thyme", "maroon", "shot glass", "catch", and "seven".
 
Absolute Truth = the absolute; it is not referring something relative. Absolute existence encompasses myriads of myraid existential states of persons/places/things in all its varigated forms & permutations . . .

"Absolute-ness" exists and it is what we all wake to each day . . . birth after birth.

An absolute insoluable individual soul subjectively trekking the trancient worlds in serch of the "Absolute Truth".
 
Heck, if we stuck to that science would never move on...

Question Everything...including what has been proven...

one of my favorite bumper stickers was placed on the bumper like this....


ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb

ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb

I love it!

I'm gonna borrow that if you don't mind...
 
If I am commanded to question authority and then go out and question authority, but what authority have I been commanded to question authority?
 
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